There's no question, that, like Michael Madsen in Reservoir Dogs, I'm a big Lee Marvin fan.Not only do I love watching his movies – especially his hardboiled crime flicks like Point Blank, Prime Cut, and The Killers – but Rick Burchett and I have even used the late actor as the model for our crime comic protagonist, "Gravedigger" McCrae. In fact, the art accompanying this post is the from our new, forthcoming Gravedigger graphic novel, The Predators. (See, Craig? We're really doing it!) And although using a character resembling Marvin got us
a fair amount of notice, our only real intention was to pay tribute to the man, and express our gratitude for all the entertainment and inspiration he'd given us.Hell, I'll even forgive him for Paint Your Wagon.
Lee Marvin died 20 years ago today. His last films were The Delta Force, with Chuck Norris, and a TV sequel to The Dirty Dozen – and, yes, I have both of those on DVD. Even at the end of his career was convincingly hardboiled and tough, the kind of action star we no longer have today.
Hollywood – and audiences – are poorer for it.
I think I'll watch one of his movies tonight – maybe The Professionals or Death Hunt or The Dirty Dozen... or maybe, Cat Ballou!
6 comments:
Ii always liked Lee Marvin. Certainly not many like him in Hollywood today.
I remember that when I saw the Wild One it was right after watching Point Blank, and the scene where Marlon Brando pushes Lee Marvin off his bike and into dreamlnad took me right out of the movie.
I bought Point Blank a couple of months ago, and it's become one of my favorites.
The artwork for the new Gravedigger book looks great.
How about the scene in the Dirty Dozen where he keeps pushing Clint Walker...
Oh, and you know I love the sneak peak!
Would it be too much of an in-joke to have him hit someone over the head with a banjo?
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