Margot Kidder as Margaret Mary in Maverick (1994)
There are a number of cameos in the underrated Richard Donner comedy, Maverick, including Danny Glover, Corey Feldman, and producer Lauren Shuler Donner. About halfway through this twisty story of a card player and a con woman trying to get to a poker tournament, however, a face arrives on screen that makes us sit up and ask, “Isn’t that Lois Lane?”
Margot Kidder, whose most famous role remains playing the iconic journalist to Christopher Reeve’s Superman (twice directed by Richard Donner) does indeed feature as an Evangelist travelling in a caravan that is attacked by thieves masquerading as “hostile Indians.” Her few scenes are brief, and her character of Margaret Mary is one of an ensemble – but she plays a pivotal role in the story and provides some additional comic relief with an immediate infatuation with Marshal Zane Cooper (James Garner). The caravan of Evangelists spins the tale in a new direction – setting up a sequence in which Maverick (Mel Gibson) pretends to selflessly sacrifice himself to make more money.
Christopher Walken as Vincenzo Coccotti in True Romance (1993)
In this story of two young lovers trying to start a life together amid crime and violence, the legendary Christopher Walken arrives to provide a classic performance of a Tarantino-scripted scene. Its impact is increased by the fact that it is essentially a two-hander, also featuring the equally legendary Dennis Hopper.
Clarence (Christian Slater) has fallen for Alabama (Patricia Arquette). He has married her and has mistakenly stolen a large amount of drugs while in the process of killing her pimp, Drexl (Gary Oldman). Planning a new life together, they visit Clarence’s father – a former police officer – Clifford (Dennis Hopper), and in discussing their situation, Clifford confirms that the drugs actually belong to an infamous mob boss. Clarence and Alabama are long gone when Don Vincenzo Coccotti (Walken) – an associate of the mob boss – arrives to interrogate Clifford in his own home.
What follows is an electrifying scene. These two intimidating, heavy-weight actors demonstrate their formidable skills – one as a father, protecting his son, and one as a terrifying, cold-blooded killer. Walken imbues Coccotti with such arrogance and privilege that he seems to fill Clifford’s run-down trailer home with his enormous presence. In the space of just a few minutes, he swings from charm to menace to violence with fearsome precision. For Tarantino fans, it perhaps foreshadows an altogether more well-intentioned cameo that Walken provides in Pulp Fiction – but for True Romance, Coccotti is the perfect villain.