Chris Penn: We Hardly Knew Ye

I was saddened to hear about Chris Penn. Definitely under-rated. I've read many of the reports that came out after. Unfortunately, many were touting him as "Sean's younger brother". Too bad. Sure Sean's had his spotlight. But his roles are few and far between, especially now that he's also a director.

But just the same, they're the same bloodline. So it was pretty-much a given that Chris would have it tougher because of the older brother. I know. My brother was in the same boat through childhood and part of adulthood.

Nonetheless, he played his as well as any leading actor. I found myself preferring him to Sean on many occasions. Although I haven't seen several of his films, I liked what he did during the Tarantino years (Reservoir Dogs, True Romance).

Some of the reports listed his finest works, while others were quick to point out the dregs. I myself found it surprising that his work in Best Of The Best parts one and two, were never mentioned. The first one was excellent in it's portrayal of the tragedy of competition and the subsequent outcome, which, to this day, I still get teary at the end, and I've seen it at least 50 times. Chris played a brash cowboy sterotype who had a conflict with the lead actor, Philip Rhee, but by the end, mutual respect. It's about a competition between the Americans and the Koreans. And Philip Rhee's older brother was killed in the last competition. So you know where that's going. An excellent movie that I highly recommend.

Best Of The Best II is a shell of the first one. It's cheesy with the gladiator stuff and Wayne Newton comes off smarmy as ever. But for all the martial arts action in it, I love it. Philip Rhee, son of Simon Rhee, a grandmaster in Tae Kwon Do, not to be confused with the godfather of TKD, Jhoon Rhee, is a master himself. Unfortunately, Chris played the sacraficial lamb, to set up the revenge factor for Philip Rhee. It's still one of my favorites, even though I fast-forward to the Coliseum segments.

(BOTB III - even less martial arts, not very good acting by Philip, and a controversial story line, racism/neo-nazism, was a real turnoff. Oh, one more thing. Eric Roberts stars in all 3, as a friend and team member to Philip Rhee. Eric still can't act. So you'd have to filter him out.)

Rest in peace, Chris. We'll miss you.