My Favorite Actors - Bill Murray

Bill Murray is an actor I grew up loving thanks to his role in Ghostbusters, but it wasn't until much later that I realized exactly how fantastic he is, in movies and in real life, too. He's a tremendous, but sometimes unmotivated performer, so he definitely has a fair share of "misses" on his resume. It might be my overwhelming love of the man clouding my vision, but he rarely turns in a bad performance - the dreadful Ghostbusters remake is the exception that proves the rule - and is almost always inherently watchable. 

As the imitable Peter Venkman in the classic Ghostbusters, Murray shines in every scene, in every moment that he's on screen. Each line is delivered perfectly, from the sarcastic to the excited to the deadpan. He can make me laugh with just a look, a rise of an eyebrow, or a shrug of the shoulders. Murray plays excellently with all of his co-stars, but especially so with Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. As the three founders of the Ghostbusters, they have a tremendous rapport and an easy back and forth quality. You can believe that they're all longtime friends, even (or maybe because of) when they're sniping at each other. When Venkman is turning on the charm and trying to woo the lovely Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver), Murray gets to show another side altogether. As a kid, the romantic side plot could have been boring or draggy, but when you have two such sublime performers as Murray and Weaver, that's just not going to happen. Ghostbusters is a lean 105 minutes and I don't think there's a wasted moment to be had in the whole film. It is a rare "perfect" movie, in my opinion at least. 

Ghostbusters is my favorite Murray movie, but just a microscopic step behind is Groundhog Day, which contains his very best performance. In a much more cerebral and lowkey film and performance, Murray shines as Phil Connors, a weatherman stuck reliving the same day over and over and over again. Connors starts out as condescending, brash, and downright mean, but eventually transforms into a thoughtful, caring, and selfless individual. In between, Murray gets to play pretty much every emotion there is, from confusion and frustration to suicidal to acceptance. Murray appears in nearly every scene and is flawless throughout. If I had to introduce him to someone who had never seen any of his movies, Groundhog Day is the film and performance I'd pick to use. It's a movie I've seen at least two dozen times, but could watch it once a month for the rest of my life and probably never get tired of seeing it. 

In 1998, Murray began a longtime (and, as of this writing, ongoing) collaboration with writer/director Wes Anderson. Anderson's second film, Rushmore, featured a wonderfully funny co-lead performance from Murray and sort of kicked off his middle aged career resurgence and a phase where he was just as likely to play dramatic parts compared to comedic ones. Murray reteamed with Anderson for supporting roles in The Royal Tenenbaums, The Darjeeling Limited, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and The French Dispatch. He also contributed stellar voice work in Anderson's two stop motion animated gems The Fantastic Mr. Fox and Isle of Dogs. I'll take my dosage of Murray in any size available, so I'm always happy to see him pop in these films, but his most impressive work with Anderson was his starring role in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. As the titular character, Murray gets to show why Anderson keeps him in his cadre of actors - he delivers the writer's lines absolutely perfectly and embodies the character with heart, soul, and a deep humanity. The movie (and Murray) is still funny, but it's also surprisingly deep and thoughtful. I look forward to every new Anderson film, but if he ever casts Murray as the lead again, it would instantly become my most anticipated movie of the year. 

Lost in Translation is a polarizing film - people either seem to love it or hate it. I'm firmly in the "love it" camp and have been ever since I first saw it in the theater. My wife absolutely hates it, but I don't hold that against her. Hell, she doesn't even really love Bill Murray. I'm pretty sure if I ever wanted to file for divorce, that'd be grounds enough all on it's own. Murray's character Bob Harris is a washed up, alcoholic Hollywood actor who is staying in Tokyo, Japan to shoot a whiskey commercial. While there, he becomes friends with a young woman (Scarlet Johansson's Charlotte) and the two share an oddly intimate and personal few days together. In the beginning, Murray imbues Harris with a world weariness and apathy that slowly fades away as he allows himself to swept up in Charlotte's story. It's a quiet performance, but absolutely one of his best. The movie is filled with wonderful, memorable scenes, but the ending is probably what gets talked about most: Harris walks up to Charlotte and whispers in her ear before heading away on his own, back to his own life. As the audience, we can't hear what's said and Johansson has never revealed the message, which drives the internet wild with speculation. Regardless of what was actually said, it remains a terrific ending and a captivating Murray performance.

