HAL HOLBROOK
Into the Wild
Hal Holbrook doesn't show up until two-thirds of the way through Into the Wild. By then, the fate of Emile Hirsch's rambling idealist, Chris McCandless, has been all but sealed. Holbrook's triumph is making you believe that if anyone could have saved the young boy from his gypsy death wish, it would have been him. As Ron Franz, a tenderhearted widower searching for a grandson with the same desperation that McCandless was searching for tumbleweed truth, Holbrook caps a brilliant 53-year career. Over desert walkabouts and late-night heart-to-hearts, Franz, through his Army-man honesty, forces McCandless to question the selfishness of his quest and the pain he's caused his family. With a quaver in his voice and tears in his eyes, he tells his unlikely new friend how he lost his wife and son to a drunk driver and withdrew from the world as his penance. Why risk attachment again if it can be severed so easily? Franz finally decides to let McCandless in. And the look on Holbrook's face as the boy walks out of his life and into the wild is beyond devastating. — Chris Nashawaty
