Profile: Kurt Russell

For years, Kurt Russell has charmed audiences through a vast variety of different roles. He is recognized in many different circles because of his ability to go from Disney family films to cult classics, all the way to a more recent career of collaborations with Quentin Tarantino.

My appreciation of Kurt Russell has been present for years through mostly a love of his work with John Carpenter, but as the years have gone by, I’ve explored his career more fully, finding a new appreciation for his ability to ease into any role with a level of charisma I have never seen in any other performer.

I am always trying to find the best comedy films each era has to offer, so my appreciation of Kurt Russell bridges across all genres, yet I know some audiences only connect him with the one genre in which they are most interested. Kurt Russell effortlessly flits between any genre, always feeling firmly in place. He never feels out of place in a film, even if it is completely against another type of role for which he is known. Not many actors can be recognized and well-regarded both for lighthearted Disney adventures and gruesome horror films. No matter what role Kurt Russell is playing, his natural charisma and charm shines through, giving a dose of humanity to every role he plays.

The Original Breakout Disney Star

Kurt Russell developed a personal relationship with Walt Disney  before signing a ten-year contract with The Walt Disney Company in 1966. It is commonly noted that Walt Disney‘s last words were ‘Kurt Russell‘ scrawled on a piece of paper, which might have something to do with Russell‘s career with the company and his close friendship with Walt Disney.

During his stint at Disney, he starred in The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band, The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit, The Barefoot Executive, Charley and the Angel, and Superdad, but Russell‘s breakout Disney role was his turn as Dexter Riley in a series of films set at the fictitious Medfield College. This trilogy consisted of The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, Now You See Him, Now You Don’t, and The Strongest Man in the World. 

The first of the Dexter Riley films, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), put Kurt Russell on the map and helped him become one of Disney’s biggest stars in the 1970s. This film introduced us to Dexter and his friends as they are listening to a university meeting through a speaker system set up outside. As Dean Higgins (Joe Flynn) lists students who should be put on probation, almost everyone in the group outside is named. This gives us a quick introduction to the characters and their relationship to each other at the university. In how flippantly they react to being put on probation, we see how sure they are in their position at the school and how little they respect the dean of the university.

This scene also introduces us to the relationship between their Professor Quigley (William Schallert) and this group of students. The group decides it is their responsibility to get a computer for their professor after hearing the news that the university does not want to modernize. Dexter steps up and offers an opportunity since he once worked with A.J. Arno (Cesar Romero), the man selling the computer. His connections put him as the center of the story even before we get into where his adventure really starts.

As Dexter is changing a part in the computer during a storm, he is electrocuted, causing the database of the computer to become linked with his brain. Once this happens, his group of friends develop bonds as they compete in the university quiz bowl, which they have never had a chance of winning in the past. As the success grows for Dexter, his friendships start to unravel, but in typical Disney fashion everything comes together at the end as the group reforms to stand together against the corruption and authority of adults.

Kurt Russell gives a strong comedic performance as he goes from laid-back college student to stiff walking computer. His scenes where he resembles a computer the most are often the funniest, since he changes his speech patterns and mannerisms as he answers quiz bowl questions. Near the end of the film, he starts malfunctioning on the way to returning to his normal self.

This scene stands out as one of the funniest of the film, since Russell works well at trying to maintain his computer-like delivery and increased intelligence as it is being stripped away from him. The pauses and long drawn out words resemble that of a computer lagging from overuse before it shuts down completely. In this case, leaving us with the original Dexter Riley, ready for another science experiment gone wrong in his next two films playing the accident prone college student.

Kurt Russell starred in a few Disney films throughout the years, but his supporting role in the 2005 superhero family-comedy Sky High stands out. He took on the role of Steve Stronghold, the father of main character Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano). Steve is also known as The Commander, part of a well-known superhero duo The Commander and Jetstream, with his wife Josie Stronghold. Will doesn’t see them as anything but his protective parents and part time real estate agents. But once Will is going off to high school, his parents are ready for him to take over the superhero mantel by attending the superhero high school, Sky High. What they don’t know is he has no superpowers.

