The Rise, Fall, And Return Of Mickey Rourke's Face
- Photo: Warner Brothers
Rourke almost out-sexied Kathleen Turner in Lawrence Kasdan's modern film noir classic. Rourke plays the world's sexiest arsonist who cautions William Hurt's Ned that when you play with fire, you might get burned. He's not in the movie for a lot of scenes, but Rourke put Hollywood on notice with that handsome, rugged face.
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- Photo: MGM
Barry Levinson's beautiful coming-of-age drama set the table for everything from Seinfeld to Tarantino. The film basically started the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game, with Paul Reiser, Daniel Stern, Tim Daly, Mr. Bacon himself, and Steve Guttenberg starring as a nice group of Jewish man-boys in 1950s Baltimore.
You might wonder why the decidedly goyish, Elvis-loving Rourke would hang out with this group of nebbishes (maybe he cheated off all of them in school). But he brings the rock, the roll, and more than a little bit of danger to Levinson's film. He's so charming that you quickly forgive him for almost seducing his best friend's wife (Ellen Barkin). In his defense, if you saw that face every morning in the mirror, your morality scale might go out of order too.
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- Video: YouTube
Going the Brad Pitt route of fighting his own good looks, Mickey Rourke plays the partially deaf and colorblind Motorcycle Boy (actual character name) in Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of Rumble Fish. It's a role that highlights Rourke's weirdness while still cementing his potential as a movie star.
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- Photo: MGM Studios
If Rumble Fish was an attempt to not play the romantic leading man, 9 1/2 Weeks swung Rourke the other direction by completely focusing on his sex appeal. This movie is when Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger are at their hottest.
Director Adrian Lyne's fetish for a color palette of only black, white, and gray brings out the steaminess. 9 1/2 Weeks is like a slightly smarter version of Fifty Shades of Grey (then again, even a broken vibrator is slightly smarter than Fifty Shade of Grey). Back in the day, one would appear only slightly sleazy when renting this film and could defend the choice by saying, "I loved him in Diner."
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- Photo: Tri-Star
At the time, Angel Heart was mostly known for Rourke's explicit sex scene with Lisa Bonet, which raised the ire of her TV Dad Bill Cosby. Allow the irony of that seep in for a moment.
In Angel Heart, Rourke broods beautifully as private detective Harry Angel, who investigates a series of grisly murders against the backdrop of a creepy New Orleans. The movie initially bombed in the box office, only to be resuscitated on home video as a neo-horror-mystery that's nearly a classic.
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- Photo: Cannon
Barfly may not have been the best representation of Rourke's face, but it showed his depth and range as an actor. In a role nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, Rourke plays a thinly-veiled version of author Charles Bukowksi as he drinks away his troubles. Matching him shot for shot is Faye Dunaway and one of Hollywood's true renaissance men, Frank Stallone. Unfortunately, it would be another two decades before Rourke found another role that challenged him this much.
- Photo: Tri-Star
The plot is like a reverse manifestation of this Ranker list. Rourke's Johnny begins the film as a lowly hoodlum who is betrayed by his partners during a robbery. While in prison, Johnny gets a chance to do an experimental procedure on his deformed face. He goes from looking like the protagonist from Mask's cousin to looking like MICKEY F'ING ROURKE.
The film itself is quite good. Director Walter Hill strikes just the right tone with the help of a top-notch cast that includes Morgan Freeman, Lance Henriksen, Ellen Barkin, and Forest Whitaker. It's pulp, and mighty tasty pulp at that.
- Photo: MGM Studios
The next few years were not the greatest for Mickey Rourke. He began to populate the tabloids. Boxing began taking its toll on his face and his feature films weren't faring any better. Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man had a wee bit of potential with a clever title, the director of Lonesome Dove, and a never-hairier Don Johnson. But this was no Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, especially because Rourke had begun to resemble a non-union Rourke impersonator.
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- Photo: Paramount Pictures
Exit in Red is a movie that plays like Body Heat's slow cousin. There's a murder, a secret, a betrayal, and some passion. Mr. Rourke actually plays second fiddle to the romantic lead, Anthony Michael Hall, which is a measure of how far Rourke's star had fallen. It's one of those movies that used to populate late night cable in the pre-streaming days of yesteryear.
Double Team
Photo: Columbia PicturesRourke finally landed a role with the best cast since Diner - namely, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dennis Rodman. Though Rourke's face was still on its downward trajectory, his body was cut in Double Team. The boxing might not have helped his face, but it did wonders for his physique. His pugilist skills (and his body double) take on Van Damme in the climactic battle and hold their own until Van Damme kicks him approximately seventy times in the face.
- Photo: Miramax Films
Rourke's comeback began with Sin City. Playing Marv, the brawler with a heart of gold, Rourke portrayed a complex character for the first time in almost 20 years. Amongst a very talented cast in Sin City, Rourke stood tallest and reminded viewers what charisma he still had when challenged.
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- Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Sin City turned out to be merely the hors d'oeuvre before Mickey Rourke's finest performance to date. He brought everything in his ragged soul to The Wrestler. He even landed an Oscar nomination with his amazing marriage of character and performance.
All of Rourke's history is there on his face and on the screen as he plays the downtrodden Randy "The Ram," a man with his glory days long behind him. Even if you don't know your Macho Man from your Nature Boy, you'll be cheering for Rourke to go out a winner with one final Ram Jam.
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- Photo: Marvel Studios
The modern face of Mickey Rourke can be found in a number of movies. An Oscar nomination for The Wrestler definitely upped Mickey Rourke's street cred and asking price. His second commercial peak since his comeback can be found in Iron Man 2 as the bad*ss Whiplash.
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