wish you were here.

This week marks what would have been the 36th birthday of River Phoenix. I can roll out the clichés now if you like ‘young life tragically cut short’, ‘James Dean of his generation’, ‘brooding good looks’ and these are all clichés for a good reason. They are said again and again; but you know not so much now. He’s an actor I thought would have been immortalized and revered in retrospect. A tragic young matinee idol. But he seems to be all but forgotten.

Maybe he wasn’t as great as I remember. Maybe people like Leonardo Di Caprio, Elijah Wood, Tobey Maguire and new guns like Topher Grace and Orlando Bloom just overshadow our faint memory of River Phoenix. Maybe the shining light of his brother Joaquin has now finally overtaken (what a battle that has been).

So I’d like to take some time to lay a small bouquet at River’s grave his grave and send him some love from the couch. I’ll do this be renting the top five River Phoenix films

5 Running on Empty (1988). Very few people will remember this film and it can be hard to track down but it’s really terrific. It’s the story of a fugitive family – Judd Hirsch and Christine Lahti are the parents in hiding from the FBI, Phoenix their son who just wants a normal life knowing that this could possibly lead to his parents arrest. It sound pox I know, but it really is incredibly sad. Directed by the wonderful Sydney Lumet – a gem.

4 Sneakers (1992). Oh this film really is what separates us geeks from the rest of the population. It’s not a good movie for lots of different reasons but at the same time every time it comes on I find myself watching it. Could it be that the pull of Robert Redford, Sydney Poitier, Dan Ackroyd, David Strathairn and River as a gang of hi tech thieves is just too strong? Or do I just like any movie with gadgets in it? River doesn’t do too much in this but my fondness for the picture as a whole warrants its entry onto the list

3 Stand By Me (1986). This is probably the greatest film about childhood friendship that has ever been made. It also the very best Stephen King adaptation. A young River is tough and smart and gives such a rich performance. This film is a classic and you can’t say that about many films made in 1986!
memorable quote: "I never had any friends later on, like the ones I had when I was twelve...Jesus....does anyone?"

2 The Mosquito Coast (1986) An underrated Peter Weir film about a father who takes his long-suffering family into the Amazon to lead a 'simpler' life which actually translates to being hell on earth as dad becomes more and more unhinged. Perfectly cast with Harrison Ford and River Phoenix in the father/son roles. It was one of those great passing of the torch moments in film history (but more on those later).

1 My Own Private Idaho (1991). The most beautiful Gus Van Sant film. Two hustlers on the streets of Portland Oregon doesn’t sound like much to go on but it is an elegiac and heartbreaking film. Poetry. Phoenix’s character suffers from narcolepsy so there are all these wonderful moments where he just falls unconscious. It’s a film to swim through. I watched this again recently as part of a Gus Van Sant festival in couchville 9yes I am that obsessive) and it's still a stand out.

Was he a good actor? A Leonardo Di Caprio or a Johnny Depp? Or was he just so beautiful you were captivated by him like an Orlando Bloom or Jared Leto? Did he remind us of old teen idols James Dean and Marlon Brando? Yes is the simple answer. He was charismatic and talented. He came to define Live Fast Die Young.

If he were alive today what films would he be making? River would have stolen the Bourne Identity from Matt Damon. He would have been brilliant in Gattaca, Before Sunrise, Training Day – basically Ethan Hawke would be out of a job. And there would be no Joaquin Phoenix - no Walk The Line, no Gladiator, and certainly no Buffalo Soldiers. Joaquin just couldn’t have become the great actor he is without that sadness he carries with him in each film. River would have been Leonardo Di Caprio in Gangs of New York, he would have been Brad Pitt in Spy Game. He would have beaten Robert Downey Jr to Chaplin.

He would have been great. River Phoenix would have been amazing.