He attended Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi on a football scholarship, but Beck wound up portraying Romeo and Juliet‘s Tybalt on a friendly dare and immediately became enamored with the craft of acting. He grew up and was raised on his father’s family farm in the Arkansas delta.
The Warriors helped to firmly establish and place Beck on Hollywood’s map, while showcasing his stellar talents to some of film, TV, and theater’s most esteemed directors and producers.īeck is a multi-faceted, classically trained theater actor of immense emotional depth and range. The Warriors did great things for Michael Beck’s career as an actor and silver screen star, breaking out Beck, who at the time was just beginning his acting career. They also hold meet and greet appearances at many international comics and film conventions, as well as at special Warriors fanfest events. This year marks the 36th anniversary of The Warriors, and the film continues to grow as a pop culture phenomenon with every year. Beck and his fellow Warriors cast members continue to celebrate the film’s cult classic status with their many worldwide fans, regularly holding cast reunions and making guest panel speeches.
Beck’s dynamic and electrifying portrayal of the heroic leader of the fictional Coney Island, New York street gang has also transformed Beck into an icon himself among movie buffs, film critics, and fans of the film. Photo courtesy of director Chris Hicky.įondly Celebrates And Reflects On The 36th Anniversary Of The Warriors, The 35th Anniversary of Xanadu, The Premiere Of His New Film The Grace Of Jake, And Discusses His Extraordinary And Iconic CareerĪctor Michael Beck is best known for indelibly portraying the iconic role of Swan in director Walter Hill’s fantastical, surrealistic, hit cult film, 1979’s The Warriors. I found it 7 stars worth, though.Candid “The Grace of Jake” set shot of Michael Beck and co-star Chad Morgan.
The characters often act or react unpredictable, which is good, sometimes there are stereotypes which are simply disappointing. It is a good show, of course, bold in picturing the business and how it's done, but be prepared for eight episodes of joylessness, maybe one thing the creators want to tell us - porn must be joyless even for those who profit from (extremely). At least, it's an European show, so that doesn't bother (me). Other things, like the mystery-between-worlds mentioned above, are fascinating on first sight, but are appearing to end in themselves, or simply artsy, so to speak.
There are many interesting plots woven in, especially that of the youngest son, who is talented as a pornographer, obsessive in searching for his own truth, but also most inflicted by his mother's unclear departure when he was very young. As one can see this is enough to fill a season with sadness, grief, arguing, strange behavior, and at much verbal violence, some that is regretted, some that has no impact (because it's normal behavior in this family) and some that leads - as expected - to suicide.
The basic story is, in a few words, that the family Valvardine, led by Patriarch Alex, with two sons and a daughter, plus two granddaughters, is struggling with - a) decaying income from their title-giving porn production company 'Xanadu' and trying to modernize it against Alex's resistance - b) with the behavior of said patriarch, who is basically a dinosaur and doesn't really cope with the changes in his business - c)their relationships with heir siblings, their children and their father d) the fate of their mother who was once a big porn-star and then disappeared mysteriously e) themselves, spoiled by a childhood and youth affected by a possibly guilty, but dominant father, absent porn star mother, and present affection by the porn business and wealth in general. It dares to take a look at porn production and business, and at the same time it wants to dissect a wealthy dysfunctional family and their devastated members, it creates some mystery with one of the protagonists being stuck between life and death, and yes, there is some kind of a crime (more another mystery) to be solved, too. 'Xanadu' is a show that is trying to seduce on many layers.