I have heard pneumonia referred to as “the terminal patients friend”.
RIP. His video biography Val is worth a watch. I have his audiobook on my wait list, it’s going to be a different listening experience after today.
Went down this rabbit hole some years back, and it is indeed nonsense.
It’s a substantial role but he does disappear before the final act in the scene that you mention. It is even more poignant that his wife (played by Ashley Judd) waves him off of the police trap even at risk to herself:
That film, more than any other Michael Mann movie, really does a good job of creating very deep characterizations of its supporting players.
He got pretty sidelined in the late ‘Nineties as he got a reputation for being difficult and unreliable. John Frankenheimer, who took over directing duties for the 1996 The Island of Dr. Moreau, described working with Kilmer by saying, “I don’t like his work ethic and I don’t want to be associated with him ever again.”, and this was on a film where the famously problematic Marlon Brando refused to talk to the director face-to-face and often took out his earpiece so he couldn’t hear instructions, and you really have to be a special kind of asshole to upstage the off-stage dramatics of Brando. He did have a resurgence with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (along with a then-uninsurable Robert Downey Jr.) which didn’t make much money but was well regarded, and he had some good critical notices in The Salton Sea and as a post-peak porn star in Wonderland about the 1980 Wonderland Drive murders but he mostly did a lot of bit parts and direct-to-video crap since then, as well as a one-man show as Mark Twain.
Stranger
Strange, I thought it was the reverse. I always found that the movie largely fell apart by the end because who cares about Pacino and De Niro’s out-of-left-field, unexplained co-dependency on another person they had coffee with once for five minutes after Kilmer drives away from his wife to ruin their lives for no good reason.
The opening scene and Kilmer’s scenes were great cinema. The serial killer angle seemed like an unnecessary addition, and the whole pillar of the film rested on the audience bringing a lot of Pacino/De Niro’s baggage on with them from watching old gangster movies on repeat every day, and ignoring what was actually shown in the film itself.
They’d have done better to call the end after Kilmer drove off.
A post was merged into an existing topic: 65 Mustang Trock Posts
RIP Val. 
My father and my uncle.
Heck yeah!
Were they 65 or younger?
Yes, my uncle was a manly guy - by all appearances very fit. Late 40s, took him fast.
My dad was was in his mid 60s - lingering.
Brando and Kilmer in The Island of Dr. Moreau is of course legendary. 23% at RT. So that’s 12% for Brando, 11% for Kilmer?
Came in here just to mention this. It was really unique, and far exceeded my expectations.
Heh, the movie wasn’t exactly legendary, IMHO.
I will second Wonderland, Salton Sea and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang as well worth your time.