Tribute Scott Glenn

As a former Marine and surgeon, Eugene is a man of discipline and unbreakable habits. Each of his days begins with a rigorous fitness routine, which includes numerous push-ups, as practiced by soldiers, as well as exercises with a combat knife. It's fascinating to observe the endurance and naturalness with which this man, who is well over 80, trains.

It is these repeatedly repeated training scenes in Hank Bedford's »Eugene the Marine« that seem to define the man played by Scott Glenn. During these exercises, Eugene radiates a calm and serenity that he otherwise finds increasingly difficult to maintain. For this time, he is completely at peace with himself.

Interviews reveal that Scott Glenn, born in Pittsburgh in 1939, follows a very similar fitness routine every day. In this respect, these scenes in Bedford's slightly surreal thriller have an almost documentary quality. The line between Glenn and his role seems to blur. Eugene and Scott Glenn's stoic workout regimen also reveals something like the essence of Glenn's on-screen persona. While watching him exercise, one's thoughts inevitably wander back to films like James Bridges' »Urban Cowboy« (1980) and Philip Kaufman's »The Right Stuff« (1983), John Frankenheimer's »The Challenge« (1982) and Jonathan Demme's »Silence of the Lambs« (1991), John McTiernan's »The Hunt for Red October« (1990), and Ken Loach's »Carla's Song« (1996). All of Scott Glenn's performances, both large and small, have one thing in common: His characters initially captivate the viewer with their physical presence. In »Urban Cowboy«, this affectionate yet unsparing homage to the world of honky-tonks, his physical acting exerts an almost magical attraction. It's no wonder that Debra Winger's Sissy, despite her love for John Travolta's boyish Bud, feels drawn to his portrayal of Wes Hightower. Glenn radiates such energy and self-confidence in the role of the modern outlaw that he barely needs words. The dark, destructive sides of this archetypal figure of American cinema, who comes from the
Western tradition, are also ever-present in his supple movements, his piercing gaze, and his mocking smile.

His dazzling and seductive embodiment of all the darkest aspects of the American myth in »Urban Cowboy« finally opened all doors in Hollywood for Scott Glenn, who was in the Marines in the 1960s and initially aspired to a career as a journalist and author. He also owes his first leading role in John Frankenheimer's »The Challenge« to it. The hapless boxer Rick, who, in classic noir style, is hired for a job that soon becomes too much for him, is, on the one hand, a variation on Wes Hightower and, on the other, the antithesis of that character.

Rick, too, dominates every situation through his physical charisma alone. But unlike Hightower, he is initially barely able to capitalize on this effect. In»The Challenge« Glenn plays with another archetypal American myth. Rick is the American detached from all ties to tradition and history, living only in the moment and lacking stability. A stability, he can only find it in the world of the descendants of the Japanese samurai – a world that stands for structure and discipline. It is this discipline that also Eugene represents at the beginning of »Eugene the Marine«, that characterizes Glenn's acting in each of his films.
In a way, Glenn, like Clint Eastwood, should have become one of the great stars of modern genre cinema. His physical presence and stoic manner predestined him for the role. However, Hollywood took a different direction in the 80s and 90s than what a film like »The Challenge« offered. B-movies starring Chuck Norris and Steven Seagal took its place. So, Glenn was mostly offered character and supporting roles in major studio productions, and most recently, appearances in series like »The Leftovers« and »Castle Rock« »Bad Monkey« and »The White Lotus«, to which he could lend his ever vivid charisma and class.