Tommy Lee Jones is one of the most respected actors in the entertainment industry, an Academy Award winner with nearly 80 films and television series to his credit, who grizzled persona and unlikely charm has been an asset to classy dramas, eccentric comedies and blockbusters alike. The 69-year-old actor has also directed multiple celebrated films in his career, and this week he lends his particular blend of gravitas to the much-anticipated new action sequel Jason Bourne.
But what, dear readers, is the best Tommy Lee Jones movie ever? We asked our panel of film critics – Crave’s William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold, and Collider’s Brian Formo – to each pick one (and only one) film to represent the best of Tommy Lee Jones. And as usual, they couldn’t agree on a thing.
Take a look at their picks, let us know your favorites, and come back every Wednesday for another highly debatable installment of Crave’s The Best Movie Ever!
William Bibbiani’s Pick: The Fugitive (1993)
Warner Bros.
While it would be wrong to assume that an actor’s most iconic role is necessarily his best, it’s still necessary to look back at an unforgettable performance and consider why it lingers. Tommy Lee Jones was already a respected actor for many years before The Fugitive came out, in films like Rolling Thunder, The Coal Miner’s Daughter and even Under Siege (which he’s great in), but it was The Fugitive that earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and it is The Fugitive that people still quote to this day.
“I didn’t kill my wife!” shouts Dr. Richard Kimble, played by Harrison Ford. “I don’t care!” is Deputy Gerard’s response. In those three words, Jones – who has a gun in his face, mind you – perfectly encapsulates everything we need to know about the character. Gerard is a man who captures fugitives. He doesn’t solve crimes, he doesn’t extend sympathies. He does his job and, on good days, he’s a wonderful human being. And on bad days, he’ll risk the lives of his own people just to make a collar. “I don’t bargain,” Gerard says, right into the newly damaged ear of a rookie, having just done that damage himself.
Tommy Lee Jones is a masterful actor and an exceptionally talented director, but his performance in The Fugitive as a dedicated lawman lingers and will probably continue to linger throughout cinema history. He’s a complex character with what he thinks of as a simple job, challenged over the course of the film to deal with difficult and unusual situations. He will be put in a position where he might have to care, and where he might have to bargain… if only with his own ideals. It’s a classic movie and a classic performance, and my pick the best Tommy Lee Jones movie ever.
Brian Formo’s Pick: The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
Sony Pictures Classics
As an actor and a promoter of movies that is evident, Tommy Lee Jones is often bewildered by modern human behavior and desires. Now, I do think that No Country for Old Men is the best film that Jones has starred in (and it features his best performance). But for the best Tommy Lee Jones movie ever, I’m actually going to choose something that perfectly reflects his own view of the Texas-Mexico border because as a filmmaker and star, I don’t think that any movie has been such a personal window into Jones as his own directed film, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.
I refuse to call it Three Burials (as it’s now listed on IMDb) because long before #KnowHerName or #KnowTheirNames was a galvanizing hashtag for victims, Jones attached a difficult name for Anglo Saxons to pronounce—that is obviously Hispanic—while our political conversation was dehumanizing Hispanic immigrants. Jones wants you to know the name of his dead friend. He’s not just a Mexican near the Texas-Mexico border. He’s Melquiades Estrada. And Jones, as Pete Perkins, kidnaps the Border Patrolman (Barry Pepper) who shot him for no reason other than he was caught with his pants down and the sight of someone on the border made him jumpy. Together they take Melquiades to his small Mexican hometown for a proper burial and the Border Patrolman seeks penance for his misdeed.
Melquiades Estrada was penned by Guillermo Arriaga. It was written in Spanish but translated into English by Jones himself. It was mostly shot on Jones’ ranch. It is a story about how we alienate immigrants. How we protect borders. And how dehumanizing it is that Perkins’ friend could be shot merely for being visible in the desert. #KnowHisName. Melquiades Estrada came to America. And while he was invisible to many, he made a friend and shared stories with him. And that matters.
Witney Seibold’s Pick: The Homesman (2014)
Roadside Attractions
Tommy Lee Jones, when he directs, has clearly taken a page from the playbook of Sam Peckinpah. He recognizes the importance – and the utter doomed fragility – of ancient masculinity resting in the ill-equipped hearts of increasingly grizzled and desperate men. His Melquiades Estrada was a revenge film that, as Mr. Formo pointed out, was a cry to protect the marginalized Mexican minorities who are too often aggressively sidelined by xenophobic white Americans. With The Homesman, however, Jones seems to be making a similar cry to the marginalized, but this time, it’s for that most oppressed of groups: Women.
The Homesman is a deeply feminist parable about a capable, intelligent, talented, and successful woman named Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank) who can till her own land, run her own business, and do other things that women weren’t expected to do on the frontier of 1850. She seeks a husband, but most of the men in the area lambaste her for being plain-looking. She is eventually tasked with transporting a small group of women – women who have all been driven to murderous madness by the frontier – to a faraway asylum. She hires the experienced Briggs (Jones) to protect and guide them.
The ending of the film is tragic, unexpected, and prfound. Jones is amazingly perceptive about the way women have always been brushed aside, and how their talents and voice are not heard in the aggressively male world of… well, the world. It’s a deeply humane plea, and Jones’ finest effort.