I'm generally not a fan of "stupid" or "gross out" comedies, so it might surprise some people to know that Kingpin, the underrated and/or overlooked Farrelly Brothers bowling flick, is one of my all-time favorites. A big part of my love for this movie is Murray's work as Ernie "Big Ern" McCracken, a professional bowler and semi-professional asshole and womanizer. The role is so iconic, hilarious, and infinitely quotable, it would be #1 or 2 on most actor's career achievements list. The fact that it's down farther on my list just goes to show what an amazing career Murray has compiled. Big Ern is the epitome of sleazy, arrogant, and manipulative and Murray hits every joke and every physical note just perfectly. The final bowling tournament has some of my very favorite comedy moments and almost everyone of them involves Big Ern. The highlight is probably watching his ludicrous toupee get more and more disheveled as the game goes on, ending with it flipped off his head, just hanging on by a thread or patch of glue. It's one of the greatest hairpieces in film history, in my opinion. If you haven't seen Kingpin, get to it as quick as possible. 

Two of Murray's more recent and underappreciated films are St. Vincent and On the Rocks. In the former, he plays a curmudgeonly war vet who reluctantly befriends a young boy who moves in next door. Murray and the young actor (Jaeden Martell) have wonderful chemistry together and their performances elevate a pretty standard plot. The rest of the cast is solid, but Murray blows them out of the water with his interesting and offbeat performance. On the Rocks, directed by Sophia Coppola, centers around a new mother (Rashida Jones) who suspects her husband may be having an affair. Her own philandering father (Murray) offers to help her track down the truth and the two have a series of adventures throughout NYC. Murray and Jones are terrific together and Murray is nothing short of radiant in the role. He gets to play a range of emotions, from fun-loving and childlike to serious and protective. There's one scene in particular where he talks his way out of a speeding ticket that really proves Murray hasn't lost even one step since his debut 45+ years ago. On the Rocks is worth the price of an Apple TV+ subscription, even if you don't watch anything else on the service.  

Bill Murray works a lot - which is kind of odd, since he's known for being so difficult to get ahold of when directors and producers want to offer him projects - but he's not the type of movie star who only accepts lead roles. From the very beginning of his career, he's been open to supporting roles and even popping up in cameos. While none of these movies rank amongst my all-time favorites, I love Murray's supporting work in Caddyshack (he's arguably the most remembered aspect of this still very funny movie), Tootsie, and the HBO mini-series Olive Kitteridge (where he pops up in an important role near the end of the series). If you're a loyal reader of this blog, you know how much I love his cameo in Zombieland, but he's nearly as good in Ghostbusters: Afterlife (a movie I think was unfairly maligned) and as the masochistic patient to Steve Martin's sadistic dentist in Little Shop of Horrors. I guess it's safe to say I love Murray no matter the size of the role! 

As of this writing, Murray's got three film projects completed and awaiting release or in post-production. The completed film is The Greatest Beer Run Ever. I recently read this memoir about a merchant marine who decides to bring beer from his hometown in NYC to his buddies serving in the Army in Vietnam. It's a fun story, but I can't recommend the book due to the author's poor writing skills. I imagine it'll make an entertaining movie, but I don't know who Murray will be playing. There were plenty of older parts available, but none of them will probably get much screen-time. Asteroid City is Wes Anderson's newest and is set for a 2022 release, but there isn't much known about it at this time. Like I said above, I'd love to Murray get the lead in another Anderson flick, but I'm not getting my hopes up. The final project is, oddly, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The fact that Bill-fucking-Murray is going to be in an MCU movie, much less Ant-Man 3, just blows my mind. It just doesn't seem like something he'd be interested in doing. He doesn't have a character name identified on IMDB yet, but the movie isn't supposed to come out until next year, so that's not so surprising, but I'm not positive this rumor is accurate. I'm sure I'll see the movie, but until Murray appears on screen, I'm going to remain skeptical of it's veracity. 

