Compared to some of his contemporaries, Jeff Bridges' talents have only diversified and improved with age. He’s never been categorized as just one type of star. Bridges has been a great leading man, but he’s also a valuable supporting player. He’s an award-winning actor, and isn’t afraid to show up in genre films and quirky comedies. Ask any cinephile their favorite Bridges role, and you could come up with a dozen different answers from a dozen different types of movies.
Bridges is currently giving one of the best performances of his career in the FX drama series The Old Man. If you’re looking to catch up on some of the best work of his career, check out these essential classics.
Duane Jackon in The Last Picture Show (1971)
It’s very rare that a film immediately announces itself as a generational classic. Peter Bogdnoavich’s The Last Picture Show is a beautiful testament to nostalgia, but it spotlights a new generation of stars who wrestle with the ways that culture is changing. The film focuses on a group of friends who observe their small town declining in the early 1950s. Jeff Bridges co-stars as Duane Jackson, the charismatic boyfriend of Jacy Farrow (Cybill Shepherd). The authenticity that Bridges brought to the small town dreamer made the film’s final moments, when Duane is shipped out to the Korean War, even more heartbreaking.
Ernie in Fat City (1972)
The 1970s saw the rise of the “inspirational sports movie,” where films like Rocky, Bad News Bears, and Breaking The Waves became blockbuster events. Fat City is not that type of film at all. It’s a deeply un-glamorized story of the former champion Billy Tully (Stacy Keach) who bets his future on an emerging young talent, Ernie Munger (Bridges). It was another case in which a great filmmaker weaponized Bridges’ inherent charisma. John Huston showed that for all of Ernie’s skills, he may be doomed to fall into the same mistakes that Billy made.
Lightfoot in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is everything that a buddy comedy should be. It’s not very complex. All you need is two polar opposites, and that’s what you get with Clint Eastwood at his most grimacing and Bridges at his wackiest. The film follows two thieves, aptly nicknamed “Thunderbolt” (Eastwood) and “Lightfoot” (Bridges), who get in over their heads after a botched robbery. Even though the film goes through all the expected buddy comedy beats (the two eventually open up to each other and begin to adopt each others’ qualities), it’s just a finely acted work of entertainment. Bridges’ dialed up performance makes Eastwood’s grimness even funnier.
Kevin Flynn in Tron (1982) and Tron: Legacy (2010)
Tron is a deeply weird blockbuster, but then again, Bridges isn’t your typical “action star.” The film follows Kevin Flynn (Bridges), a software engineer and video game developer who becomes trapped in the simulated reality of a science fiction game. Compared to other blockbusters from the 1980s, Tron is fairly humorless and philosophical. Bridges sells the techno mumbo jumbo, but he also adds just the right amount of empathy to make the viewer care about Kevin. 2010’s Tron: Legacy isn’t a typical “legacy sequel” like Star Wars: The Force Awakens or Ghostbusters: Afterlife; it's just as cold and idiosyncratic as the original, and just as visually groundbreaking.
Starman in Starman (1984)
John Carpenter deserves praise for being one of the greatest genre filmmakers of all-time, but he’s never really prioritized emotion. Halloween, The Thing, Escape from New York, Assault on Precinct 13, and They Live are all flawless pieces of blockbuster entertainment, but they’re not exactly tearjerkers. Starman is a rarity within Carpenter’s filmography; it’s an endearing love story about an alien (Bridges) who falls in love with the grieving widow Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen). Starman risked descending into melodrama, but given Bridges and Allens’ excellent chemistry, it’s emotionally gut punching.
Preston Tucker in Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)
It’s tough to call any film directed by Francis Ford Coppola “underrated,” but Tucker: The Man and His Dream is truly a masterpiece on the level of The Godfather trilogy, Apocalypse Now, or The Conversation. Coppola shows the inspirational power of the American dream, and how it is contorted and controlled by greedy corporations. Bridges stars as the energetic car developer Preston Tucker, whose ambitious plans for the 1948 Tucker Sedan are taken advantage of by “Big Auto.” The first hour of the film is Tucker achieving his dream; the second half is him wrestling with the consequences of success. Bridges makes the transition from optimist to cynic devastating.
Jack Lucas in The Fisher King (1991)
Bridges is such an immensely charismatic guy that playing an unlikable character is a challenge. Terry Gilliam asked Bridges to do the impossible. He had to play a monstrous, greedy character and spurn the audience, and then court them in again by showing his character coming to grips with his life. The film follows the slimy radio jock host Jack Lucas (Bridges), who seeks redemption by aiding the homeless man Parry (Robin Williams). It’s just as weird and touching as anything that Gilliam has ever done, and unites two of the most versatile actors of all-time for a delightful friendship.
The Dude in The Big Lebowski (1998)
“Well, that’s just like, your opinion, man.” What more can be said about The Big Lebowski? It’s hard to sum up the cult status of a film that literally inspired its own religion, and The Big Lebowski is so frequently cited as a classic that going through the film’s story isn’t necessary. That being said, could anyone have played “The Dude” better than Bridges? Bridges is responsible for creating a pop culture icon that ranks highly among The Coen Brothers’ greatest characters.
Bad Blake in Crazy Heart (2009)
Ironically, after all of great work, Bridges finally won the Academy Award for Best Actor for a film that is…fine? Crazy Heart is a pretty standard musician biopic. While there’s a charm in how Scott Cooper chooses to not glamorize anything about Bad Blake’s (Bridges) alcoholism, but the story of an artist coming to grips with his career isn’t anything you haven’t seen before. Perhaps this is why it's the perfect summation of Bridges’ career; it’s a film that relies solely on having an outstanding performance at its center. There’s no better example of Bridges elevating the material.
Sheriff Rooster Cogburn in True Grit (2010)
He had won the year prior, but in a just world, Bridges would’ve gotten his “career Oscar” for the Coen Brothers’ remake of the western classic True Grit. The original True Grit may have won John Wayne an Oscar, but it's not a classic; compared to other Wayne films, True Grit hasn't aged well at all. The Coens inject more personality into the story, flesh out the side characters, and make the central dynamic between the quirky Sheriff Rooster Cogburn (Bridges) and his young client Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfield) legitimately emotional. While Wayne turned Rooster into a caricature, Bridges subtly hinted at Rooster’s traumatic history without ever spelling it out.
Marcus Hamilton in Hell or High Water (2016)
Hell or High Water is Taylor Sheridan at his peak. It acknowledges the political context of its story without taking a firm stance, and fleshes out the perspective of each character without lionizing any of them. It’s surprisingly emotional, considering how unsentimental the four lead characters are. The film follows the aging Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton (Bridges), who teams up with his new partner Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham) to track down the bank robber brothers Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner Howard (Ben Foster). Bridges and Girmingham share delightful off color jabs at each other, and their growing friendship is hilarious up until that scene. Leave it to Bridges to turn a film’s tone so quickly.