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Mickey Rourke

Posted by HenryJames on May 14th, 2008 under Uncategorized

If you’re familiar with Mickey Rourke, you know him as the guy who has had a lot of plastic surgery and happened to steal the show with his performance in Sin City. But I’m telling you, Mickey Rourke was wrecking shit in the ’80s. The guy put together a string of performances that were exceptional before a combination of boxing and bad movies in the ’90s destroyed him. So I’m here to turn you kids on to his body of work in the ’80s. Why? Because this shit is important, and you need to know it.

Rumble Fish – 1983

“If you’re going to lead people, you have to have somewhere to go.”

Stylish movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola starring Matt Dillon, Dennis Hopper, Nicolas Cage and an eminently hittable Diane Lane. Based on the book by S.E. Hinton with music by Stewart Copeland of The Police. The film is in black and white except for the Siamese fighting fish that play a prominent role.

Dillon is trying to emulate former gang leader Rourke, but Rourke has been to California and come back changed. He sees where Dillon is headed in his cramped surroundings and tries to lead him out. The fish serve as a metaphor for this.

Here’s the video for Copeland’s “Don’t Box Me In.”

The Pope of Greenwich Village – 1984

“Italians they outgrow clothes not people.”

Very underrated movie. Rourke with Eric Roberts, Darryl Hannah and Burt Young. Rourke and Roberts play cousins, and Roberts comes up with a plan to make it big by robbing a safe and investing the money in a racehorse. Roberts neglects to mention that the safe is owned by mobster Young.

It’s about two guys who want to make it big, but they can’t see anything further than their family and neighborhood. And Eric Roberts has a perm.

Year of the Dragon – 1985

“You people, you think that gambling, extortion, corruption are kosher because it’s a thousand years old? Well, all this thousand year old stuff; it’s a lot of shit to me. This is America you’re living in, and its two hundred years old, so you better get your clocks fixed.”

Directed by Michael Chimino with the screenplay co-written by Oliver Stone. Rourke plays a 40ish Polish-American police captain who tries to clean up the criminal element in New York City’s Chinatown. Great supporting role by John Lone.

Angel Heart – 1987

“The flesh is weak, Johnny. Only the soul is immortal. And yours belongs to me.”

You’ve probably heard of this movie as the one where that Cosby Show kid shows her tits. It also has Robert De Niro as the devil. Rourke plays a detective hired by De Niro to find a guy who owes him a debt. Each witness he talks to ends up dead, and he becomes the suspect in their deaths. Voodoo, satanism and a plot twist at the end keep things interesting.

Barfly – 1987

“Anyone can get a job. It takes a real man to make it without working.”

Semi-autobiographical account of author Charles Bukowski’s life in Los Angeles. Rourke is fantastic as the drunken Henry. Also stars Faye Dunaway as his slumming girlfriend.

Here is an extended scene with Rourke and Frank Stallone. You get to see just how good Rourke’s performance is, and it’s also worth watching just to hear what he says about Stallone’s mother.

Homeboy – 1988

“I am two things at once – a cowboy and a boxer, and some say I am three things – a fool as well.”

Rourke actually wrote the script for this, and it also stars a before-he-became-a-parody-of-himself Christopher Walken. Rourke is a washed up boxer who is exploited by Walken. I think Rourke embraced this role a little too well and it ended up spilling over into this real life. Eric Clapton did the sountrack.

Johnny Handsome – 1989

“I know what you are, and we both know where you’re going, don’t we Johnny?”

Directed by Walter Hill who directed other super cool movies Streets of Fire, 48 Hours, The Warriors, Southern Comfort and Hard Times. Great cast including Morgan Freeman, Ellen Barkin, Forest Whitaker and Lance Henriksen. Soundtrack by Ry Cooder.

Rourke looks like a cross between the Elephant Man and that dude on the television version of Beauty and the Beast in this. His best friend gets killed and he gets left for dead in a robbery double cross. After getting his face fixed in prison, he seeks revenge.

Now there’s two movies of his I didn’t write about. I didn’t mention Diner (1982) because I refuse to acknowledge Paul Reiser either in word or print, and I didn’t mention Nine 1/2 Weeks (1986) because every dude over 30 has already spanked it multiple times to that movie.

