Adam Baldwin may just be the king of cool, or at least the king of grouchy. I’m not sure he’s ever played a happy, go-lucky guy … though if he has, it surely isn’t as memorable as the likes of out-for-himself Jayne from Firefly or annoyed-with-Chuck Casey. Whether or not you’d want to go to dinner with one of his characters, you’ve got to admit they are fun to watch. It might be really hard to pick a favorite too. What’s the CliqueClack writing team have to say?
IVEY: I’ll take Cobb over Casey any day of the week. I will say that I’d forgotten that he was in Full Metal Jacket until I watched it again a couple of years ago. My jaw dropped when I saw him. I also liked his turn as the douchebag traitor in the Patriot. [I think douchebag might actually describe most of Baldwin’s characters, Ivey!]
KEITH: For me, it’s a toss-up between Firefly and Full Metal Jacket. When he was cast on Firefly, I immediately placed him as the guy on FMJ and think I will forever remember him in that role in anything he does. However, Cobb on Firefly was just awesome.
JULIA: His twitter has ruined him for me. From now on he’s always That Jerk Who Thinks Imperialism Is Awesome.
RUBY: I love Adam Baldwin! His most awesome role has to be “Jaaayne, the man they called Jaaayne.”
OK, after watching that clip, he’s just become a little less cool to me … but I’d vote Jayne as well. How about you?
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Aug 04, 2010 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
Linderman in My Bodyguard..I fell in love with him in that movie..such a tortured soul!
. . . . .
Toni beat me to do it: Linderman in ‘My Bodyguard’.
That’s the penultimate role that turned me on to him.
He was a great military dude in Independence Day, albeit in a douchebaggy-disappointed-the-President-canceled-the-nukes kind of way.
But he sniped that Coke can no problem. And took down the alien before it mind-warped the President.
I’ve really liked him on Chuck. Wasn’t too high on him initially, but he grew on me toward the end of season 1. Now, he and Morgan are an awesome duo.
When reading this, the first scene that popped into my head was from Independence Day, right after Randy Quaid’s character had sacrificed himself to save the world and Adam Baldwin’s character said “What your father did was very brave. You should be proud of him” and the son replied “I am”.
I didn’t have cable back then and watched the VHS of this movie so many times. I always loved that moment.
But, for television…I have to go with Jayne!
The best character that Adam Baldwin has ever brought to life is the Keyman in the movie Keyman: Finding Redemption. He had the entire spectrum: comedy to tragedy, sane to bizarre, and his acting was incredibly real from start to finish.
I was surprised to see Chad from Day Break in the poll. I’m sorry to say I haven’t seen Full Metal Jacket, but after Firefly, I’d actually put his Day Break role at 2nd, mainly because it’s the only one in which his character seems to really develop. (And because I have a soft spot for what I thought was a great show no one knows about.)
Julia, just stop following him on Twitter. That’s exactly what I’d do if any of my favorite actors started spouting socialist nonsense.
I wish you hadn’t brought politics into it, because that can get nasty and really has nothing to do with the article at all.
I voted for Jayne Cobb, but I love him as John Casey (or whatever his real name is!).
I’d like to add Adam’s towering and surely Oscar-winning performance in ‘Keyman: Finding Redemption’. The film was tragically never picked up for general release, otherwise I’m 99.9% certain Adam would at least have got an Oscar nomination, if not actually one of the gold fellas. It’s available on DVD from the director [or was]. Please check it out.