Prolific actor Michael Madsen passed away on July 3, and with him gone Hollywood has lost one of its most iconic, gravel-voiced scene-stealers. Madsen was one of those actors who could make a villain role truly intimidating, even if the script wasn’t on par with his performance, but a villain was far from the only type of character he could play. The filmography he has left behind is stuffed with all types of movies, from sports classics and sci-fi movies not too far off from Alien and, well, a lot of crime flicks. It was in the latter type of film that he shined brightest, without a doubt.
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But crime films weren’t the only type that made it here on this top 10 list. Not to mention, while he was one of Quentin Tarantino’s most frequent collaborators, it wasn’t just that auteur’s crime films that made the cut.
1) The Natural
Based on Bernard Malamud’s classic 1952 novel, Barry Levinson’s The Natural is a baseball movie that oozes its love for the sport. It also features Robert Redford in a role he was born for: the prodigious Roy Hobbs.
Hobbs plays for the New York Knights, a ball club firmly positioned in last place. It’s managed by Wilford Brimley’s “Pop” Fisher, who doesn’t believe in Hobbs’ talent, deeming him to be too old for the game. But Hobbs wins the crowd and rejects an offer from the Judge to throw games. The Judge is the team’s majority owner, and if “Pop” blows another season, his ownership share goes to the Judge. This was not an offer Madsen’s Bump Bailey turned down. That said, Bump didn’t finish out the season, considering he died running into a stadium wall while trying to catch a fly ball.
Stream The Natural on fuboTV.
2) Thelma & Louise
Outside Reservoir Dogs, Thelma & Louise is the best movie Madsen ever starred in, and it’s arguably more of a tie. Ridley Scott’s feminist classic quite intentionally doesn’t have many likable male characters, they more just exist within the titular duo’s orbit, usually making their lives worse.
The only exceptions are the two cast members the movie shares with the aforementioned Reservoir Dogs: Madsen and Harvey Keitel. Keitel plays the detective who is pursuing Thelma and Louise, with an ever-increasing suspicion that the homicide committed by Louise was well-deserved by the deceased. As for Madsen, he plays Jimmy Lennox, the commitment-phobic musician who is ready to change his ways for Louise. Admittedly, Keitel’s Det. Hal Slocumb seems like an all-around good guy, while Jimmy is more just okay as he has quite a temper, but Madsen makes the audience believe that below that temper there’s genuine love and concern for Louise.
Stream Thelma & Louise on fuboTV.
3) Reservoir Dogs
Featuring an amazing script, note-perfect performances, and the best needle drop of any Quentin Tarantino movie, Reservoir Dogs was and remains a truly impressive directorial debut. And, as Mr. Blonde, Madsen delivered the best performance of his career.
This brilliantly structured film has sublime work from Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, and Harvey Keitel, but it’s Madsen who runs away with it. Those around him are playing criminals, but he’s playing a criminal, a psychopath, and a liability. It’s a role Madsen clearly relished, and he knocks it out of the park (particularly in one scene to the tune of “Stuck in the Middle With You” by Stealers Wheel).
Stream Reservoir Dogs on fuboTV.
4) Species
Save for Predator, Species is the ultimate companion piece to the Alien franchise. For one, the alien, Sil, was created by H. R. Giger, who also designed the Xenomorph.
Sil (played by a young Michelle Williams as a child then Natasha Henstridge as an adult), is an alien/human hybrid that wants to procreate so its offspring can take over Earth. Madsen plays mercenary Preston Lennox, who teams up with Ben Kingsley’s Xavier Fitch (who oversaw Sil’s creation), anthropologist Dr. Stephen Arden (Alfred Molina), molecular biologist Dr. Laura Baker (Marg Helgenberger), and empath Dan Smithson (Forest Whitaker). In other words, it’s as well cast as Alien, even if as a movie it isn’t quite as effective.
Stream Species on fuboTV.