The relationship between father and son is explored throughout the film as Will tries to accept that he may be powerless. His father is distraught that his son might not be able to follow his footsteps. In one scene, Steve jokes about dunking his son in a vat of toxic waste. These kind of sci-fi jokes fuel the film, making it a memorable appreciation of superhero films, as well as other sorts of cult films. The film includes other stars from past sci-fi, superhero, and horror films including Kurt Russell as well as Lynda Carter, and Bruce Campbell. The film is also peppered with references to other films in this genre, yet has the heart of a family friendly coming-of-age adventure.

Kurt Russell may not be the focus of Sky High, but he does a good job adding humanity to a super-powered character we may otherwise look past. The film focuses more on seeing these powerful characters as ordinary people living in a world where superheroes are commonplace. Even in a school where almost everyone has a superpower, people are divided and treated as lesser if their power isn’t as amazing on the surface. The theme that nobody is ever useless stands out in Sky High. We see Will and his father bonding over finally sharing powers, yet the characters all grow along the way, accepting what they can offer even if it’s not speed, flying, or super-strength. Seeing the humanity of a character described as one of the strongest superheroes adds a wonderful level to the film and lets Russell explore a rather cliche ridden character type in a more realistic and grounded manner.

John Carpenter Collaborations

After the success in his early Disney roles, Kurt Russell‘s career took off with his collaborations with director John Carpenter. Big Trouble in Little China, The Thing, and Escape from New York stand out as some of the most remembered cult films. The combination of horror, action, and science fiction worked well to create unforgettably fun film experiences.

In Escape from New York (1981), Kurt Russell plays Snake Plissken, an ex-soldier and federal prisoner. The film is set in the dystopian near-future of 1997 where after a 400% increase in crime, Manhattan Island in New York City has been turned into the country’s only maximum security prison, where the president has been taken hostage by The Duke of New York City, the top crime boss in the prison. Before he ventures to save the president, he is injected with micro-explosives which will go off in 22 hours if he does not save the president in that time frame.

Escape from New York helped recreate the science fiction and action genres through incorporating noir techniques into a more traditional science fiction narrative. The film takes on a darker tone than action films in a similar vein. Russell‘s performance as Snake Plissken has become iconic over the years, inspiring more deviations of the antihero character type. Snake might be a self-proclaimed asshole, but he is also a memorable hero, snarking his way through the maximum security prison of New York City.

Russell and Carpenter‘s collaboration makes for a memorable character in a well-crafted world, drawing on the darkest aspects of our own. The film mixes action and science fiction with ease, while also allowing the comedy of the script to come out perfectly through Russell‘s natural charisma.

Many action films have turned criminals into heroes, but in the case of Escape from New York, our hero never fully departs from his personality and prior life as a criminal. He only agrees to help because he is offered a full pardon for his past crimes. He actively hates the government and would much rather be off on his own. After saving him, Snake asks the president what he thinks of the lives lost in order to save his life. The president only offers a halfhearted display of regret. This disgusts Snake, showing us the moral center of the character and his disgust for the president and the government as a whole. Kurt Russell plays the part well, giving depth and morality to the otherwise crass antihero.

With 1982’s The Thing, Russell and Carpenter collaborated again. The Thing is rooted firmly in the science fiction genre, like the other collaborations between these two, but it goes further into the horror genre, for which Carpenter is well known. The horror in the film is far more internal than it is external, which is unique for a film built around gruesome and mutilated aliens.

While the effects in the film are groundbreaking, the true horror comes from the human characters and their fear and lack of trust of each other. One of the strongest elements of the film is how the human characters are developed, and their dynamics enhance the horror of not knowing who to trust. Seeing people turn against their friends they have been living and researching with at this antarctic outpost makes the film that much more horrifying.

Watching these characters bond and have playful discussions, even disagreements, makes the audience feel a connection with these people making their devolution into chaos and distrust of everything and everyone. As the film goes on, nobody trusts anyone else, making the horror feel closer to home than the typical science-fiction horror.

