“‘Indeed, sir. The last charge of Wyatt Earp and his immortals’”
The immortal characters that Val Kilmer brought to life will make sure that his legacy lives forever. 1 of the absolute best actors to grace a movie screen man what a life he lived. In Tombstone it was Doc saying, “‘Indeed, sir. The last charge of Wyatt Earp and his immortals’” but since he just passed away, now I want to talk about The last charge of Val Kilmer and his immortals.
IceMan. Doc. The Greatest Swordsman who ever lived. Batman. Bank robber. Rock icon. Most actors would be happy to have 1 of those roles on their resume but it shows how special Val Kilmer was to have such an incredible filmography of top quality acting. Such a huge part of my childhood man this is a tough one.
In elementary school we had a Top Gun club haha I had blonde, spiky hair so I was IceMan and Val Kilmer immediately became 1 of my fav actors. Couldn’t have been a more perfect choice for Top Gun. The way he was able to navigate the character being a cocky prick but at the same time still likeable. Love that his *cough*BULLSHIT*cough* line was actually improvised me him and the reactions from the cast were real lol Great scene when Iceman gives Maverick his condolences about Goose and you can see him fighting to make sure he stays respectful even to his biggest rival. And of course at the end when Ice and Mav embrace, “you, you’re still dangerous… But you can be my wingman anytime!” and share a hug with big smiles man such a great ending. Considering my nickname was his character I was really happy that he wasn’t the villain of the movie and ended up with the good guys haha Absolutely loved that he was able to make a cameo in Top Gun: Maverick and actually have an impact on the story. Wish it could have been more but it was a feat of strength to do what he did given his condition.
Willow was another movie we watched over and over and while Val didn’t need to carry the movie as it was full of great performances, his charisma def was a driving force in its success. Mad Martigan is 1 of those characters that 9 times out of 10 is a bad guy so to have him on the underdogs side and be able to cheer for him as a hero was awesome. He had great chemistry with Warwick Davis and you could see Mad Martigans respect for Willow grow throughout the movie. The Greatest Swordsman That Ever Lived did not disappoint as his action scenes were so great, loved his final duel with Kael. The quality of his acting was on display during the scenes with the ‘Dust of Broken Heart’ as he went from being in love with Sorsha like a Shakespeare character only to immediately revert back to heartless brute haha His chemistry with with Joanne Whalley was so good that they ended up married in real life! But not only did he kick ass as the hero but man was he funny.
To this day me and my Dad still drop some his quotes.
-His favourite is ‘I FEEL BETTER!’ Hahah
-I say this one to my brother all the time, ‘Ooh, I’m really scared. No! Don’t! There’s a- a peck here with an acorn pointed at me!” 😂😂
-Or when I’m driving and the slow person in front of me gets into the turning lane with me, ‘Oh, No! That’s the way I’m going!’
-Another one I say to my brother, ‘Mumbo. Jumbo. I am hungry. Go get me some eggs or something.
Franjean: We are NOT afraid of you!
NOW! 😂😂
–What are you going to look like if this works?
Don’t interrupt.
Sorry.
I’m a young beautiful woman.
Concentrate, Willow! 😂😂
–Don’t let him talk to you that way, Burglekutt! 😂😂
So good man his performance def helped make Willow the enduring classic that it is.
His performance as Doc Holliday is the reason the word iconic was created, steals the show in 1 of the greatest movies of all time. Always loved his first confrontation with Johnny Ringo where Doc uses his cup instead of his gun lol then the verbal duel in Latin man such an intense scene. Every time Doc was off screen you wanted him to come back and when he was on screen he captivated all the attention. So many iconic, funny lines:
-‘Oh. Johnny, I apologize; I forgot you were there. You may go now.’
-‘Nonsense, I have not yet begun to defile myself.’
‘I’m your Huckleberry’ is on the Mt Rushmore of movie quotes. That scene where Doc kills Johnny Ringo is a masterclass with multiple great quotes,
-‘Why Johnny Ringo, you look like somebody just walked over your grave.’,
-‘I’ll beg to differ, sir. We started a game we never got to finish.’
