Attribution: LBJ Library c/o: Gabriel Cristóver Pérez, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
By Geoff Carter
It seems as if he can do anything on the screen. He can be funny, scary, charismatic, lovable, vulnerable, sadistic, romantic, or eminently unlikable—or any combination of the above. Woody Harrelson is one of those actors who can slip in and out of genres as easily as a man changing his socks, but he can do so without ever losing his core—his inherent Woodiness, his foundation of intelligence, wit, and charm. That toothy smile or sly grin can be—in equal parts—playful or menacing.
Whether he’s the amiable and forthright Sheriff Willoughby in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, the abrasive but good-hearted Tallahassee in Zombieland, or the hapless and bitter Roy Munson in Kingpin, Harrelson steps into his characters without losing the essence of his own personality.
While Harrelson can definitely hold his own as a leading man, it is his work as a supporting actor which has garnered him the lion’s share of his recognition. He can portray the everyman to a tee, as he does in Billboards or True Detective or as Dusty in Prairie Home Companion, but he also has the ability to set the screen on fire as he did as Mickey Knox in Natural Born Killers. He can be cerebral and calculating as he is in Wag the Dog, The Hunger Games, or Game Change. He can play dumb as a rock—as he did in the TV series Cheers.
Although he can play all these parts, he is not the sort of actor who is a chameleon, like Daniel Day Lewis. There is always—even in his most menacing and evil roles—an intractable core of decency in Harrelson’s screen presence. Even as the psychopathic Mickey Knox, his love for Mallory almost transcends his viciousness. Almost.
In short, Woody Harrelson has quietly become not only an icon of the silver screen, but a symbol of sort of a goofy-looking everyday guy who sometimes does fantastic things.
He has been in so many iconic roles over the course of his long career that it was very difficult to choose only ten. In my humble estimation, here they are.
Woody Harrelson’s Ten Best Movies
Natural Born Killers: Oliver Stone’s chronicle of the transcontinental odyssey of two homicidal psychopathic lovers Mickey (Harrelson) and Mallory (Juliette Lewis) Knox is a hard-edged biting satire lampooning everything from the media to the penal system to celebrity. As Mickey, Harrelson radiates a certain charisma and magnetism even while committing horrendous acts—which underlines Stone’s point that America media consumer is in love with violence. Mickey is the anti-hero defined. Harrelson’s charming presence gives Stone’s satirical take on mass media, celebrity, and America’s love affair with violence.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri: In this harrowing thriller written and directed by Michael McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin), Woody plays Sheriff Bill Willoughby who is under fire from Mildred Hayes because he has not been able to find her killer. Mildred rents three billboards accusing Willoughby of being negligent and the town reviles her for attacking the sheriff, who is suffering from cancer. Willoughby tries to mollify Mildred while keeping tensions in the town at a minimum. His erratic deputy Dixon (Sam Rockwell) in particular, wants to take justice into his own hands. As Willoughby, Harrelson is even-keeled, funny, and just. His boyish charm and patience with his daughters does not, however, prepare us for final choices.
True Detective: In this limited HBO series, Harrelson plays Marty Hart, a garrulous and charming Louisiana homicide detective who is paired with Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey), an investigator haunted by his past whose nihilistic world view and dark musings sometimes overshadowed Harrelson’s performance as the “normal” partner. They are assigned to track down the “Yellow King”, a bizarre serial killer. Cohle—whose obsession with the case takes over his life is in sharp contrast to Hart’s womanizing and selfishness. Harrelson’s impatience with Cohle and the chemistry between the two is nothing short of remarkable.
No Country for Old Men: Woody is just as well know for his supporting roles as he is for his starring turns. In this Coen Brothers adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel, he plays bounty hunter Carson Wells, who is hired to take find some stolen drug money taken from the murder scene of a deal gone bad. Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin) finds the drug money left at the scene and takes it. Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a psychotic who has also been hired to retrieve the money, crosses paths with Wells at the hotel where they are staying. Although this is perhaps one of Harrelson’s all-time shortest roles, he brings a weird sort of energy and optimism to his portrayal of Wells. He is all reasonableness and charm while negotiating with Moss, a sweet exterior that belies his line of work—and true intentions. His final scene with Chigurh is chilling.
