More on Mickey Rourke:

More on Mickey Rourke at clarkblog – an extensive piece about the actor.

Excerpt:

For my money, he never burned brighter than in The Pope of Greenwich Village, an immensely enjoyable character-driven story elevated into the mythic by Rourke’s magnetic presence. He stars as a struggling NYC restaurateur so desperate to make a buck that he foolishly steals from the mob. He’s loose and fun and tense and frantic all at once — an embodiment of the city itself. Rourke’s amazing work here is matched on every level by Eric Roberts, never better anywhere, as his weak-willed and shifty cousin. In the shot above, Rourke’s playing stick ball while dancing a dreamlike lilt to Frank Sinatra’s “Summer Wind.” It’s always this scene that springs to mind first whenever I think back to this film.

And:

That pale, sometimes ruddy but always soft face is gone. But as a washed-up and battered wrestler still struggling for glory, it’s a face that fits the role. Look beyond the rebuilt cheekbones, the suddenly lantern-sized jaw, the plastic pug nose and Cro-Magnon brow, and there they are: that unforgettable pair of wounded, human eyes.

Read the whole thing.

Speaking of Pope of Greenwich Village, here’s an essay about it by one of my favorite film bloggers out there.

Jeremy writes:

Twenty eight year old Mickey Rourke was on absolute fire in 1984. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t had a major hit yet or wasn’t even a household name, nearly every critic and fan was laying down odds that this guy was the rightful heir to Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. Searing, intense and beautiful, Rourke had just floored many people with his triple shot of Body Heat (1981), Diner (1982) and Rumble Fish (1983) and it looked like he was getting ready to absolutely explode. Watching him today in The Pope Of Greenwich Village, I still feel the same way I do when I see Brando in On The Waterfront or Pacino in Serpico. It is that performance that comes in every great actors career, when everything falls into place and there is something nearly sacred in their work. I’ll take Mickey’s relatively un-acclaimed work as Charlie in The Pope Of Greenwich Village over almost any Oscar winning work you care to name…he was my guy back in the mid eighties and he is still my guy today.

Yes.

And … you knew this was coming right? I just set up a Mickey Rourke Category. I can’t believe it, actually … that the Mickey Rourke I so admired 20 years ago … is actually walking amongst the living again … enough that I feel safe enough to resurrect my interest in him.

More thoughts on him to come. It’s been a lot of fun and strangely moving to watch his movies again – because somehow – in him – I see my OWN journey … I fell in love with his acting when I was, what, 19 years old? What time does to us all. I am aware of that when I see Rourke now.