10 Best Harry Dean Stanton Appearances
2. Lucky (2017)
Finally, on the verge of hitting 90, Harry Dean Stanton got the role of a lifetime, a film only one step removed from the truth. His long-time collaboration and offscreen friendship with David Lynch informs this low-key, poetic story to a great extent as the director plays his raconteur BFF at his favourite bar.
Lucky lives in a small Californian town and sticks to his routine day after day. He wakes, cigarette already in hand, does his exercises and makes his slow but steady way to the diner for breakfast, then the convenience store, and then the local bar. A health scare causes him to consider how he has used his time on Earth, but largely doesn’t affect his time management beyond maybe appreciating little moments of beauty more, and he continues the be beloved by the locals. Stanton is masterful in his communication to the audience of a whole life lived the way he wanted it to be, using only a handful of words spoken or sung, but always quietly compelling.
1. Paris, Texas (1984)
Harry Dean Stanton manages to show the full range of his considerable skill set, from his controlled movements and expressive eyes to a heartbreaking extended monologue at the film’s conclusion where he is anonymously coming clean to his estranged wife (Nastassja Kinski), in one of the great pained silver screen performances.
Wim Wenders’ Americana masterpiece opens with Stanton’s Travis wandering out of the desert and stumbling across his estranged family (or rather they stumble across him), and for over two hours they (and us) must work to slowly peel back the many layers of his guilt and trauma.
This is the high point of his career, three decades into it. It gave him the space and latitude to build a fascinatingly enigmatic and nuanced sad soul, someone who retreated into himself and is only able to come out and put things right with his conscience, and the people he’s let down, in his own time.
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Harry Dean Stanton may not have been the kind of name you’d get above the title on a poster – he was largely content with filling out ensembles and playing memorable supporting roles – but he will be remembered by audiences, directors and his castmates as among the very best character actors to grace the American screen.
Do you agree with our top 10 or is there a great Harry Dean performance we’ve missed? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to follow @thefilmagazine across social media (including Facebook and X/Twitter) for more insightful movie lists.
