On October 11, 1953 (70 years), the American actor, director, writer and singer David Morse was born, recognized for his co-starring roles in various successful films in the film and television world, such as “Unexpected Miracles” and the series “St. Elsewhere.
David Morse is an actor almost always recognized for his roles as a police officer or doctor in the film participations of his acting activity. He was a bar clerk and a basketball team player, he studied acting in New York and in 1980 he made his film debut in the drama “Inside Moves” directed by Richard Donner.
In 1982 David Morse became known for playing the compassionate Dr. Jack Morrison who worked in a public hospital in the television series St. Elsewhere, where he was until 1988. In 1990 he participated in the thriller “Desperate Hours,” by Michael Cimino. , along with Mickey Rourke and Anthony Hopkins. He collaborates in Films such as: “The Indian Runner”, “The Good Son”, “The Crossing Guard”, “Twelve Monkeys”, “The Rock”, “Extreme Measures”, “The Long Goodnight Kiss”, “Contact ”, “The negotiator”.
Later he films “Unexpected Miracles”, one of his performances most remembered by the public. Other of his films are: “Dancing in the Dark”, “Fuqua Bait”, “Proof of Life”, “Hearts in Atlantis”. Let’s celebrate this great supporting actor, in ten of his best films:
10 – The Hurt Locker (Bigelow, 2008)
BY THE FETT
A simple film that, like a symphony, contains certain moments of high notes to counteract the excessive passion for war of its robotic antihero, a human disturbed by adrenaline and without any meaning in life other than his egocentrism and self-indulgence. In the high notes, Bigelow exhibits anti-warism and social criticism of another senseless conflict, confronting it with the lack of humanity and social and/or emotional attachment that represents a fantastic and barely discovered Jeremy Renner; In his low grades, there is a certain pamphlet promotion of the eternal gringo hero and that detracts many points from his actions. David Morse has an excellent small role, accompanying Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pearce in a kind of luxury cameos
9 – The Rock (Michael Bay, 1996)
BY THE FETT
Michael Bay’s only good film, a kind of action and espionage thriller that borrowed the James Bond archetype to add explosives everywhere, and it turns out very well! The inclusion of Sean Connery and Ed Harris (the latter with a great villain) are outstanding, even giving these veterans one of the best appearances of their careers. With certain hints of homage to the 007 films (Connery was no coincidence), Nicolas Cage experiments with the role of the protagonist, letting Michael Biehn and mainly David Morse be the right-hand men of the villain in turn, repeating with great elegance and evil his supporting villain archetype.
8 – Contact (Zemeckis, 1997)
FOR ACTUARY CINEMA
Based on a novel by Carl Sagan. Although it is not perfect and has some narrative details, it stands out for representing alien contact in a more tangible way, far from conventional fiction. In the end the aliens are only a secondary pretext, the central plot being man’s need to understand the greatness and wonders of the universe. Contact is a film far from conventionalism, and it does not offer clear answers about what is outside the Earth, but it does offer more questions to continue looking at the stars. David Morse serves as the protagonist’s father, and consequently as the form of the first extraterrestrial “contact”, in a double role of great symbolism.
7 – 16 Blocks (Richard Donner, 2006)
BY EDGAR DEL VALLE
David Morse collaborates in this film starring Bruce Willis, as a corrupt police officer who tried to prevent at all costs a colleague from reaching court with a protected witness. Although it is one of Richard Donner’s lesser films, this police thriller is rich in entertainment and in its impression of tension in some good action sequences. The highlight is undoubtedly its villain, in an archetype that David Morse already had tattooed on his forehead, whether police, military or simply a “son of a bitch”, giving a lot of credibility to the story even within his exaggerated fiction of the facts. To spend a good Sunday afternoon
6 – The Indian Runner (Sean Penn, 1991)
BY EDGAR DEL VALLE
In this directorial debut film by Sean Penn, for the same reason he presents us with Morse as a small-town police officer who will have to confront his brother who is a criminal, finding himself in the dilemma of whether to arrest him or let him flee. Although the direction is decent, the script tries very hard to take its characters to the extreme of emotional and sentimental caricature, which has more impact on the character of Mortensen, a bad, very bad brother, and which in the end also affects Morse. , the good brother, very good. Even so, this would be the role for which Morse would draw the attention of all the studios and directors, since there is no doubt that it is the most mature performance in the film.
5 – Disturbia (DJ Caruso, 2007)
BY DASTAN
The second redeemable role in Shia’s artistic career, where he plays a young man who cannot control his outbursts of anger, after the death of his father; Due to his excesses of violence, he will be subjected to house arrest and in order not to feel trapped, he will begin to spy on his neighbors. He achieves a great performance and gives good dynamics to his character in an average script with fun nuances, wrapped in a very basic suspense. It is the commercial and simple version of “Rear Window”. This film is also Caruso’s most outstanding in his path of Hollywood-style puberty stories. Although mediocre, it is saved by the performances of Shia and David Morse
4 – The Negotiator (F. Gary Gray, 1998)
BY EDGAR DEL VALLE
A police thriller that became one of the classics of television programming par excellence in the 90s. Starring Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey, David Morse appears as the leader of a SWAT group that has the mission of stopping a fellow expert police negotiator who has been accused of corruption, but whose guilt is doubted. Sober performance where his character does not take sides and seeks to find the truth of the facts. Great direction by Gary Gray, the film has remained a remnant of good entertainment and within the very peculiar style of dramatic action of that time
3 – 12 Monkeys (Terry Gilliam, 1995)
BY THE FETT
The filmic use of the “macguffin” could escape the mold of Hitchcock or Tarantino to be coined under the sinister and prolonged black humor of Terry Gilliam, who abandons his surrealist touches to exercise total mastery of science fiction, and thus engender one of the best stories about the manipulation of time and space. An obsessive exercise, the managerial dictatorship imposed by the filmmaker resulted in a fable about time with very acid humor. In the end, it’s all a very macabre joke, a trickster joke about environmentalism and pandemics, attached to a tragic and legendary time loop. Did you notice the real villain? No? That explains David Morse’s very good work here.
2 – Dancer in the Dark (Lars Von Trier, 2000)
BY THE FETT
Von Trier is undoubtedly one of the most important generators and inventors in the history of cinema. At the end of his Dogma 95, this filmic prominence suggested not only a total reinvention of melodrama and the conventional story of the “sick man”, but also of the musical genre, by taking the statutes of his own current to direct the heartbreaking odyssey of this Czech emigrant, in a spiral of misfortunes that will not grant any concessions to the viewer. David Morse plays a good-hearted police officer who is unable to tell his wife that he is facing financial problems that will lead him to take radical measures that will ultimately affect him.
1 – The Green Mile (Frank Darabont, 1999)
BY EDGAR DEL VALLE
Captivating film that allows us to clarify the best film adaptability to King’s dramatic works from his best partner on celluloid, Frank Darabont who perfectly understood not only the characters, but also the restraint in the use of the element. fantastic plot, which develops as another character as the story progresses until reaching moments that are as emotional as they are cathartic. David Morse plays a tough, but kind-hearted guard at a death row prison who, along with the protagonist Tom Hanks, will witness strange events in his work area. A memorable performance in his filmography, due to the humanity he imprints on his character in the film.
Etiquetas: 12 Monkeys16 BlocksDancer in the darkDavid MorseDisturbiaThe Green MileThe Indian RunnerThe Negotiator
