“At Close Range” (1986)
Walken’s played plenty of villains in his time — almost nothing but in the 1990s — but few have been quite as chilling as the one he plays in James Foley‘s imperfect, but underrated 1986 crime drama. Walken, behind an impressive blonde hairstyle and ‘stache combo, plays Brad Whitewood, the leader of a small-time rural crime family that specializes in tractor robberies, whose superficially glamorous lifestyle sees him draw his sons, Brad Jr (Sean Penn) and Tommy (Chris Penn), into the less-than-legal side of life. But when they’re pinched by the cops, Brad Sr. starts taking drastic measures to protect his own safety. The script, by Nicholas Kazan (son of Elia, father of Zoe, writer of “Reversal of Fortune“) is a relentlessly bleak affair, giving Sean Penn (whose mother also cameos in the film) an early tortured showcase, but it’s Walken who really impresses. Mostly more restrained than contemporary audiences are accustomed to seeing him, he’s enormously charismatic in the part — it’s not difficult to see why Brad Jr. is so drawn to him. And yet the seedy nature of his life and profession is never far from the surface, and when he rapes his son’s girlfriend (Mary Stuart Masterson) to try and ensure his silence, he’s as chilling as he’s ever been on screen. It’s one of the actor’s most underrated turns.
The Essentials: The 5 Best Christopher Walken Performances
