Published: May 08, 2008 06:11 pm            

Mr. Movie: Scheider had odd film career

Roy Scheider, who died recently at 75, had a very curious film career. His best-known role was back in 1975, as the conflicted police chief in Jaws. A great white shark threatens a New England beach town at the height of tourist season. The pols want to ignore it; Chief Scheider wants to shut down the beach. I won't reveal what happened to the chief for the three people reading this who haven't seen the movie. Let's just say that nobody felt safe in the water for about 10 years after Jaws.

Roy Scheider's craggy features were just perfect as the New York cop tracking down a heroin king in The French Connection (1971). The car chase through the elevated railway stanchions is still one of the best ones ever filmed, a real nail-biter. This was Mr. Scheider's break-out part, and he was nominated for an Oscar for his role in this excellent crime film, but lost out to Ben Johnson for The Last Picture Show.

Mr. Scheider once again plays a tough cop in the gritty Marathon Man (1976). Dustin Hoffman is a student somewhat mixed up with the Nazi underground and the redoubtable Lawrence Olivier is the dentist from Hell. Not for the faint of heart, this film features nonstop action and a torture scene that will literally set your teeth on edge.

In one of the most curious casting ploys ever, Roy Scheider played the legendary Broadway choreographer and director Bob Fosse in All That Jazz (1979). He didn't look right for the part and nothing in his background suggested he could do this. But somewhat it worked, and he was again nominated for an Oscar. This time he lost out to Dustin Hoffman for Kramer vs. Kramer. All That Jazz is better than just a biopic, as it gives a really good look at just how Broadway shows get made.

After these four excellent films, Mr. Scheider's career takes a strange turn for the worse. I don't know why. He continued to work, appearing in over 50 films. But none of them is really worth mentioning, except The Russia House (1990), with Sean Connery in a good adaptation of a John LeCarre spy novel. Mr. Scheider has a very minor role on this one. If you blink you might miss him.

All of the movies in this column are for grown-ups. All are for available on video and DVD.



Rusty Hammond has been writing the Mr. Movie column since 1996. It appears in several newspapers in North Carolina.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.