WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
I’m going to go into this in a little more depth later on, but the fact that my first introduction to Kris Kristofferson was watching Blade at the age of 15 – I honestly had no idea he was a singer. I always thought of him as an actor – well more specifically just thought of him as Whistler.
The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea
Based on a book by Yukio Mishima, this film tells a dark tale of jealousy. Some would say that Jonathan behaves towards Kristofferson’s character of Jim because he doesn’t want someone to replace his late father but the fact that we see him watching his mother sitting naked – I would say the boy has some sort of Oedipal complex. We meet Kristofferson around 20 minutes in but honestly, it feels like a lot longer because of just how weird most of the scenes leading to his introduction are. In the grand scheme of things, his character is actually quite small, mainly because he goes off to sea again following the start of his relationship with Jonathan’s mother.
The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James
I am so glad that this film starts at the end! I had already written off two films for Kristofferson so was hoping I didn’t have to lose a third. Kristofferson plays Jesse James, the well-known American outlaw. This film tells the story of Frank and Jesse James following their life of crime prior to Jesse’s death. Well, I say following but it looks like they never really gave it up. It’s amazing to think that this film is led by two singers (the other being the great Johnny Cash) and it’s a great on-screen brotherly chemistry. The weird thing, the opening makes it look like they entered Jesse’s house and he was shot straight away – when in actual fact, they had at least sat down for breakfast first.
Blade
This has to be one of my favourite trilogies! OK, this one isn’t my favourite of the three but it is our intro to the bad ass old man that is Abraham Whistler. Truthfully, I think part of my anger and dislike towards Jessica Biel’s portrayal is because of how amazing Kristofferson is in the role. And the fact that Whistler’s daughter doesn’t exist – especially as the reason he is hunting Frost in the first film is because of one of his underlings killing Whistler’s family! But I’ve had that rant in a previous article. Weirdly, he’s actually in this film a lot less than I remembered him to be. If you think about it, Whistler is the true hero of these films – if it wasn’t for him there would be no Blade. Some would say he is the Lucius Fox to Blade’s Batman as he helps develop the serum that satiates Blade’s hunger and creates his vampire hunting weapons. See, others may have said Alfred but that would have been an insult and an inaccurate reference. He is also everything Blade needs – a friend and a father figure rolled into one. There is a great chemistry between Kristofferson and Snipes on-screen that it makes me wonder if they had become genuine friends off of it.
Honorary Mentions
I stated before that I lost two films early in the writing of this article, one of these being Cisco Pike where he played the lead character – which must have been early in his career as he is credited as “introducing” Kris Kristofferson and the other was Lawless Range – well I didn’t really want to reference 2 western films. He also goes on to reprise his role of Whistler in Blade 2 and a tiny scene in Blade: Trinity. I would love for him to return alongside Mahershala Ali in the upcoming film but I can’t see this being likely. He also had a small part in Payback which I felt was not worth trying to cover.
