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Rip Torn | America's Loose Cannon
February 3, 2010 - 1:10pmAs many people probably know, the actor, Rip Torn, was arrested earlier this week for breaking into a Litchfield, CT bank while heavily intoxicated and holding a loaded gun. In honor of this psychopath, here is the infamous fight that broke out on the set of Norman Mailer's movie, Maidstone. The scene was supposed to be an improvised fight between Torn and Mailer's character, but as the cameras rolled Torn beat Mailer with a hammer, intending on killing his character. To make a long story short, Mailer had is head cracked open, blood spilled, Torn got a piece of his ear bitten off, Mailer's children cried and mayhem ensued. The fight, in which the actors called each other by their "real" names made it into the final cut of the film. Enjoy.
Thanks Jim!
What do you think?
Posted by tom moody
hey
Well, the hammer attack was 40 years ago, and the "bank incident" was this year--those might be psychopathic bookends to a great career. (Maybe the great career was full of such episodes, I don't know.) The problem is "internet time" or "media time" compresses a person down to one or two incidents. For four decades this man got up every morning and showed up for work but now he's a full time wild man. No biggy, I have to go around being an internet noodge to be happy.
Posted by tom moody
rip torn
"This psychopath" is one of our hardest working actors, who has alternated from off Broadway (e.g., playing Howard Hughes in Sam Shephard's play Seduced) to memorable commercial projects (The Man Who Fell to Earth) and has a resume a mile long. The American Klaus Kinski, perhaps!--but who has somehow made it to old age (which seems an odd time to be spazzing out with a gun, but there you have it). Thanks for the clip but a little more respect, please. The movie "Payday" alone should entitle Rip to a pass from you.
Posted by admin
I meant psychopath, in yes,
I meant psychopath, in yes, the same way as Kinksi. He's certainly an amazing actor, that I respect and do count myself as a fan of anything he's a part of. In fact, he's so damn good that Mailer even left this scene in his film. That's certainly respect. That said, maybe pyschopath is a bit vicious, and although I did not mean it in the pejorative sense, I'm willing stand by this comment. He did attack a man with a hammer attempting to kill this man's fictional "character". I wonder how Norman Mailer and his wife and kids would describe him? If I were to attack a subject we profiled with a hammer, I'm sure they wouldn't take my career into account. I do however agree with you on his brilliance though, so yes, Rip Torn = Genius + mad.
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Posted by kelly g
psychopath
wow nutz, men in black will never be the same to me