Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Terence Stamp passed over the weekend, aged 87. Alasdair Stuart pays tribute:

Stamp elevated everything he was in and approached each role with the same calm, wry sincerity. He was great and he did a lot of genre work. Here’s some of my favourites:

Modesty Blaise (1966)

Stamp, in just his fourth movie role, starred in an early comic adaptation. Modesty Blaise (Monica Vitti) is a criminal mastermind with an ‘arrangement’ with the British Secret Service. Stamp played Willie Garvin, her amiable cockney sidekick.

Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980)

Michael Shannon in Man of Steel is fun, but I defy anyone to have more fun as General Zod than Stamp. Decked out in a fabulous Kryptonian battle blouse, vamping it up and providing a very real physical threat for Christopher Reeve’s Superman and a foil for Gene Hackman’s cheerfully sociopathic Lex Luthor.

The Company of Wolves (1984)

Stamp’s uncredited role as a chauffeur-driven devil in Neil Jordan’s adaptation of Angela Carter’s seminal, terrifying fairy tales is iconic. It’s a great movie and he’s fantastic in it.

Red Planet (2000)

Red Planet is SF action tapas, delivering every single main blockbuster plot in just under 90 minutes, Val Kilmer is fantastic as the Mars expedition janitor who must trek across the planet accompanied by Tom Sizemore’s grumpy scientist, pursued by a killer robot and aided by Carrie Ann-Moss’ captain. Stamp has a small, very meaningful role as the expedition’s spiritual advisor that’s one of my favourite parts of one of my favourite movies.

Last Night in Soho (2021)

Stamp has a pivotal role in what, for me, is a massive return to form for Edgar Wright after the disappointing Baby Driver. In what turned out to be his final role on screen, Stamp is subtle, menacing and surprising. It’s a great movie and he’s one of the parts you’ll remember the most.

Terence Stamp was one of the all-time greats. Any of his work is worthy of your time, but if genre’s your thing like it is mine, these are great places to start.

All these movies are available on disc.