Not every movie starring John Goodman has gotten the recognition it deserves, with many of the actor’s best roles being hidden in more obscure titles. John Goodman is a beloved name in Hollywood, boasting a wide range of acting skill and a dizzying number of credits in film and TV. While John Goodman’s best movies, like The Big Lebowski, O Brother Where Art Thou?, and Monsters Inc. are highly-celebrated, some of his lesser known appearance deserve more credit, as well.
John Goodman sits at an interesting intersection between Blockbuster star and character actor. His distinctive voice and silhouette are well-known, but he has a knack for blending in to a given film’s cast due to his ability to inhabit a wide variety of roles and settings naturally. From voice work in animated pictures like The Emperor’s New Groove to Oscar-worthy performances in realistic dramas like Flight, Goodman has an impressive resume, and even his most criminally underseen films promise a great performance from him.
10 Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
John Goodman plays Roland Turner
The filmography of the Coen Brothers is one of the most impressive runs from any filmmaker team still working in Hollywood, and Goodman has managed to make himself indispensable to the duo in many films. The most recent of these collaborations is 2013’s Inside Llewyn Davis, a tragically overlooked story by the Coen Brothers. The episodic narrative centers around Oscar Isaac’s titular Llewyn, a folk musician in the 60s struggling to make a name for himself in New York City.
Goodman plays Roland Turner, a jazz musician and travel companion of Llewyn Davis with a dangerous affliction for heroin. Goodman’s character isn’t in the film for long, being largely discarded after his alarming overdose, but his trademark grumpiness is firing on all cylinders in the role. It’s a shame Inside Llewyn Davis isn’t more talked about in the Coen Brothers’ lineup due to just how effectively it’s able to utilize Goodman’s acting chops in so short a time.
9 Matinée (1993)
John Goodman Plays Lawrence Woolsey
One of the few actors to be able to effortlessly flit between comedy and drama, John Goodman is no stranger to making audiences laugh. Enter Matinée, an overlooked comedy that bombed at the box office, but has received no end of critical praise, thanks in no small part to Goodman’s leading role.
The film begins in Florida in the shadow of the Cuban missile crisis, with a teen military brat excited to attend the premiere of a cheesy horror B-movie alongside producer Lawrence Woolsey, played by Goodman. Matinée cleverly parallels the threat of nuclear annihilation with the radioactive pictures like Mant it clearly inspired in pop culture.
Without Goodman, there’s no telling if the film would’ve worked as well as it does.
Goodman holds down the fort as the eccentric and good-natured Woolsey, who is hard not to love even as he pulls an Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds-style trick on a terrified audience. Without Goodman, there’s no telling if the film would’ve worked as well as it does.
8 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
John Goodman Plays Howard Stambler
The Cloverfield franchise is quite a troubled series, presenting three very different movies varying wildly in quality, with only the loosest of concepts connecting them together. The best of them is easily 10 Cloverfield Lane, which succeeds largely due to Goodman’s antagonistic performance centering the entire premise.
Even if the film had no connective tissue placing it on the Cloverfield timeline, it would’ve worked just as well as a stand-alone psychological thriller. The film stars Goodman as Howard Stambler, a doomsday prepper who either kidnaps or rescues Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Michelle, supposedly protecting her from an alien invasion in his bunker.
Goodman displays just how intimidating he can be as a horror villain as his true intentions and the truth behind his far-fetched claims remains uncertain for the majority of the film. Michelle walks on eggshells as Howard constantly seems to be inches away from violently exploding, all thanks to Goodman’s impressive presence.
7 Red State (2011)
John Goodman Plays Special Agent Joe Keenan
Another horror-thriller starring John Goodman, Red State is a film that largely skipped a theater run in favor of a direct-to-video release, helmed by none other than Kevin Smith of Clerks fame. The movie revolves around a group of teenagers who are captured by a dangerously fanatical conservative church congregation, who are willing to kill to protect their own secrets.
It isn’t long before the church finds itself in a standoff with law enforcement, including ATF Special Agent Joe Keenan, as portrayed by John Goodman. Smith’s trademark voice shines through in the politically-charged thriller, which was widely disparaged for its controversial subject matter.
Regardless, Goodman is as authoritative and assuring as ever, with his character having his own personal grievances with how the dangerous case is handled by his own agency. It’s a shame Red State was somewhat lost in the shuffle due to its unpalatable themes considering how strong Goodman is as an almost action hero.
6 Speed Racer (2008)
John Goodman Plays Pops Racer
A singularly unique film from the Wachowski sisters, Speed Racer is an exhilarating racing movie loosely based on the classic anime of the same name. The film follows the titular motorist Speed Racer, who works with his family to ensure their motorsports legacy after suffering through the death of his older brother Rex in a controversial crash. John Goodman stars as Pops Racer, the Racer family patriarch that oversees their efforts with a kind, but firm grasp.
