RIP Tom Sizemore

 I know I mentioned on my last article that I was breaking from writing anymore articles on this blog. However, since I've just heard the news on actor Tom Sizemore's unfortunate demise, I thought that now shall be the time to give a brief tribute to the guy.

Tom Sizemore has had a great acting career in his life. I write this piece as someone who has personally seen a large number of action movies in his life. I shall remember him for films such as Natural Born Killers, Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor, but the role I shall mostly remember him for is as the loud-mouthed tough nut Sergeant Horvath in Saving Private Ryan. The film has been considered ground-breaking due to the atmospheric cinematography, splendid use of sound effects and the fact that many war movies have used Steven Spielberg's masterpiece as one of their influences. Even the video game series, Call Of Duty, uses similar filming techniques. However, the actors' performances also contribute to the film's qualities and that includes Tom's portrayal of Horvath. In fact, the following clip where Horvath talks Upham out of surrendering, despite Tom Hanks' Captain Miller taking most of the spotlight, demonstrates how true Tom Sizemore stayed to his character.

Of course, Tom himself did have quite an eventful personal life and, unfortunately, as I recently learned, it wasn't always a happy one. Apparently, he had been charged numerous times for domestic violence and for abusing illegal substances. Such acts, I can't personally defend, but nor can I attack the guy for that. I also read that he once admitted that his career had turned into an "arrogant fool" I'm no psychologist, but sometimes, such careers in show business can lead to periods of stress, fear, loneliness and/or mental health issues, especially if it's on a freelance basis. Even Peter Sellers experienced a similar dilemma. The thing one can do is to remain calm and seek counselling if they're in a huge spot of bother or worse than that. No one would want to discourage one from pursuing acting or filmmaking or other sections of the creative media.

But these issues have not ceased the effort Tom put into his acting. Let's try and remember the positives. He did after all provide us a great portfolio of film performances.

May Tom Sizemore rest in peace.