The justified awards-season acclaim for Jeff Bridges’ wonderfully lived-in performance as the has-been country crooner in Crazy Heart is an excellent reason to showcase the work of an actor who’s been so good for so long we’ve probably taken him for granted.
The son of studio-era stalwart Lloyd Bridges, Jeff has in a way been the living embodiment of all that was cherishable about the pre-Star Wars American cinema in which he made his name. No matter who he’s playing, there’s always something real about Jeff Bridges on screen, and something of the maverick too – an edge, but also a vulnerability. That might seem like a mass of contradictions, but it also explains the range of his material, always presented with a technical skill that often goes unnoticed because it’s seemingly so offhand. And at the age of sixty, he’s far from finished yet – as The Big Lebowski would have it, this dude will abide.
Introduction by Trevor Johnston, notes on individual films by Peter Walsh and Trevor Johnston.
