best film: Pulp Fiction by an eyelash over Taxi Driver, I’m sticking to my top 100 list and I have Pulp Fiction #25 and Taxi Driver #34. Those two masterpieces are so close it’s not worth debating. I’d give the edge to QT’s film. Keitel has been in some of cinema’s greatest films. If you’re looking for films he’s starring in you could go with Mean Streets or The Piano or even Reservoir Dogs. He’s part of the scenery mostly and larger ensemble but other masterpieces he’s in include the Wes Anderson films: Grand Budapest and Moonrise Kingdom. Keitel is only in about 5 minutes of Pulp Fiction but I adore him in it as “The Wolf”. You can’t just have any actor in that role. You need stature. Tarantino is very smart to use Keitel.
best performance: Mean Streets but it’s actually closer than people think. Bad Lieutenant has had a second and third life thanks to VSH, DVD and now Bluray—he’s incredible in it- such a bold performance (key word with Keitel). It’s Mean Streets though that I think has aged so wonderfully. For decades it’s been De Niro who caught everyone’s eye (and rightly so- he’s a whirlwind) but I prefer Keitel’s performance in the film. It’s the main reason (though he certainly is no one-hit wonder—I mean look at that body of work below) he’s in the top 50.
stylistic innovations/traits: Keitel is an actor unafraid of taking chances. It doesn’t work in Alice (very miscast), who the hell knows what happened with Apocalypse Now, and the accent (or lack thereof) gets poked fun of in both The Duelists and Last Temptation of Christ—but if you’re selling you’re Keitel stock as an all-time actor- I’ll gladly buy it. There’s plenty of times when his risks have paid off. He took a chance on first time filmmakers like Tarantino, Ridley Scott and Schrader, stands on his head in Bad Lieutenant, and continued to work with bold auteurs (Roeg, Spike, Campion, Wes) into the 90’s and beyond. I won’t even play the “what-if” game with Martin Sheen’s role in Apocalypse. There’s too much “good” here to worry about what could have been. Outside of his top 5 performances he’s very good in Bugsy (oddly enough his sole nomination) and Thelma and Louise, too.
directors worked with: Scorsese (4) and this is key partnership—I think he’s great in Taxi Driver as the “Scar” character. Ridley Scott (2), Tarantino (2), Wes Anderson (2) and then Altman, Roeg, Spike Lee and Jane Campion once
Top 5 Performances:
- Mean Streets
- Bad Lieutenant
- Reservoir Dogs
- The Piano
- Blue Collar
Archiveable films
| 1973- Mean Streets |
| 1974- Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore |
| 1976- Buffalo Bill and the Indians |
| 1976- Taxi Driver |
| 1978- Blue Collar |
| 1978- The Duelists |
| 1980- Bad Timing |
| 1988- The Last Temptation of Christ |
| 1991- Bugsy |
| 1991- Mortal Thoughts |
| 1991- Thelma and Louise |
| 1992- Bad Lieutenant |
| 1992- Reservoir Dogs |
| 1993- The Piano |
| 1994- Pulp Fiction |
| 1995- Clockers |
| 1995- Ulysses Gaze |
| 2012- Moonrise Kingdom |
| 2014- The Grand Budapest Hotel |
what about his performance in last temptation a flawed film but he was a great actor in it.
@ m . Keitel gets laughed at a little in this role because of the New York accent (the reviews at the time were not kind to him) but I think that’s probably more a mistake in the casting than the performance. It isn’t one of his best performances but I don’t think it is bad. Dafoe is really good here but I do think the film overall is one of Scorsese’s 5 or so weakest works. That is no insult– its just not as good as almost everything else he did.
I don’t understand why the 1978 movie ‘Fingers’, which Harvey had the lead role in, does not get mentioned more often. Harvey gives one of his best ever performance in that movie, although for me ‘Bad Lieutenant’ is Harvey’s career defining performance.
@d – thanks for the comment and for visiting the site. I’ve seen Fingers. But only once- owe it another look. Thanks for recommending it.
the scene in mean streets where he says ‘i’m tryin’ lord i’m tryin’ and teresa laughs than de niro says ‘are you talkin to yourself or somethin’ is just brilliant.
@m- agreed. thanks for the add here- brilliant.
No fingers(1978) really.Can’t believe such a vital film in Keitel’s filmography is not in the archives.It’s like leaving De Niro’s performance in Heat out of the archives saying this isn’t directed by Scorsese.Not only Fingers need to be in the archives but his performance in Fingers should crack his top 5.The biggest omission in the archives I have seen so far.
@Janith– No, it is not like leaving out Heat.
When I think of actors that know what they’re doing when it comes to their collaboration with auteurs, there aren’t many better than Harvey Keitel. Interestingly, Kidman is amazing at this as well, since I’d just been talking about Dogville. Anyhow. It is impressive to me how long a time one spends as a film buff without taking notice of Harvey Keitel. I find him to be a great actor. Somewhat limited, in the sense that there are some things he just can’t do, but on the other hand unexpectedly versatile and very brave in his choices. Look at that list of directors. He’s made the great choice of being a frequent Scorcese and Tarantino player, two people who are clearly capable of accentuating his strengths. And Altman, which, of course. And then Jane Campion, not only an out and coming director at the time, but also in a film with a completely different setting. And somehow he manages to walk around in period clothes and Maori body art, giving us the best of both worlds, all the while delivering a wonderful pensive performance and creating great support for the brilliant Holly Hunter, merely one year after doing Bad Lieutenant. And there is absolutely no relation between what he does in Bad Lieutenant and what he does in the Piano. And then he goes all quiet and melancholic again, just enough to fill a characteristically empty and distanced Theo Angelopoulos frame. And then he goes whimsical and dreamy in two Wes Anderson films (to be fair, Wes somehow manages to make everyone look great in his films). I’ve slowly built up a lot of admiration for Keitel.
@Georg- very brave in his choices, indeed. He zigs right when you think he’s going to zag. I have him currently sitting with 23 archiveable films and another half-dozen that are probably in with another look.
A key film is missing in Keitel’s filmography here. And that is Fingers(1978). It is regarded as one of his best performances. Here it is ranked 3rd on a list I found on taste of cinema.
http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2016/the-15-best-harvey-keitel-movies-you-need-to-watch/2/