Happy Birthday Brad Pitt
One of my favorite actors, turns 45 today, and this is just a very humble tribute to him. William Bradley Pitt, aka better known as Brad Pitt, one of Hollywood’s superstars and a great actor. Yeah i know he is a great looker, but that is for the females to go ooh aah over. And as far as Brangelina or his previous marriage with Jennifer Aniston is concerned, that is for the tabloids. Basically this is a look at Brad’s movies over the years and his career. I had earlier written about some of my other favorites at My Blog, where interested persons can check out. For some one like me growing up in the 90’s and exploring movies, Brad Pitt like Ed Norton, Matt Damon was a part of my movie going experience.
Brad Pitt’s rise to stardom was not an instant one, he had to make do with bit roles in movies like No Way Out, and Cutting Class. His first major on screen role was in a 90’s indie flick Across the Tracks a story of 2 brothers taking the opposite paths in life. But it was the 91 female bonding movie, Thelma and Louise, where he played a drifter JD who has an affair with Thelma( Geena Davis) and then makes off with her money. The movie was famous for the scene, where JD makes love to Thelma, and has been rated as one of the Hottest scenes in movies.
It was Robert Redford’s 92 movie A River Runs Through It, that made people sit up and take notice of Pitt. A wonderful and enchanting story, Redford handles a story of 2 brothers growing up in rural Montana, under their father a Church pastor, Rev McLean(Tom Skerritt). Pitt played the role of Paul the younger and more rebellious son, who rebels against his strict father by turning to liquor and gambling. The movie is narrated by his elder brother Norman( Craig Sheffer) using the motif of trout fishing as a backdrop, through which the brothers share their experience with their father.
Interview with the Vampire in 1994, was Pitt’s first big mainstream success. Based on the Vampire chronicles by Anne Rice, Pitt plays a vampire Louis De Pointe, who narrates his story to a reporter in New Orlean
s.
Tom Cruise plays the bad guy here, as Lestat, the wicked vampire, who tempts Louis into the path of evil. Not a very great movie, i felt it was quite overdrawn in places, and just went on. The climax was a chiller though. 1994 also saw Pitt as Tristan Ludlow in The Legends of the Fall, a period drama about a retired American colonel William Ludlow( Antony Hopkins) staying on a Montana farm along with his 3 sons and his trusted Native American helpers. The elder son Alfred(Aidan Quinn) is educated and responsible, while Pitt playing Tristan is a wild spirit, spending his time hunting and fishing, and Samuel their youngest brother. Though not very critically admired, i did like this movie a lot, especially the relationship between the brothers, and their father, was well captured.
David Finche
r’s Se7en(1995) however which had Brad Pitt co starring with Morgan Freeman and Gwyenth Paltrow, was a total killer of a movie. Pitt plays a detective along with Freeman, investigating a series of murders which have the 7 Deadly Sins as their motive. Relentlesly dark, layered and complex, the movie just grips me everytime i watch it, including the climax, which is a total shocker. Se7en certainly rates up there as one of Pitt’s best movies, as also one of my favorite 90’s flicks. The same year also Pitt co starred
with Bruce Willis in the Terry Giliam’s dystopian sci fi flick, Twelve Monkeys. Bruce Willis plays a convict James Cole, who travels back in time to catch a virus, which would help in neutralizing the deadly virus, that wiped out most of humanity, forcing the survivors to remain underground. Pitt plays the role of Jeffrey Goines a pyschotic asylum inmate, who is anti consumerist. Like most of Gilliam’s movies this had a totally bleak tone, but a must watch for sci fi fans, especially those who love dystopian genre.
While i have not seen Sleepers, The Devil’s Own where he co starred with Harrison Ford, as an IRA terrorist, 7 years in Tibet and Meet Joe Black , were movies that seemed more to cash in on his super star image. Not bad movies, but certainly not great. And then came Fight Club in 1999 , where Pitt once again teamed up with his Se7en director David Fincher. Fight Club was a cult classic to the core, starring Pitt and my other favorite Ed Norton. Pitt plays the iconic role of Tyler Durden, a salesman, who sets up a Fight club with the nameles Everyman( Ed Norton). Again another movie with a totally twisted climax, it had great performances from both Pitt and Norton.