-‘Say when..’,
-‘My hypocrisy goes only so far’,
Fck man what a scene, what a movie, what an actor.
Batman Forever has its flaws but I thought he was awesome as Batman and as a kid was so pumped that Iceman was now Batman haha thought he did a great job picking up where Michael Keaton left off and did a particularly great job portraying Bruce Wayne. BF gave us the Superhero burger from McDonalds so I’m forever grateful haha however Joel Schumacher has famously talked about what a nightmare working with Val was as I guess Val could be hard to deal with at that point after all his success and the way he went about method acting. On the flip side, since his passing Val’s Batman Forever co-stars have remembered him fondly so I guess different people got different versions of Val. He was not perfect and in his profession, your flaws can sometimes be more highlighted than your strengths.
Another iconic role was his portrayal of Jim Morrison in The Doors the doors and he did such a great job mastering the vocals that some people that actually knew Jim Morrison couldn’t tell the difference. Unfortunately it seems he took his method acting too far and actually assaulted an actress during an audition trying to be in character. No excuse for that no matter what role you think you are playing but thankfully that kind of physical violence was not ever present in his personal life so it looks like a case of a young actor taking his method acting too far. I’m sure he wished it wasn’t part of his past but I don’t think it means you can’t remember him and his legacy fondly.
As a kid I knew Al Pacino and Robert Deniro were at the mountaintop so I was very excited that Val was going to be working with them in Heat and hoping he would be recognized on that level as well. Fn great movie and def crushed it in his role as Chris Shiherlis. Val’s star first started to shine in the comedies Top Secret! and Real Genius, both are underrated classics and def made it clear Val Kilmer was going to be something special. His classics usually get most of the love and deservedly so but he made some other great movies like Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, The Saint, The Ghost and the Darkness and Alexander. Iceman couldn’t let Maverick have all the fun with Les Grossman so he gave us Dieter Von Cunth in MacGruber haha that movie is so underappreciated and really funny so I was happy Val was a part of it.
His last project was a 1 man play he wrote about Mark Twain with Val playing the man himself. Val spent a lot of time thinking about Mart Twain in his later years and really had a lot of respect for him. Wish I could have seen the show, Val’s love and respect for Mark Twain was palpable and knowing the quality of his acting, I’m sure it was a great experience. The last few years I really enjoyed following Val on Instagram as he shared his latest creative projects having no idea he had those talents. Just recently he posted a very cool take on a Doc Holliday portrait. Def gonna miss seeing those updates.
Val also released an autobiography called I’m Your Huckleberry as well as a documentary called Val and both were very highly received. I own his book and haven’t read it yet but I will be doing so shortly and I’m going to watch the documentary tonight. Sadly in 2014, Val started experiencing symptoms that would force him to cancel his remaining dates for his Citizen Twain show and be revealed as throat cancer. He fought hard and beat back the disease but it cost him his voice and ability to speak as we saw in Top Gun: Maverick. For a guy that was always a “big man on campus” it would have been easy for him to feel sorry for himself and hide himself away from the world. But instead he continued pushing forward doing any acting projects that he could along with using and sharing the other creative talents that God gave him.
My life and certainly my childhood are much better off thanks to Val Kilmer and the immortal characters he brought to life with his phenomenal acting. The world is def better off having a creative force like Val Kilmer in it. He def wasn’t perfect, none of us are, but he was real and that shone through in his work. I’ll miss living in a world with Val Kilmer in it but will always appreciate the gifts that he gave us and do my best to bring my own greatness to the Iceman nickname haha Val Kilmer will no doubt go down as 1 of the greatest actors of all time and I’m so happy that I was alive at the same time to be able to appreciate his greatness.
Prayers of peace and love sent up for his family friends and fans. Thanks for the characters that made growing up a little bit better and inspired me to be great. Thanks for the adventures. Thanks for the stories. Godspeed brother 🙏✌️💚
‘Indeed, sir. The last charge of Val Kilmer and his immortals’
