Jeff Bridges made his unofficial screen debut in John Cromwell’s 1951 drama “The Company She Keeps” just over a year after he was born. The son of actors Dorothy and Lloyd Bridges, he steadily proved himself a nepo baby of the finest order upon reaching young adulthood. In the 50 years and change since then, he’s done it all, be it squaring off with King Kong, riding a light cycle on The Grid, or seeking compensation for the damage to his prized rug. (It really tied his living room together.) He even snagged a long-expected Oscar for playing an alcoholic country singer in Scott Cooper’s “Crazy Heart,” a film that arrived on the heels of Bridges portraying the first-ever Marvel Cinematic Universe villain in “Iron Man.”
Trying to decide which of Bridges’ movies stands out above the rest is a formidable challenge. It’s also one that we, thankfully, need not undertake since /Film has already ranked the 12 best Jeff Bridges films. Be that as it may, it’s a testament to the caliber of his work that movies like the Coen Brothers’ “True Grit” and John Carpenter’s “Starman” didn’t make the cut in the face of stiff competition from the likes of “Hell or High Water,” “The Last Picture Show,” and “Tucker: The Man and his Dream.” But what does Rotten Tomatoes have to say on the matter?
(As always, a friendly reminder from your friends at /Film: RT’s infamous scores simply reflect how many critics liked a specific title on a pass/fail scale, which removes much of the nuance from the greater critical conversation around it. This also makes it unfair to directly compare films that only have a smattering of reviews listed with those that have hundreds and are thus likely to score lower. So don’t take any of this too seriously, alright kiddos? The Dude abides.)
The Dude pays a visit to Fat City
So, this article’s title is sort of a fib; technically, two Jeff Bridges movies have perfect RT scores. However, the first one, “Dream Big: Engineering Our World,” is a 42-minute documentary narrated by Bridges and only has seven reviews, so it’d be silly to count it. Meanwhile, the other one, “Fat City,” only has 27 reviews, which partly explains how it landed a perfect score over the likes of “The Last Picture Show” and “Hell or High Water” (whose still-impressive 90-percentile ratings are drawn from a way larger pool of critics).
That said, “Fat City” is actually a film that merits highlighting. The sports drama was helmed by none other than John Huston, director of “The Maltese Falcon,” “Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” and other Golden Age Hollywood classics. Huston was coming off the financial failure of his 1970 spy thriller “The Kremlin Letter” when he made the 1972 film, which sees an over-the-hill boxer (Stacy Keach) becoming rivals with a younger fighter who, as portrayed by Bridges, is far too big for his britches. No less an authority than Roger Ebert called Huston’s pugilistic picture “one of his best films” and noted that it continued his “fascination with underdogs and losers.” That Huston once had ambitions of becoming a professional brawler in his own youth means he may’ve even recognized a little of himself in Bridges’ character.
Defending the film, Ebert wrote:
“A few critics of ‘Fat City’ found it too flat, too monochromatic. But this material won’t stand jazzing up. […] There just isn’t going to be any suspense, climax, or resolution in the lives of these people: Just a few moments of second-hand hope that don’t even seem worth getting very worked up about at the time.”
Basically, if you’re looking for a relatively lesser-known movie that embodies the unvarnished realism of the American New Wave while providing a glimpse at its young co-lead’s bright future, you would do well to seek “Fat City” out. It’s available to rent or purchase for a reduced price on most major digital platforms.
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