Best Films/Performances: The Criminally Underrated Donald Sutherland

HM: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

This franchise is so odd in that the first two films are such strong, tonally assured and effective thriller/action films, but the last two, Deathly Hallows-divided ventures were so dull and plodding, despite not all that much being tinkered to the formula of the filmmaking. I say it's odd because the performances of all the cast members, bar Liam Hemsworth and the awful character of Gale, shine even in the briefest little moments, and even the weaker links like Josh Hutcherson improve considerably over the course of the series. Sutherland's role as President Snow, the 'big bad' till the last film or so, is a rather impressive bit of villainous work in a somewhat limited role. He's consistently menacing and whenever he gets a bit more to do, like in Catching Fire where he captures both the callous evil of the old man but also the insecurity of his tenuous power, he's pretty great.

10. Six Degrees of Seperation

A strongly acted if a bit too straightforward stage adaptation of a young black conartist (Will Smith in a career-best turn) who enters the lives of a wealthy older couple (Sutherland and Stockard Channing). The film is intelligently crafted, and Sutherland's astute wit and intellectually assured screen presence fits the character of somewhat pompous but genial art dealer Flan to the tee. He helps make some of the more iffy and on-the-nose bits of writing work through his naturalistic delivery and humorous depiction of a man who thinks he's a lot cleverer than he actually is.

9. Backdraft

In the same year Silence of the Lambs crafted some intellectual and haunting thrills through cannibals and psychopaths, Ron Howard's incredibly stupid but also quite enjoyable action thriller Backdraft used fire as a cruel and unsparing enemy to firefighters, and the 'friend' of another deeply twisted, incarcerated serial killer with such a strange eloquence to his nasty belief system. Ronald Bartel is not quite Hannibal Lecter in the villain stakes, but boy does Sutherland give it his all and have a ball as the nastiest piece of work he's ever played onscreen. The deranged mania and off-putting love for fire and destruction, and the way he toys with William Baldwin's inexeperienced fireman, is worth the price of admission alone.

8. Kelly's Heroes

A 'man on the mission' film that's predominately funny, Sutherland is great as the aptly named 'Oddball'. This is a simple performance, that's one-note and exists for one purpose, and one purpose only, to generate laughs aplenty. Sutherland is a hoot whether Oddball is expostulating on his strange but somewhat sensible chilled philosophies on life, or making odd metaphors about tigers and New Yorkers. It's telling that about half of the quotes on the IMDB page for the film are spouted from Sutherland's mouth.

7. M*A*S*H

I need to re-watch this, but as the literal predecessor to Alan Alda's character on the hit television series, Sutherland's Hawkeye Pierce is a brilliant comedic leading turn. In usual Sutherland fashion, he's funny without really trying, and takes a very relaxed and effective approach to the role of a chilled combat surgeon who's trying to make the best of his time in South Korea during the Korean War. The film's vigenette structure means that his character has no development, but that's fine because he's consistently funny throughout.

6. The Eagle Has Landed

The best part of an underrated film by an underrated director (John Sturges did Bad Day at Black Rock, The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape yet I rarely see people talking about him!) Anyway, Sutherland plays one of the few non-German characters in the film which is centred on a German plot to kidnap Winston Churchill. The film is a tricky watch in that it clearly identifies the Nazis as the 'villains' yet also wants you to symapthize with its principals. Sutherland doesn't face such a problem even though he's technically playing a violent IRA member who wants nothing more than to kill some Englishman. He manages to depict the character's nastier side without compromising the charm and innate decency to Liam Devlin beyond his grudges, and steals the show away from his co-stars.

5. JFK

I'll admit that upon re-watch, JFK is in my opinion a well-made film that just doesn't connect with me that much. It's a very well-made film about conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of Kennedy, with a very strong leading performance and great ensemble, but I don't know, maybe I prefer more of an intimate and emotional connection with the time period/context like the brilliant 11.22.63. As someone who's usually a mark for conspiracy thrillers like All the President's Men, this was more of an impressive but less involving watch for me. One segment where the film kicks into high gear and works brilliantly though, is in Donald Sutherland's one scene wonder as the enigmatic, 'Deep Throat' figure X. His beautiful voice and disconcerting delivery makes for the single best scene in the film that's kind of glorified exposition dumping, but what glorious exposition dumping it is.

