MovieChat Forums > 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) Discussion > Roy Scheider should have been a major mo...

Roy Scheider should have been a major movie star

posted 2 years ago by space1999 (725)
5 replies | jump to latest

Outside of "Blue Thunder" this was his first hit in many, many years.

1. Klute.
2. The Seven-Ups.
3. Jaws.
4. Marathon Man.
5. All That Jazz. [Oscar nominee for best actor]

Not a bad record to go into the next decade.

But he became a flash in the pan following the 2010 and was never able to equal the success of his fellow actors from the generation before.

Maybe walking out of a contract [The Deer Hunter] or wrestling the director to the ground in a hotel room [Jaws 2] he was labeled "difficult" and according to William Friedkin while filming Sorcerer very difficult.

Then while being on a Hollywood blacklist for 10 years [and a string of box office flops] he went into television and got another big chance again with Steven Spielberg.

He famously told reporters the series that he starred in flat out sucks.

https://ew.com/article/2006/05/23/why-roy-scheider-deserves-his-tough-guy-props/

And then he died and now's he just that guy in Jaws.

[–] HarlemEagle42 (16140) 2 years ago

Yeah it's too bad.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

With good reason too. Aside from Jaws no one really talks about the rest of the films he was in. And I'll 100% agree with anyone who says that it's sad but it's still true. Even The French Connection doesn't get a lot of recognition outside of a small circle of 70s movies fans.

And don't get me wrong, I love Roy. Jaws, Sorcerer, 2010, The French Connection are all fantastic films in and of themselves. Hell, I've even watched Listen To Me a few times just because he was in it. It's just the films he did went by the wayside quickly. A great actor can't make a film great on his/her own.

[–] TandyMan (10338) 2 years ago

He zigged when he should have zagged with Deer Hunter. Can't say anything to him being black listed or not, but that film certainly would have cemented his place in Hollywood for decades to come. That's how it goes.

[–] urrutiap (942) a month ago

Roy Scheider was a star from the late 1970s and through the 1980s. Most of his movies were HBO quality pretty much.

Still of the Night was a pretty good flick and that was on HBO alot back in the day along with Jaws 2

[–] Zarkoff (585) 2 days ago

He had a good run in the seventies. Then his career just kind of faded.

Happens to a lot of actors. Maybe they have a couple of films not do too will at the box office, or they just fall out of favor for some reason. They end up getting more small roles or low budget movies.