I've seen almost exactly half of Murray's movies, so if I wanted to be a completionist, I'd have a lot left to watch. Thankfully, I don't have that particular compulsion, because if I did, I'd have a lot of stuff to watch that I have absolutely no interest in. Stuff like both Garfield flicks, Dumb and Dumber To, Hyde Park on the Hudson, Passion Play, Hamlet (2000), and Where the Buffalo Roam. None of these movies have the best reputations and none of them have anything going for them, besides including Murray among the cast. That being said, there are a few of his projects that are still on my radar. The most popular is Meatballs, his first big role and a movie I've heard good things about for most of my life. I'm not sure why I haven't seen it yet - it's even readily available on Amazon Prime, so I could watch it for free at any time. I hope to get around to it in the near future. Two other movies that aren't quite so available are The Razor's Edge (Murray's first foray into dramatic work) and Ed Wood. Both come highly recommended from different people I trust for movie recommendations, but I still haven't sought them out. Well, I've always got something to look forward to! 

One of the things I like best about Bill Murray is his public persona, from his many appearances on shows like The Late Show with David Letterman, his appearances at award shows, on the golf course, at baseball games, and to his ongoing interactions with random people all across the country. He's got such a history of stopping and chatting with people that there was even a tremendous documentary released in 2018 called The Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons Learned from a Mythical Man. The doc includes all sorts of hilarious, impactful, and touching stories from people who have had run-ins with the star over the years. Murray's known to crash weddings, house parties, and do random acts of charity like stopping in a coffee shop and buying everyone inside drinks. If I lived in a big city where he's known to spend a lot of time like Chicago or NYC, I'd probably walk around as much as possible just hoping to run into him. 

And, since I love to list and rank things, here's my ranking of all of Murray's movies that I've seen. Some of these haven't been seen in years, so I'm going by my IMDb ratings. If I re-watched some, the ratings and rankings would probably change. 

1. Ghostbusters - 10/10

2. Groundhog Day - 10/10

3. Parks and Recreation (one episode) - 9.5/10

4. Fantastic Mr. Fox - 9.5/10

5. The Royal Tenenbaums - 9.5/10

6. Lost in Translation - 9/10

7. Kingpin - 9/10

8. Isle of Dogs - 9/10

9. The Grand Budapest Hotel - 9/10

10. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou - 9/10

11. Rushmore - 8.5/10

12. St. Vincent - 8/10

13. Ghostbusters: Afterlife - 8/10

14. On the Rocks - 8/10

15. Mad Dog and Glory - 8/10

16. Tootsie - 8/10

17. Olive Kitteridge - 7.5/10

18. Zombieland - 7.5/10

19. The Darjeeling Limited - 7.5/10

20. Caddyshack - 7/10

21. Moonrise Kingdom - 7/10

22. Get Low - 7/10

23. Little Shop of Horrors - 6.5/10

24. Wild Things - 6/10

25. What About Bob? - 6/10

26. Charlie's Angels - 6/10

27. Scrooged - 5.5/10

28. Quick Change - 5/10

29. A Very Murray Christmas - 5/10

30. The Monuments Men - 5/10

31. Stripes - 4.5/10

32. Broken Flowers - 4.5/10

33. Ghostbusters 2 - 4/10

34. The Jungle Book (2016) - 4/10

35. Rock the Kasbah - 3.5/10

36. Get Smart - 3/10

37. Aloha - 2/10

38. Ghostbusters (2016) - 1/10

What do you think of Bill Murray? What are some of your favorite performances or movies of his? Do you prefer his starring roles or his supporting performances? 

Thanks for reading!