Kris Kristofferson, The country music and film icon who died at the age of 88 in Hawaii, could have been anything. The son of a senior commander in the US Air Force, he stood out early in all the fields in which he dedicated himself, from academic (after graduating summa cum laude in Literature, he went to Oxford with a Rhodes scholarship to obtain his doctorate) to sports, achieving success in rugby, American football and boxing.
However, Kristofferson ruined both his literary vocation and the military career that his family encouraged him to pursue (although he was proud of knowing how to fly helicopters). Instead, he chose country music, a scene where he made friends with characters as different as Janis Joplin, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash, leaving his mark as a composer, first, and then as a performer.
Adding to this his physical attractiveness, it was a matter of time before the cinema took notice of him. And, if we add to this that Kristofferson’s musical success ran parallel to the rise of ‘New Hollywood’ of the 70s, we will understand that his face appears in films by notable directors of that time, such as Martin Scorsese, Michael Cimino and, above all, Sam Peckinpah.
Kris Kristofferson’s films
Kristofferson’s film career began with a bang: a small role in The last movie (1971), a cocaine addict filmed in Peru by Dennis Hopper after the success of EasyRider, whose critical and box office failure sent the director’s career to the wall for a good portion of years.
However, the brand new actor knew how to avoid the consequences of that setback. After debuting as the protagonist in Cisco Pike – Police and drugs, a thriller scripted by Robert Towne (Chinatown), acted for Paul Mazursky in comedy Blume in love (1973). And, immediately afterwards, he gave life to a mythical outlaw in the misunderstood Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (Peckinpah, 1973), whose distribution coincided with James Coburn and another musician turned actor, a certain Bob Dylan.
The following year, Kristofferson released two of his best films. On the one hand, he worked as a secondary I want the head of Alfredo García, Peckinpah’s most violent and nihilistic thriller. On the other hand, he co-starred with Ellen Burstyn (who won the Oscar) Alicia doesn’t live here anymore. a romantic and musical drama directed by a Scorsese recently arrived to the mainstream.
Scorsese would not work with Kristofferson again, although he gave him an affectionate wink in the dialogues of Taxi Driver (1976). Instead, the actor and musician embarked on projects such as The impure days of the foreigner (1976), adaptation of a novel Yukio Mishima. And he also worked with Barbra Streisand in a star is born (1976), second remake of the 1937 classic that swept the box office and won the Oscar for Best Original Song.
In 1978, Kris Kristofferson reunited with Peckinpah in the trucking comedy Convoy. And, two years later, his career took a turn with Heaven’s Gate: Although Michael Cimino’s film now has the reputation of a masterpiece, at the time it was an economic disaster whose megalomania caused the production company to panic. United Artists, marking the beginning of the end for the era of auteur-directors in American cinema.
The eighties decline and the vampire resurgence
Heaven’s Gate It ruined Kris Kristofferson’s access to film stardom. Although, in later years, the musician worked with directors such as Alan J. Pakula (A business woman, 1981) and Alan Rudolph (Concerns, 1985), his career became increasingly filled with food jobs and television films like that remake of The diligence (1985) in which his musical friends Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings.
In 1987, the public saw him in America, alternative history miniseries about a US occupied by the Soviet Union, which has been left as one of the biggest disasters on American TV. Kristofferson’s career in the years that followed went from bad to worse, including a film (Gentlemen, 1991) directed by the illustrious ‘machaca’ of the B series Albert Pyun.
Although the actor still could not resist the charm of a check, even if it led him to work with Steven Seagal (On Dangerous Land 2, 1997), his status with critics improved thanks to Lone Star (1996), directed by John Sayles and candidate for the Oscar for Best Screenplay. In 1997, it was his role in Blade the one that made many viewers identify him for the remains as the vampire slayer’s grumpy mentor Wesley Snipes.
Kristofferson’s career continued to add titles, some with illustrious directors (A soldier’s daughter never cries, 1998, signed by James Ivory) and with stellar casts (What happens to men, 2009, with Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Bradley Cooper and others). However, it continued to be full of minor titles and useful jobs as a voice actor.
Kris Kristofferson’s last feature film was, however, a return to his origins: directed by Ethan Hawke Blaze (2018) returned him to the alternative country scene of the 70s, a world that he knew well and where his greatness was forged, through one of its most tragic and mysterious figures. Let’s stay, then, with that farewell.
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