Harvey Keitel

Watch the career-defining gangster role played by Harvey Keitel in Martin Scorsese's "Mean Streets" (1973) and you understand how readily he went on to portray more bad guys in a number of films directed by Scorsese; and, of course, Keitel is breaking the law yet again in Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" (1992) and "Pulp Fiction" (1994). As HCC film professors Marie Westhaver and Mike Giuliano point out in this podcast episode, however, Keitel does not simply play the same role over and over again. There is an intensity and a complexity to Keitel's embodiment of these characters. Moreover, his career actually involves a diversity of roles. Marie and Mike single out the morally upright law enforcement official he plays in "Thelma and Louise" (1991) and the gentle romantic protagonist he plays in "The Piano" (1993). Whether playing good, bad or somewhere in between, Harvey Keitel has a way of making his mostly supporting roles seem like leading roles.