I just saw Carol Burnett being interviewed on TV and the interviewer broke the news to her about Donald Sutherland passing. She said this was her favorite role of his. I must watch it this week.
I agree...would also suggest The Disappearance [1977]. Haunting crime mystery. Also had some cast with John Hurt, Christopher Plummer, David Warner, David Hemmings.
I had just watched it again last week before the news !
LOVE this movie!
"60 feet of bridge I can get almost anywhere, schmuck!"
Sutherland has always been one of my all timers. Thank goodness he made so many great movies. I've said before a Top 10 list of his movies would be 20.🙏❤
The Eagle Has Landed is one that slips under the radar. Good little wartime suspense thriller with Michael Caine and Robert Duvall and John Sturges last film.
I remember watching the film as a teenager and immediately going to the library the next day to find the book it was adapted off of… both a great film and a great read
Go back to the beginning: *Castle of the Living Dead* (1964)
Gothic horror film, starring Christopher Lee and featuring DS in multiple roles (including as an old witch). Directed by William Kiefer, which is where Kiefer Sutherland got his name.
I didn’t say it was obscure. I said it had “slipped through my radar.” I was aware of it but just hadn’t gotten around to watching it until a few months ago.
I enjoyed The Dirty Dozen, I think he might have been the last major cast member sadly. Kind of interesting premise really and you barrack for them to make it through.
The remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Can't forget that one. Also recommend A Dry White Season from 1989. As many others have mentioned, Don't Look Now.
What you are looking for is: Start the Revolution Without Me. It's is a pretty good comedy about the French Revolution. He's teamed up with Gene Wilder in dual roles as twins separated at birth. One set are bumbling serfs and the other wealthy and elite sociopaths. Hilarity ensues.
His role as Merrick the vampire slayer and mentor to the title character in 1993 Buffy The Vampire Slayer was my introductory to Donald Sutherland some years ago
I agree with those who suggested *Eye of the Needle*. (The book was good too, but he really brought the character to life.)
He was excellent in [Without Limits](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Without_Limits#Reception) as well. There were two films about Steve Prefontaine that came out during a short time period (Without Limits in 1998 and Prefontaine in 1997) and I think Donald Sutherland's nuanced portrayal as Prefontaine's coach Bill Bowerman elevated that film above the other.
Boy, I wanted to like this more than I did upon release!
Super cool idea, Sutherland as the old mentor, Rutger fucking Hauer as the big bad!? Winsome cheerleader tasked to kill vampires?!? PEE-WEE HERMAN?!?!
When I saw commercials for the TV show (which I believe started on the WB network) I thought "eh...ill check it out" and it was everything the movie wasnt! Super fun, charming, goofy. Never missed an episode and as a whole holds up well! Who don't like Buffy ffs?
Incidentally I have no idea what I could have been watching regularly on the WB at the time but they were showing commercials for Buffy every break. It started as a short run S1 in the summer I think..🤔
Joss Whedon, who scripted the movie, had very little say in the production, and he was not happy with the result. When he was offered first refusal to oversee the television show, he took it, which the production company wasn’t expecting. He took the opportunity to shape the television series into what he wanted the movie to be.
S*P*Y*S (1974) starring Sutherland and Elliott Gould. Directed by Irvin Kirschner who would go onto direct The Empire Strikes Back. Neither star appears to have been at all sober during the making of the film but it has its moments.
**[Cloudbusting](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pllRW9wETzw)**, where he plays Orgonomist Wilhelm Reich and Kate Bush plays his son. [I like the song more when it was used at the climax of 'Palm Spring' though.]
Professor Jennings in Animal House. I‘ve read he did the naked butt scene because Karen Allen refused. I think that made the whole scene between Katie and Boone.
Max Dugan Returns (1983)
Written by Neil Simon. Also staring Marsha Mason, Jason Robarbs, Matthew Broadrick, and a brief appearance by Donald's son, Keiffer.
A light hearted comedy that takes place in the Venice neighborhood of LA when it was considered ghetto.
Heaven Help Us is my favorite movie of his. It's kind of high-school-ish, but it's hilarious. Great cast: Andrew MCcarthy, Donald Sutherland, Patrick Dempsey, John Heard, Kevin Dillon and Mary Stewart Masterson are in it. Hilarious movie with one sad scene, GREAT music, and some romance. I love it. Donald Sutherland is very good in it
His character in Ordinary People is such a decent person and loving father. Especially when compared to the fucked up bitch that Mary Tyler Moore portrays so well. A sad but great movie directed by Robert Redford.
