Roy Scheider.....

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Scheider has a incredibly sharp intellect and wit. I feel that his over-application in action cinema has been a sad misuse of his remarkable talent in expressing the more inner depths of the characters he portrays. His early successes at police detective roles and tough guys with a soft interior, unfortunately didn't do him justice by its typecasting him in this direction. Had he been permitted to portray more captivating and interesting characters, that eye-catching individualism that he expressed early in his career might have been put to more interesting use. As a result his legacy would have been more suitably accomplished, well-deserved as it was, despite the wonderful job he's done at blockbusters such as Jaws, The French Connection, Marathon Man, All That Jazz, Seven-Ups and Blue Thunder (et al., not to mention many others of a similar ilk). He brought this exceptionally entertaining thriller to life with his wonderful thespian acumen. That said, his successes in these roles still has made his reputation well-earned since he's made those films so much more enjoyable by his expertise. Note the MUCH better character-study roles John Malkovich has had the good fortune in obtaining and successfully developing, not to make too much of a comparison that doesn't do justice in explaining well enough such a regrettable loss of opportunity.