He was a memorable movie heavy who seemed to go from laconic to psychotic at the flip of a switch. And in a four-decade-plus acting career that included over 100 motion picture appearances Michael Madsen, who passed away last week at 67, always found a way to capture the audience’s attention. It didn’t matter if he was playing an egocentric ballplayer (The Natural), a torture-happy crook (Reservoir Dogs), a nurturing foster parent (Free Willy), a frontier lawman (Wyatt Earp), or a rule-breaking ’50s L.A. cop (Mulholland Falls). You noticed when Michael was on the screen.
MovieFanFare salutes Madsen with this week’s poll, where we invite you to select which of his film turns you think was his best. Naturally, we couldn’t list them all, so if you don’t see your choice below tell us in the comments.