[The Eagle has Landed](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074452/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_The%2520Eagle%2520has%2520Landed) w/ Micheal Caine and Robert Duvall
You may be interested in the little-known “Little Murders” (1971, dir. Alan Arkin) a pitch black comedy that takes a wicked turn half way through its runtime. Sutherland nearly runs off with the movie in his cameo.
*Alien Thunder* (aka *Dan Candy's Law*) is an interesting Canadian Western. It's on YouTube: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp-UIWXUyqU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp-UIWXUyqU)
maybe not a classic, but I always loved Hollow Point, where he played a supporting role as an assassin who ends up kinda liking the couple he was hired to kill.
stars him and [Thomas Ian Griffith](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Ian_Griffith), [Tia Carrere](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tia_Carrere), [John Lithgow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lithgow).
I don't care, I am going to plug the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. Its not as good as the series and is accidently campy af. But if you want to watch a movie and drink a little and just have fun, then watch it.
*Steelyard Blues* (1973) is arguably DS's most forgotten/overlooked movie.
An 'oddball' blend of hippie-heist, crime-comedy with a strong cast (Sutherland, Jane Fonda, Peter Boyle, Howard Hesseman etc), it got under-promoted and received a minimal theatrical release at the time largely (as I understand it) because of Fonda's anti-Vietnam War activism and therefore failed to make much of an impact or build any kind of subsequent following.
It's quite a self-indulgent film on reflection and probably not to everyone's tastes, but perhaps it would've faired better if it'd come out about 5 years previously, thus catching some of the revolutionary zeitgeist.
I think Sutherland and Fonda were still carrying on their illicit affair at the time as well (they met when making *Klute*).
Good soundtrack too, BTW.
He starred in a French/Canadian police procedural thriller for Claude Chabrol called Blood Relatives that's quite good. Based loosely on an Ed McBain 87th Precinct novel but relocated to Montreal.
This is gonna get buried (and I’ll get clowned), but his portrayal of Mr. Bennett in *Pride and Prejudice* (2005) made that whole movie for me.
Top-tier authentically tender, affectionate dad in a Regency period piece. Just flawless, no notes.
'1900' from '77. I don't know which of your categories it falls under but there is a Southerland scene that is brutal and to this day I cannot watch him without the memory of that scene. I like him as an actor but I kinda wish I hadn't seen that particular scene.
Murder By Decree. Along with Christopher Plummer, James Mason, John Gielgud, Chris Wiggins. Sherlock Holmes (Plummer) v Jack The Ripper. A couple of decades before From Hell.
Blood Relatives. Based on the Ed McBain 87th precinct novel of the same name. Filmed in Montreal. Looks cheap as hell but I still liked it.
Bethune. A real life Canadian thoracic surgeon from the early 20th century. Early advocate of socialized medicine. Member of the Communist Party of Canada. Was a trauma surgeon and drove a blood mobile during the Spanish Civil War. Was a surgeon when the Chinese fought against the Japanese in WW2. Sutherland was obsessed with Bethune. Starred in both a low tech tv production of Bethune’s life and later a film shot on location in China.
Eye of the Needle has him playing a slightly different role than his other stuff at that time in his career.
I just saw Carol Burnett being interviewed on TV and the interviewer broke the news to her about Donald Sutherland passing. She said this was her favorite role of his. I must watch it this week.
Are you sure? The clip I saw, she named Ordinary People.
Was it? My bad! Senior moment! I remember seeing that many years ago, but never Eye of the Needle.
No prob.
Eye of the Needle was a great character for Donald. Good book adaptation with one of my favorites, Kate Nelligan.
Not to be confused with "The Eagle Has Landed," another great Donald Sutherland film with another great British actress, Jenny Agutter.
Oh I’ll have to check that out!
My favourite role of his.
Very underrated movie.
Just watched it last night. Very stabby.
I agree...would also suggest The Disappearance [1977]. Haunting crime mystery. Also had some cast with John Hurt, Christopher Plummer, David Warner, David Hemmings.
Just watched this for the first time. Great movie.
My favorite role of his, and one of my favorite movies overall!
Beat me to it. I rewatched this after his passing last week and it was as great as I remember.
Slightly different how? That he's a psychopath? Not different than Bertolucci's 1900.
Kelly's Heros
"Oh man! Don't hit me with the negative waves so early in the morning."
Yes, a classic and wonderful role for him.
A must see
100% my all time favourite role if his… and my all time favourite movie :)
I had just watched it again last week before the news ! LOVE this movie! "60 feet of bridge I can get almost anywhere, schmuck!" Sutherland has always been one of my all timers. Thank goodness he made so many great movies. I've said before a Top 10 list of his movies would be 20.🙏❤ The Eagle Has Landed is one that slips under the radar. Good little wartime suspense thriller with Michael Caine and Robert Duvall and John Sturges last film.
