Thursday, July 25, 2019

Tot Ziens

h/t McThag

Dutch actor heavy Rutger Hauer passed last week, amid little notice or fanfare, at the age of 75.
We only noticed this ourselves because Angus mentioned it.

I always liked Hauer best in Wanted: Dead Or Alive (Gene Simmons of KISS was a great '80s villain in that flick, and Runaway) because he got to play a good guy, but his part in Bladerunner immortalized him, and he was great in Nighthawks, Ladyhawke, and the original Buffy The Vampire Slayer as well.

Sorry, no more life, f***er.
But his life burned brighter and longer, nonetheless, and thanks to digitization, those moments won't be lost, unlike tears in the rain.


Anonymous said...

Hmm. Why doesn't anybody mention "The Hitcher" in these memories? Was it really that bad? I only saw it back then when it was new.


Aesop said...

Never been a horror fan.
I don't go to the movies to crap my pants, it just pisses me off.
On my best live-and-let-live days, I'm able to refrain from wanting to kill anyone who makes them or buys tickets.
But only just.

Phil said...

Blind Fury.
If you haven't seen it then do, ASAP. It has some hilarious moments.
I loved that movie.
RIP Rutger.

Anonymous said...

Yes. The Hitcher. First time I'd seen him in a movie.

Red Forman said...

Then, of course, there is the classic 'Hobo with a shotgun'. Destined to become a cult hit.

John Wilder said...

The Mrs. texted me at work about his passing. He had really good range- as Anon mentioned, The Hitcher was one of my favorites. I always thought he would have made a good Flagg in The Stand - he had just the right mix of cunning and nihilistic sarcasm that the role called for, yet he could do funny, too.

He made B movies fun.

Nori said...

“Flesh and Blood”. Rutger plays the leader of a pack of mercenaries in medieval Europe. Betrayal,dirt,kidnapping,blood,sweat,rape,dead plague-infested dog tossed into the castle water supply.

Every movie he was ever in was better because he was in it. He made you want to watch,to know what he would do next. The Hitcher probably ended the romance of hitching for a generation or so.

He made his cohorts better. Has Daryl Hannah ever been better than she was as Pris in Blade Runner? Those sly,knowing looks exchanged with Roy Batty. Her fierce,feet-pounding,refusal to stop existing.

All of his works are worth watching. But we always come back to the quiet,rain-soaked moments when an artificial human articulates precisely what it is to be human.

roamer said...

Sometimes it seemed like the worse the movie was, the better he made it. Certainly there were movies I watched only because he was in them. Others where he played a tiny role but was picture-perfect for his five minutes of screen time. Nighthawks, Blade Runner, Inside the Third Reich, Ladyhawke, Flesh+Blood, The Hitcher, Wanted: Dead or Alive ("Fuck the bonus"), Blind Fury, The Blood of Heroes, Wedlock, Split Second...

Worth any five of the latest generation of hollywood men we have now.

RandyGC said...

Two I haven't seen mentioned:

Soldier of Orange

Escape from Sobibor

The fact that I remember so many of his movies and can't think of who won any of the Oscars for the past 10 years says something (about me or about Hollywierd I'll leave to y'all)


Chris said...

My brother wore Rutger's wetsuit during the filming of Past Midnight.

Matt Bracken said...

I second "Escape from Sobibor" which is actually a fantastic RKBA film. It's all about being disarmed and helpless, vs armed and able to fight for your life. The entire escape narrative depends upon secretly creating knives, to be used to shank their guards, in order to take their firearms, in order to escape, in order to live.

Beans said...

He was able to portray the charming bastard better than anyone else in the last 30 years or so.

And he actually made even the most wooden characters come alive.

So, much like Grand Funk Railroad being ignored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Rutger will be ignored by all the various Film and Art 'academies' and all it shows is how much a farce these fame institutes are. So even in death he's making fun of people in a charming, deadly way.

Godspeed, Rutger. May you finally see the arms of Orion.