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by Scott Burkhart © 2017
Today, 2.26.17, I was hit with news like a suckerpunch to the gut: actor, filmmaker, and one of the greatest of them, Bill Paxton, died unexpectedly of complications from heart-related surgery. The first time I put a name and face to Bill Paxton was the preview for the upcoming Predator 2, (1990). The movie was clearly making a bragging right out of his being in the cast, and as I was highly anticipating this film, I was going to have to figure out just who he was…and fast! Back then, there was no “world wide web” and just barely such a thing as the “internet”, so this was no easy task. I didn’t even own my own home computer at the time! It wasn’t long before I figured out he was previously mostly known as the gung-ho but panicky marine, “Hudson,” in James Cameron’s much beloved Aliens (1986); the very one whose machismo disappears the minute everything goes to hell and, in one of the single greatest, funniest line readings in cinema history, he bemoans, “Game over, man! Game over!” Before these he had put in small but quirky and memorable appearances in many other films, first as a street punk in The Terminator (1984; dir. James Cameron) and then, completely underrated as older brother Chet in Weird Science (1985; dir: John Hughes). On repeated viewings, he’s quickly revealed as that film’s funniest character! Paxton’s role in Predator 2 might not have made much impression on average critics or audience members, but he’s a solid supporting member of an already solid cast all the same; he’s one of the few screen presences that, by design, enters the scene as monstrously annoying and slowly gains our sympathy throughout the rest of the film. In a genre movie like this, that in itself is pretty unusual and, unlike his Aliens marine, he even heroically sacrifices himself so that his partner may make an escape with her life. He was quickly turning himself into an actor of note. Just only a year later, Paxton gained much wider recognition and proper critical acclaim in a starring role in One False Move, a noir-ish crime thriller that featured a heart breaking performance by costar Cynda Williams, and an excellent supporting performance by co-writer Billy Bob Thornton, pre-Slingblade. It remains a most underappreciated film and the two make a great double feature together. As emerging fans, my friends and I quickly sought out some more of Paxton's earlier and lesser recognized performances, even dropping them into our "movie night" marathons. These included a twisted, morose comedy, The Dark Backward (1991), in which washed up 1980’s actor Judd Nelson aptly portrays a talent-less stand-up comic who is only notable for his unusual physical abnormality; he has a third arm growing out of his back. Paxton plays his best friend from their garbage collecting day job; he provides musical backdrop via accordian and who likes to party with overweight groupies and the occasional dead body found at the dump - yep, that ages-old Hollywood chestnut! Another was the film, Brain Dead (1990), not really notable in itself; it was produced by B-cinema legend Roger Corman. However, it was an early pairing of Paxton with another similar character actor, Bill Pullman (the President from 1996’s Independence Day), whom the two are often confused with each other by less discerning fans! And yet another was Paxton’s stand-out performance amongst yet another ensemble cast in Kathryn Bigelow’s vampires-on-the-rampage thriller, Near Dark (1987). Much later, by total happenstance, I caught Next of Kin (1988) an unexpectedly lively action movie in which Patrick Swayze and Liam Neeson play country hicks from the Appalachians avenging the big city death of their youngest brother, Bill Paxton! Throughout the 1990’s Paxton kept busy and racking up credits that served him well. He had a starring turn in the nearly forgotten hip-hop themed heist-action movie, Trespass (with William Sadler, Ice T and Ice Cube). In 1995 he appeared as the youngest brother to Wyatt Earp in Tombstone, a movie that featured everybody who was anybody at that time! In the same year he had a similar fourth-billed role in the disappointingly shallow Apollo 13 (dir. Ron Howard; starring Tom Hanks, Gary Sinise and Kevin Bacon). Easily his two biggest films were 1996’s gleefully stupid disaster film, Twister, and, the following year, Paxton appeared in the contemporary set framing story in Cameron’s Titanic (uh, heard of it?). By this time, he was just popular enough to host an episode of SNL and spoof himself in a Titanic themed skit. He had really, finally made it, and my friends and I were happy to have seen it all happen for him. In countless interviews with other celebrities and articles throughout many cinema devotee magazines, I kept hearing the same thing over and over: forget his acting skills, Paxton is one seriously, seriously nice guy. I even heard this more directly from cult-actor king Bruce Campbell when I met him at his book-signing and I had inquired why they hadn’t yet worked together. “Oh, I’d love to do a movie with him,” Campbell said, “I’ve heard nothing but stories that he’s a really good guy; very nice!” “You guys rose through the ranks together,” I said, “I can’t believe it hasn’t happened yet!” At one point, this seemed like an inevitability; Paxton and Thornton reunited in the excellent and underappreciated A Simple Plan (1998) for Campbell’s usual director of choice, Sam Raimi. (Though Campbell’s usual comedy cameos in Raimi’s work would hardly have been appropriate to such a somber film)! Though A Simple Plan was well received by critics it was not a big hit, and the same could be said for the same year’s Mighty Joe Young, Disney’s remake of the semi-classic 1947 film that co-starred Paxton and Charleze Theron, both taking a back seat to the special effects that create the sympathetic, cinematic nephew to King Kong. It didn’t matter; Paxton had amassed a reputation for dependability that went well with his good looks and easy going nature and enough skill for versatility; he could be your leading man, your comedy sidekick (one might argue that Paxton was the ONLY good thing about 1996’s True Lies) or your villain, as in the more recent 2 Guns (2013). I didn’t get to follow much of Paxton’s later work, where he seemed to acquiesce to sparser screen time in film and taking a starring role in HBO’s “Big Love” (2006-2011; where he finally earned some awards nominations, even if they were only Emmys). That said, I did manage to catch his directorial debut, the wholly disturbing Frailty (2001), in which he plays a devoutly religious father grinding people he views as “demons” to bits with an axe! He employs his kids to help dispense with the bodies! If you haven't seen this - you MUST - if only once. I had only recently heard that he had taken the part in the network TV adaptation of “Training Day”. He must have just been bored. Alas, I feel a tremendous sadness with news of his passing; so unexpected, so sudden, so young still at 61. Though we all age, though we will all fall to time, it just seems like there are those among us who just never should (e.g. Robin Williams, Carrie Fisher). Bill Paxton was certainly among them. Game over indeed.
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