Guilty as Sin (1993)
Don Johnson a revelation
20 October 2004
Every few years you see a performance by an actor in something that really impresses you, where you want to watch the whole thing again just to watch him/her, where the person is so fascinating as a character, so extraordinarily in that role, that the performance just BECOMES the experience. That was true in this movie with Don Johnson - on one level alone, he was more believable as a fabulously wealthy man who'd been wildly successful on all levels throughout his life - than anyone I've ever seen.

Think of say, the great performances of say, Steve McQueen in Thomas Crown Affair, any actor who's played James Bond, any of the wonderful character actors playing wealthy men in movies like My Man Godfrey, The Philadelphia Story, Holiday, The Awful Truth, Meet John Doe, Fifth Avenue Girl, Bachelor Mother, You Can't Take it With You -- and Don Johnson is yet more believable.

Nothing's ever gone wrong for this man - and he relies on it, and he's very very smart, and very very charming, and he knows all of that - and yet somehow he IS charming nonetheless -- And you suspect from the first moment, there is something bad there.

I remember thinking when I saw Lisa Eichhorn in 1979 in Yanks, that I had seen someone who really and truly seemed that character - Don Johnson seems this character and it's a great and effortless performance and you should see it. (And if you weren't a fan of his television series, don't worry - neither was I - I never really paid attention to him - and wham, I'm now a fan!).

This guy has gotten to be a superb actor.
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