Make the Case: 5 Best Pete Postlethwaite Performances

There are few actors I’ve seen in my life with a face as beautiful as that of the late, exceptionally great Pete Postlethwaite. That’s not an inherently sexual statement. It’s simply a comment on intense, piercing eyes, high, very British cheekbones, and a smile that could convey sheepish happiness or something much, much darker. Pete Postlethwaite had one of the most distinctive faces I’ve ever seen in film, and it’s one that I picked up on pretty early on in my life as someone obsessed with faces and where I’ve seen them before.

Having a distinctive face can be helpful to a character actor, but obviously you also must combine that face and voice with your own intensive understanding of creating a character who stays with audiences, regardless of how long that character is on the screen. Postlethwaite was rarely the star, but he was almost always one of the actors you were going to think about when the movie was over. You’re not alone. Steven Spielberg worked with him on The Lost World and called him “The best actor in the world.” It’s hard to argue with that when you look at a career that unfortunately ended much too soon in 2011 at the age of 64 from cancer. Even in the last couple years of his life, Postlethwaite continued to bring stunning performances to movies like The Town and Inception. He was never not a remarkable actor.

This month at Make the Case I’m putting the long, long overdue focus on one of the actors I could honestly say I liked in everything I ever saw them in. Some actors are almost impossible to dislike and that’s the quality that makes them so unique, and so sad when they’re gone before their time.

 

1. Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)

Director: Terence Davies

I wrote about the gorgeous Arrow Blu-ray for Distant Voices, Still Lives a billion years ago, and it was well worth revisiting the 1988 Terence Davies classic for this month’s Make the Case. Distant Voices, Still Lives is an ensemble story focused on a working-class British family over a period of several years, moving from the beginning of World War II to the relatively brighter world of 1950s post-War England. Focusing primarily on the children, this is a story steeped in loss, anger, Catholicism, and family. It’s an intense drama, and a little bleak at times to be sure, but it’s a powerful viewing experience when taken as a whole. It never fails to be arresting.

And a big part of that comes from Pete Postlethwaite’s performance as the father. Playing Tommy Davies as a vicious, cruel tyrant of an unhappy, damaged family, Postlethwaite provides an angry, inescapable representation of the darkest elements that are pulling these people to pieces. There’s something truly pitiable in this character, as utterly loathsome as he is. Something that is deeper than just an abusive husband or father. The performance is as frightening as it is exhilarating, in terms of simply watching a gifted artist work brilliantly with good material.

 

2. In the Name of the Father (1993)

Director: Jim Sheridan

With the face of a very, very tired father for his entire career, it makes sense that Pete Postlethwaite played a lot of dads. In the Name of the Father provides a little balance to the brutality of his character in Distant Lives, Still Voices. It’s also a reminder that Postlethwaite had considerable range within his distinctive features and memorable voice.

In the Name of the Father is based on the true story of Gerry Conlon, who spent 15 horrific years trying to prove his innocence after being sentenced to prison for a bombing he didn’t perpetrate. Daniel Day-Lewis naturally gets a lot of attention in the role of Gerry, as his performance is exactly what you’d expect from that guy in this kind of movie.

While crucial to this film, it’s also the people around Lewis’s character who give this movie so much emotional intensity. And the center of that notion is Pete Postlethwaite in an Oscar-nominated performance as Gerry’s father Giuseppe. Intensely loyal to his son, many of the movie’s most memorable and effective scenes involve them. These are the performances that drive the despair and urgency of Conlon’s situation. It’s worth watching In the Name of the Father for a variety of reasons, such as good pacing and excellent, although not altogether factual, courtroom scenes.

Tommy Lee Jones won the Best Supporting Oscar the year Pete Postlethwaite was nominated for In the Name of the Father. It was a competitive year at the 1994 Oscars, and Jones’ performance was deserving of everything it got, but it would have been hard to argue if Postlethwaite had taken home the honor instead.

 

3. James and the Giant Peach (1996)

Director: Henry Selick

1996 was quite possibly Pete Postlethwaite’s best year for the fact that it contains so many of his best performances. One of which we’re going to get to in a moment, but there were also excellent turns from a man finally getting serious appreciation for his work as a character actor. Movies like Dragonheart, Crimetime, and particularly in his role as Friar Lawrence in Romeo + Juliet, all point to 1996 as his most prolific and arguably interesting year. James and the Giant Peach stands out among all of them.

With perhaps five total minutes of screentime, in addition to providing the film’s narration, it’s about quality over quantity when it comes to Pete Postlethwaite’s performance in James and the Giant Peach. Credited as Magic Man, his character meets young James and gives him a bag of “crocodile tongues.” It’s the first serious indication of this movie’s recurring assurance that things are not as they seem. This performance also sets the tone for the entire adventure, indicating to not only James, but also us watching the movie, what’s in store.

It’s a performance as crucial as casting James himself, or his insect friends, or James’ wretched aunts. Pete Postlethwaite brings the perfect mix of the unknown, something vaguely or potentially sinister, but ultimately an eccentric, warm personality and friend. James and the Giant Peach gives us one of his best performances.

There’s an essential human quality that comes from Postlethwaite’s performance in James and the Giant Peach, and it doesn’t seem at all out of place amidst the movie’s wild, sometimes dark visuals.

 

4. Brassed Off (1996)

Director: Mark Herman

This month’s Make the Case is just ranked chronologically, but if it were ranked from worst to best, there’s a really good chance Brassed Off would take my top spot for Pete Postlethwaite performances. This is one of those movies that did okay upon release but has gotten more attention and affection from critics and viewers as time goes on. It’s a very gentle cult classic.

Brassed Off is one of Pete Postlethwaite’s most likable and most substantial performances. Certainly, it’s the one that might have the most screen time for an actor who usually made a lot out of a few lines or key scenes. As one of the leads, we get to spend a lot of time with Danny Ormondroyd, the conductor of a small-town brass band whose members are largely made up of workers in the local mine. Danny cares about this band. A lot. To the point where it’s clearly a way to distract himself from the seemingly innumerable miseries of his life, including a son on the brink of collapse. The band is his only source of joy, and we watch him reconcile that with the reality that the government has profoundly let down not only himself, but everyone around him.

Brassed Off is equal parts joyous and bleak, and it manages to juggle a lot in its running time. It’s fun to watch that come together, but watching the Postlethwaite’s plot thread go through its motions might be the best part of all.

 

5. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

Director: Steven Spielberg

Although The Lost World: Jurassic Park is not without its problems, it’s overall a pretty fun sequel to 1993’s industry-changing blockbuster Jurassic Park. It’s difficult to say how much of my goodwill towards this film is influenced by Pete Postlethwaite’s performance as big game hunter Roland Tembo, hired to help capture dinosaurs on the island where much of the movie takes place.

This provides The Lost World with far and away the most interesting character in the movie. Perhaps a lot, but that’s fair because it’s sheer pleasure to watch Postlethwaite play a character who operates by an extremely particular moral code. This gives the character a lot more to do as the movie goes on than most of the others in the movie, some of whom exist mostly as dino snacks. To say that we’re rooting for him would be maybe too much, but it would have been fun to spend more time with him.

Roland’s refusal of a job offer from the people who hired him in the first place is satisfying, and it has more spark and personality than other aspects of this movie. The Lost World is deeply despised by some fans of this franchise, but I suspect all of them would at least agree that Pete Postlethwaite’s appearance is an undeniable highlight of the entire series.

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