4. Invasion of the Body Snatchers

You'll know the film from his final scene, which is an absolute knockout from a directing perspective. The film on the whole is the second scariest Veronica Cartwright film of the decade, which is to say that it's not as scary as Alien, but it's still a terrifying watch. Aliens that invade planet Earth invade and 'body snatch' people: when they fall asleep, they are duplicated by alien pods into walking, emotionless shell of their former selves. Sutherland leads the film brilliantly as everyman Matthew Bennell. He adds to every horrifying moment in the film in such an understated way, leading to a certain madness that helps him to survive but also drives him further away from his inner humanity. It's a reactionary performance that could've been lacking in impact in the wrong hands, but Sutherland's great work here amplifies the horror of the film...

3. Don't Look Now

...although his best work in this sort of role has to be in Nicolas Roeg's iconic horror masterpiece. Sutherland's portrayal of John Baxter, who retreats to Venice with his wife Laura (Julie Christie) after the tragic death of their daughter Christine, is first and foremost a harrowing depiction of grief. It lingers in John's eyes in every scene, and Sutherland conveys so much of how this weighs on his mind often silently. Then as the film gradually becomes a horror, Sutherland transfixes the viewer with his realistic reactions to the terribly perplexing things occuring all around him; I always remember that deeply unnerving first encounter with the seance and of course his final reactions to a  most terrifying revelation. Then with Christie he earns the famous, all-time renowned sex scene's emotional power and connection through his depiction of a very genuine love and passion for his wife and family.

2. Citizen X

Brilliant work in a truly underrated film, if this was a cinematic release I actually think it might have gained some awards traction, in particular for Chris Gerolmo's great direction and screenplay based on the investigation of Soviet serial killer Andrei Chikatilo (played by the brilliant Jeffrey DeMunn). I'd love to write more about the film as a whole at some point, but for now I'll focus on Sutherland's performance as Colonel Mikhail Fetisov, the government official in charge of Vikto Bukarov's (Stephen Rea) investigation into the horrifying serial killings. One might notice how Sutherland's best work seems to be in the gloomiest and most downbeat of films, interesting that, because Sutherland's work as Fetisov is anything but gloom and doom. There's the cynicism of a man disenchanted by the hypocrisies and corruption of Soviet bureaucacy and propoganda that prevents Bukarov from doing his job properly, but in his early scenes Sutherland brings such innate life and energy as something of the comic relief in the tensest of scenes. I absolutely love any scene where he's trolling the incompetent higher-ups in the government or making wry asides to Bukarov about how a man can thrive through clever manipulation. As the murders pile up and the stakes grow higher, Sutherland is brilliant in internalizing how this all deeply affects Fetisov, and how his relationship with Bukarov is strengthened into a powerful friendship. Rea and Sutherland share great chemistry together. The scene where Fetisov praises and apologizes for the strain he has caused Bukarov is a terrific scene that's so inspirational within such a bleak film, and is a perfect summation of the humorous, poignant command of the screen Sutherland has as Fetisov which very deservedly earned him a Golden Globe.

1.  Ordinary People

Great film. It's a very simple one about an upper middle-class family dealing with the death of the oldest son. It has a great screenplay, assured directing by Robert Redford, and an array of excellent performances of such different strokes of characters. You have Timothy Hutton's Oscar-nominated work as the depressed and emotional Conrad Jarrett who feels survivor's guilt, Mary Tyler Moore as Beth, the brutally cold mother who tries to convince herself she's anything but, Judd Hirsch as a humorous but deeply caring psychiastrist, Elizabeth McGovern as a sweet but not overly simplistic love interest, even Dinah Manoff as the off-kilter but kind best friend to Conrad makes quite the impact. Sutherland's portrayal of my namesake Calvin, though, is the unsung hero of the film, in a performance that simply grows on you with time. Sutherland has none of the big emotional scenes of Moore and Hutton, he has a quiet, underplayed approach to the grieving father trying to hold himself and his family together that is, to avoid hyperbole, perhaps the greatest example of this sort of performance. It's an intriguing counterpoint to his performance in Don't Look Now, and even more so Casey Affeck's performance in Manchester by the Sea, as both men are dealing with family tragedy in such a quite fashion. But while Lee Chandler's defense mechanism against grief was to push people away, Calvin's is to try to connect and get closer to the people he loves. It's an understated performance to the extreme, and what's remarkable is how he makes you really feel and understand such a reserved man's underlying passion to making things work out. Everything from his funny scenes of indifference to his wife's vacuous parties, to his heartwarming persistence in connecting with his troubled son, his heartbreaking reactions to his wife's golf course outburst, his contemplative reactions to a visit to the psychiastrist, and his knockout penultimate scene where he reveals how tired he is by having to hold everything together, makes this one of the biggest Oscar snubs of all-time. Seeing how much the Academy loved Ordinary People, it's ridiculous that they overlooked the most crucial element to its success.