MY favorite and I think his first role. I liked him through his career He could fit into any character..
This is the answer
Oddball, an American hero.
The Great Train Robbery with Sean Connery
On Tubi for six more days😉
I was gonna suggest this one. The dead cat scene was one I remember
I remember watching the film as a teenager and immediately going to the library the next day to find the book it was adapted off of… both a great film and a great read
Go back to the beginning: *Castle of the Living Dead* (1964) Gothic horror film, starring Christopher Lee and featuring DS in multiple roles (including as an old witch). Directed by William Kiefer, which is where Kiefer Sutherland got his name.
I so need to see this!
It's currently on Tubi.
Thank you
This is an excellent movie and horror fans should check it out but I wouldn't say he stars in this one. Not a ton of screen time for him!
The Eagle Has Landed
His character was oddly charming in that film in spite of being one of the bad guys.
Came here to suggest this one
Phenomenal book and really good movie.
The Day of the Locust
One of if not his most intense character. You can reach out and touch his angst. Harsh film but def worth watching
Well, if "Don't Look Now" is considered obscure... Kelly's Heroes Six Degrees of Separation Pride and Prejudice Klute
I didn’t say it was obscure. I said it had “slipped through my radar.” I was aware of it but just hadn’t gotten around to watching it until a few months ago.
I enjoyed The Dirty Dozen, I think he might have been the last major cast member sadly. Kind of interesting premise really and you barrack for them to make it through.
The remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Can't forget that one. Also recommend A Dry White Season from 1989. As many others have mentioned, Don't Look Now.
I watched Dry the other night. He was absolutely excellent.
What you are looking for is: Start the Revolution Without Me. It's is a pretty good comedy about the French Revolution. He's teamed up with Gene Wilder in dual roles as twins separated at birth. One set are bumbling serfs and the other wealthy and elite sociopaths. Hilarity ensues.
Great movie, this was my pick as well.
Still 1789
*Day of the Locust*.
His role as Merrick the vampire slayer and mentor to the title character in 1993 Buffy The Vampire Slayer was my introductory to Donald Sutherland some years ago
One of his worst roles easily tbh, might be drunk of half asleep in every scene lol don’t think he wanted to be there really
I agree with those who suggested *Eye of the Needle*. (The book was good too, but he really brought the character to life.) He was excellent in [Without Limits](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Without_Limits#Reception) as well. There were two films about Steve Prefontaine that came out during a short time period (Without Limits in 1998 and Prefontaine in 1997) and I think Donald Sutherland's nuanced portrayal as Prefontaine's coach Bill Bowerman elevated that film above the other.
Heaven Help Us
My favorite movie as a kid.
I was an extra in it for three days, when I was 12. You can see me in one shot 😉 [https://imgur.com/a/ZDQRxrH](https://imgur.com/a/ZDQRxrH)
That's awesome! I literally rented that movie every weekend, and I was 7!!!
Steelyard Blues (1973) Paired again with Jane Fonda. They did work well together.
Yeah, my favourite Donald Southern movie, and not well known.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the 1992 movie).
Boy, I wanted to like this more than I did upon release! Super cool idea, Sutherland as the old mentor, Rutger fucking Hauer as the big bad!? Winsome cheerleader tasked to kill vampires?!? PEE-WEE HERMAN?!?! When I saw commercials for the TV show (which I believe started on the WB network) I thought "eh...ill check it out" and it was everything the movie wasnt! Super fun, charming, goofy. Never missed an episode and as a whole holds up well! Who don't like Buffy ffs? Incidentally I have no idea what I could have been watching regularly on the WB at the time but they were showing commercials for Buffy every break. It started as a short run S1 in the summer I think..🤔
Joss Whedon, who scripted the movie, had very little say in the production, and he was not happy with the result. When he was offered first refusal to oversee the television show, he took it, which the production company wasn’t expecting. He took the opportunity to shape the television series into what he wanted the movie to be.
Start the Revolution Without Me
S*P*Y*S (1974) starring Sutherland and Elliott Gould. Directed by Irvin Kirschner who would go onto direct The Empire Strikes Back. Neither star appears to have been at all sober during the making of the film but it has its moments.
Klute for sure.
Backdraft or JFK (although they are small roles)
[удалено]
Still the original M*A*S*H for me. Loved him as Hawkeye and that whistle!!
I'll get some boos, but I really liked how hammy he was in Galactica 1980
Ooooh shit I didn't know he was in that! I haven't watched that show since... 1980.
It was late in his career but I loved Space Cowboys. MASH of course. And I loved him in Ordinary People.
