Kurt Russell’s best movies and shows highlight a career from one of the most legendary actors in Hollywood. Russell has been acting since he was a young boy, appearing in several early Disney movies and making a name for himself. However, it was not until the early 1980s that he redefined himself as an adult star with a variety of roles that showcased him both as a movie star and as an excellent actor.
Russell has built a persona in the Western genre, but he is an actor who refuses to be typecast in any one role. He has played sadistic and fun villains in the past while also delivering some of the most memorable movie heroes of all time. He can be hilarious in a role or powerfully stoic. He has also worked alongside some of the greatest filmmakers in the world, including Quentin Tarantino and John Carpenter. In the end, narrowing down Kurt Russell’s best work is no easy task.
One ofKurt Russell’s most underrated moviesalso ranks as one every fan of his work needs to check out.Breakdownis a straightforward thriller that stars Russell and Kathleen Quinlan as a married couple making their way through an isolated roadside community when their truck breaks down. While seeking help, the couple splits up only for his wife to seemingly vanish. However, as he attempts to find her, he begins to realize that he has been lured into a dark conspiracy.
As great as Russell is at playing the bigger heroic characters, he is just as effective as the everyday hero.His character of Jeff Taylor is filled with fear and vulnerability, but he is relentless in his pursuit of the truth about his wife, not willing to give up. It makes for a white-knuckle thriller with a terrific central performance.
Having Kurt Russell join the MCU was a huge win for the cinematic universe and made for one of its most underrated villains.Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2finds Star-Lord and the other dysfunctional heroes adventuring around the galaxy with plenty of enemies on their tail. However, a new mysterious situation arises when they are introduced to the powerful celestial known as Ego the Living Planet (Russell), who claims to be Peter Quill’s real father.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2brings back so many of the elements that made the first movie a surprise hit. It is hilarious, filled with great music, and has a lot of heart in growing the relationships of these colorful characters.Russell makes a great addition to the ensemble, giving a truly committed performance as this powerful characterwhose true nature is gradually revealed in an effective way.
Undoubtedly, the most important collaborator in Kurt Russell’s professional careerhas been John Carpenter. They have made several classic movies, and while most of them were rather intense,Big Trouble in Little Chinawas a great reminder of how much fun they clearly had together. Russell stars in the movie as Jack Burton, a truck driver who finds himself mixed on in a supernatural war raging beneath Chinatown with a powerful sorcerer with evil plans.
Big Trouble in Little Chinawonderfully plays on Russell’s legacy as an action hero as Jack Burton is a likable yet largely ineffective hero. He hilariously spends most of the movie questioning what is going on around him, constantly confused about the fight that he is in. The movie is a bit of cartoonish fun, and while certain aspects might not have aged as well, it is still enjoyed as a hugely fun and silly cult classic.
Kurt Russell and Quentin Tarantino are two Hollywood artists closely associated with the Western, so it was a real thrill to see them team up for an original entry into the genre.The Hateful Eightis a wonderful and violent ensemble piece that follows a group of strangers traveling through the snowy mountains when they are forced to take shelter together in a small cabin. As the tensions rise, it becomes clear that some of the people in that cabin are not who they claim to be.
Russell has a standout role as John Ruth, a bounty hunter transporting a dangerous criminal(Jennifer Jason Leigh), and is dedicated to delivering her alive. Russell joins a stellar cast that also includes Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggins, Tim Roth, and others. It is a fun mix of a dark and bloody Western as well as a whodunnit-style mystery.
Kurt Russell’s first movie with Quentin Tarantino resulted in something very unexpected from the two artists.Death Proofwas Tarantino’s addition to the two-part horror collectionGrindhouse, but it works even better on its own. Russell stars in the movie as Stuntman Mike, a former Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a serial killer targeting women with his souped-up killer car. The movie follows him as he stalks two different groups of young women, with two very different results.
Not surprisingly, Tarantino is directly tuned into the throwback exploitation horror movie vibes of this movie. However, he also makes it his own with elevated dialogue, characters, and some great action sequences.Russell delivers one of his best-ever performances, effectively selling the menace of the character. However, he is even better in the climax where the movie takes a very unexpected swerve.
Kurt Russell helped bring one of the most inspiring true sports stories to the big screen in the upliftingMiracle. The hockey movie tells the story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, who faced seemingly impossible odds and ended up beating the Soviet team in the Gold Medal game. Russell leads the team as player-turned-coach Herb Brooks.
Miracleis a true underdog sports movie but does not have to lean into cliché and sentimentality to be entertaining. It is a grounded yet uplifting story of determination and hard work.Russell elevates the entire movie as Brooks. He plays the character as someone who is not afraid to seem harsh to his players, pushing them hard and demanding nothing but their best. His performance helps makeMiraclethegreatest hockey movie ever made.
Kurt Russell has made some great Westernsin his career but one of his best also serves as a great horror movie.Bone Tomahawkstars Russell as Sheriff Hunt, the protective and brave lawman of a small town. When several of the citizens are taken by mysterious enemies, Hunt assembles a posse to head out into the barren lands to rescue them. However, they find themselves confronted with the unspeakable horrors and brutality of a group of cannibals lurking in the mountains.
Bone Tomahawkis a gruesome and shocking horror movie that is certainly not for the faint of heart. There are moments that rival the most unsettling things I have ever seen in a movie. However, it is also a sharply written thriller with no time to waste on clichés or exposition, slamming the audience with unexpected developments.Russell leads a talented cast with his effective performance as an aging herowho wants to save the people he swore to protect.
Kurt Russell and John Carpenterhelped create the most iconic character from their collaborations together in the action thrillerEscape from New York. Set in the future in which Manhattan has been abandoned and transformed into an island prison, Russell stars as Snake Plissken, a famed criminal who is implanted with an explosive and forced to enter New York in order to rescue the President of the United States of America whose plane crashed in the lawless city.
It is a fun premise with a terrific dystopian world that feels akin to what George Miller created in theMad Maxmovies. However, the real special element of the movie is Russell as Snake.He creates a truly unforgettable action herowho is unafraid, highly capable, and cares nothing for society as a whole. Russell seems to relish the chance to play this lone gunslinger role in such a cool sci-fi setting.
Given all of Kurt Russell’s Western movies, the fact thatTombstonestands out as his best should impress you. The movie also sees Russell taking on one of the most iconic real-life figures of the Old West, Wyatt Earp. The movie depicts Earp and his brothers arriving in the town of Tombstone to make a new life for themselves. However, their heroic ways eventually lead them to take on lawman roles in the fight against the violent and criminal cowboys.
Russell brings his perfect stoic leading man performance to the role, delivering some epic one-liners that rank among thebestTombstonequotes. He is also backed up by a wonderful cast that includes Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, and Val Kilmer in a scene-stealing role as Doc Holliday. Tombstone not only stands as Russell’s best Western but also one of the best movies in the genre ever.
Yet another collaboration with John Carpenter, the master filmmaker chose his favorite leading man to lead the ensemble of what many call thegreatest horror movie ever made.The Thingfollows a group working at an isolated research facility in Antarctica who encounter an alien species that has the ability to take on the form of any biological thing it comes in contact with. As the workers are picked off one by one and have no hope of rescue coming, they realize that the creature could be any one of them.
Amid the tension and thrills,Kurt Russell delivers a terrific performance as R.J. MacReady, the facility’s pilot. While he has Russell’s typical take-charge heroic energy, MacReady is also a harsher hero than audiences might be expecting. Carpenter elevates the fear of the unknown and the paranoia of the characters while also delivering gruesome gore in the form of the movie’s iconic monster designs.
