DVD: Divine Viewing Diversions

He was one of a kind, to be sure.

And we miss him.

We lost him in 2014, much too soon.

He was a standup comic like no other, with an energy, a creativity, a timing that was uncanny.  And hysterical.

So many fans perceived him as a comic genius, while detractors found him overwhelming and relentless.

But he was also a screen actor and movie star, adept at comedy and drama and everything in between, as his dozens and dozens of movie roles made plain.

And we miss them, too.

Because he was also quite the serious actor. 

So, as a reminder, here is a sampler of movies starring the late and the uniquely gifted Robin Williams, who challenged and pleased us, but mostly made us helpless and grateful with laughter.

The World According to Garp (R, 1982)

An adaptation of the popular John Irving novel served to introduce comedian Robin Williams – famous as a result of his showy run on the “Mork & Mindy” TV sitcom – as a leading-man force on the movie screen. Williams is restrained and effective, holding his own opposite Best Supporting Actress nominee Glenn Close as his mother and Best Supporting Actor nominee John Lithgow as a transsexual. Williams plays a struggling, disaster-prone writer with an unfaithful wife and a radical-feminist mother who becomes a cultural icon as a result of her best-selling manifesto. Traces of Williams the standup comic, almost impossible for him to erase during the early stages of his movie career, have in this case been hidden away impressively. The movie star is off and running.

Good Morning, Vietnam (R, 1987)

Director Barry Levinson smartly incorporated Williams’ comedic brilliance and ad-libbing skills in this unusual war comedy in which Williams stars as an Army disc jockey who wreaks havoc on Armed Forces radio in Saigon in the months leading up to what we came to call the Vietnam War. Williams’ manic monologues are spit-out-your-popcorn funny throughout as real-life broadcaster Adrian Cronauer, so the newly minted leading man delivers a character who is part Cronauer and part standup comic Williams. But he manages to be touching as well, and was appropriately acknowledged with an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, an occurrence that set up our expectations for his upcoming journey from comedy to drama and back.

Dead Poets Society (PG, 1989)

Drama now beckoned, as Williams starred as a charismatic, poetry-appreciating English teacher at a New England prep school in 1959 who challenges his impressionable students and inspires them to “seize the day.” Only for a moment does the standup comic/impressionist slip through and surface (aping John Wayne, no less). But Williams is more than up to the task, earning another Oscar nomination for Best Actor while the film won for Best Original Screenplay and was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director (Peter Weir). Once again, Williams seems quite comfortable in the lead role, and his chemistry with his students rings the right bells. By the end of the ’80s, the movie audience was taking his dramatic excellence for granted.

Awakenings (PG-13, 1990)

Sometimes-actress Penny Marshall, debuting behind the camera in the drama realm, directs a subdued Williams opposite two-time Oscar winner Robert De Niro in this strongly moving drama. It’s a real-life story about a research doctor, Dr. Oliver Sacks, working at a chronic-care ward with comatose patients in the Bronx in 1969. De Niro plays the youngest of the patients who emerge – thanks to the drug, L-dopa – from a 30-year coma, and drama-embracing Williams hangs in there with acting heavyweight De Niro every step of the way. De Niro was Oscar-nominated as Best Actor, as was the film for Best Picture and the script for Best Adapted Screenplay. But Williams’ contribution was seen as every bit as crucial to the film’s quality and success.

The Fisher King (R, 1991)

Williams’ acting partner in this offbeat fable set in Manhattan from director Terry Gilliam is Jeff Bridges, who plays a self-absorbed, shock-radio personality severely affected by a sudden tragedy that he feels responsible for. In his funk, he is rescued by a street vigilante, played by Williams, who is in search of the Holy Grail and could use a blast of rescuing himself. Mercedes Ruehl took home the Best Supporting Actress Oscar as Bridges’ girlfriend, and Williams seems right at home in this whimsical mix of Arthurian legend and modern urban melodrama that leaves room for a fair share of comedic moments from Williams. Meanwhile, the chemistry between and among the gifted stars and their characters is compelling and oddly touching.

Aladdin (G, 1992)

Then the world of animation beckoned in the form of an Arabian Nights adventure. Williams is hysterical as the genie, ad-libbing and riffing to a fare-thee-well, inspiring the animators to match his level of ingenious rapid-fire hilarity, and pretty much stealing the show. Marvelously entertaining for viewers of all ages, the feature-length cartoon helped celebrate the new Golden Age of Animation, taking home two musical Oscars among five nominations. But what was perhaps most remarkable about the achievement was that the production smoothly incorporated Williams’ singular talent without watering down his creativity at all. Memories of the other production particulars of the film would fade away. But Williams’ merry motormouth monologues would remain indelible.

Mrs. Doubtfire (PG-13, 1993)

An Oscar for Best Makeup would be part of the reward awaiting this audience-friendly comedy in which Williams stars as a divorced dad, a voiceover actor who’s trying to stay involved in the lives of his three cherished children. Desperate for contact with them, the voiceover actor disguises himself as a prim and proper female British housekeeper and gets hired by ex-wife Sally Field, who has custody, to look after the kids as their nanny. Williams is actually surprisingly convincing, aided by that makeup, and he is an irresistible hoot in drag. Are there other actors who could have taken this role and made it work? Maybe. But could they have gotten the laughs that Williams effortlessly conjures? Doubtful.

The Birdcage (R, 1996)

Broad comedy remained the ticket as Mike Nichols directed Williams and Nathan Lane in this very funny remake of the also-very-funny French film, “La Cage aux Folles.” Williams’ Armand is the owner of a nightclub in Miami’s South Beach, and Lane’s Albert is his drag-queen life partner and performer. Life is relatively smooth until their (step)son announces that he’s getting married and invites his prospective ultra-conservative in-laws to pay a visit to their unconventional household atop the nightclub. Williams hands Lane most of the big laughs as he goes about fitting comfortably – and hilariously – into the ensemble. This is frantic farce at its gut-busting best, with a scene in which Armand teaches Albert to be more butch and walk like John Wayne that is one for the comedy ages.

Good Will Hunting (R, 1997)

Williams accepted a key supporting role in an emotionally rich, critically acclaimed, high-profile drama that would win the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for writer-actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck for their smart, character-driven narrative. Williams plays working-class math genius Damon’s sensitive therapist. All that did was earn Williams the Best Supporting Actor Oscar and make many believers out of whatever detractors there still were. As for the charming and crowd-pleasing film itself, it also garnered Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Actor (Damon), Supporting Actress (Minnie Diver), Director (Gus Van Sant), Editing, Song (Elliott Smith’s “Miss Misery”) and Score. Supporting turn or not, this immediately became a Robin Williams signature role.

What Dreams May Come (PG-13, 1998)

With plenty of comedy behind him, Williams signed on to this supernatural drama, one of the saddest movies ever made. And that’s absolutely a compliment. Williams plays a man who loses his children in an automobile accident and then also dies. He tries to reach out and connect with his grieving wife (Annabella Sciorra) on Earth. Based on a novel by Richard Matheson, the film won an Oscar for its elaborate special effects. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, to be sure, and it was not critically well-received. But it certainly demonstrated yet again that Williams’ acting range – acknowledged by an Oscar and four nominations – was quite a bit wider than his earlier screen persona would indicate.