1. Dr. Michael Reynolds - Sunchaser (1996)
People who've read
my article on overly long films will know of my contempt for Michael Cimino, director of
The Deer Hunter and Heaven's Gate. Sunchaser, his final film to date, stars Harrelson as Dr. Michael Reynolds, a self-absorbed oncologist who is assigned to 16-year-old juvenile offender Brandon 'Blue' Monroe (Jon Seda), following the latter's diagnosis with cancer. Blue soon kidnaps Reynolds and the two take a trip to Arizona to visit a sacred mountain lake, the former believing that it will cure him of his disease. Sunchaser, like so much of Cinimo's work, is pretentious, poorly constructed and incredibly boring. Its story is cliché-ridden, its direction is listless, its visuals are often second-rate, and its two central performances go absolutely nowhere. Harrelson's character is meant to be the more sympathetic of the two, but he's written and played as an obnoxious cipher to make Seda seem more profound. Harrelson isn't even trying here, phoning in all his lines and looking constantly like he doesn't want to be there. In all his other bad performances, he at least commits to the role: in
Sunchaser, he doesn't even bother.
Have I missed out any of Harrelson's highs or lows? Drop me a comment below or visit Mumby at the Movies for more reviews.