10 Greatest Films of Bill Paxton
Bill Paxton died this weekend (25 February 2017) at the age of 61. He was born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1955. He struggled to get good parts at the beginning of his career and briefly took a break to be in a band. But he eventually made it big and appeared in 65 films. He also directed two films.
Recently, he had done quite a bit of good television work. He starred in the HBO series Big Love for five years, played Randall McCoy against Kevin Costner in Hatfields & McCoys, played Sam Houston in the mini-series Texas Rising, and most recently had a recurring role in the new series Training Day.
Paxton’s down-to-earth Texas manner and comedic skills gave him quite a range of characters. He could play the everyman, the clown, or the badass.
He no doubt had a lot of good roles ahead of him. It is a tragic loss to have him die so young.
10. Weird Science (1985) — This was the first movie in which I saw Bill Paxton. He plays the jerk brother of one of the main characters. Kelly LeBrock plays a woman created in a computer by two teenage boys. When Chet gets out of hand, she turns him into a steaming pile of crap.
“It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out monkey dick. Start talking little man.” — Chet
9. True Lies (1994) — Paxton plays a lecherous loser used car salesman after the wife of Arnold’s character. He was good a being slimy.
“Oh God, no, please don’t kill me. I’m not a spy. I’m nothing. I’m navel lint! I have to lie to women to get laid, and I don’t score much. I got a little dick, it’s pathetic!” — Simon
8. Near Dark (1987) — An early film from director Kathryn Bigelow. An outlaw gang of vampires prowl the Southwest. Adrian Pasdar plays a cowboy that meets a girl, falls in love, and then she bites him. Now a vampire, he tags along with her and her family/gang. Bill Paxton does a good redneck vampire.
“Caleb, those people back there, they wasn’t normal. Normal folks, they don’t spit out bullets when you shoot ’em, no sir.” — Loy Colton
7. Edge of Tomorrow (2014) — Paxton plays a Master Sergeant that Cruise’s character runs into over and over as his last day repeats.
“Battle is the Great Redeemer. It is the fiery crucible in which true heroes are forged. The one place where all men truly share the same rank, regardless of what kind of parasitic scum they were going in.” — Master Sergeant Farell
6. Twister (1996) — When I was a kid, my school was hit by a tornado. For a while I lived in an area that had what felt like daily tornado alerts. I remember being completely sucked into this film about a group of storm chasers that get in over their head.
“Honey, this is a tissue of lies. See, there was another Bill, an evil Bill, and I killed him.” — Bill
5. Frailty (2001) — Paxton directed this film as well as starring in it. He plays a dad training his children to fight demons. It’s a horror movie that has something to say.
“You can’t make things like that up, son. Killing people is wrong, destroying demons is good. Don’t worry, God will send you your own list when you’re older.” — Dad
4. A Simple Plan (1998) — Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton star in this story about two brothers that take money they find at the sign of a plane crash. They soon start to dig themselves a larger and larger hole as they try to cover up their misdeed.
“Nobody gets hurt by us keeping it. I mean, that’s what, that’s what makes it a crime, doesn’t it? Somebody getting hurt?” — Hank
3. Aliens (1986) — Paxton provides the comic relief as an overly gung-ho space marine private.
“Seventeen days? Hey man, I don’t wanna rain on your parade, but we’re not gonna last seventeen hours! Those things are gonna come in here just like they did before. And they’re gonna come in here…” — Private Hudson
2. Tombstone (1993) — personally, I prefer the Kevin Costner version from that following year. This one is more fun, though. Kurt Russell plays legendary lawman Wyatt Earp and Val Kilmer plays Doc Holliday and Paxton plays Morgan Earp.
“Remember what I said about people seein’ a bright light before they die? It ain’t true. I can’t see a damn thing.” — Morgan Earp
1. Apollo 13 (1995) — Of course this had to make my list. It is the best space movie to date. It takes some work to make a story that everyone knows the ending to be suspenseful — but Director Ron Howard pulls it off. A great film. Paxton played astronaut Fred Haise.
“Mare Tranquilitatis — Neil and Buzz’s old neighborhood. Coming up on Mount Marilyn. Jim, you’ve got to take a look at this.” — Fred Haise
