He tried for years to get Silence of Lambs made and held the rights. But even then, his own penchant for real life violence (he had a compulsion to get into fist fights) turned him off the script and he eventually dropped or sold the option rights (Manhunter was already made so I'm not sure why no one picked it up - maybe because it bombed).
No one's mentioned it Unforgiven
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10XXtoCjk5c
When you think of Great! Oscar winning actors his name comes up in Hollywood from an era where The Method ruled and he is nothing like that group at all. The roles he played made him like a tough looking everyman instead of yelling, Bravo! Encore! Artiste!
His Popeye Doyle in the French Connection is as gritty as it gets in those 1970's independent non-studio films. And the scenes where they drove under the subway bridges in New York was real with real pedestrians - because they didn't apply for permission.
He stands out in the Royal Tanenbaums, not being like the other actors but they circle around his personality as the fallen patriarch of a once great Robber Baron Dynasty.
His casting as Lex Luthor in a somewhat comedic version of the character where he and Ned Beatty clearly had fun was as brilliant as Margot Kidder playing Lois Lane. Not what you expected, but brilliant!
Uncommon Valor launches a film genre that made a lot of money for Sylvester Stallone and Chuck Norris.
The Package is interesting because his character rescues his Ex-Wife Joanne Cassidy and it breaks the trope in that the two are close but don't rekindle their relationship in the midst of circumstances like you'd expect in a Hollywood movie. The movie just plays out as a thriller action movie.
I loved Enemy of the State where he wears a baseball cap to avoid satellite viewing.
The circumstances are really odd. At first not suspicious but now it obviously is. They died separately in different rooms. The poor dog was simply locked in a kennel. The fact that there's "signs of mummification" doesn't seem actually odd because they lived in Santa Fe, but clearly they were there for longer than one day as initially reported.
abcnews.go.com
