“Paris, Texas” (1984)
Directed by Wim Wenders in what is arguably his greatest film, Harry Dean Stanton plays Travis, a gentle, kind, but depressed man haunted by personal demons. This emotional black hole is forever changed when he is reunited with his brother (Dean Stockwell), who’s been raising Travis’ young son, Hunter (Hunter Carson) with his wife. This sudden reconciliation forces Travis to slowly reassess his past, more specifically to meditate on his long lost wife, Jane (Nastassja Kinksi), whom he still madly loves. Their reunion is part of the cinematic time capsule, a masterful display of restraint from the film’s director. As Travis confronts her through a booth, and tells her what he did and why he did it, he encapsulates a world of emotions in a single speech. It echoes the great scenes of epic literature from Ulysess meeting Penelope to, hell, even the return of the prodigal son. It provides an exemplary power of cinema as great art. Stanton’s performance is poetic, haunting, and just plain beautiful here.
“Wild At Heart” (1990)
By now, you’ve seen David Lynch extol the many virtues of his fallen comrade Harry Dean Stanton on Twitter (see below). While never much of a lead actor in any of his work, aside from “Paris, Texas,” Lynch and Stanton worked together five times (“Wild At Heart,” “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me,” “Inland Empire,” “The Straight Story” and “Twin Peaks: The Return”), and six if you consider their close collaboration in the aforementioned “Lucky” where the two friends acted alongside one another. Stanton’s supporting roles were all memorable, but perhaps none quite as extraordinary as the small, but unforgettable turn in Lynch’s idiosyncratic fairy tale “Wild At Heart.” Stanton plays Johnnie Farragut, the private detective hired by Marietta (Diane Ladd) to locate her daughter. Farragut, a tender, mild-mannered man is also Marietta’s on-again, off-again boyfriend and really eager to please her in his easy-going, yet pained way. Of course, Marietta is essentially leading him on and manipulating Johnny for her own means. Poor Johnnie Farragut, he’s a two-time loser and as played by Stanton, you can’t help but have an overfull amount of empathy for the can’t-catch-a-break character. Stanton uses his laconic and affable mien to craft a melancholic character just trying to assuage, that sadly meets a gruesome ending. Fun fact: Farragut’s death was originally a graphic torture scene, but Lynch cut it after a torrent of audiences walked out of two test screenings. Instead, the scene, still emotionally brutal, is shot in a less stomach-churning, yet no less disturbing manner.
A statement from @DAVID_LYNCH on the passing of the great Harry Dean Stanton. #RIPHarryDeanStanton #TwinPeaks #Showtime pic.twitter.com/EmsO1zotsk
— Twin Peaks (@SHO_TwinPeaks) September 15, 2017
“Alien” (1979)
Ridley Scott’s classic sci-fi has incredible talent within its cast (Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt). Harry Dean Stanton doesn’t really utter much dialogue in the film, but his facial expressions tell us everything we need to know about the good-natured traits of his character. Playing Brett, he brings some much-needed comedy relief to the USCSS Nostromo. Too bad then that his affection for Jonesy, the resident cat of the vessel, is reason for his downfall under the hands of the xenomorph, it’s one of the more disappointing departures in the film as Brett turns out to be one of the more likable characters on-board. Couldn’t Ridley spare him a little more time in the films? – with Rodrigo Perez and Kyle Kohner
Additional movies with memorable Harry Dean performances worth tracking down include “Escape from New York” (1981), “Christine” (1983), “The Green Mile” (1999), “The Last Temptation of Christ“(1988), David Lynch’s “The Straight Story” (1999), “Cool Hand Luke” (1967) and even a small part in Francis Ford Coppola‘s “The Godfather: Part II” (1974).