Sam fucking Elliott

In July of '97, I took a trip to L.A. and was staying with friends in the People's Republic of Santa Monica. On a bright, lovely Sunday morning I went on a run throughout this lovely town, eventually hitting Ocean Avenue, passing by fellow tourist and various Santa Monicans. For those who don't know this stretch of road, it's an incredibly scenic route (though scenic in the "touristy" sense), with a nice view of the ocean and the Santa Monica Pier, so it's no wonder why it's also popular with joggers such as myself. As I took my Nike tour of Ocean Avenue, I found myself waiting at a stoplight next to a fellow jogger, also keeping in step and waiting for the light to change, and I nodded to him as joggers often do, in acknowledgment that one knows something of what the other is going through, and within a second I realized that the fellow jogger was none other than Sam Elliott. Sam fucking Elliott. I kept my cool, but I never felt like less of a man than I did at that moment. Even though I was in the process of undergoing a rough physical activity, coming across Sam Elliott reminded me that I'm not 6"2, I've never ridden a horse, never belted a guy, never had steak and beer for breakfast, and have never looked a man down so hard that he's trembled down to the bottom of his soul, knowing that it was either me or him and, in the end, it was probably going to be me. Then, Sam Elliott nodded back to me, the light changed and we both ran off in our separate directions.

Sam Elliott was born about 20 years too late. If hadn't been, he probably would have been one of the all-time great movie stars, spoken about in the same breath as John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart (or at least Randolph Scott) and would have several cool DVD box sets dedicated to him. Had he been born 20 years later than he was he probably would have gotten the Josh Brolin role in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and his career would either be taking off right now or getting bigger and bigger. But unfortunately for Sam Elliott he came onto the scene when westerns, the genre he was born to star in, were starting to lose out on their popularity. He's never seemingly been at a loss for work and he had a brief moment of stardom about 30 years ago when he starred in LIFEGUARD, but he's never been as big a star as he's belonged to be. No doubt he's highly respected by his peers and people do know who he is, but few movies, if any, are sold on the Sam Elliott name and his leading roles are confined mostly to television. That great role, the one that's going to put him over the top with audiences, alludes him still.

The thing about Elliott that's not acknowledged often enough is what a first-rate actor he is. Certainly he's got what it takes as an action hero, authority figure or romantic leading man, but look at him in a little movie like John Hancock's PRANCER, where he plays a single father, or THANKS YOU FOR SMOKING, where he where he has some fun with his cowboy image, and you see a full actor there, someone who can play most any character. Sure, Elliott has that embodiment of the perfect man, strong and firm, but like Eastwood, he can be soft if need be or poke fun at himself, and that to me makes him more of real man than most movie icons.

Something I find interesting about Elliott is how he defines our perception of a movie cowboy more than most any other actor today (except for Eastwood, of course) when the bulk of his westerns have been made for television. When the Coens needed a cowboy for THE BIG LEBOWSKI, they didn't turn to Dwight Yokam, they turned to Elliott; when a Marlboro Man was needed for THANK YOU FOR SMOKING, I'm sure the question was not "Should we try Sam Elliott?" but rather, "Can we get Sam Elliott?". But films like THE QUICK AND THE DEAD (not the Raimi film), CONAGHER, THE SACKETTS (opposite another contemporary cowboy, Tom Selleck), and THE DESPERATE TRAIL are all TVMs, and while certainly quality productions with fine work by Elliott, none of them are really classics of the genre. Where is Sam Elliott's UNFORGIVEN or THE SHOOTIST? Some will say that TOMBSTONE was it, but it's not my favorite Wyatt Earp movie by a long shot and besides, it's Kurt Russell's movie and not Elliott's. One of the many reasons why the genre needs to be resurrected is so that someone can finally get Sam Elliott the great western that's alluded him for so long. Once that happens, all will be right with the movie world.

That said, if you go through his filmography you'll see that Sam Elliott has been in a number of really good films, even one or two great ones, and even the minor ones get a big boost from Elliott's participation. While's his appearance is all too brief, he's still a major part of the success of THE BIG LEBOWSKI (who else could own a line like "Darkness warshed over the Dude - darker'n a black steer's tookus on a moonless prairie night. There was no bottom"?) and without Sam Elliott, there is no ROADHOUSE, plain and simple (and I will not allow any disparaging of one of the great American films of the 1980s in the comments section, thank you very much). He's fine in Ang Lee's unjustly maligned HULK and there's also some real solid work in RUSH, GETTYSBURG, MASK, and I've also got a soft spot for SHAKEDOWN, the only decent movie James Glickenhaus ever made. His appearance in THE GOLDEN COMPASS adds to that entertaining film's luster (any movie that contains Sam Elliott and a polar bear fight is OK in my book) and while I haven't seen GHOST RIDER, he's probably the only reason I would see it. You simply can't go wrong casting Sam Elliott in your movie.

It's good knowin' he's out there, Sam Elliott, takin' her easy for all us sinners. If Tommy Lee Jones can get a FUGITIVE to help make him a star, surely Sam Elliott's got himself a great part that will do it for him someday. In the meantime, let's just keep on appreciating who he is, what he does, and how he can make a movie better just by showing up.