Russell does a wonderful job of taking a character who is tired and over this expedition into someone willing to stand up and fight for himself, as well as his fellow scientists. From his early characterization of someone frequently drinking and being separate from conversations between others, he is written as someone the audience could expect of going against his workmates, as well as the unlikely hero trope Kurt Russell has played multiple times, especially in his collaborations with John Carpenter.

While the film is filled with displays of mutilated alien corpses, one of the tensest moments came when R.J. MacReady (Kurt Russell) came up with a test to see who among them was human and who was the thing imitating its latest prey. In this scene, you can feel the tension between each character, nervous if the person they were tied up next to would turn out to be one of them. As the knife sliced through their fingers to draw blood needed for the test, the audience as well as the characters sat on edge. The simple action of slicing along their fingers was more horrifying than seeing the thing swinging its tendrils around, attacking anything within reach.

Big Trouble in Little China (1986) stands out to me because the main character is not written as the best and strongest person in the film. He has his faults, which adds to the humor and enjoyment of his journey throughout the film. Kurt Russell plays Jack Burton, a trucker pulled into a mystical battle through Chinatown. I love how this character has a unique personality involving confidence and reflexes, but not necessarily all-around talent when it comes to battles.

At times, his character is flailing around, with an almost complete lack of understanding of what is going on around him. One of the best scenes in the film is when he joins a fight late and Wang Chi (Dennis Dun) had already defeated the entire group of attackers. Another scene showing his less than heroic level of skill comes when he shoots the ceiling above his head, causing rubble to fall down and knock him out.

John Carpenter‘s film takes a traditional hero character and gives him much-needed faults, which works to create a much more endearing and memorable character. Making Jack Burton more of a sidekick and making Wang Chi the more heroic character is an interesting twist on the classic action film.

Russell‘s performance as Jack Burton is one I will never forget; from every scene he exudes confidence and charisma, while also shaking his gun around in the air, never taking the time to aim. Burton does have some natural skills, especially in using his well-appreciated reflexes when catching things thrown at him and his friends. Big Trouble in Little China is a film easily watched repeatedly, filled with its quick humor, mystical action sequences, and endearing characters.

Comedy Career

In addition to having a well-respected career in Disney films and cult classics, Kurt Russell also had a well-recognized career in comedy films. He is an actor easily recognized by many different people for extremely different reasons. One person might recognize him solely for his work with John Carpenter while another person might automatically connect Kurt Russell with his role opposite Goldie Hawn in Overboard. He has so completely covered the market by adding his signature charm to countless roles throughout various film genres.

One of Russell‘s first film roles coming off of his Disney success was as Rudy Russo in the 1980 comedy Used Cars. This film helped show audiences he is more than a Disney star, since the film was an R-rated comedy, having Russell play a sleazy, yet likable used car salesman.

His performance captures the quick talking and persuasive nature of the seedy salesman. The film opens on Rudy adjusting the cars in the lot, so they will sell better. He changes the mileage on one car, sprays new car fragrance into another, and covers over a hole in the window of yet another car. This scene works to establish the character, so the audience knows he’s not a very trustworthy guy.

This makes his turn as the hero even more interesting and entertaining for the audience. The film takes a stance against corrupt businessmen, while also making a business, corrupt in a different way, the heroic force of the film. For a film about lying and cheating to keep their business afloat, it has enough heart to make the adventure worthwhile.

Used Cars is an amusing early entry into adult comedic films for Russell, showing how his career would grow and develop into multiple genres, but his charm and charisma would stay intact throughout the journey.

In Garry Marshall‘s Overboard, Russell plays Dean Proffit, a carpenter who is hired by Joanna Stayton (Goldie Hawn) a selfish heiress. The main story picks up after Joanna falls overboard while going to pick up her wedding ring. She is pulled into shore on a garbage scow. Afterwards, she is taken to the local hospital because she is suffering from amnesia. Dean sees her on the news and decides to get back at her for how poorly she treated him, by pretending like she is his wife and making her raise his unruly children.

