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How can Tom Berenger deliver such an AWESOME performance!


How can Tom Berenger deliver such an awesome performance in this film and NEVER do anything even close to this good since this film?

A Dog's Life for Me

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He had a really good run from the mid-70s until the early 90s, with "Platoon" definitely being his career high point.

I enjoyed him in "Looking for Mr. Goodbar", "Butch and Sundance: The Early Days", "Eddie and the Cruisers", "The Big Chill", "Platoon", "Someone to Watch Over Me","Shoot to Kill", "Betrayed", he has a great cameo in the equally great Oliver Stone film "Born on the Fourth of July", and he was great in a little seen epic by Hector Babenco called "At Play in the Fields of the Lord". He was also in scattered hits like "Major League" and "Sniper". He was also in dreck like "Sliver".

He won a Golden Globe for "Platoon", although he wasn't there in person.

Now, after years of appearing in mostly completely forgettable fare like direct-to-video B-movies, he did receive a good bit of critical and award accolades for his recent turn on a TV cable mini-series called, "Hatfields and McCoys". He got an Emmy and Golden Globe for that one.

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According to Oliver Stone, he intentionally cast Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe against type (Berenger, who played the ruthless, sadistic Sgt. Barnes, was mostly famous at that point for playing good guys, while Dafoe, who had primarily played villains up until then, played the heroic, compassionate Sgt. Elias). The casting worked, and both men received Oscar nominations for their work.

On the Jay Mohr podcast Charlie Sheen said that the intensity Tom Berenger brought to his role of Sgt. Barnes was the result of a recent divorce.

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