Top Ten List #4

TOM SIZEMORE

This Top Ten List idea came to me yesterday when I was on IMDB.com. I was shuffling through random movies when I stumbled upon Saving Private Ryan. I knew Tom Sizemore was in that movie, but for some reason, I decided to click on his IMDB page. I totally forgot that he's been in some of the biggest movies of the 1990's along with working with some of the greatest directors, ever. This is Tom Sizemore, the same man whose been arrested so many times it's become a routine news story. The same man who starred in Zyzzyx Rd, the lowest grossing film of all time ($30 gross). The same man who somehow ended up in these films. While some aren't the best (cough, Pearl Harbor, cough) they've been either commercially successful or critically acclaimed. Let's run through the top ten list of Tom Sizemore. Hahaha, just saying his name makes me laugh.

-Born of the Fourth of July (1989): Believe it or not, this was Tom's first big feature with a big director (Oliver Stone). He plays Vietnam Veteran Villa Dulce. It was a small role for Tom, but he was still in it. (Sorry, couldn't find a photo of him anywhere.)

-Bringing out the Dead (1999): Scorsese's sleeper cult classic features Tom as the character named Walls, Nicholas Cage's paramedic partner who wreaks havoc on their patients. It was an intense role for him, and while the film may not have been commercially successful for Tom, it's still a Scorsese film. And when you're in a Scorsese film, you instantly get a substantial amount of credit.

-Black Hawk Down (2001): In one of his best performances, Tom stars as McKnight, an army officer stuck in the hellish location of the Somalia conflict in 1993. Sizemore, although popular playing in war movies delivers the goods needed to make Black Hawk Down one of the best war films of all time.

-Enemy of the State (1998): An uncredited role, but Sizemore can still be seen as Boss Paulie Pintero, in this 1998 hit film starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman.

-Heat (1995): If you're in the movie Heat, then hats off to you. This is still one of the great masterpieces from the 1990's. Tom plays Michael Cherrito, a career criminal that lives for the score.

-Natural Born Killers (1994): Tom plays Det. Jack Scagnetti, in another film directed by Oliver Stone. Written by Quentin Tarantino, Sizemore adds more big filmmakers to his credit. 

-Pearl Harbor (2001): The film sucks, but it was still a huge blockbuster. Sizemore plays Earl Sister, a sergeant who helps fight off the Japanese in the infamous attack against the Americans. Again, the film was a dud, but with this and Black Hawk Down in one year. Tom became a signature face in the big war films of 2001.

-Point Break (1991): The cult classic directed by Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) has him playing another uncredited role, but hey, he's still in it. He plays DEA Agent Deets.

-Saving Private Ryan (1998): Sizemore stars as Sgt. Mike Horvath in the role of a lifetime. Spielberg’s World War II epic is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time, and I believe Sizemore is one of the key ingredients to this masterpiece. If you ever want to see him in his prime, this is it.

-True Romance (1993): Another screenplay by Tarantino, another cult-classic, let's face it, Tom Sizemore seems to have been in every memorable movie from the 1990's. Playing Cody Nicholson, a tough L.A. Narcotics Detective, Tom should take the advice from his character here in regards to his career today, "You're an actor. Act, motherfucker."