It’s Christopher Walken‘s birthday! To mark the occasion, here are five (out of who knows how many) of my favorite performances of his. Check some of these out!
The Prophecy (1995)
Walken plays Archangel Gabriel in this all-star cast that includes Elias Koteas, Virginia Madsen, Eric Stoltz, and Viggo Mortensen. In the midst of an angelic civil war a police detective gets caught in the middle of it all while the angels are on the hunt for a “dark soul” to be used in a second war in Heaven. While the film borders on being a little hokey at times, Walken delivers a stellar performance as the evil angel hell-bent on war.
Suicide Kings (1997)
Again in another all-star cast film, this time Walken plays former mob boss Carlo Bartolucci, who has been living under the alias Charlie Barret. One night see two young men sitting at his private table, instead of just kicking them out immediately he joins them for a bit and befriends them. Unfortunately they kidnap him and the hilarity and thrills ensue. Released in the time a ton of pseudo-Tarantino wannabes, this film delivers a ton of great performances. Obviously Walken is great, but you also have Denis Leary, Jay Mohr, Henry Thomas and Sean Patrick Flanery.
The Dead Zone (1983)
Based on a Stephen King novel and directed by David Cronenberg, Walken plays John Smith, a young schoolteacher who has a car accident one night and ends up in a coma. Upon waking up he finds out that five years has passed and that he has the psychic ability to learn aspects of a person’s life through physical contact with them. He begins to use his powers for good by helping a sheriff solve a series of murders. But when things go wrong, he becomes disillusioned and begins to isolate himself. One day while attending a rally for Greg Stillson (Martin Sheen), a third-party candidate for the U.S. Senate, he shakes his hand and has vision of him becoming president. The vision includes him ordering a preemptive strike on the Soviet Union, resulting in a nuclear holocaust. Knowing that he has a “dead zone” in his visions, where the future is not set, and he can change it, he attempts to assassinate Stillson to prevent this. All around just great performances by everyone in the film.
King of New York (1990)
Abel Ferrara‘s gritty New York crime drama was pretty much overlooked back in the day when it was released late in 1990 and overshadowed by New Jack City in early 1991. Walken plays Frank White, a drug lord who has just been released from prison and he’s looking to get back in the game. Again with another all-star cast Walken delivers an intense performance in this game of cops and robbers. Ferrara’s film may be a bit over the top for some, but it’s worth it for some of the lesser known performances of Lawrence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito and Steve Buscemi.
A View to a Kill (1985)
In the last Bond film to star Sir Roger Moore, Walken stars as Max Zorin, a psychopathic industrialist who plans to destroy California’s Silicon Valley. Probably one of my favorite Bond movies starring Moore (Octopussy was the first one I saw). And even though he was showing his age at this point, I was 10 and just enjoyed the hell out of it. It may also be the first movie I ever saw Christopher Walken in to be honest. He was a great choice for being a Bond villain at the time. It was also Dolph Lundgren‘s film debut.
And don’t forget his fantastic dance performance in Fatboy Slim’s music video “Weapon of Choice” which you can watch here.
Sure, I could have added his roles from Annie Hall, Batman Returns, The Deer Hunter, Joe Dirt and countless others. But what are some of your favorite films to feature birthday boy Christopher Walken?