In anyone else’s hands, this movie could easily be seen as a horrifying tale of a man forcing a woman to cook and clean for him. The chemistry between Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, who were already in a relationship at the time this film was made, was so wonderful and electrifying, the film comes across as much sweeter than you would imagine. Russell‘s character does things we should find appalling, but as usual, he is able to add a level of sincerity to the character, turning the film instead into a fantastic re-imagining of the classic screwball comedy.

Both Russell and Hawn masterfully recreate the battle of the classes dynamic found in the screwball comedies of the 1930s and 1940s. They are exaggerating their characters and social classes in a way to highlight the differences between them as well as bring forth the comedy of incongruity. We see these characters who are so completely different, yet we look forward to the moment they shall come together and fall in love. Even from the beginning, when they are the opposites of each other, we understand the chemistry and romantic pull between the characters. As the film goes on, we laugh at the differences between the two still showing up even after she has amnesia.

In these classic films, the woman is typically the one of a higher class and the audience is supposed to recognize the selfishness and flippant lifestyles of the rich. Overboard does this exceptionally well in its opening, creating an opportunity for Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn to introduce their characters and the tension between the two, which acts as a catalyst for the entire film by pitting these two against each other, resulting in a desire for each to get back at the other.

Having a class divide play a huge part in Overboard makes it work so much better. The comedy comes mostly from the differences between the ways of life of our leads. In a typical screwball comedy, the romance is second to the comedy, something not to be taken completely seriously. If you finish Overboard thinking this relationship will never last, but enjoying the wacky antics along the way, they did their job recreating the classic screwball comedy.

Further along in his career, Kurt Russell played the titular character in the 1992 comedy Captain Ron. The film was not a critical hit, but it has had a long life as a cult comedy, mostly due to Russell‘s performance as Captain Ron Rico. When the yacht is in less than perfect condition, the brokers change their plan to hire an experienced captain, instead hiring local sailor Captain Ron to bring the Harvey family to Miami, where they plan on selling the recently inherited boat.

Over the course of the film, Martin Harvey (Martin Short), who was the most excited to sail the boat his uncle left behind, ends up being the least taken by Ron, while his wife, daughter, and son all grow to love Ron and all his interesting personality quirks. The comedy comes mostly from Ron and his interactions with every member of the family, but Martin Short‘s neurotic form of comedy helps add another layer to the film. Russell does a wonderful job of inhabiting a character who shouldn’t be as likable as he is, but his rough around the edges personality and apparent lack of knowledge of the sea makes him a more dynamic character than expected. In the end, his character is probably the most developed and most interesting, even though it could have been a pretty straightforward incompetent trope of comedic works.

This is another example of a less than honest Kurt Russell character being the heart of a film, starting as the main comedic force and ending up being likable in strange and unexpected ways. He acts as a Mary Poppins of sorts, coming into the life of this family too concerned with work which they can’t stop to spend time with their children, and changing them into a more loving family who enjoys spending time together. At the end of the film, Ron disappears and shows up moments later in the boat of a young couple, hopefully going on to another adventure of teaching a stuck-up family how to love each other again through teaching them about the ocean through slightly unorthodox methods.

The Violent Expansion

With 2007’s Death Proof, Kurt Russell reentered the minds of movie-goers as someone worth watching. He started taking on more daring roles, leading to a whole new crop of movie-goers seeing and appreciating his old films as well as his new. Death Proof started this new appreciation of Kurt Russell as he took on more interesting and violent scripts. By being more picky in his roles, Russell was able to create a new and exciting level to his 55  year and counting career.

In this rather dark departure from his previous roles, Russell plays Stuntman Mike, a stuntman who pursues young women as the next victims of his modified 1969 Dodge Charger. Quentin Tarantino was inspired by true stories of stuntmen who would modify their cars in order to make it out of deadly crashes. In Death Proof, Stuntman Mike uses his so-called death proof car to murder and abuse young women.

