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He’s a compelling leading man and invaluable ensemble player, equally adept at comedy and drama, a true musician. Yet Jeff Goldblum’s artistry is hard to define. It is acting, but it is on another plane. His line deliveries — his offbeat inflections and pauses (“Life, uh, finds a way,” from Jurassic Park) — are inimitable. As he told GQ, “I’m not mainstream, I’m special.”
Oct. 22, 2022, marks Goldblum’s 70th birthday. To mark this milestone, we’ve selected 10 films that capture his Goldblumian essence. Why? To quote the title of Travis Andrews’ recent bestseller about him, “Because He’s Jeff Goldblum.”
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10. Silverado (1985)
The role: Calvin Stanhope (“But my mother calls me Slick.”)
Goldblum does not show up until just over an hour into Lawrence Kasdan’s richly satisfying old-school Western, but in an ensemble that includes Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Danny Glover, Kevin Costner, Brian Dennehy, Linda Hunt, Rosanna Arquette and John Cleese (I know, right?), he stands out as a gambler who ultimately makes the wrong bet when he sides with Dennehy’s corrupt sheriff against former-outlaw-with-a-heart-of-gold Kline and company. (A big pat on the back, too, for his appearance in Thor: Ragnarok as Grandmaster of the prison planet Sakaar, which instantly transforms the Marvel-verse into the Goldblum-verse).
Solid Goldblum: No sooner does Slick arrive in town than he announces his intention to the sheriff that he seeks to set up an honest game in town. “To whom do I speak about that?” he inquires; then acknowledging the crumpled body of a freshly shot dead man, he dryly remarks, “I hope it’s not this gentleman.”
Watch it: Silverado, on Prime Video, Apple TV
9. Between the Lines (1977)
The role: Max Arloft
Before John Sayles’ Return of the Secaucus Seven and Lawrence Kasdan’s The Big Chill, Joan Micklin Silver’s under-seen indie gem explored the conflict between the youthful idealism of the children of the ’60s and their adult compromises. The ensemble dramedy is set at a Boston alt-weekly poised to be swallowed up by a conglomerate. In one of Goldblum’s earliest key roles as the paper’s music writer, we see the incorrigibility that would inform his most memorable characters. Whether it’s a loan, a drink, selling his promo albums, delivering lectures on “Whither Rock?” or demanding a raise, this guy is relentlessly on the make.
Solid Goldblum: Max regales a roomful of dutiful note-taking young women (college students? groupies?). What’s the connection, he asks, between the Beatles’ song “Blackbird” and a Wallace Stevens poem about blackbirds? When he gets no response, he resignedly replies, “There’s virtually no connection.” Then he gives them all his phone number.
Watch it: Between the Lines, on Apple TV
8. Adam Resurrected (2008)
The role: Adam Stein
In one of his most challenging roles and fiercely committed performances, Goldblum is Oscar-worthy as a resident at an Israeli desert-based therapeutic hospital for Holocaust survivors. A former popular comic in Berlin, he survived the death camps by allowing himself to be humiliated as the personal pet of a Nazi commandant (Willem Dafoe). Post-war, he has the run of the hospital, a charismatic McMurphy-like figure masking survivor’s guilt.
Solid Goldblum: “Write it down? Write it to whom? God? God is out to lunch. He left a note; see it on your arm.”
Watch it: Adam Resurrected, on Prime Video, Apple TV
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