It isn’t often that an actor/actress unearths countless stories within the story he/she appears in just by showing up. It’s an inexplicable gift to possess a face that the camera adores with utter abandon. Most dynamic performers display their gifts (think Klaus Kinski, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, etc.) by playing to the camera. There are very few that let the camera play to them. Commanding the camera's attention is a definite, sometimes effective skill- but what about the actor who understands the power of silence and his/her own face.
I credit Sophie Huber’s nearly perfect new documentary (more of a cinematic portrait- really), Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction, for re-sparking my life-long fascination and admiration for the gifted and sublime Harry Dean Stanton. I saw Huber’s documentary at the Los Angeles Film Festival some years ago and the man of the hour was in attendance. Harry Dean (as I shall refer to him from here on) sang a few tunes and played harmonica after the screening (he does this numerous times in Huber's film). Huber's movie not only does Harry Dean justice- it respectfully nods to a new generation of actors who can learn a great deal from its unique subject.
If you’ve seen any movies in the last 5 decades it’s likely you’ve seen Harry Dean Stanton. You just have not taken sufficient note (and as Harry Dean says in Partly Fiction, “It doesn’t matter.”). He’s widely regarded as one of the greatest character actors of all time (many would argue- the greatest). His long career ranges from late 50’s and 60’s television work (The Untouchables, Bonanza, Gunsmoke), one of his first bit roles in Hitchcock’s The Wrong Man (1956), countless character roles (Cool Hand Luke (1967), The Missouri Breaks (1976), Alien (1979), Escape From New York (1981), Repo Man (1984), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), She's so Lovely (1997)), a brilliant lead performance in Wim Wenders’ classic- Paris, Texas (1984), and many other roles in many other films of varying genres. He is still appearing in films- This Must Be The Place (2011), Seven Psychopaths (2012)- and TV, HBO's Big Love (2006-2011).
Actor John Carroll Lynch's directing debut, LUCKY (2017), opens soon and it may be the defining moment of Harry Dean's canon (Oscar?). Stanton plays the lead role, Lucky, in a film that has positive buzz from all directions (after its premiere at South by Southwest).
Harry Dean’s filmography is a joyful tour through 60 years of cinema. He’s worked with Paul Newman, Kris Kristofferson, Francis Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Sean Penn, Nicolas Cage, Nastassja Kinski, David Lynch, John Carpenter, Clint Eastwood, Robert Mitchum, Jeff Bridges, Ridley Scott- the list is endless. The long distance runner apparent in the actor's soul compliments the humble, straightforward, pragmatic sensibility that obviously informs his work (“I’m nothing. There is no SELF”, Harry Dean says in Huber's film). PARTLY FICTION includes interviews with Kris Kristofferson, David Lynch, Deborah Harry and Sam Shepard. Shepard drives the mystique and gravitas of Harry Dean home when he claims the actor, “…knows his face is the story.”
Harry Dean’s face is, indeed, the story. As is his voice (on miraculous display in the film). A testament to the film’s strength is that it leaves viewers wanting to sing. I defy anyone to leave the movie without a yearning to diva it up a little. The actor sings his heart out in the film (Kristofferson- “Harry Dean loves to sing Mexican songs.”) and it resonates with an aching simplicity (the intimacy is stunning at times).
In an age defined by impatience, immaturity, speed, noise and a curious celebration of mediocrity- we have an elegant and honest 77-minute document of an actor who takes patience, subtlety, maturity, fragility, loneliness, desperation, silence, yearning and heartache- to exemplary, profound levels. Harry Dean Stanton brings an informed light to the shadowy canyons of the male persona. He’s an artist who deserved a documentary and got one. Much of the film’s magic is in its soulful photography and direction. Huber knows the story is in the magnificent landscape of Harry Dean’s face (a roadmap navigating the erosion and grandeur of the fickle American Dream). Every valley and every peak is there. There’s nothing you can do to make Harry Dean Stanton more or less. He’s exactly what he is, where he needs to be, and where he is going (great shots of him drifting in the car at night- through Los Angeles). His perseverance, disarming resilience and friendly, hound-dog passion need only proper framing- or as he so wonderfully says in the film, “It’s all a movie.”
LUCKY, starring Harry Dean Stanton, David Lynch and Ron Livingston- directed by John Carroll Lynch- will be in theaters September 29th.