The Puppetmaster (1994) I don’t know why but this movie always stuck with me.
I love this one.
The Puppet Masters, one of the better Heinlein adaptations.
Spy's. 1974 with Elliot Gould
**[Cloudbusting](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pllRW9wETzw)**, where he plays Orgonomist Wilhelm Reich and Kate Bush plays his son. [I like the song more when it was used at the climax of 'Palm Spring' though.]
Came for this. Apparently he did the work for free!
One of my favorite videos by one of my favorite artists. Perfect choice for the role.
Professor Jennings in Animal House. I‘ve read he did the naked butt scene because Karen Allen refused. I think that made the whole scene between Katie and Boone.
Max Dugan Returns (1983) Written by Neil Simon. Also staring Marsha Mason, Jason Robarbs, Matthew Broadrick, and a brief appearance by Donald's son, Keiffer. A light hearted comedy that takes place in the Venice neighborhood of LA when it was considered ghetto.
There is also a western he did with his son Kiefer, Forsaken. I am a great fan of westerns and I liked the movie.
That's very good.
A Dry, White Season and A Time to Kill are two of my favorite DS performances, but really I loved the man in just about every role…
His small part in BACKDRAFT was creepy AF
The Great Train Robbery
Agreed. “Eye of the Needle”.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers,my fave!!
Die die my darling he plays a slow witted handy man
Murder By Decree. He plays a psychic consulted by Sherlock Holmes who is investigating the Jack the Ripper murders.
Heaven Help Us is my favorite movie of his. It's kind of high-school-ish, but it's hilarious. Great cast: Andrew MCcarthy, Donald Sutherland, Patrick Dempsey, John Heard, Kevin Dillon and Mary Stewart Masterson are in it. Hilarious movie with one sad scene, GREAT music, and some romance. I love it. Donald Sutherland is very good in it
When he throws that punch... oh man.
Die Die My Darling.
Klute. He's great as a detective.
JFK has always been my favorite.
He stole the movie in 5 minutes.
The Eagle Has Landed. Eye of the Needle Klute
I'd like to offer "Klute".
Always my personal favorite: Kelly’s Hero’s
Haven't seen anyone mention Ordinary People (1980)...thats a great one
His character in Ordinary People is such a decent person and loving father. Especially when compared to the fucked up bitch that Mary Tyler Moore portrays so well. A sad but great movie directed by Robert Redford.
Sad movie but well acted and deep M.T. Moore with great perm
No one mentioned Animal House
"He's the only professor I like".
There’s Bertolucci’s historical epic 1900. Long time since I saw it, but remember it being good.
He’s is a monster in this—just incredible.
Revolution.
Start with Klute … trust me
Disclosure (1994)
Should be higher up! He was deliciously mean in this movie.
Fellini’s Casanova
The Great Train Robbery
He’s great in Eye of the Needle and Klute as well.
Six Degree of Separation is one of my favorites with him. EDIT: He was also amazing in Johnny Got His Gun
Blood Relatives 1978.
Check the list: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/21/movies/donald-sutherland-streaming.html
Outbreak
Backdraft
[The Disappearance (1977)](https://youtu.be/MCFUiJaxgds?si=k0x64WeNOR7vdOe4)
Alex in Wonderland
[The Eagle has Landed](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074452/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_The%2520Eagle%2520has%2520Landed) w/ Micheal Caine and Robert Duvall
Ad Astra and Mister Harrigan’s Phone are two good late-career performances.
Start the Revolution Without Me (with Gene Wilder) The Eagle Has Landed
You may be interested in the little-known “Little Murders” (1971, dir. Alan Arkin) a pitch black comedy that takes a wicked turn half way through its runtime. Sutherland nearly runs off with the movie in his cameo.
Eye of the Needle for sure. Him and Kate Nelligan still live in my head rent free.
Instinct 1999
The eagle has landed. WW2 film about the Germans invasion of a small village. Great cast , great story.
Backdraft. Small part but it shows his range.
I loved his tiny cameo in Beerfest…
Man on the Train 2011 (not to be confused with the earlier French original movie) non-trivial movie with a message
The music video for Kate Bush’s Cloudbusting.
Space Cowboys was great.
Ordinary People, M.A.S.H.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Start the Revolution without Me.
*Alien Thunder* (aka *Dan Candy's Law*) is an interesting Canadian Western. It's on YouTube: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp-UIWXUyqU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp-UIWXUyqU)
Lock up starring Sly Stallone
Small role in Ad Astra.