Game Change: In this recreation of the 2008 presidential campaign, Harrelson portrays Steve Schmidt, a Republican strategist working for the John McCain (Ed Harris) presidential campaign. Rejecting McCain’s choice of Joe Leiberman as a running mate, Schmidt seeks to find a “game changer” who will electrify the conservative base and attract women to the ticket. They quickly pick Alaska governor Sarah Palin (Julliette Moore) who proves to be a popular choice. As the campaign wears on, however, it soon becomes apparent that Palin is unprepared and woefully ignorant of history and political policy. Reject Schmidt and co-operative Nicolle Wallace’s (Sarah Paulson) advice and focusing on forming her own following, Schmidt realizes she is becoming a menace to the democratic system. As Schmidt, Harrelson is by turns shrewd, practical, ruthless, and then, when he realizes what he has done, contrite and ashamed.
Zombieland: In this post-apocalyptic comedy, zombies have taken over the world. While Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) is trying to get back to his parents, he teams up with the Twinkie-loving Tallahassee (Harrelson) who is on a zombie-killing spree. They meet up with Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) who scam them out of their car and weapons. The boys run into them later and are scammed again. The quartet finally realizes they need to stay together in order to survive and attempt to reach Pacific Playland, the only zombie-free area. Bill Murray makes a hilarious cameo as himself, but Harrelson’s presence as the macho gun-toting Tallahassee is vintage Woody.
The People vs. Larry Flynt: In one of Harrelson’s more acclaimed roles, he portrays pornography king Larry Flynt from a ten-year-old hustling moonshine to the owner of the infamous Hustler magazine. Flynt soon is embroiled in all sorts of legal problems. He soon become the target of religious anti-pornographers and is convicted of dealing in pornography, but the conviction is overturned on appeals. In 1978, he is shot outside a courtroom and becomes a paraplegic. After recovering from the subsequent despair and depression about his condition. Flynt is soon back in court, where he is eventually committed for his outrageous acts. Finally, in an appeal of the Jerry Falwell decision to the SCOTUS. He wins. Harrelson’s mixture of boyish charm (as when he is acting up in court), mercenary shrewdness, and vulnerability make for a great portrayal of this perfect American anti-hero.
A Prairie Home Companion: In this winsome Robert Altman adaptation of Garrison Keillor’s popular NPR radio program, a stellar cast—including Meryl Streep, Lindsey Lohan, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, Tommy Lee Jones, John C. Reilly, and yes—our very own Woody Harrelson (along with Garrison Keillor) depicts the final show of the acclaimed radio program. Singing acts, monologues, and radio drama take the mainstage while backstage dramas—including romance, rivalries, and even a death—dominate, the film wears a little thin in the middle. There is a winsomeness and a sweetness to the story, but it all seems a little light. The performances, however, are stellar. Woody’s depiction of Dusty the singing cowboy is quintessential Harrelson. All charm, boyishness, and good-natured camaraderie.
Kingpin: Going back to his comedic roots, Harrelson portrays Roy Munson, a former professional bowler whose career is ruined when he loses his hand. Years later, washed-up and a loser, Roy runs across Ishmael Boorg (Randy Quaid), a talented bowler, who will not compete because of his Amish background. The down-and-out Roy persuades him to enter a tournament for a one-million-dollar prize where Roy runs across his arch-enemy Ernie McCracken (Bill Murray) where he tries to settle old scores. While Kingpin is about what you’d expect from an early Farrelly Brothers flick (Dumb and Dumber), Harrelson is the perfect choice to play the transformation of young Roy’s naivete to his jaded middle-aged man to his zany plans for getting Ismael off the farm. While some of the humor is a little crass and hit-and-miss, this is still classic comic Woody.
LBJ: In this Rob Reiner biopic, Harrelson plays the embattled president notorious for his fiercely ruthless politics and—contrarily—his decidedly socially conscious policy. Noted for his down-home rough-and-tumble Texas charm, Johnson had a talent for simultaneously intimidating and charming his adversaries. Thrust into the presidency after JFK’s assassination, Johnson fulfilled his predecessor’s dream by forcing through the Civil Rights Act and then during his following term, passing his Great Society legislation, including Medicare, Medicaid, and Head Start. Playing an historical is always trick, as audiences come into the theater with pre-formed expectations and inevitably compare their impression to the actor’s performance. But by using his inherent likability, Harrelson was able to convey the complex layers of this misunderstood president.