The passing of Robert Culp earlier this week at the age of 79 also marks yet another passing, that of a unique style of acting that’s all but dead today. What I call Big Acting, where a one-of-a-kind leading man like Culp could step into the shoes of a character and blow him up into something memorably larger-than-life. Not in a self-conscious, showy way. Not in the way that’s turned Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep into middle-aged parodies of their former selves. No, Robert Culp belonged to a rare club that includes such legendary members as Burt Lancaster, Charlton Heston and Kirk Douglas; all of whom had a magic quality that convinced you it was their characters who were big, not their acting.

That doesn’t mean Culp or the others were always in fifth gear. In fact, it was their range that was most impressive and you could argue that each was at their best when they intentionally tamped down the titan qualities of their personalities and turned them inward. This effectively gave the quiet characters they portrayed a fascinating hair-triggered explosive dimension that always kept you wondering what they were capable of. As Elmer Gantry, Burt Lancaster created an unforgettable icon. But as Labiche, the stoic railway official forced to physical action in John Frankenheimer’s “The Train,” he carried that film with the kind of quiet authority only a Burt Lancaster could possess. Or a Robert Culp.

Though the series lasted only 44 episodes and three seasons, Culp’s work as Agent Bill Maxwell on “The Greatest American Hero” ranks, in my opinion, as one of the all-time great television characters ever created. Right up there with Jim Rockford, Ralph Kramden, Al Bundy, Carl Kolchak, and Fred Sanford. (more…)

A kung-fu flick with fancy wire work is still a kung-fu flick and a revenge flick with CGI is still a revenger . Some may confuse “Wolverine” with a superhero film, but make no mistake, it’s a revenger of the best kind: a B-level plot with A-level action — all meat and potatoes without a vegetable anywhere in sight.

This is one of my favorite genres, especially when it comes to the smaller, lesser known – or better yet – less respected members of this family. Sure, there’s “Star Trek II,” “Once Upon a Time in the West,” “The Sting,” “Man on Fire,” and both “Kill Bill” films – love ‘em all, and so do you, but here are five you may have missed that are even more satisfying than their better known cousins.

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1. Death Wish II (1982) – Michael Winner’s first “Death Wish” (1974) is often mistaken as a revenge film when it’s really a vigilante film. For we purists that distinction matters. The original may show up on all kinds of Top 10 Revenge Film lists but at no time does Bronson’s Paul Kersey look for the thugs who murdered his wife and raped his daughter. What he does do is take it to the streets as an avenging angel to overcome his own sense of helplessness. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great because punks get blown away and liberal critics howl, but a revenger it is not. (more…)