Bill Paxton was one of my favorite actors. His career and life spanned farther and more richly than one may think despite it being cut short in the most unfair of ways. There are pictures of him as a boy seated on his dad's shoulders at JFK's funeral in 1963. In December of 1980, Saturday Night Live aired the video to the Barnes and Barnes Dr Demento favorite Fish Heads.
This was directed by Paxton, who also appeared in it. Paxton was well read despite the inferences that may be drawn from his thick North Texas accent and good ol' boy nature. He was an energetic, creative soul, and very kind. This I know from a Joe Lansdale book reading I attended just a short while before Covid started choking the United States. The man's description by Lansdale is sacrosanct as far as I'm concerned. Joe is a straight shooter. Paxton was going to direct the film version of Lansdale's The Bottoms, a piece of literature on par with the greatest of writing from two decades before it, and its movie version now sits undecided. You can hear the emotion in Lansdale's voice as he speaks of all this; this loss of his friend.
Lance Henriksen is the only person standing alongside Paxton as an actor killed by a Predator, a Xenomorph (Alien, for those not in the know) and the Terminator on celluloid. This being a tell-tale sign of the love uber-successful director James Cameron must have for both men. Paxton's nervousness can be felt in the viewers bones as he is lowered down to the Titanic in a min-sub as prep for his role in Cameron's Oscar winning film. You can see and feel these moments in the documentary Ghosts in the Abyss.
In John Hughes ridiculous teen comedy Weird Science, his oafish moron, Chet, may be the only reason to watch the film now. It otherwise doesn't hold up, really. Its quite stupid, largely sexist, and carries a touch of racism that make me uncomfortable. Yet, to this day I still warble out to people Chet's line: "Like a greasy pork sandwich served in dirty ashtray".
I don't need a reason. Just Bill.
Much like the careers of Willem Dafoe and Matt Dillon, Paxton's career and filmography do not sit in the big or the low budget exclusively. He was the loudmouth punker killed by Schwarzenegger in the opening moments of The Terminator. But then, his career popped off in a murder thriller written by Billy Bob Thornton, One False Move in the role of Dale "Hurricane" Dixon, that is exceedingly underrated, and largely unknown. Kathryn Bigelow gave him the role alongside Henriksen and Jenette Goldstein, the unforgettable Severin, who is both chuckle inducing, and terrifying in the vampire noir Near Dark. He'd rejoin Goldstein as the annoying Hudson in Cameron's Aliens. Forget Weird Science, his utterance "Game over, man! Game over!" will never stopped being muttered by downtrodden sports fans in perpetuity.
What blew me away about Paxton was his touch as a director. Sadly, we only get to see one example of it, as he only helmed one film, the nearly perfect Frailty. Casting fellow Texans Matthew McConaughey (read of his renaissance here) and Powers Boothe (read the obituary I wrote for him here) in a horror film that not only has moments of true fearfulness, but it'll make you think, and dwell on the nature of true good and evil, and what those words actually mean. His supporting performance in the movie is also flawless. Look at his eyes. He believes in this character and in this film. Upon release, his pride in it was public knowledge in all forms of media.
By now, Paxton was worldwide. One of his most hilarious roles was in 1994's True Lies from Jim Cameron. Versatility on display, he brought you a slimy car salesman, lying to women to bed them, who proves his true worth by the end of his character's arc. Facial expressions sell the package, as he joins the list of great actors selling exact emotion with their eyes and cheek muscles. A strong performance that held together an otherwise overblown but lovable movie Twister came in 1996, giving him a lead in a huge box office success. Paxton was more believable than most of the CGI tornadoes in the film.
Bill Paxton was not just a gifted actor, he had the ability to glow in his personality, with his grin and his laugh, and make you feel something like "Hey, I know this guy". Or at least wish you did. Much like Jack White, Ethan Hawke, and Michael Shannon, he made me DVR talk shows, and very few make me do that.
He was Morgan Earp in Tombstone, Fred Haise in Apollo 13 too, of course. But what may be my favorite (and a quite undersold role), was the one he crawled into and never came out of until after shooting, Jack Belston in Mike Binders Indian Summer. A movie with one of the all-time great ensemble casts, including relaxed and lived-in spins by Alan Arkin, Diane Lane, Matt Craven and director extraordinaire Sam Raimi. I don't think Bill played a character like Belston before, and boy, does he nail it. By the way, try watching the end of Raimi's A Simple Plan, and dare yourself not to cry during the exchange between Paxton and Thornton at the conclusion in that one. Can't be done. These men are thespian geniuses.
Just an observation I've made now: It's funny how a lot of these names seem to interlace around each other in the career of one Bill Paxton.
Bill died at the age of 61, after complications from surgery. He had a lot left on his docket, and knowing that makes me sad enough for my eyes to wet. He had a lot of friends, a family that loved him, and living in a world without him in it, definitely is a bit of an unbalanced situation. One I hate.
I've held off watching the last film where he's the primary role, Mean Dreams, despite the great reviews. I haven't even opened it yet. Because once I've watched it, I've watched it, and that won't change as long as its sealed in its crinkly cellophane.
I miss you, Bill.
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