If I start a movie and I see Alan Arkin's name in the credits, I know there's at least one good thing about it. There won't be any more of those, though, because Arkin passed away a few days ago at the age of 89.
I've seen him in a wide variety of films. He was in the Audrey Hepburn thriller Wait Until Dark. He was in Tim Burton's gothic fantasy Edward Scissorhands. He had a particularly memorable role in Little Miss Sunshine. But for me, the great Alan Arkin role is in an animated film, 1982's The Last Unicorn.
It's not as obscure as it used to be, maybe you've seen it. I certainly saw it, many times. It was one of those movies I watched over and over as a kid. One could easily argue Arkin's role was the heart of the film. He played the magician, Schmendrick (from a Yiddish word meaning "fool"). A young man strangely at ease with his incompetence, yet not without a timid hunger for validation, he acts as a guide to the titular unicorn as well as for the audience.
Like the rest of that film's impressive cast, he brings something to the role no-one else could have and helped to make it a truly unique and wonderful film.
It turns out Arkin died in my hometown, San Diego.
Well. So long, Schmendrick.
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