The broken-down grace of Bill Murray | Hacker News Reader

The broken-down grace of Bill Murray

thedissolve.com

71 pointspassepartout26 comments

I wonder if the author of the article has realised the irony of his piece.

A recount of the career of an actor who has become known for not revealing anything of himself manages to reveal nothing of the actor behind the roles. But as far as hero worshipping goes, this was still an entertaining, if melancholic read.

Incidentally, not unlike some of Murray's characters.

Very recursive!

Meatballs (1979) [1] was always a favorite of mine, although this will date me slightly (!). As a geek and an introvert facing many of the same social challenges as the main character Rudy (Chris Makepeace) it was incredibly reassuring to see someone as edgy and cool (at the time) as Bill Murray in a sort of gentle, yet fun loving and supportive, mentoring role. I didn't have much of that encouragement in my early life, which was filled with basically the opposite ... adults (esp in my school) chumming up to the cool kids and publicly humiliating the tentative ones. Bill's character in the movie, and how he played it on screen, still today serve as a role model for how I try to deal with other people. For me personally, connecting with and supporting the more fragile people around me still is way more appealing, fulfilling, and meaningful for me than just constantly trying to prop up my own status by latching on to the cool, popular crowd.

[1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079540/

Randomly, my wife and I watched it for the first time a couple of hours ago. Really enjoyable film - 35 years ago but he really owns the role.

Also watched Rushmore for the first time last week - brilliant film. I don't know how I'd never heard of it before.

Classic Murray

"How's the leg? Okay. Yeah, for now, but if you don't win, we'll cut it off." [1]

"Because all the good looking girls would still go out with the guys from Mowhawk because they have all the money." [2]

[1] http://movieclips.com/YhDo-meatballs-movie-rudy-the-rabbit/

[2] http://movieclips.com/nFguU-meatballs-movie-it-just-doesnt-m...

What an interesting career he's had.

I don't know how many fans of college football there are on Hackernews, but Bill's appearance on College Gameday on ESPN was a highlight of this past season, easily the best guest host of the year. He's still hilarious

link please?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2z5vd6tFa0‎

The best part is at the end.

Awesome man, thanks. Glad to see a fellow football fan, rare around these parts.

r/cfb is my go-to football resource. Best I've found on the internet so far

I think Bill Murray deserved an oscar for "Big Ern" in Kingpin. Maybe it was the timing of when I saw it, but some of the improv pieces he did with Harrelson cut deeper and redefined where comedy could go. The Wes Anderson stuff that followed helps to sell Kingpin as a coming attraction for Murray's best years (so far) Ymmv

I was thinking the same thing to myself the other day as I was watching Kingpin probably for the 100th time. I looked up the Best Supporting Actor nominees for 1996, and the only two that I thought could have even a slim chance of competing with Bill Murray were William H. Macy in Fargo and Cuba Gooding Jr. in Jerry McGuire.

To me, Big Ern is one of the greatest characters ever, and quite possibly Bill's best performance (Steve Zissou is right up there and The Life Aquatic is one of my favorite movies). It's straight up wrong that this performance is so underrated and overlooked. The fact that he got shined by the Academy shows the hypocrisy of Hollywood.

This was a joy to read, really good writeup!

"We have been kicking ass for 200 years. We are 10 and 1." [1]

[1] http://movieclips.com/Qy2V-stripes-movie-were-mutants/

If you watch only one Bill Murray movie, it should be Stripes.

Oh man, What About Bob? One of my favourite films ever.

This movie inspired a Tamil movie named Thenali. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thenali

Murray, Matt Damon and Hugh Bonneville appeared on the Graham Norton Show on the BBC last week. Matt Damon commented towards the end that it was "The best chat show I've ever been on". It was an almost surreal show. Watch it if you can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTd4hw7mZEI

That's the fact, Jack!

on Charlie Rose (1 hr interview)

http://www.hulu.com/watch/595859

Or from the Charlie Rose site: http://www.charlierose.com/watch/60340546

not a good title in my opinion. Graceful career... And they somehow break it down into chunks in the article. So that means "broken-down grace?

You're misinterpreting it, I think. Bill Murray has always struck me as slightly damaged – in a good way, more authentic seeming. This sense of frayed vulnerability has grown more beautiful and poignant as he has aged, especially evident in films like "Lost in Translation".

I think that is what the title refers to. There are different ways to be graceful. Bill Murray doesn't have the affable, everyman grace of Tom Hanks or the smooth, charismatic grace of George Clooney. Murray's grace feels a bit worn out by life, a bit rough around the edges.

You're obviously entitled to your opinion, but I'm okay with the title, under this interpretation.

that's why i love HN, because it's not only about "hacker" news. very good article, inspired me to watch his movies again.

Incidentally, the reason I started coming here was because it was "hacker" news. It seemed a more focused place to get news related to programming and the ecosystem.

Bill Murray is awesome, but I guess I must be missing something in my attempts to understand why this is on the front page.

Ah well. Interesting piece all the same.

Please go back to reddit, thanks.

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