5) Donnie Brasco
Not counting Thelma & Louise, Donnie Brasco is by far the best crime movie Madsen ever starred in not directed by Quentin Tarantino. For the most part, it’s Johnny Depp and Al Pacino’s movie, with the former playing an undercover cop working his way into the mafia world while the latter plays heavily against type as a passed-over and fairly timid gangster (usually in this type of film Pacino is the over-confident, cigar-chewing gangster or the calm but calculating crime boss gangster).
As mentioned, Pacino’s Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero is passed over. He’s been in the crime gang for decades, but no one has ever had the heart to tell him that he’ll never be the boss. Michael Madsen’s “Sonny Black,” however, is very much the boss type. This is Madsen at his intimidating, conniving best
6) Kill Bill
Quentin Tarantino’s two Kill Bill films aren’t quite his best work (mostly because his best work sets such a high bar), but they’re nothing short of iconic. In fact, just last year Saturday Night Live had a cut for time sketch partially devoted to referencing it.
Madsen’s Budd (AKA Sidewinder), brother of the titular Bill and a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, is mostly relegated to the events of the first half of Kill Bill: Vol. 2. He incapacitates Uma Thurman’s Beatrix Kiddo (AKA the Bride AKA Black Mamba) and calls up Daryl Hannah’s Elle Driver (AKA California Mountain Snake). When Driver arrives, though, Budd gets a black mamba bite instead of a payday. It’s a pretty shocking moment.
Stream both Kill Bill movies on AMC+.
7) Sin City
Easily one of the best movies based on a comic book without a superhero in sight, Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City is a masterpiece of ultra-violent noir thrills. The film is broken into four segments, two of which are split into two parts. Madsen has a part in the Bruce Willis-fronted segment, “That Yellow Bastard,” playing a corrupt cop who messes over Willis’ John Hartigan.
It’s not the most substantial role on Madsen’s filmography, but he has a lot of fun spouting the noir dialogue and cracking a venomous grin. And, as a whole, it’s one of the best movies he ever starred in. Not to mention, Sin City was and remains the best of the five comic book movies Willis led.
Stream Sin City on Kanopy.
8) The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Madsen was perfect for voice-over work, yet he didn’t take on many voice-only roles in movies. There were a few low-rent projects like Arctic Dogs, but most of his voice-over roles were on television, e.g. in shows like Bob’s Burgers and Axe Cop. However, he also had a role in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as Maugrim, the head of the wolves who act on behalf of Tilda Swinton’s White Witch.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is by far the best of the three The Chronicles of Narnia movies. It has a sense of palpable wonder, fantastic casting (especially Swinton, Madsen, and Liam Neeson), and doesn’t overstay its welcome in terms of runtime.
Stream The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on Disney+.
9) The Hateful Eight
While some found it a little overlong, Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight is a well-written and elaborately structured modern Western. It’s also a lot of fun and, even more impressively, occasionally quite surprising film (rest in peace, Kurt Russell’s John ‘The Hangman’ Ruth). Not to mention, it comes equipped with a phenomenal score by the late Ennio Morricone.
Everyone delivers standout work in The Hateful Eight. Russell is endearing per usual, Samuel L. Jackson makes for a great commanding lead, and Madsen, Tim Roth, Demián Bichir, and Channing Tatum all have fun as members of the Domergue gang. But at the end of the day, this movie belongs to two people: Walton Goggins and Daisy Domergue herself, Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Stream The Hateful Eight on Netflix.
10) Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
As of this point, there are five more films featuring Madsen that will be posthumous releases, but it appears that Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood will be the actor’s final high-profile movie. That said, Madsen isn’t in it much, putting in a cameo appearance as Sheriff Hackett on an episode of Rick Dalton’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) TV series Bounty Law.
It’s a single scene appearance, but it was always great to see Madsen in a Tarantino project. And to cast him as an intimidating, probably crooked sheriff was perfect. It’s sad to know he will not be returning for another cameo in the forthcoming Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood sequel.
Stream Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood on fuboTV.
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