American Legend: Kurt Russell
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Do you know who scored the most points in the NBA during the 80s? It’s not Michael Jordan, or Larry Bird, or Magic Johnson. Not Kareem, not Isiah, not Moses. It’s Alex English. Why do I tell you this? Because Alex English is sorely underappreciated as an NBA legend, and in Hollywood, Kurt Russell is Alex English.
While he was a successful child actor, his first step towards bitchin’ dude status came in 1981, and it came in the form of Snake Plissken. Since then, he has played a collection of real and fictional bad-asses like Jack Burton, Dean Proffitt, Wyatt Earp, Herb Brooks, and Stuntman Mike.
The piece de resistance, though, is Gabe Cash in Tango and Cash. The movie itself has little more than camp value. It is an enjoyable Saturday afternoon watch, but it won’t get confused with truly great 80s cop movies like Lethal Weapon or Die Hard. In fact, the movie is quite comical. It pushes the cops from opposite worlds angle as far as it has ever been pushed. Slyvester Stallone’s Ray Tango is a renaissance man who is as concerned with the DJIA as catching the bad guys. Gabe Cash, on the other hand, plays by his own rules, and shows up to the precinct in his cleanest dirty shirt.
As stated above, the intrinsic value of Tango and Cash is a campy 80s buddy-cop film, and it plays this value skillfully. However, if you isolate Russell’s performance, it is a tour de force. He plays the reckless cop with precision, and can hold his own with Martin Riggs and John McClane. In fact, you could seamlessly interchange Russell, Bruce Willis, and Mel Gibson with these three legendary film cops, and not one of the movies would lose value.
One could easily write a similar tribute to Jack Burton, a similar bitchin’ dude character. I believe that Cash edges Burton simply because Russell had less to work with in Tango and Cash. Or one could write 500 words on the super bad-ass portrayal of Wyatt Earp.
I raise my literary glass to you, Kurt Russell, and I toast an American legend. You are fucking nails.
