Bill Paxton Appreciation Thread

I dig Paxton's New Wave roots.

Here's a tribute to Paxton from my long-time fave media critic, Maureen Ryan.
Remembering Bill Paxton, Hollywood’s Scene-Stealing Everyman

Take his Private Hudson in “Aliens,” my favorite Paxton role. Early in the movie, Hudson is a blusterer, a loud mouth who boasts and razzes and is an almost obnoxious presence. Yet the character is lovable in his boisterousness, and he somehow becomes even more appealing in the scene in which he loses all hope. After a pulse-pounding showdown with the aliens, when he squawks that iconic line — “Game over, man! Game over!” — Hudson is all of us. He’s our immediate, primal connection to the plight of the characters, because he reacts the way any normal, terrified person would. Among this motley collection of people, Hudson has no guile and no chill. It’s a human moment — raw, funny, and cathartic all at once.​

 

Being a long-time HBO subscriber, I totally remember totally avoiding it. I like Paxton but the premise of that show left me cold. Different strokes.