Stamp’s Greatest Moment…”Bide Your Time, and Everything Becomes Clear”

I’m rushed and running, but I’ll post my Terence Stamp obit later today or tonight. I’ll include my list of his greatest performances, topped by those in The Limey (‘99), The Hit (‘85) and Billy Budd (‘62), of course.

Actually Stamp’s greatest came down to only these three, truth be told.

Was Stamp’s “Willie Parker”, the doomed but spiritually teeming ex-gangster who commented about, coached and consoled John Hurt, Tim Roth and Laura del Sol during a road journey across Spain in what may have been Stephen Frears’ finest…was Willie his all-time best? I wouldn’t argue against this.

Yes, he’s fascinating and certainly a memorable object of spiritual desire in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Teorema (‘68), but Stamp’s performance as a Christ-like seducer and redeemer (he fucks a wealthy Milanese family of four —- dad, mom, a teenage son and daughter) is mostly opaque.

I’ve never been much of a General Zod fan nor of Stamp’s cross-dressing turn in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert…sorry.

I have a curious soft spot for Stamp’s brief performance as a snooty ape professor (simiantologist?) in Richard Franklin’s Link (‘85).