Top Five Fridays: Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt seems to be either loved or hated. While his personal life is almost always the talk of the town (though he has been trying to keep a low profile lately), who he is living with is not as important as all that he has accomplished in a career that has spanned close to three decades. Women love Brad because he’s attractive and he can act. Men enjoy the roles he plays and his sense of humor. In looking at such an amazing career that dates back to the late 1980s, it is obvious what a great actor he is by his résumé of work.

With that in mind, this article is going to examine some of those movie roles. While these may be the top five Brad Pitt movies in one fan’s opinion, there are plenty of other great movies to add to the list. From Troy to Ocean’s Eleven, Brad has done comedy, drama, period pieces, action oriented roles, and thrillers. In them, he’s played so many different and diverse characters it is hard to fit his ideal role into any type of box. It seems as if Brad Pitt can do a little of everything and this top five list is going to prove it. So, let’s get right to it with the first movie on the list.

Number Five – Sleepers

Sleepers gave Brad the chance to really show his audience how dramatic he could be. The effectiveness of the movie depended on how believable the characters were. Pitt was a shining star on camera as the older Michael Sullivan. He played the part with the likes of Robert DeNiro, Billy Crudup, Jason Patric, and Kevin Bacon.

Brad Pitt played Michael, a lawyer in Sleepers who is convinced to help his childhood friends beat a murder rap. The boys had all gone to a juvenile detention center after a childhood prank gone wrong killed a businessman who was out in the city spending the day with his family. As the youngest member of the group, Pitt got out early. Nonetheless, all of the boys put up with a hellacious experience that involved physical and sexual abuse by one of the guards at the detention center. All these years later, the guard ends up dead and two of the boys who are now men, John (Ron Eldard) and Tommy (Billy Crudup) are charged with the murder.

Pitt had the opportunity to dig a little deeper and play off his emotions in this film as opposed to some of the more superficial characters he has had to play. In this movie, you get a sense of who Michael is, where he’s been, what he’s gone through, and how it has affected his life as an adult. This may not have been my favorite Brad Pitt movie, but it was certainly high enough to make this list.

Number Four – Se7en

I absolutely love thrillers, especially those with twisted plots. Se7en is one of those movies. When you watch it, your heart pounds and you mind races along with the plot trying to keep up and figure out what is going to happen before it does. I watched the movie when it first came out and the ending was a shocking surprise. I wasn’t expecting what happened to happen. With such great actors portraying the characters, it was bound to be a decent film, but the plot and the storyline go beyond any other thriller movie I’ve seen.

In the movie, Brad plays a police officer, Detective David Mills, who is relatively new to this specific station. He teams up with the soon-to-retire veteran Detective Lt. William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) to help catch a serial killer known simply as John Doe. Doe is executing his killings in reference to the “seven deadly sins” hence the name of the film, Se7en. It is up to the detectives to find the killer before he can strike again. In an interesting subplot, Pitt’s character is married to Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow) who finds out she is pregnant. She must deal with having the child of a police officer, a decision that might mean she will not have the child, at all. Through a series of plot twists that are perfectly executed, the Detectives and John Doe eventually come face to face. The question is, at what price?

Brad Pitt was emotional, risky and pigheaded like young, hotshot detectives often are, and he played the role he needed to play for you to not only sympathize with him when necessary, but also to dislike him and his actions in other parts. The flipping emotions of the audience is a sure sign that Pitt has done his job. Also, the supporting cast is brilliant with Morgan Freeman acting as the perfect mentor Pitt can learn from and John Doe being portrayed by an actor that made him absolutely chilling. If you’re looking for a great thriller movie, Se7en is the film you need to check out. Chances are you won’t be disappointed.

Number Three – Twelve Monkeys

Have I mentioned how much I love Twelve Monkeys? This is perhaps my favorite Brad Pitt role he has ever done. However, the overall movie isn’t as good as my choices for number one and two. Don’t get me wrong. I love this movie. So much so in fact that I’ve probably seen it 100 or more times. It’s catchy and entertaining. What else can you expect from a Terry Gilliam film?

Brad Pitt truly makes this movie his own as the psycho, environment-loving, crazy man, Jeffrey Goines. Jeffrey is special. Brad, as Jeffrey, has tics and reminds me a lot of the bi-polar people I know. He’s high and then low with nothing really in between. He talks a million miles per second. His conversations are about the most innate things, and then he does something that shouldn’t be funny…but it makes you laugh anyway. That’s what is so great about this movie. It’s really not supposed to be a comedy, but the elements of humor from Pitt truly set the scene for the film.

