Paul Le Mat makes tough men convincing by letting us notice the effort behind their confidence. We value that quiet uncertainty, though the repeated casting as drifters and streetwise men can obscure what else he offers.
Fi1m perspective
John Milner looks confident in American Graffiti (1973), but Paul Le Mat keeps us aware of the effort involved. George Lucas gives these teenagers an evening of cruising, radio and worries that matter chiefly to themselves. Against Ron Howard's more straightforwardly assured Steve Bolander, Le Mat makes Milner's confidence seem liable to fail if he stops attending to it. We warmed to Milner because Le Mat makes the effort behind his confidence so apparent. There is enough uncertainty in the performance to keep the cars from doing all the character work.
Lucas gets something valuable from Le Mat: a tough-looking figure who belongs among these anxious adolescents rather than standing above them. The film is not equally attentive to everyone, and its young women are too often left responding to the boys. A few conversations also continue after they have served their purpose, but Le Mat's performance gives us someone to care about during the pauses. We recommend it warmly for the way he helps Lucas make adolescent self-importance worth taking seriously.
American Graffiti was the breakthrough, followed by the lead in Aloha, Bobby and Rose (1975), which reinforced his image as a streetwise drifter. Jonathan Demme offered a change, first in Handle with Care (1977), then Melvin and Howard (1980). Those films gave his understated acting room in ordinary, community-connected lives beyond the hot-rod association. Melvin Dummar in the latter is a natural fit for an actor whose strength is making an ordinary man worth following.
The later move towards lower-profile and independent films should not be mistaken for a verdict on his acting. The more telling restriction is how often the casting returned to the laconic tough guy, a recognisable type that can leave too little for an actor to find. His work with Demme gives us a reason to look further, particularly when the familiar coolness threatens to become all we remember. Start with American Graffiti, then try Melvin and Howard before deciding that he was chiefly there for the cars.
Biography
Paul Le Mat is an American actor. He first came to prominence playing John Milner in George Lucas's American Graffiti (1973), a role that earned him the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor.
Le Mat starred in Aloha, Bobby and Rose (1975) and appeared in Jonathan Demme's Handle with Care (1977) and Melvin and Howard (1980). He won a second Golden Globe Award for his performance in the television film The Burning Bed (1984). He also reprised the role of John Milner in More American Graffiti (1979) and starred in the cult film Puppet Master (1989).
