Friday, February 28, 2014

Mt. Rushmore of Morgan Freeman Characters


Morgan Freeman Week Continues With a Blogathon!



M. Brown at Two Dollar Cinema came up with a cool idea for a blogathon, come up with your own Mt. Rushmore. Sounds simple enough, but I'll let him explain in his own words.

To participate, simply choose the top 4 of anything cinematic and explain why it should be carved into the side of a mountain forever. Remember these are real people carved into imaginary rock - so choose wisely! - m. brown

Choose wisely, hmmm...

I wracked my brain trying to figure out what to do. Finally, I remembered I'm in the middle of Morgan Freeman Week. Who deserves to be on Mt. Rushmore more than Morgan Freeman? The man has played dozens of characters. Below are the four that I carve into the side of a mountain in heartbeat. And you know what? I'd even go so far as to carve an inscription beneath each one.


Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding
(The Shawshank Redemption)
Simply put, this is the most iconic role Freeman has ever played. Twenty years since its release, it's still the one most associated with him. And we're definitely carving the hat.

Red's Inscribed Quote: I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up DOES rejoice.


Det. William Somerset
(Se7en)
Has there ever been a more brilliant detective in cinematic history? Maybe...MAYBE two. Sherlock Holmes being one, the other is one will actually be on the mountain with Somerset. How smart is he? Be honest with yourself. If you had never seen Se7en and were assigned to investigate the same murders he did, how long would it be before you went and read Dante's Inferno in search of clues?

Somerset's Inscribed Quote: Ernest Hemingway once wrote, "The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.


Alex Cross
(Kiss the Girls/Along Came a Spider)
This is that other brilliant detective. My biggest reason for including him is that he is something Freeman rarely gets to be, the protagonist. Why there weren't a whole slew of Alex Cross movies with him in the lead, I'll never know. Another reason for his inclusion? He played the role far better than Tyler Perry. Zing!

Cross' Inscribed Quote: You're born with a gift. If not that, then you get good at something along the way. And what you're good at, you don't take for granted. You don't betray it.


Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins
(Glory)
For the last spot, I actually wanted one of his more recent roles and was leaning heavily toward Lucius Fox. As much as I love Batman flicks, I had to go with the more "important" role. For me, there's really no more important character on Freeman's resume than John Rawlins, a black man who joined the Union Army to fight for his own emancipation during the Civil War. Yup, this hat goes on the mountain, too.

Rawlins' Inscribed Quote: So that if tomorrow is the great getting-up morning, if that tomorrow we have to meet the Judgement Day, O Heavenly Father, we want you to let our folks know that we died facing the enemy! We want 'em to know that we went down standing up! Amongst those that are fighting against our oppression, we want 'em to know, Heavenly Father, that we died for freedom!


There you have it. Feel free to do your own Mt. Rushmore, or criticize mine. If you decide to participate, head over to Two Dollar Cinema and leave link to your post. Then again, even if you don't head over there anyway, it's a very funny blog.


14 comments:

  1. Great list! I imagine it must be pretty hard to narrow the list down to just four places. The man has been in a lot of good movies. If I would have to do this, Shawsank and Se7en are my favourites, but the other two places are up for grabs. But can't disagree with what you've chosen here

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The hard part was really narrowing it down to two spots. Like you, Shawshank and Se7en were no-brainers for me.Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  2. Such good choices!!! In fact... tonight I was watching Robin Hood and almost forgot he was in that too!! Just an amazing actor all around!

    My Mount Rushmore

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He most certainly is amazing. Lots of great movies and great performances. Thanks for reading!

      Delete
  3. Great list! This must have been really hard to throw together. Like others have said, Shawshank and Se7en are easy, narrowing down the rest would be tough!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was tough. There are another dozen roles, at least, that are worthy. Glad you checked it out!

      Delete
  4. Ugh. I love that quote from Se7en so much. As delivered by Freeman, it's like a punch to the stomach. A beautiful punch to the stomach.

    This is a great monument. If any actor were to deserve his own, I would argue that Morgan Freeman is in the top 5.

    Or 4.

    (thanks for participating, Wendell. Let me know if you ever need someone to write something for your site...I'd love to)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is a wonderful quote from Se7en. Thanks for the offer. At some point, maybe soon (?), I'll host my own blogathon and hope you'll participate. Thanks again.

      Delete
  5. I've only seen half of these, but in my opinion almost any character that Morgan Freeman plays is a great character no matter what the movie is, he just makes every movie better. Not that I needed one, but this is yet another reason for me to catch Shawshank Redemption sometime soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Absolutely correct on Freeman. I don't remember ever seeing a bad performance by him. Yes, Shawshank is a movie I highly recommend.

      Delete
  6. These lists have been so creative. Red from Shawshank Redemption is my favorite. I watch this movie every time it comes on basic cable and I can't help myself. It pulls me and the last scene always makes me cry. Without Morgan Freeman, this movie would just not be as good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He certainly helped make Shawshank in a big way. It's an easy movie to watch multiple times, too. I guess that's why it's on so often, lol.

      Delete
  7. Great homage to a great actor! I really need to see Glory!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, you need to see Glory! If you review, please come back here and leave a link. I'd love to read your thoughts on it.

      Delete