RIP: Donald Sutherland

Sad to see that Donald Sutherland has passed away.

I've seen a lot of his movies, in part because he was starting out right around the time that I was an avid movie-goer. He's done a lot of work! Some of his films I'd rather forget I ever saw, like Fellini's Casanova and Don't Look Now, but why dwell?

My absolute favorite of all of his movies is Invasion of the Body Snatchers ...

a 1978 American science-fiction horror film[1] directed by Philip Kaufman, and starring Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Veronica Cartwright, Jeff Goldblum, and Leonard Nimoy. Released on December 22, 1978, it is based on the 1955 novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. The novel was previously adapted into the 1956 film of the same name. The plot involves a San Francisco health inspector and his colleague who over the course of a few days discover that humans are being replaced by alien duplicates; each is a perfect biological clone of the person replaced, but devoid of empathy and humanity.

Here's a clip showing Nimoy, Adams, Southerland, Cartwright and Goldblum. All the characters have seen a pod person but they don't understand what it is. They ask Nimoy's character, a psychiatrist and friend, to help them figure it out, not realizing that he has already been taken over and is a pod person himself (so disturbing to see Mr. Spock be a pod person ;) ...



I also thought Southerland did a good job in Klute ...

a 1971 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed and produced by Alan J. Pakula, and starring Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Charles Cioffi, Nathan George, Dorothy Tristan, Roy Scheider, and Rita Gam. Its plot follows a high-priced New York City call girl who assists a detective from Pennsylvania in solving the missing person case of a john who may be stalking her.

And he was good in the really depressing Ordinary People as well ...

a 1980 American drama film directed by Robert Redford in his feature directorial debut. The screenplay by Alvin Sargent is based on the 1976 novel of the same name by Judith Guest. The film follows the disintegration of a wealthy family in Lake Forest, Illinois, following the accidental death of one of their two sons and the attempted suicide of the other. It stars Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, and Timothy Hutton.

He also had some good bit parts in other films too, like Backdraft, and Fallen.

A really good and versatile actor.