“Killing Them Softly” is the latest movie starring Brad Pitt to open in theaters, and it reminds me of how I like him best: scruffy, all messed up and far from being clean cut. Pitt has always been a very good actor, but its movies like these where he excels best as an actor. While Pitt remains one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, there are movies he’s been in that haven’t gotten the audience they deserved. If you enjoyed “Killing Them Softly,” then you should check these out as well.
“Kalifornia”
This 1993 thriller directed by Dominic Sena has Pitt playing Early Grayce, a serial killer who lives with his girlfriend Adele Corners (Juliette Lewis). The two of them end up getting picked up by graduate student Brian Kessler (David Duchovny) and his girlfriend Carrie Laughlin (Michelle Forbes) who are doing a tour of serial killer murder sites. Pitt did this movie not long after having done “Thelma & Louise” and “A River Runs Through It,” and it showed that he was no flash in the pan. While “Kalifornia” bombed at the box office, it has since gained an audience on home video.
“True Romance”
This movie which was written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by the late Tony Scott has long since gained a cult following, but it’s still worth mentioning here for Pitt’s performance as Floyd. His character is the infinitely stoned roommate of Christian Slater’s friend who’s played by Michael Rappaport. While Pitt is in the movie for a short period of time, watching him here is so much fun. There’s never a moment in “True Romance” where he is not under the influence of some kind of narcotic, and seeing him explain where his friends are to people armed with heavy duty shotguns gives the movie its funniest moments.
One of the most underappreciated and misunderstood movies of the 1990s has Pitt portraying Tyler Durden, a soap salesmen whom Edward Norton’s character befriends on a flight. Pitt considers this one of his best performances and he is correct in saying so. Durden is an anti-corporate person who encourages Norton to free himself from the shackles of society and not be guided by him, and he looks to be having the time of his life in this film. Even when the truth of Durden is revealed to the audience, Pitt still makes us believe in the character regardless.
“Snatch”
Guy Ritchie’s crime movie from the year 2000 did well at the box office, but it has since gained an even bigger audience through DVD and Blu-ray. Pitt’s performance as boxer Mickey O’Neil is noted for the fact that you can’t understand much of what he says. But like the movie though, Pitt is not the least bit boring and you understand what his character is going through even while he speaks total gibberish.
“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”
This film is directed by Andrew Dominik who also directed Pitt in “Killing Them Softly.” Pitt’s performance as Jesse James earned him the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival, and he proves to be both scary and charismatic in the role. He is also matched well by his co-star Casey Affleck who plays Robert Ford and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. The movie’s box office failure signaled that the world of independent films had taken a sizable hit, but there was no denying its overall quality.
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