Last week I was reminded of The Fisher King , starring Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges, and Mercedes Ruehl. I was inspired to rent the film through my Prime Video subscription and watch it for the first time since I first saw it in theaters in 1991, and I’m so glad I did. I’ve always had fond memories of it, and not only do I still love the film, but I also have a whole new appreciation for Robin Williams’ performance in it. I think it’s arguably Williams’ best role of his career.
Fisher’s King is a classic example of a hero’s quest
If you don’t remember Fisher King (or haven’t seen it), the film is about a New York radio shock jock named Jack Lucas, played by Bridges, who inadvertently inspires a mass shooting and is ostracized by society, ashamed and disillusioned by his actions. Williams, whose loss we all still feel, plays a man whose wife was murdered by a gunman and who has since lost all grip on reality. A seemingly chance meeting brings the two together after Williams’ character Parry saves Jack from some would-be backstabbers.
From there, the plot plays out with a heavy dose of magical realism, as you would expect from any film directed by the great Terry Gilliam. Parry is a broken man living on the streets and obsessed with an alternate reality he creates to help him forget the tragic events that led to the death of his beloved wife.
He believes he’s a knight in the Middle Ages, trying to earn the love of a woman (Amanda Plummer) he only sees on her commute to and from the train station. To earn her love, he must retrieve the Holy Grail (a hilarious callback to Gilliam’s time with Monty Python) from a “castle” near Central Park in Manhattan… at least in his own mind.
Williams brings every ounce of his immense talent to the film
Parry’s mental breakdown gives Robin Williams so much to work with. He’s manically funny, as Williams was so good at, but he also has that broken side that Williams was a master at touching on. Parry has to be gentle at times, because as a knight on a quest, he helps as many people as he can, including and especially Jack. The role draws on all those talents that Williams possessed, and I can’t imagine any other actor could pull it off nearly as well as the late Williams does.
Playing the highs and lows of a manic-depressive is daunting for any actor, but Williams pulls it off so well here, you almost forget about the actor entirely. That is, until he strips naked in Central Park and runs through the park in a buff… a very hairy buff at that. I can’t help but think of another movie in which Williams goes back and forth between comedy and tragedy so quickly. It’s a truly remarkable performance.
As a viewer, I felt everything that Parry feels, the humor and the pain, so viscerally. Which explains why I never rewatched the movie, despite being captivated by it the first time I saw it all those decades ago. It was one of those movies that you love but don’t think you can watch more than once. Well, I’ve seen it twice now and I’m sure I have.
