In a career that has so far spanned more than six decades,Laurence Fishburnehas proven his talent and versatility as a Hollywood elite time and again. He began acting at a young age, with his most memorable childhood role being inCornbread, Earl and Me, where he plays a boy who witnesses the police shooting of a high school basketball star. Later, when he was just 14, Fishburne lied about his age and managed to score a supporting role inApocalypse Now, playing the cocky gunner’s mate, Tyrone Miller.
Fishburne has had just as much success on the small screen as the big screen, with major roles inCSI: Crime Scene InvestigationandBlackish, and he’ll soon be returning to television in the role ofRegis in season 4 of the Netflix Fantasy seriesThe Witcher, which is expected to be released some time next year. In the meantime, fans can enjoy a look back at a few of Fishburne’s finest film moments.
10’Last Flag Flying' (2017)
Directed by Richard Linklater
Last Flag Flyingis a funny and touching buddy movie about three military veterans whose post-war lives took very different paths. Sal Nealon (Bryan Cranston) runs a dive bar, Larry ‘Doc’ Shepherd (Steve Carell) works as a stocking clerk at the Navy Exchange and Richard ‘the mauler’ Mueller (Fishburne) is a pastor. The recently widowed Larry has just lost his only son who was serving as a marine in the Iraq War, and he tracks down Sal and Richard hoping they’ll help him collect his son’s body and transport it to the funeral. On the journey, the old friends rediscover themselves and each other.
Fishburne is great as the man of God, who has tried his hardest to bury what he sees as a very dark period in his life. The way he flips from a calm spiritual soul to a foul-mouthed, hard-nosed vet, especially when being antagonized by Sal, is wonderful to watch. Something else that makesLast Flag Flyingcompelling is how director, Richard Linklater, captures the raw emotionin each of the lead characters, who can’t fail to draw empathy for these soldiers of misfortune.
Last Flag Flying
9’Contagion' (2011)
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Beth (Gwyneth Paltrow) arrives home from a business trip to Hong Kong feeling under the weather, but only a couple of days later, has a seizure and dies from some kind of flu-like infection. Her husband Mitch (Matt Damon) is shocked and devastated and things go from bad to worse when the couple’s young son is tragically taken by the same illness. An autopsy on Beth reveals doctors' worst fears that they’re dealing with a deadly virus with no treatment and no vaccine. Dr. Cheever (Fishburne) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), leads the efforts to get things under control, but when Homeland Security and the National Guard get involved, the real gravity of the situation becomes apparent.
‘No one is immune to fear’ is the message spread byContagion,which is an eerily accurate portrayal of the civil and social unrest caused by the pandemics humanity has so far faced. Fishburne’s character is the voice of calm and reason in a storm of panic, which he plays superbly. In its initial release,Contagionfared reasonably well, but since the COVID-19 pandemic, the film has been revisited and reanalyzed many times over. Movie buffs and conspiracy theorists will be pleased to know that a4K UHD Blu-ray version ofContagionwas released back in February this year.
8’The Tuskegee Airmen' (1995)
Directed by Robert Markowitz
The Tuskegee Airmenis a dramatization of the true events surrounding a special project the US Army Air Corps began during World War II, to integrate African-American pilots into their fighter pilot program. With little regard for their bravery and loyalty to their country, these men were forced to endure harassment, prejudice, and political bureaucracy, until they were finally able to prove themselves in combat. The film centers around Hannibal Lee (Fishburne) who, despite every adversity, goes on to earn the Distinguished Flying Cross and promotion to Captain.
The true story of The Tuskegee Airmen, most recently retold in the Apple TV+ drama series Masters of the Air, is what makes this film particularly poignant. It’s difficult to comprehend how anyone willing to sacrifice their personal safety to protect their country could be treated with such contempt, but it was a different era. Fishburne’s passionate performance is a very fitting tribute to the real-life heroes of the 332nd Fighter Group.
7’Deep Cover' (1992)
Directed by Bill Duke
Deep Coverstars Jeff Goldblumand Fishburne as a powerful defense attorney and a police officer, whose lives collide in unexpected ways. Fishburne’s character, Russell Stevens, is assigned to go undercover and infiltrate a drug smuggling organization. In his new persona as a small-time drug dealer, Stevens meets David Jason (Goldblum), who to all outward appearances is an upstanding lawyer, but this is nothing but a front. As Stevens gets pulled deeper into the criminal underworld, the lines between wrong and right become more blurred.
This film is an interesting play on perception and how the outer appearance of both main characters leads viewers to draw assumptions about the direction the story is taking, only to have everything turned on it’s head. This is a rare opportunity to see Goldblum and Fishburne both play the good guy and the bad guy, and they do it so convincingly, it’s difficult to anticipate what will happen next, which is exactly what you want in a good crime thriller.