Death Proof is split into two distinctive halves, each one playing with a certain type of strong women. Even though the film is about a man going after women, it is really a story about women and how they fight against unwanted advances. In the first half, the group of female friends are putting each other down in a joking way, while still feeling more cut off from each other than the group of friends in the second part of the film. In this first half, the women use their sexuality as a weapon.

The women also disconnect themselves from their friends more, thinking using their sexuality to solve problems is better than relying on friends. Jungle Julia (Sydney Tamiia Poitier), Shanna (Jordan Ladd), and Arlene (Vanessa Ferlito) are friends, yet never in the film do they feel completely friendly. Even when doing something for each other, they never seem to fully think if it’s what they should do or not.

In this story, Stuntman Mike is able to get in-between the friends, allowing him to go through with his plans of murder and abuse. He is shown as a darker and more dangerous character in this half. Kurt Russell is able to play the character in different ways across the two segments. He gives Mike more confidence in this segment, letting him openly flirt with the young women who go along with it, instead of fighting back.

He is seen as past his prime and nonthreatening by the people he meets in the bar this segment is centered around. In one scene, he pauses like he has to sneeze, but nothing happens. Russell‘s commitment in this scene is outstanding. It is possibly one of my favorite scenes in the entire film. It adds perfectly to the nonthreatening way everyone sees him. He still has confidence, but all the people he comes in contact with only see him as an old man talking with nothing to back it up. The characters see him as nonthreatening, yet they go along with his advances, not having the time to adjust and fight back as a group.

Using a time jump to connect the two distinct halves was a very common practice in grindhouse films as a way to connect two shorter films, which would not necessarily be long enough on their own. Death Proof was a part of Grindhouse along with Planet Terror, but it also displayed this practice with its connection of two very different halves, with one character connecting them to each other.

During the second half, our group of women are much more positive to each other, even when telling stories which might seem mean-hearted to people outside the group are met with smiles, laughter, and happy memories. When telling a story about Zoë Bell, playing a version of herself, never getting hurt, when they know anyone else in the group would have come away scratched and bruised, the friends are openly laughing at themselves as well as their friends. This scene shows us the warm relationship between the friends, which comes into play with how they react to Stuntman Mike when he enters their life. Lee (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Kim (Traci Thoms), Abernathy (Rosario Dawson) and Zoë are all smiles as they revisit memories, discuss new loves, and laugh about their experiences in Hollywood together.

In addition to the group of women at the center being different, Russell‘s performance as Stuntman Mike changes to address the different dynamic he has with the first and second group. In this segment, Stuntman Mike is not seen as a big deal with the friends in the segment, because they know they can work together and defeat him if needed. Instead of breaking up the group and trying to use sexuality as a weapon, they decide to work together to take him down after he tried running them off the road in a long and intense car chase. Mike is seen as he lost his edge since the first segment, but it more likely comes from the difference in the group of friends, who don’t waste time allowing his advances.

In the second segment, the main characters are not all introduced to Mike in the same way, yet they see him earlier in the film, making his intentions known before the car chase scene nearing the end of the film. By being suspicious early on and standing up for each other during the finale of the film, this group is able to survive and give Stuntman Mike what he deserves: a beating until he starts crying and begging them for mercy as the April March song Chick Habit plays in the background.

The lyrics April March wrote to update the France Gall song Laisse tomber les filles fit perfectly with Death Proof and its message for men to stop messing around with ladies who don’t want them. The stanza “You’re gonna need a heap of glue / When they all catch up with you / And they cut you up in two” works especially well as it punctuates Zoë, Kim, and Abernathy beating up Mike after being pushed and shoved all over the road.

Following the success of his more violent work, Kurt Russell took a role in S. Craig Zahler‘s Bone Tomahawk, a memorable gruesome revision of the classic western. The mixture of slow-burn western and violent horror film works wonders in Bone Tomahawk, making it an unforgettable film.