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22 Responses

  1. RFourie said:

    May 14th, 2008 at 7:02 am

    Honorable mention to Body Heat, which I believe was his first appearance on screen in a memorable 3 minute scene with William Hurt.

  2. HenryJames said:

    May 14th, 2008 at 7:30 am

    I would have used that if it was a bigger part. Still a great performance.

  3. Big Satan said:

    May 14th, 2008 at 7:53 am

    I’ve seen most of these. The guy had/has major chops. Barfly is fantastic.

  4. Big Satan said:

    May 14th, 2008 at 8:08 am

    Holy Shit, Elizabeth McGovern in Johnny Handsome. Forgot about her.

  5. HenryJames said:

    May 14th, 2008 at 8:16 am

    As if that wasn’t enough, she does a topless scene.

  6. Black Scholes said:

    May 14th, 2008 at 8:21 am

    Diane Lane. Enough said.

  7. Facebook User said:

    May 14th, 2008 at 9:09 am

    Know what he’s like? Royalty in exile. You know what I mean?

  8. Chooky said:

    May 14th, 2008 at 10:02 am

    After the thought of Darryl Hannah and Elizabeth McGovern I thought I’d make it through this without spanking it. Then you mentioned ‘9 1/2 Weeks’ and boom goes the dynamite. Just kidding, it was the mention of Reiser that sent me over.

    “And Eric Roberts has a perm.” That made me lol and rotflmfao and stuff.

    Not to derail, but Eric Roberts’ career is like the expedited version of Rourke’s. The guy was great in ‘Pope of Greenwich Village’ and went stride for stride with Jon Voigt at his best in ‘Runaway Train.’ He was also great in the theatre. Somewhere along the path he was instantly fitted with clown shoes, and eventually ended up on ‘Hollywood Squares,’ which is the equivalent of putting a mullet perm on your entire body of work. If it gets that bad you should at least keep a portion of your dignity and do infomercials with Wesley Snipes and Chuck Norris. What the Hell?

  9. Parlin Hall said:

    May 14th, 2008 at 10:38 am

    “Pope of Greenwich Village”:

    Eric Roberts doing the obscene hand gesture to illustrate how a champion racehorse’s genetic material was acquired, then sadly losing his thumb to loansharks.

    No connection between the two scenes that I know of, but memorable nonetheless.

  10. Chooky said:

    May 14th, 2008 at 10:55 am

    “I’ll fly of dis train like a little bewdy.”

    “Gottam, Manny. Fuckin’ A, Manny. Sheeit, Manny.”

  11. Mastastic said:

    May 14th, 2008 at 11:22 am

    The Wrestler

    Future Rourke movie…make of it what you will.

  12. SizzleChest said:

    May 14th, 2008 at 3:03 pm

    Jack Nance: “Are you Henry Chinaski?”

    Rourke: “No, I’m Leon Spinks!!”

  13. Scipio Tex said:

    May 14th, 2008 at 8:38 pm

    The French consider him one of the greatest living actors.

  14. Aggie Lurking said:

    May 15th, 2008 at 2:47 am

    I thought they liked Jerry Lewis?

  15. Paul Reubens said:

    May 15th, 2008 at 2:49 am

    I rememeber sneaking into a movie theatre in Florida and watching 9 1/2 weeks alone in the balcony. It gave me my start in the film industry.

  16. burnt orange dog said:

    May 15th, 2008 at 12:20 pm

    Gotta mention Diner.

  17. Woody Bombay said:

    May 15th, 2008 at 12:37 pm

    “Diner” is the exception that proves the rule re: Reiser.

  18. Vasherized said:

    May 15th, 2008 at 1:32 pm

    There are no exceptions with Reiser. That is the only rule.

  19. Crazy Joe Clark said:

    May 16th, 2008 at 9:09 am

    I still like him as Harley Davidson.

    also did a little nice work in “Man of Fire”

  20. crash_davis said:

    May 21st, 2008 at 9:58 am

    how can you leave out 9 1/2 weeks??????

  21. Facebook User said:

    May 21st, 2008 at 11:01 am

    He was going for less obvious fare.

  22. Chuckles said:

    May 23rd, 2008 at 5:51 am

    Dude

    Definitely Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man…

    It boggled my scrotum.

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