Deep Cover
6’Akeelah and the Bee' (2006)
Directed by Doug Atchison
Life for 11-year-old Akeelah (Keke Palmer) is a struggle. A dead father and a mom (Angela Bassett) with a demanding job leaves her lacking in parental guidance and her gang-banging brother and teen-mom sister are no help either. Akeelah is sassy and smart but isn’t living up to her potential and keeps skipping class. To avoid detention, she participates in her school’s spelling bee and uncovers a hidden talent, but if she’s going to make it to the national level, Akeelah needs a coach, which she finds in English professor, Dr. Larabee (Fishburne).
Akeelah and the Beeis an inspirational family film and Palmer, who is currently slated to star inIssa Rae’s upcoming buddy comedy alongside SZA, is brilliant in her role as a young girl struggling to fit in and find herself. The movie also offers audiences a rare glimpse of Fishburne’s softer side as he becomes a father figure to young Akeelah.
Akeelah and the Bee
5’John Wick: Chapter 2' (2017)
InJohn Wick: Chapter 2, Italian crime lord, Santino D’Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio) calls a marker and demands Wick (Keanu Reeves) assassinate his sister Gianna (Claudia Gerini) so he can take her seat at the ‘High Table’. Once the deed is done, D’Antonio puts out a $7 million contract on Wick’s head, making him the target of every lethal hitman in the business. Injured and running out of options, Wick seeks out an underground crime lord known as The Bowery King (Fishburne), to help him find D’Antonio.
As with the others in the series, this film is more action-packed than a suitcase full of Marvel figures. Reeves is as awesome as ever as the anti-hero, but it has to be said thatFishburne is the greatest scene-stealer of the John Wick franchise. When he makes his first appearance, calmly stroking his pigeons and talking in those dulcet tones, he puts even the badest Bond villains to shame.
John Wick: Chapter 2
4’Mystic River' (2003)
Directed by Clint Eastwood
When Jimmy (Sean Penn), Dave (Tim Robbins), and Sean (Kevin Bacon) were growing up together in the same Boston neighborhood on theMystic River, Dave was abducted and sexually abused. He survives the ordeal but is left severely traumatized. Years later, Jimmy’s teenage daughter Katie (Emmy Rossum) is murdered and Sean, now a homicide detective, leads the investigation with his partner Whitney (Fishburne). Dave becomes a prime suspect because he happens to be one of the last people to see her alive, but there are a few more past skeletons to be unearthed before the truth can be uncovered.
In a total U-turn from the gritty westerns he is most known for,Clint Eastwood’s Mystic Riveris a haunting, emotionally charged drama that delves into the depth of human nature and the effects of trauma. Fishburne may not be a lead character, but his role is a pivotal one, providing a much-needed outside perspective when the other players are so embroiled in each other’s past and present lives.
Mystic River
3’What’s Love Got to Do With It' (1993)
Directed by Brian Gibson
What’s Love Got To Do With Itis an epic biopic about the rise to fame of Anna Mae Bullock (Angela Bassett), who became the legendary Tina Turner. The story focuses on the toxic relationship between Tina and her husband Ike (Fishburne), who was embittered by her success and vented his frustrations with physical force until she eventually found the strength to leave.
Playing a man like Ike must have been a tough call andFishburne confirmed in an interview with journalist Jemele Hillthat he turned down the role five times because he didn’t think the writing for that character was strong enough. Fortunately, Fishburne changed his mind when he found out Bassett would be playing the lead, and viewers were rewarded with an electrifying portrayal of one of the most famous musical couples in history.
2’Boyz N The Hood' (1991)
Directed by John Singleton
Tre Styles (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) and his two friends, Doughboy (Ice Cube) and Ricky (Morris Chestnut) live in the Crenshaw ghetto of LA. Despite living in a neighborhood ravaged by drugs and crime, Tre’s dad, Furious Styles (Fishburne), is determined to raise his son right and employs strict discipline. As he grows up, Tre becomes torn by his desire to make something of himself and live up to his father’s expectations and loyalty to his friends and their involvement in the local gang culture.
Along withApocalypse NowandThe Matrix,Boyz n the Hoodwas another Fishburne film selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being ‘culturally, historically or aesthetically’ significant. Fishburne is only six years older than Gooding Jr. yet still managed to be imposing enough to pull off the parent role in this gripping Oscar-nominated drama.
Boyz n the Hood
1’The Matrix' (1999)
Directed by Lana and Lilly Wachowski
After a lifetime of searching, lone hacker Neo (Reeves) is ready to know the answer to the question - What isThe Matrix? Morpheus (Fishburne) explains that the world, as Neo knows it, is nothing more than a computer-generated simulation that allows machines to enslave and control humans. Morpheus also believes that Neo is ‘The One’ who is destined to save what’s left of humanity.
The Matrixis undoubtedly one of themost enjoyable and rewatchable sci-fi movies of the 90s. It was the film that cast a giant spotlight on Fishburne’s incredible talent and onscreen presence and had audiences everywhere feeling just like Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole.
The Matrix
NEXT:Who Is Regis, Laurence Fishburne’s Character in ‘The Witcher’ Season 4?
