July 5th
marked the birthday of the distinctive character actor Warren Oates
(1928-1982), who brought a unique sense of intensity and believability to the
characters that he played. Critic David Thomson provides a great description of
Oates as being “on first sight grubby, balding, and unshaven. You can smell
whisky and sweat on him, along with that mixture of bad beds and fallen women.
He’s toothy, he’s small . . . and he has a face like prison bread, with eyes
that have known too much solitary confinement. But the eyes bulge and shrink in
a sweet game of fear and courage. And for some of us Oates is the only human
being in pictures” [1] . This combination of
looks and believability are what made his characters and performances so
notable. In
celebration of his birthday and great career, we list his five best
performances.
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Despite not playing one of the main characters, it’s hard
not to include this important western on the list. Oates is probably best known
for his role in this and the other Sam Peckinpah directed films that he
appeared in. He plays one half of the Gorch brothers, who are in an aging gang
of outlaws that are looking for that one final score so that they can retire. While
William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, and Robert Ryan are the obvious stars of this,
Oates was a main part of the group of outlaws that the story is about and has
some moments in which his character stands out. Plus he was involved in what is
quite possibly the most memorable and violent finales in cinematic history.
Two-Lane
Blacktop (1971)
Directed by Monte Hellman, this is a road trip story about
two young men drag-racing across the country in a 1955 Chevy. They meet a
middle aged man only referred to as GTO because of his car and agree to race to
Washington D.C., with the winner getting the loser’s car. In reality this race
turns into something that is more about companionship on the isolated open
roads than about actually winning. Despite the story being about the two car
junkies, Oates’ character GTO ends up becoming the defunct lead because of the
fact that the other two rarely speak during the picture. What Oates gives us is
a man that is insecure with himself and spews wild tales in the hopes of
impressing the people that he meets on the road. He has achieved his dream of
owning and driving a GTO, but is now all alone. The race is merely an excuse
for some type of friendship. This is considered one of the seminal road movies
and is usually ranked high along with Easy
Rider and Five Easy Pieces.
Dillinger (1973)
Oates portrays the '20s gangster John Dillinger who becomes 'Public Enemy Number 1' after a shoot out kills five FBI agents in Kansas City. A full review of the recent blu-ray release can be read here http://www.spoilerfreemoviesleuth.com/2016/04/Dillinger-Film-Review.html. What makes his performance as Dillinger so special is a combination of him looking almost identical to the real man, his arrogance that is offset by his insecurities, and his violent eruptions that are based on basic human faults and weakness.
Oates portrays the '20s gangster John Dillinger who becomes 'Public Enemy Number 1' after a shoot out kills five FBI agents in Kansas City. A full review of the recent blu-ray release can be read here http://www.spoilerfreemoviesleuth.com/2016/04/Dillinger-Film-Review.html. What makes his performance as Dillinger so special is a combination of him looking almost identical to the real man, his arrogance that is offset by his insecurities, and his violent eruptions that are based on basic human faults and weakness.
Cockfighter (1974)
This is by far one of the most
underrated and underappreciated films that were made during the 1970’s,
featuring one of Warren Oates best performances and the underappreciated
direction of Monte Hellman. Oates appeared in a total of four of Hellman’s
movies. In this one he plays Frank Mansfield, who has vowed to remain silent
until he wins the Cockfighter of the Year medal, something that he highly
covets. He loses almost everything he has on a side bet with a former friend
Jack (Harry Dean Stanton) and must start all over, borrowing money from an old
girlfriend to buy a new cock and forming a partnership with another cocksman to
get a shot again at the medal. What makes Oates’ portrayal of Frank special is
the fact that he conveys a great deal of emotion and charisma with barely
uttering ten lines in the picture. The subject matter is tough for some people
to deal with and that caused this to be the only movie that producer Roger
Corman lost money on during the 1970’s. There are some very graphic scenes
involving cockfighting and birds getting killed in them.
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia 1974
This was a somewhat controversial
collaboration between Oates and director Sam Peckinpah that was critically
reviled upon its release but is now considered by many to be a bizarre
masterpiece. Oates plays Benny, an American piano player living in Mexico who
hears about a million dollar bounty for the head of a dead gigolo. This sends
him on a violent road trip with his girlfriend and a corpse’s head in a bag as
they encounter various bad guys all looking to get Garcia’s head and the
bounty. This was one of Oates’s favorite roles as it was the main one in which
his character was central to the story and is continuous for the duration of
the picture. It personifies the type of bad guy roles that he would often
portray, ones that are bad but in a charming way. He possesses a certain set of
qualities that make you like him and sympathize for him.
-Raul Vantassle