The story begins in a post-apocalyptic type of setting. Cole (Bruce Willis), a convict of the underground, has the chance to redeem himself for his actions, first by collecting samples from the icy, dead world up above and then going on missions. He is able to go back into the past to try and trace the virus to a group that the future underground scientists believe is responsible for letting the virus loose, the Army of the Twelve Monkeys. During his numerous time travelling adventures, Cole is sent to the wrong time period on more than one occasion.

In the first expedition, he is sent to 1990, six years before the virus is going to hit, instead of going to 1996 like he should. His crazy demeanor leads him to a loony bin, where he meets the crazy, bipolar Jeffrey Goines. While in the bin, the two talk about the extinction of man, before Cole disappears, returning during a battle of WWII and finally making it to 1996 like he should. In 1996, he learns that Jeffrey Goines is the leader of the Army of the Twelve Monkeys. As the son of a world famous virologist, he would have access to the virus. With the help of his former psychologist when he was institutionalized in 1990, Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe), Cole sets out to prove Goines is responsible for the virus, so the scientists of the future can study it to find a cure and way for the people of the underground to once again live on the surface.

Pitt excels in his role as Goines. He has some of the funniest lines in the movie and provides much of the comic relief to this otherwise dramatic film. If you see Pitt in any movie, this is the one to watch.

Number Two – Kalifornia

In Kalifornia, Pitt once again plays someone who is crazy. This time, he’s a white trash, murderous freak known by the name of Early. He really has playing a crazy down pat. He can handle being the hero, but he really thrives in those roles where he steps out of the box of playing a conventional human being and takes on a role that actually takes some skill to play.

Early is a real interesting guy. He’s on parole, living in a trailer park, and no stranger to hard work. For example, near the beginning of the film he digs an awfully big hole for his landlord. Some people will do anything to avoid paying rent! One of the best things about this film is that you spend a good portion of this movie watching it and being completely shocked that the trashy lunatic on the screen is actually Brad Pitt! The greasy hair and this guttural, nasal snort he does when he sucks the snot back and forth in his throat, makes it hard to imagine that it’s actually Pitt in there, but it is.

Early is dating a less than intelligent, down home girl, who is actually kind of sweet, named Adele. After knocking off the landlord, something Adele doesn’t realize Early has done, the two meet up with a couple, Brian (David Duchovny) and Carrie (Michelle Forbes). They plan to travel across the country. Brian is a writer and Carrie is a photographer. They’ll be traveling along a route that takes them around the country to the homes of some of the most notorious serial killers. This is their project for Brian’s next book. Of course, they want to share the expenses with another couple, so they decide to look for one. Early finds out about this, contacts Brian, and in no time, the four of them are off to California. Of course, nobody realizes how crazy Early really is until it’s too late.

This is the scariest role Pitt has played merely because he’s virtually unrecognizable as Early. He personifies white trash murder and this movie serves to remind people never to go cross country with strangers. You never know who they’ll turn out to be in the end.

Number One – Fight Club

While Twelve Monkeys may be my favorite movie that Pitt has played in it’s hard to deny the genius behind Fight Club. This is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. The movie is shockingly amazing the first time you see it. Though you know what is going to happen, it’s still shockingly amazing the 600th time you see it. Fight Club is our top pick because it’s Brad’s best movie and the best movie on this list. His portrayal of Tyler Durden immortalized an already talented actor. Pitt couldn’t get any higher or better than he already has.

The story is told from the vantage point of The Narrator (Edward Norton). He’s a office employee who is unsatisfied with the monotony in his life. After meeting the intriguing soap salesman, Tyler Durden, on a plane ride home, the Narrator ends up moving in with him. The two live in a dump, but that’s okay. In the evening, they spend their nights roaming the streets and fighting one another. Before long, they’ve developed a secret society of male fighting clubs, Fight Club, to outlet their aggression. Soon, Fight Clubs are popping up all over the country and it soon becomes clear that Fight Club has a much bigger mission than originally intended.

Tyler Durden is confident, without fear, and the type of guy people aspire to be. The point of Tyler is his fearless nature. He adds an element to the movie that would be lost without him. While Brad Pitt really wasn’t the star of Fight Club, he made the movie his and was able to hold his own against the talented Edward Norton.

So, what are your top five Brad Pitt movies? Leave us a comment with your list and let us know!

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