Walken plays: Vincent Coccotti - empathetic mob consigliere; Sicilian
Synopsis: Quentin Tarantino's first screenplay, directed with typical bravado by Top Gun (1986)'s Tony Scott, plays like the kind of ornately macho fantasy he must he whiled away the days with at the video store prior to breaking into the industry. It's self-evident to say that the film is full of talking, drugs, hyperviolence, and far more driven by colourful character bits than story, but there's a clumsy humour and sweetness amidst the razor sharp dialogue that helps it sit will and endure the test of time. Lonely Elvis-obsessed comic store clerk Clarence (Christian Slater) meets a kindly hooker (Patricia Arquette), kills her pimp (Gary Oldman), steals his cocaine, then flees to Hollywood to sell it and start a new life as a married couple. Aww. The problem? The cocaine belonged to a notorious mobster, and Clarence left his driver's licence at the brother massacre. Oops...
Walken's just here for one scene, interrogating Clarence's father (Dennis Hopper) as to Clarence's whereabouts, but in a sea of flashy celebrity cameos (Oldman's scarred, dreadlocked pimp; Val Kilmer's elusive fantasy Elvis; Brad Pitt's amiable stoner), his bit is still the one everyone remembers. It's a masterclass of acting, and almost uncomfortably tense, but Walken's impulse to play Coccotti as a calm, gum-chewing gentleman, rather than the firecracker he reads as on paper is what makes it truly iconic. He's also tremendously empathetic, commiserating with Hopper about how much pain he's putting him in, and the turmoil giving up his son must cause him. Heck - he's so consummately polite, he even laughs at Hopper's degradingly racist joke... before shooting him in the head, and spitting on his corpse. One of Walken's tics consistent throughout his career: act as hard as he might, he seems like he never wants to commit any act of violence or swear, so seeing them tumble out swiftly, like he's trying to get them over with, is always cute, and doesn't deter from how hugely sinister he is here in the slightest.
Wacky Walken dialogue: His most iconic one (and rightfully so), is "I'm the Anti-Christ. You got me in a vendetta kind of mood. You tell the angels in heaven you never seen evil so singularly personified as you did in the face of the man who killed you." But I'm still a fan of "You're a cantaloupe."
DOES HE DANCE: No. Sicilians don't dance. Except maybe at weddings.
Overall Walken-o-meter: 8/10 cowbells. This is Walken at his most focused and lethally sinister, and he benefits greatly from the nimble Tarantino dialogue and having the spectacular Dennis Hopper as scene partner alike. One for the ages, and a pristine reminder of how chilling he can be when his powers are used for more than silliness.
Damn you, Hopper. He hadn't killed anyone since 1984. So inconsiderate.
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