Bone Tomahawk starts slowly, similar to a traditional western, before building up over the course of the film to one of the most violent films I’ve seen in recent years. The change from western to horror is greatly appreciated, creating something unique in the western genre. I have never been a big fan of the genre, but the revisionist westerns of recent years have slowly been changing my mind, and Bone Tomahawk is one of the most remarkable.

The performances of Bone Tomahawk make an impression, especially in terms of realism. Sheriff Hunt (Kurt Russell), Deputy Chicory (Richard Jenkins), John Brooder (Matthew Fox), and Arthur O’Dwyer (Patrick Wilson) spend time in the film on a road trip of sorts, on their way to rescue Arthur’s wife, Samantha O’Dwyer (Lili Simmons), who was kidnapped by a nearby tribe of cannibal savages. During this road trip, the characters show their personalities through conversation.

These conversations between the characters always felt real and honest, even when discussing concepts far removed from normal reality. This film was able to fully immerse itself in the universe of the story, crafting minute details surrounding the troglodyte tribe, which has been removed from all other people, even fellow tribes, long enough to adapt to cannibalistic tendencies.

During the last third of the film, the horror and violence skyrockets. This makes the horror feel more intense, because you spent an hour getting used to the fabric of a classic western while feeling some sort of security in those early scenes, before being pushed into new territories exploring the society and methods of the cannibal community. Bone Tomahawk is a wonderful revisit to the classic western with new twists and turns along the way.

Recent Roles

Recently, Kurt Russell has starred in two of the biggest box office successes of 2017, The Fate of the Furious and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

In The Fate of the Furious, Russell reprises a role he played in the previous film Furious 7. His character is a mysterious government official, but what separates him from this common trope in films is his acceptance and ease in which he interacts with the main group. The character feels fairly easygoing for a government agent who is known only by an alias. In Fate of the Furious, he acts as comic relief at times, which is not commonly something associated with unnamed government agent characters, but is a happy departure from the trope.

Russell gives the character a little more personality and importance than this common trope normally receives in these kind of films. This level of friendliness and familiarity works well in The Fast and the Furious franchise, offering him a position in the ever-growing, yet always important family.

The franchise is set to continue for at least two more films with release dates in 2019 and 2021, yet we are unsure if Russell will be reprising this role again and becoming a long term member of the family. No matter what, he has been a fantastic addition these past two films and will be gladly accepted in any future films by fans of the franchise.

In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Russell takes on the role of Peter Quill’s father, Ego the Living Planet. The film opens with a scene set in 1980, starring Russell in a mixture of makeup and CGI in order to return him to his 1980s self. The scene helps develop his character and his connection to Peter before diving into the main story-line of the film.

Russell‘s performance as Ego is at the same time warm and inviting as well as chilling and disturbing. As Russell sings along to Brandy, You’re a Fine Girl, we begin to feel the corruption and all-consuming power of Ego. This role takes Russell‘s ability to make his characters likable to a new level. Ego’s story is built around how charming he can be on his quest to control and devour everything.

Much like Carpenter‘s The Thing, his desire is to “be everything on the face of the earth”, well in this case, the galaxy. Russell plays this all-consuming force with a painful and never-ending dread. The character wants to become everything, yet still feels vulnerable in the presence of Peter and the unceasing memories of Peter’s mother, Meredith.

Russell manages to add a level of humanity to a character who is effectively a god wanting to consume the entire galaxy. Through Ego’s memories of Meredith, the audience wonders how deep down that love resides and if this character could have done anything differently and chosen a less destructive life. The humanity Russell gives Ego as he tries to win Peter over to his side makes the moment of truth with his character hit that much harder.

Conclusion

At this moment, Kurt Russell does not have any upcoming films, but this will probably change soon, especially as the future films in The Fast and the Furious franchise come closer. Russell has been in a wonderful variety of films over his 55+ year career, and he will probably be in many more films, especially after his work in two of the biggest hits of 2017. Throughout the years, Kurt Russell has charmed audiences through his work across all sorts of genres. His work will not soon be forgotten.

What do you think of Kurt Russell?