The five…Best Christopher Walken performances

Who doesn’t like Christopher Walken? Come on, every movie he’s in immediately gets its coolness factor upped by at least ten. He danced like crazy in that Fatboy Slim video, he’s the second-best SNL host ever (next to Alec Baldwin, of course. Hey, Walken did Colonel Angus! Cowbell! The Continental!) and he even had a brief fan-run Presidential campaign. So, let’s take a look at the offbeat Mr. Walken’s best performances–let’s not forget he won an Oscar, too.

5. True Romance

He’s only in the film for about ten minutes, but what a scene it is–an animated, profanity-laden and racially-insensitive conversation with Dennis Hopper gone down in history as “the Sicilian scene.” Watching these two old pros rip up the scenery is awe-inspiring, and it’s Walken’s devilish Vincenzo Coccotti who provides this turbocharged, pulpy film with its best moment.

4. Pulp Fiction

Tarantino wrote Walken’s lines for True Romance, so it’s no surprise to see him get another scene-stealing turn in the director’s absolute masterpiece. This time, its as a slightly off-kilter Vietnam veteran delivering a watch (and the disturbing, hilarious story behind it) to young Butch–the future boxer / Samurai Bruce Willis–in a flashback scene. In a movie full of timeless moments, it’s one of the most remembered, and quoted.

3. Biloxi Blues

I reviewed this earlier, so I’ll be brief–this is Walken’s craziest role, and that’s saying a lot. As a demented, plate-in-his-head Army veteran Drill Instructor tormenting young Eugene Jerome (Matthew Broderick) in 1945 Biloxi, Mississippi, Walken tosses out insults and threats with a thousand-yard smile in a hilarious, memorable performance.

2. The Deer Hunter

The movie’s crap, but Walken’s performance is astonishing. Playing a kind-hearted Pittsburgh-aera steelworker sent to Vietnam and broken through captivity and horrifying games of Russian roulette him and his buddy (Robert DeNiro) are forced to play, Walken won his lone Oscar for this film. The Russian roulette scenes are completely inaccurate, history-wise, but Walken’s mental and physical breakdown during those treacherous scenes, as well as the heartbreaking finale, provides the movie with its soul.

1. Catch Me If You Can

Walken got his second nomination for this underrated Spielberg picture, playing the harried father of international con-man Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio). A low-key, even-minded role for Walken, far from the tongue-in-cheek turns that drove most of his late-90’s films, it’s the best performance of his career–reminding us all used to his SNL turns just how excellent an actor he could be. In a movie ostensibly about his son, he remains the character that sticks in our memories.

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