A few words about Michael Madsen
The haunting cinema figure with a crackerjack smile died at the age of 67.
Michael Madsen made you an instant believer with his voice, and then kept your attention with his eyes. They were menacing fixtures of light and darkness, beaming with cool madness and violence that stayed with you long after the movie was over.
“If they hadn’t done what I told them not to do, they’d still be alive.”
Everybody who saw Reservoir Dogs left thinking about Madsen’s Mr. Blonde, the loose cannon who used his gun in a jewelry heist to send a message about following orders. He was danger personified. The guy who cut off a young cop’s ear while dancing to Stuck in the Middle With You,” turning a regular tune into a household movie song. A moment so crystallized in cinema that Madsen did the dance at a Baltimore Orioles game one time while he was with his family.
The truth is that Madsen hated violence in real life, making his lifelong work with Quentin Tarantino all the more impressive. The ear-slicing scene was something that Madsen almost didn’t do, all the way down to the take that was used in the movie involves an audible “no” from the director as Madsen was having second thoughts as the cameras rolled. The fact that the result was as resolute and horrifying speaks to the level of actor that he was.
Madsen was the conceited outfielder who crashed through an outfield wall in The Natural. He was the brother of David Carradine’s notorious Bill in Tarantino’s Kill Bill. He was the hero in Species, and the good dad in Free Willy. Remember him giving Alec Baldwin a hard time in the underrated remake of The Getaway?
Whatever role he touched turned into something richer than before. He never needed top billing, because wherever he landed seems to stick with viewers for countless generations. The less exposure aided Madsen’s work instead of becoming a detriment.
He didn’t need makeup or a big monologue to enhance a performance; all Madsen had to do what show up and speak.
Cardiac arrest is being reported about his death, but the cause doesn’t change the reality. A great actor is gone. Becoming Sherlock Holmes all of a sudden doesn’t change the outcome. While Ray Liotta had more star power, Madsen belonged in that ballpark. Eyes, voice, and action!
Rest in peace, Michael. Everyone else, get to work.