The Rosary Murders
Backdraft.
maybe not a classic, but I always loved Hollow Point, where he played a supporting role as an assassin who ends up kinda liking the couple he was hired to kill. stars him and [Thomas Ian Griffith](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Ian_Griffith), [Tia Carrere](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tia_Carrere), [John Lithgow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lithgow).
Fellini’s Casanova
Six Degrees of Separation
Ordeal By Innocence and his supporting role in Heaven Help Us. Can’t forget him as the clumsy waiter in Kentucky Fried Movie.
1900 - he plays a great facist.
Day Of The Locust. His character's name? Homer Simpson.
One from 1989 that was pretty good is called Lost Angels.
The Puppet Masters
Space Cowboys.
A time to kill.
Norman Bethune: The Making of a Hero
"Lost Angels" 1989 Movie about a troubled teen boy and Donald plays an amazing psychiatrist who helps him.
I don't care, I am going to plug the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. Its not as good as the series and is accidently campy af. But if you want to watch a movie and drink a little and just have fun, then watch it.
Klute
He was really good as J Paul Getty in the short *series* TRUST.
Start the Revolution Without Me.
*Steelyard Blues* (1973) is arguably DS's most forgotten/overlooked movie. An 'oddball' blend of hippie-heist, crime-comedy with a strong cast (Sutherland, Jane Fonda, Peter Boyle, Howard Hesseman etc), it got under-promoted and received a minimal theatrical release at the time largely (as I understand it) because of Fonda's anti-Vietnam War activism and therefore failed to make much of an impact or build any kind of subsequent following. It's quite a self-indulgent film on reflection and probably not to everyone's tastes, but perhaps it would've faired better if it'd come out about 5 years previously, thus catching some of the revolutionary zeitgeist. I think Sutherland and Fonda were still carrying on their illicit affair at the time as well (they met when making *Klute*). Good soundtrack too, BTW.
He starred in a French/Canadian police procedural thriller for Claude Chabrol called Blood Relatives that's quite good. Based loosely on an Ed McBain 87th Precinct novel but relocated to Montreal.
Kelley’s heroes … not the star it’s ensemble but really good .. funny war film
Casanova, by Felini
This is gonna get buried (and I’ll get clowned), but his portrayal of Mr. Bennett in *Pride and Prejudice* (2005) made that whole movie for me. Top-tier authentically tender, affectionate dad in a Regency period piece. Just flawless, no notes.
Won’t get clowned by me. His was the closest portrayal to the book I’ve seen.
American Horror Story 👍♥️ so spooky and he was great 👍
Day of the Locust
‘The Eye of the Needle’
Lost Angels (1989) 1900 (1976) Scream of Stone (1991)
No one ever talks about Virus. It’s not very good but it’s a decent body horror movie with an interesting premise.
Max Dugan Returns
His role in A Time to Kill is outstanding
Crackers. The heist ending always cracks me up.
Johnny Got His Gun 1971. Donald Sutherland plays Jesus.
The Puppetmasters
'1900' from '77. I don't know which of your categories it falls under but there is a Southerland scene that is brutal and to this day I cannot watch him without the memory of that scene. I like him as an actor but I kinda wish I hadn't seen that particular scene.
JFK as Mr. X…great scene with Kevin Costner!!!
Ordinary People
Not hidden, it won Best Picture, yet seemed a tad forgotten at his passing. My favorite of his: Ordinary People.
Citizen X
I will always remembering him as the crazy Army guy during World War II "Woof!"
Dirty Dozen
Klute. I just watched it a few days ago and I loved it.
Backdraft - Don’t Look Now
Klute is an old odd one. Kelly's Heroes, Dirty Dozen, M*A*S*H, and Animal House are un-missable classics. Eye of the Needle is under looked a bit.
Yesss, me too.
He was funny in Beerfest.
Castle of the Living Dead with the great Christopher Lee
Beerfest
Max Dugan Returns
Great cameo in Animal House
Beerfest
Ordinary people, invasion of the body snatchers
Murder By Decree. Along with Christopher Plummer, James Mason, John Gielgud, Chris Wiggins. Sherlock Holmes (Plummer) v Jack The Ripper. A couple of decades before From Hell. Blood Relatives. Based on the Ed McBain 87th precinct novel of the same name. Filmed in Montreal. Looks cheap as hell but I still liked it. Bethune. A real life Canadian thoracic surgeon from the early 20th century. Early advocate of socialized medicine. Member of the Communist Party of Canada. Was a trauma surgeon and drove a blood mobile during the Spanish Civil War. Was a surgeon when the Chinese fought against the Japanese in WW2. Sutherland was obsessed with Bethune. Starred in both a low tech tv production of Bethune’s life and later a film shot on location in China.
Watching Klute now. Do not miss