Seeing Goodman in a properly warm role as a loving father is as heart-wrenching as ever, even within the fake-looking but incredibly edited CGI cluster that is Speed Racer. It’s also worth mentioning that the movie’s inherent silliness provides Goodman with some of his best unbridled silliness, doing wrestling moves on ninjas while quipping “More like a non-ja. Terrible what passes for a ninja these days.” Even if it was reviled upon release, Speed Racer has gone on to become something of a cult classic in recent years, with modern audiences better able to appreciate its good fun.
5 Barton Fink (1991)
John Goodman Plays Charlie Meadows
Combining John Goodman’s aptitudes for both horror and humor is the wonderful black comedy Barton Fink, another team-up between Goodman and the Coen brothers. Taking place in the 1940s, the movie follows the journey of the titular character, a playwright who makes the transition to writing for Hollywood movies, as he lives in a crummy hotel during his first days in Los Angeles. Goodman stars as Charlie Meadows, Fink’s noisy neighbor who he soon begins a quiet friendship with.
Before long, however, it’s revealed that “Charlie Meadows” is not who he seems, and Barton Fink finds himself in more danger than he’d ever believed possible. Goodman shows off the layers of his acting skills here, playing a character that is, in turn, playing a character. The small inklings of doubt he allows to rise to the surface pays off tremendously with his later ferocity.
4 Arachnophobia (1990)
John Goodman Plays Delbert McClintock
As far as John Goodman’s horror movie appearances go, Arachnophobia is a stealthily good scary movie revolving around an animal incursion. The premise revolves around a previously-undiscovered aggressive species of eusocial spider being discovered in the jungles of Venezuela, only to accidentally become an invasive species in a small California town.
This results in a reign of eight-legged terror as the town’s citizens fall one-by-one to the venom of the spider horde, much to the dismay of Jeff Daniels’ arachnophobic Dr. Ross Jennings. Goodman enters the picture as Delbert McClintock, an exterminator who joins a Jaws-style task force formed with the goal of eliminating the spiders.
Though he’s introduced later in the film, Goodman gets to be something of a hero, making it to the end credits while being instrumental in overcoming the creatures. An overlooked gem of horror buried in Goodman’s filmography, Arachnophobia deserves more credit as one of the best horror films to center around spiders.
3 Fallen (1998)
John Goodman Plays Detective “Jonsey” Jones
John Goodman is eerily good as an authority figure, as especially proven by movies like Fallen. Goodman stars opposite Denzel Washington as one half of a tired detective duo in Philadelphia. When the pair find themselves investigating a series of occult killings eerily similar to a past case. As events unfold, it becomes clear that the supernatural motive for the killings may be more tangible than either partner is initially willing to believe.
Denzel Washington might be an intimidating actor to star across from, but John Goodman tackles the assignment in Fallen with ease, providing a great springboard for Washington’s weathered and weary police detective to bounce off of. The unfortunate events Jonsey get caught up in by the end of the film give Goodman further chances to show off his range, helping to form a vital piece of the moody horror-thriller. It’s too bad that Fallen has remained perhaps overly disparaged by critics.
2 Raising Arizona (1987)
John Goodman Plays Gale Snoats
Raising Arizona sits in an interesting position as being one of the few Nicolas Cage films that are genuinely great, with no tinge of irony necessary to fully enjoy the oft-disparaged actor’s performance. Another masterpiece by Joel and Ethan Coen, the film follows an eccentric husband and wife duo, a criminal and a cop, respectively, who kidnap a child in hopes of raising him as their own.
Goodman stars as Gale Snoats, a former cellmate of Cage’s Hi, who escapes confinement to tempt him back into a life of crime.
Goodman stars as Gale Snoats, a former cellmate of Cage’s Hi, who escapes confinement to tempt him back into a life of crime. While Cage and Holly Hunter as the leading duo are effortlessly hilarious, Goodman comes in close behind them as film’s third-funniest performance, nearly stealing every scene he appears in.
This movie was the first of Goodman’s many collaborations with the Coen brothers, and considering how great he is as an emotional thug who rides the thin line between crying and exploding in anger, it’s easy to see why. Raising Arizona may be highly-rated by those who have seen it, but remains tragically under-watched.
1 The Artist (2011)
John Goodman Plays Al Zimmer
Another film starring Goodman to explore the golden age of Hollywood, The Artist is an immersive period piece that took home five Academy Awards in the year it was released, and for good reason. Largely silent and in black-and-white, The Artist centers around a silent movie star, George Valentin, who struggles to adapt to the “modern” age of filmmaking as movies with sound, or “talkies,” begin to take over the film industry.
John Goodman stars as Al Zimmer, Valentin’s studio boss who welcomes the new wave of cinematic innovation, hoping not to be left behind. In The Artist, Goodman shows off his intricate acting skill, being able to carry a performance without the use of his voice, relying solely on body language alone.
Though Valentin’s plight is sympathetic, it’s hard not to understand the motivations of Zimmer, who has to adapt to profound changes in the medium of his livelihood or be run out of business. It’s worth noting that John Goodman is allowed to have one of the few spoken lines in the entire film, owing to his trademark duclet voice.
Key Background
- Goodman’s first professional acting role was in the TV movie The Face of Rage (1983) at the age of 30.
- The actor won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical in 1993.
