Top 5 Bill Murray Scenes

Lost In Translation

First off, thoughts and prayers for the Kennedy family and our nation. I have to say, prayers for the Tippit and Oswald families too. They were also victims that weekend. All these Kennedy documentaries and remembrances have a distinct 9/11 feel. I can hardly imagine what a horrific weekend that must have been. The President belonged to all of us. President Kennedy inspired an entire generation to service. His youthful vigor symbolized American energy and enthusiasm in the 1960s. I know his memory will continue to do so.

So naturally its the right day to talk about Bill Murray.

Only Tom Hanks comes to mind as an actor who started off as a limited "one trick pony" but evolved into a truly gifted, versatile performer. Murray doesn't get the same credit though because his comedic gift is so transcendent that it tends to overwhelm his more subtle, dramatic moments. And he simply doesn't work as often.

What the hell is that?

If you don't know Bill Murray, I wonder why you even bother reading what I post. Because we clearly live on different planets. He started on the National Lampoon radio show, along with Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner. When passed over for the original "Saturday Night" cast, he spent that season on the competing "Saturday Night Live" on ABC starring Howard Cosell (that's right, look it up, the NBC program was originally entitled "Saturday Night" while the ABC program's title was "Saturday Night Live"). He later replaced Chevy Chase of course, and the rest is history. Only it almost wasn't. The audience inexplicably missed Chase and hated Murray. More proof that nearly every American up past 11:30 during the '70s was a cokehead. Murray famously turned it around on the strength of an inspired "confessional" and the even more inspired lounge singer character. Then the nerds, Weekend Update ("Woodman!"), Walter Cronkite, the drug distributing record produce (Jerry L Dini), Triumph inevitably ensued.

Movie success built upon itself. Meatballs and Where the Buffalo Roam hardly suggested the monumental heights that he would reach. He was offered the Peter Riegert role in Animal House (Boon) but turned it down. Caddyshack was the first major success. As the largely improvised Carl Spackler, Murray created a role for which every man worth knowing has memorized nearly every line. (Put it another way, if you're a man who doesn't have just about every Caddyshack line memorized, I won't waste my time on you). Then came the enormously successful Stripes, followed by a role in Tootsie that kept expanding beyond the script as Murray's skills impressed Dustin Hoffman and director Sydney Pollack. Ghostbusters, of course, really broke him. If you don't remember Murray from SNL or Caddyshack, you remember his as Dr. Peter Venkmann, and lines like "back off man, I'm a scientist," or "he slimed me!" or "its true, this man has no dick."

Groundhog Day

Murray backed off from stardom after that, appearing in some money-making roles such as Groundhog Day or Scrooged, but working in some more meaty performances, like The Razor's Edge, a remake of the old Tyrone Power movie. Basically he slowed down, emphasizing quality over quantity.

Rushmore marked the turn toward more nuanced, complicated roles. Herman Blume represents my favorite Bill Murray performance. A man, not unlike Murray himself, beaten down into resignation despite outwardly appearing very successful, finding meaning and in a way, salvation, in connecting with an incredibly maladjusted, fantasy-living high school student named Max Fischer. Murray is funny, but not uproariously funny. He is serious and somber, without becoming apoplectic as if participating in some mid-town acting school project. His mere glance or shrug or posture conveyed worlds of inner turmoil and emotion. Yet, the character was funny too.

Rushmore

From there, Murray blended funny roles with more serious. More Wes Anderson collaborations followed, in which Murray's characters sometimes blended into the ensemble (The Royal Tennenbaums and Moonrise Kingdom), and sometimes took main billing (The Life Aquatic). He almost won an Oscar for Lost In Translation, where he played another world-weary famous performer, who connects with another young person. I loved that movie, though its not quite as challenging to appear drawn to Scarlett Johansson as to Jason Schwartzmann. Broken Flowers, though underrated, also showcased Murray's burgeoning depth, as a man forced to confront his past as he searches for the woman who may have anonymously notified him that she had borne him a son many years before. Most recently he's won acclaim for portraying Pres. Franklin Roosevelt in Hyde Park on the Hudson. An acting journey that takes one from Carl Spackler to Franklin Roosevelt makes for one hell of a ride.

Its also pretty cool to have been the first guest ever on the David Letterman show. Both the CBS show and the original "Late Night With David Letterman" NBC show. Letterman didn't book Murray as the first guest just because he was a big name. That shows respect.

So here's my Top 5 Bill Murray Scenes:

5. Star Wars. The lounge singer on Saturday Night Live, Nick Winters. In his full glory with the mustache, gold chain, shirt opened to the navel, and Paul Shaffer accompanying him on piano. He would reprise the character several times to great success. That character just skewered every self-aggrandizing, two bit, incompetent performer you've ever seen. And its perfectly Murray-absolutely committed 100% to the joke, pouring every ounce into the premise, working totally without a net.

4. The Dalai Lama. "So I jumped ship in Hong Kong...." Totally improvised. 1:20 of sheer brilliance. As he's poking a pitchfork into his scene partners neck. Now, it was completely insane. Carl Spackler, caddying for the Dalai Lama who was playing golf? In Tibet? OK, sure. Why not? It helped explain the character's full on craziness later in the movie, and provided a nice contrast to when he caddied for the Bishop ("I don't think the heavy stuff's going to come down for some time!"). All in all, inspired. "So I've got THAT going for me. Which is nice."

3. Haircut scene. From Rushmore, and not one of his more well known scenes. Its not even funny. Its just incredibly revealing. After learning that Max's dad is a barber and not a neurosurgeon, in one look, he completes his bond with Max Fischer and completely understands not only Max's life but his own. I love how sometimes, just a look or a gesture can convey so much more meaning than words. Only a truly gifted actor can reveal so much of a character through such a seemingly small but truly profound act. You're not going to see Keanu Reeves do that. Or, really, much of anything except breathe and occupy space and grunt.

2. Are You the Keymaster? The scene that most perfectly showcases Murray's sarcastic, flippant persona. He encounters Sigourney Weaver, made up and semi-dressed, slithering and cooing in the most lascivious way imaginable. Only problem? She's possessed by Zuul, the minion of Gozer. Murray struggles with whether to accept her..."advances," but ultimately reasons "you've got two people in there already. It could get a little crowded." By the way, he tells Egon that he has "whacked her up" with about 300 cc's of Thorazine.  Which he has...why? He goes over to Dana's apartment to pick her up for their first date. I know I always carry certain things with me on all dates. Let's see...money, ID, keys, altoids maybe, a syringe, Thorazine, handkerchief....Hmm, that's totally not creepy. Anyway, its still an incredibly compelling scene. "Bad news honey. I gotta go to work. Will you stay here in bed until I get back?"

1. Cinderella Story. OK, really, its this scene, and then there's everything else. Probably the funniest improvised scene ever filmed. "Tears in his eyes I guess...." The shooting script just said "Carl re-enacts a childhood sports fantasy." Murray had the crew move the row of mums to the set. He nailed it in one take. That's every golf announcer there's ever been. "It looks like a mirac- ITS IN THE HOLE!! ITS IN THE HOLE!!!"

Honorable Mention: This man has no dick. "Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats, living together! Mass hysteria!"

NEXT-we've come to the end. The last Top 5 list. Its supposed to be Top 5 Things in Life That Make It Worth Living. But will it? Tune in and find out!