Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Denholm Elliott

I was bored the other night so I watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).  It is difficult to rate the series of Indy films, but I put Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) first, Last Crusade second, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) third, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) last.  But the last two could be reversed depending on my mood at the time.  Feel free to make your own ratings.

Denholm Elliott (1922 - 1992) played Marcus Brody in two of them, Raiders and Last Crusade.  He has 153 titles listed on IMDb, so he is certainly worth a look.

Elliott was born in England and his first film, Dear Mr. Prohack (1949) was made there.  The next year he was off to America for some TV work.  He did work back and forth between countries, but most of his work in the 1950s would be in less than blockbuster movies.

Some of his 1960s films bordered on being good choices, others did not.  You be the judge.
1962  Station Six-Sahara - Carol Baker (b. 1931) joins a group of men at an oil station in the Sahara!  Sounds like fun.
1965  You Must be Joking - Denholm plays a character named Captain Tabasco.
1965  King Rat - Join George Segal (b. 1934) in a prison camp.
1966  Alfie - Getting better with Michael Caine (b. 1933) and Shelley Winters (1920 - 2006).
1968  The Night They Raided Minsky's - Had to be good with Britt Eckland (b. 1942) and Jason Robards (1922 - 2000).

Some that may make you rethink his star power...
1966  The Spy with a Cold Nose
1971  The House the Dripped Blood
1973  The Vault of Horror
1974  Its Not the Size that Counts  (Yes, the size of what you are thinking.)
1975  Russian Roulette - He plays Commander Petapiece!
Ahh, for the 1970s again!

In 1976 he works with Sean Connery (b. 1930) , Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993), Robert Shaw (1927 - 1978), and Richard Harris (1930 - 2002)  in Robin and Marian.  Now there's a cast!  That same year he is in Voyage of the Damned with Faye Dunaway (b. 1941).

In 1977 he goes A Bridge Too Far, again with Connery and also Ryan O'Neal (b. 1941).  A year later, The Boys from Brazil with Gregory Peck (1916 - 2003) and Laurence Olivier (1907 - 1989).  Now he is getting some real work.

After Raiders in 1981 he is in the comedy Trading Places in 1983 with Eddie Murphy (b. 1961), Jamie Lee Curtis (b. 1958) and Dan Aykroyd (b. 1952).  Filmed in Philadelphia, so I like it.

Elliott also made many TV movies.  His final two movies are Toy Soldiers (1991) featuring Wil Wheaton (b. 1972) who appeared regularly on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and Noises Off... (1992) with Carol Burnett (b. 1933)  and Michael Caine.

Denholm Elliott was a great Bit Actor.

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