River Phoenix did a good job


He captured Harrison Ford's Indy mannerisms well.

People like to complain about actors for various reasons, but this aspect of the craft is real.

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Nailed it, especially givin the pressure he was under.

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I wouldn't know about that, he was a great actor and I absolutely loved him in 'Stand By Me' (one of those RARE movies that do not contain injected romance of any kind!), but he's absolutely cringeworthy in this movie, and I can't watch his parts... have to skip them every time.

Who cares about mannerisms anyway, he just didn't fit this role. He is not Indiana Jones, he's much better as Gordy's 'streetwise' friend (forgot his name in that movie, though). He is much more real in that one.

I also hated him in 'Sneakers', a promising, but uneven movie that falls flat on its nose by the end.

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There's always a contrarian, isn't there? I agree, River Phoenix was THE Young Indy, and his second best role was of course in Stand By Me. It's just a shame his promising young life was cut short.

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By the time he made "Sneakers", he was on stuff. You can tell. Kinda sad, where were his friends and family then.?

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I absolutely agree. He did a good job here.

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He was great! I couldnt imagine a better casting choice.

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Ummm, every line out of his mouth was pure cringe, “this should be in a museum” is one of the worst lines I have ever heard, but you do you.

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Another person, above, made a "cringe" comment, too.

What I'm unsure of is how that relates to my topic. It wasn't about whether you should cringe or not—the chances are high that lines from decades-old movies will make you cringe, especially if you belong to the generation that says "cringe," uses superlatives ("the worst ever") and the phrase "you do you." It was about how well he filled the role of portraying a younger version of Ford/Indy. Can you imagine someone doing it better? Who would that be?

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The fact that I cannot produce a child actor who could do a better job is a non sequitur. I still don’t like his performance and he did not seem the least bit like a young Indiana Jones.

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"he did not seem the least bit"

There we go with the superlatives again.

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Just admit it was a bad performance.

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He'd probably be the biggest actor working today but for his tragic death.

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I respect the love for River Phoenix however it’s a real possibility that he would not have made it as an adult actor! I never deemed him as great. Nepotism gave him a chance and he is one of the better looking Jews when in his teens and early 20s!!

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Saw it opening night, the whole theater laughed when he picked up the snake and said, "It's only a snake," with that near-iconic Indiana Jones sneer.

Or maybe they were laughing because he wasn't scared of it.

Well, I at least laughed because he nailed the sneer so perfectly. There are few Harrison Ford roles that reuse that facial expression, or the tentative shuffle that only Indy uses when he starts walking.

The shuffle was especially apparent in "Crystal Skull," the moment his boots hit the ground out of the Soviets' trunk

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