Michael Moriarty is worth watching for the thought he gives even familiar characters. His effortful decency in Pale Rider is particularly rewarding; Larry Cohen's genre films make use of his more eccentric instincts.
Fi1m perspective
In Pale Rider (1985), Michael Moriarty makes doing the decent thing look like work. His Hull Barret gives Clint Eastwood's solemn stranger a necessary human counterweight. Eastwood is so certain of himself that the people needing his help could easily become an afterthought. Moriarty keeps our attention on them without competing for the stranger's authority. We warmed to Barret because his decency feels like a choice he has to keep making.
The early breakthrough came with Bang the Drum Slowly (1973), playing Henry Wiggen opposite Robert De Niro, and Report to the Commissioner (1975). Larry Cohen subsequently cast him as Jimmy Quinn in Q (1982), making use of an intense, improvisatory style. The Stuff (1985) continued a collaboration that made room for eccentric outsiders and anti-heroes. In Law & Order (1990–1994), he played prosecutor Ben Stone, taking a sustained television role after those contrasting film parts. His recurring casting as intelligent, morally complicated men suits an actor whose work depends on thought and detail.
The limitation in Pale Rider is how much attention Michael Butler and Dennis Shryack's screenplay reserves for Eastwood. Moriarty keeps the film close to the people asking for help, but those people are not always given enough to do. Sydney Penny's Megan Wheeler brings feeling too, while Carrie Snodgress's Sarah Wheeler needs more space. There is only so much a supporting actor can supply when the writing keeps returning to its leading man. Moriarty's performance is one reason this old-fashioned Western remains worth an evening despite that imbalance.
The Cohen films are the place to go for the more eccentric performances, but we would begin with Barret. Moriarty makes a familiar supporting part matter without asking the Western to stop and admire him. Give him the attention the stranger usually gets.
Biography
Michael Moriarty is an American actor. Born on 5 April 1941 in Detroit, Michigan, he studied theatre at Dartmouth College and trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art on a Fulbright Scholarship.
He is known for his stage work, winning a Tony Award in 1974 for Find Your Way Home, and for screen roles including Erik Dorf in the miniseries Holocaust (1978), for which he received an Emmy and Golden Globe, Hull Barret in Pale Rider (1985), and Executive Assistant District Attorney Ben Stone in the first four seasons of Law & Order (1990–1994). Moriarty has also worked as a jazz pianist and singer.