One thing i do love about Pitt, is the way he has managed to strike a balance between the standard mainstream movie and the off beat movies. This decade though it has been somewhat mixed. Guy Ritchie’s Snatch where he plays Mickey O Neill, an Irish boxer asked to throw a match, was pretty good, one of the Ritchie’s best, though i liked Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels more. The Mexican, Troy and Mr&Mrs. Smith were standard mainstream fare, while i have not yet seen Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Spy Game i felt was quite interesting, where Pitt played a CIA agent held captive in a Chinese prison, typical Tony Scott stuff, but engaging enough. I did quite like Pitt’s turn in Babel where his is the first of the stories, when his wife Susan( Cate Blanchett) is hit by a bullet and that triggers off a series of tales linked to each other. I am still yet to watch Assasination of Jesse James, Burn After Reading and Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Till then wishing a Happy 45 to Mr. Pitt.
And one last thing, the Happy Birthday message was only incidental. The main purpose was about Pitt and some of his movies, and that is what am hoping to see in the comments section. Your views on Pitt, his movies, your favorite flicks of his.
Tags: Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, David Fincher, Ed Norton, Fight Club, Hollywood Actors, Robert Redford, Se7en, World Cinema
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Happy Bday Brad Pitt
Babel must be the movie where i felt he’s acted the best…especially when he speaks to his children on the phone in the end…havn’t seen fight club as yet…
watch Assasination of Jesse James and Burn After Reading. two of Pitt’s best performances. may be he will surpass them with Benjamin button.
Burn after reading releases tomorrow.
Loved him in 12 monkeys, true romance, fight club, snatch, ocean series, the mexican.
Not too fond of his other phase – babel, troy, seven years in tibet..
feel like renting The Mexican and will try and catch Burn after soon for a bday toast.
Have a good one, Brad.
@ Tushar
Dunno where you live, burn after reading released in India ( B’lore & Mumbai) 2 weeks ago ( 5th Dec).
@ Ratnakar
You are simply amazing- how on earth did you remember his b’day? Now dont attribute it to the quizzer in you
I live in B’lore. It is releasing here tomorrow.
Without a doubt, ‘Fight Club’ is my fave Pitt movie.
Loved it!
He’s always good and very watchable, except in ‘Burn After Reading’!
No, seriously I feel that his performance was just too OTT for that film, completely outa sync.
But, as i’ve enjoyed him in everything else, I shall forgive him :-)
‘Troy’ was quite a bore for me.
He was great in ‘Babel’!
And ‘Mr & Mrs Smith’?
Total mast film!
Happy b’day to apna Brad yaar :-)
pitt’s movie selection is nothing short of ominous!!
fight club, seven, the assassination of jesse james and this bit role in the movie true romance was a killer!!his risk taking abilities as an actor are immense!!can you think of any other actor portraying Achilles as good as him!!
i consider him an Achilles of american cinema!!
@ Sethu, naah yaar, how much of a Quizzard i am, remembering dates, especially Birthdays even of my favorite actors is not something i am good at. Just that was doing some Wiki for a Quiz, and then i got this info of 18th being Brad’s B’Day.
@ Ahmad-8
He and Eric Bana were great in Troy, but the movie was spoilt by Orlando Bloom and Diane Kruger in the lead roles. Totally colorless. Fight Club and Seven were classics. To date the climax of Seven just throws me off kilter. It seems Pitt threatened to walk out of the movie, when the studio wanted to change the climax.
@ Steve
Troy was way too overblown for me. Wolfgang Petersen gave his best in German cinema, Das Boot, is a true classic. But in Hollywood a rather mixed record, only liked In the Line of Fire and Outbreak.
Fight Club is a classic, cult to the core maan. The ending revelation was just mindblowing.
@ Rood Row
Am curious to see how David Fincher handles Benjamin Button. To date most of Fincher’s movies have been neurotic, dark crime dramas, if you exclude Panic Room, which was standard Hollywood stuff. Interesting to see how Fincer would handle a fable-fantasy kinda story.
BTW any one seen David Fincher’s The Game, i did hear it was quite a quirky movie.
like most actors, brad started off doing commercials/ads too.. he had done a lot of extra work too but couldn’t find that online..
pringles chips – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnM2PwK9o6I
honda – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt2wm1ux2Z0
levi’s – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ey4tB2ex9Y
ah cmon, I can’t believe you just made a fleeting reference to Snatch…
it was 5 minutes long…but classic!
d’ya like dags?
………….
anyway, the only problem with Brad Pitt is that I have never seen him act…unless I watch the movie more than 2-3 times…at which point, I gradually stop checking him out…