Always good as either an antagonist or malign authority figure, Walsh – best known as loathsome PI Visser in Blood Simple – was a singular, brilliant icon
‘The idea of a fistfight would not be a novel or frightening thing for him’ … Walsh at the premiere of Knives Out in 2019.‘The idea of a fistfight would not be a novel or frightening thing for him’ … Walsh at the premiere of Knives Out in 2019.
Emmet Walsh was the outstanding Hollywood character actor who emerged in the American new wave, a performer whose mesmerically watchable and powerful looks made him eminently castable; he was jowly and heavy set, but always looked tough, as if the idea of a fistfight would not be a novel or frightening thing for him. But he also had a woundedly sad expression in those poached-egg eyes.
The world is full of complainers. But the fact is, nothing comes with a guarantee. I don’t care if you’re the pope of Rome, President of the United States, or Man of the Year – something can always go wrong. You go ahead, complain, tell your problems to your neighbour, ask for help … and watch him fly. Now in Russia, they got it mapped out so that everyone pulls for everyone else. That’s the theory, anyway. But what I know about is Texas, and down here … you’re on your own.
Walsh’s Visser is a creep, a parasite, a liar and a murderer in a Stetson and pale yellow suit, and in his sulphurous wickedness, surely the most evil private detective in movie history: Walsh presented him as someone who inhabited a circle of hell that was his and his only.
He could also do comedy, notably as the crazy shooter in Steve Martin’s movie debut The Jerk in 1982, but the comedy consisted in playing the role straight, and of course as in his entire career he just had to do what came naturally. In Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner he was Bryant, the former commanding officer of Harrison Ford’s ex-operative Deckard, who, with an ambiguous mixture of wheedling and threats, is coerced by Bryant into getting back into action to track down replicants.
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