# What is it with Christopher Walken? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 6, 2003, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483 "2003-03-06T14:13:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![beegirl13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@beegirl13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beegirl13)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483/21 "2003-03-06T18:09:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Munch \* > \*\*I think it’s his insatiable desire for more cowbell that keeps me coming back for more. \*\* 😃 I’ve only seen him on SNL, and I think he’s great. I love “The Continental”. Champagne? Also, he looks like Death. Deliciously creepy. I need to remember to get one of his movies next time I’m scrounging around the video store and can’t think of anything to rent. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/91b2a8/32.png) [@Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_Sandwhich)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483/22 "2003-03-06T18:11:41Z")
He was great in “Annie Hall.” ---
**Author:** ![Jorel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f19dbf/32.png) [@Jorel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jorel)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483/23 "2003-03-06T18:38:59Z")
I agree with Caricchi, (you do get it) but for a slightly different reason: \ For some reason just thinking about him makes me laugh. It is as though he is doing a parody of himself (Shatner) My husband and I have been laughing about that SNL since it was on a couple weeks ago. Not for any skit, but instead the way he pronounced, “Foo…Fighters…are here” FUNNY! ---
**Author:** ![Peach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@Peach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peach)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483/24 "2003-03-06T19:08:00Z")
Christopher Walken is awesome. Great dancer (have you seen Pennies from Heaven?) Funny as hell (very dry wit) deeply moving dramatic actor spin-chilling villain very cool indeed! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483/25 "2003-03-06T19:12:02Z")
Another “Deer Hunter” fan here. I’m actually from the pathetic dying steel town depicted in the film. Walken is very cool. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483/26 "2003-03-06T19:19:25Z")
Walken was actually a trained dancer. He was a dancer before he was an actor (and I love that Fatboy Slim video). In addition to what’s been mentioned, he had a great small role in _Pulp Fiction_ (Bruce Willis’ childhood flashback). He’s creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483/27 "2003-03-06T21:31:17Z")
The reason Fark has a Walken category is because he actually registered and posted there a few times. If you’re a celebrity and post on Fark, the legions of Farkers will instantly become rabid fans. ---
**Author:** ![xenothrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/7ab992/32.png) [@xenothrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenothrope)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483/28 "2003-03-07T00:29:39Z")
Walken is just a pretty cool guy, aside from the fact that hes an actor (and has openly said he will take ANY role given to him) he just strikes me as an average joe and a fairly nice guy. /my $0.02 -x out ---
**Author:** ![Ender\_Will](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Ender\_Will](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ender_Will)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483/29 "2003-03-07T01:19:12Z")
Walken is popular because every film he’s in (at least the ones I’ve seen) will have him deliver at least one line which is absolutely perfect. _Suicide Kings_ “Ira, you are the man” _Poolhall Junkies_ “I’m a millionaire” _SNL_ “The only prescription is more cowbell” _Catch Me if You Can_ “He got a fake ID and joined the Marines” and I am drawing a blank on others, off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![SnugTheJoiner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@SnugTheJoiner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnugTheJoiner)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483/30 "2003-03-07T01:27:39Z")
Did anybody but me see SCOTLAND, PA.? Teeny-tiny little independent movie: Shakespeare’s MACBETH set in the drive-though restaurants of Pennsylvania in the 1970. Walken plays Detective Sergeant Macduff and is too funny for words. ---
**Author:** ![SnugTheJoiner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@SnugTheJoiner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnugTheJoiner)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483/31 "2003-03-07T01:28:42Z")
_ahem_ Make that “in the 1970s”. Mea culpa. ---
**Author:** ![pilot141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e0b2c6/32.png) [@pilot141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pilot141)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483/32 "2003-03-07T01:45:53Z")
I can’t believe this thread has gotten this far and no one has mentioned that Walken is being supported behind the scenes by the hot-dog industry! How else would such a creepy guy continue to get work? The whole thing is exposed [here](http://www.theonion.com/onion3011/walkeninla.html) . Although there is no mention of Oscar Meyer directly, you can bet that their agents are working overtime to keep this man active!😉 ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483/33 "2003-03-07T01:52:34Z")
Put me fimly in the Great Actor camp. Christopher Walken just has an inimitable Everyman presence that makes his performances completely truthful and an otherworldy creepiness that lends his darker roles a sinister cast. One of his best performances is in Abel Ferrara’s **The Addiction** , where he plays a world-weary vampire who schools Lili Taylor in the uses of power and domination. In the US adaptation of **Pennies From Heaven** , he played a sleazy pimp and danced a wicked buck and wing with two whores to the Cole Porter tune, “Let’s Misbehave.” ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483/34 "2003-03-07T02:47:39Z")
No one has mentioned one of his most surreal roles – Brendan Frasier’s bombshelter-building dad in [Blast from the Past](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0124298). I liked it a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Angelofthemist68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Angelofthemist68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angelofthemist68)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483/35 "2003-03-07T02:59:45Z")
Christopher Walken is an Icon due to the fact that he was involved with Natalie Wood just before she died. He’s also very intriguing and a great character actor. Godspeed,Monica:) ---
**Author:** ![Skerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Skerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skerri)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483/36 "2003-03-07T03:54:00Z")
Yeah, but don’t you get the feeling that if Christopher Walken _wasn’t_ famous, he would be: - the creepy guy you really don’t want to sit next to you on the bus? - the weirdo cow-orker that stops at your desk and tells you inane things about his job? - the guy who sparks up weird conversation in the produce isle about how arugula is good for hemmorhoids? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483/37 "2003-03-07T04:22:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ender\_Will \* > \*\*Walken is popular because every film he’s in (at least the ones I’ve seen) will have him deliver at least one line which is absolutely perfect. > _Suicide Kings_ “Ira, you are the man” > _Poolhall Junkies_ “I’m a millionaire” > _SNL_ “The only prescription is more cowbell” > _Catch Me if You Can_ “He got a fake ID and joined the Marines” > and I am drawing a blank on others, off the top of my head. \*\* _Pulp Fiction:_ “He’d be _damned_ if any slopes was gonna put their greasy, yellow hands on his boys birthright, so he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide something, his ass.” Horribly racist line, but I hurt myself laughing every time I hear him say it. It’s his matter-of-fact delivery and vocal inflections. He is the master of truly bizarre inflections. Happy ---
**Author:** ![Eternal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@Eternal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eternal)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483/38 "2003-03-07T08:04:41Z")
I think the added appeal of Walken that wil insure enduring amusement with his antics is that the way he speaks his very distinctive, which means almost anyone can do an impression without having to come close to his pitch. Some guys will be watching TV, a sappy program or commercial is on, and a guy can say the lines like Christopher Walken for instant amusement. ---
**Author:** ![japatlgt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@japatlgt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/japatlgt)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483/39 "2003-03-07T08:30:25Z")
To answer the OP, it’s just you. You are an ignorant hollywood sycophant and you just don’t “get it.” Chris Walken has probably been famous longer than you’re capable of paying attention to a Christina Aguillera video (just a guess). Please let us know what you were smoking when you came up with this diatribe. I’m game! ---
**Author:** ![Feynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@Feynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feynn)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483/40 "2003-03-07T08:49:41Z")
Bizarre… I was just talking to the weird one himself and he said I reminded him of Christopher Walken in The Dead Zone. The guy gives me the heebies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-with-christopher-walken/159483.md?page=3)