‘Strength and Honour’: The only Michael Madsen movie that earned his father’s respect
Michael Madsen is best known for his appearances in Quentin Tarantino films such as Kill Bill: Volume 2, The Hateful Eight and, of course, his breakthrough turn as the quietly maniacal Mr Blonde in Reservoir Dogs. These roles led to him being typecast as various dangerous tough guys, whether criminals or cops, although he did get to show different sides of himself in Free Willy and The Natural. Interestingly, though, none of these pictures were the one that prompted compliments from Madsen’s emotionally distant father – something that meant the world to a man who had grown up idolising his heroic old man.
Madsen has spoken about his dad, a Chicago firefighter and World War II Navy veteran named Calvin, on numerous occasions. For instance, in 1996 he told Playboy magazine of the time he was at his father’s side as he saved the life of a motorcyclist who had been struck by a car. Madsen remembered that no other cars pulled over to help the stricken man lying in the middle of the road until Calvin took it upon himself to help.
“When my dad pulled over, another car did, too,” Madsen revealed. “My dad told the other driver to give him his shirt. Then, my dad wrapped the shirt around the guy’s leg and made a tourniquet. His leg was almost completely cut off.” They stayed with the man until the ambulance came to whisk him to hospital – and barely a word was said about until Calvin received a phone call six months later. The man wanted to thank his saviour, whose quick action had meant the doctors were able to reattach his leg. “That was a moment,” Madsen admitted. “My dad was a hero to me. An unsung hero.”
Over the years, Madsen watched his dad regularly carry children out of burning buildings and never received much praise for it. Not that he’d have wanted it, of course. Madsen confessed, “He didn’t want anybody to say, ‘Oh, that was wonderful.’ He just did it because that was his job.” Unfortunately for Madsen, though, his dad’s stoic, old-school nature meant he was often a tough nut to crack. For one thing, he wasn’t exactly effusive with praise over his son’s chosen career.
Madsen once told The Independent that his father simply couldn’t understand why his son wanted to be an actor and not follow in his old man’s footsteps. “To him, being a movie actor was kind of like if I’d gone into outer space,” Madsen chuckled. “He didn’t get it. He wanted me to be a cop or a fireman, like him, and that just was not my destiny.” The closest Madsen ever got to doing something like his dad was when he went to paramedic school or the time he became a plumber’s apprentice – but acting was where his future lay.
Calvin’s struggle to comprehend his son’s love for performing led to him rarely saying anything nice about his work, even when he appeared in important films like Thelma & Louise, The Doors, and Donnie Brasco. In fact, the only movie Madsen ever remembered his dad telling him he liked was one few people would have heard of—and that’s because he claims Harvey Weinstein torpedoed its release.
In 2007, Madsen starred in Strength and Honour, a drama about an Irish-American boxer tasked with raising his son after his wife dies. The movie had significant awards buzz at one point, with a Los Angeles Times review declaring it “another Slumdog Millionaire.” It subsequently won ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Actor’ at the Boston Film Festival.
To Madsen’s shock, though, the film wound up buried in litigation and was eventually released straight to DVD with minimal fanfare. He told After Movie Diner, “The director sued, and the movie got pulled from distribution. So no theatrical release, sadly. It came out on DVD with Vinnie Jones on the cover of the fucking thing.”
Madsen was gutted by this outcome, as he truly believed it was a good movie that he gave a strong performance in, and he’d held out hope of it raising his profile again during a sticky period in his career. He suspected that Weinstein had scuppered the release, claiming, “Harvey never liked me. I don’t know if he ever liked anybody, but I know for a fact he didn’t like me.”
At least one person loved Strength and Honour, though – Madsen’s father. This small sliver of positive reinforcement was deeply meaningful for the star, who admitted, “I know my father loved me, but it wasn’t ever shown to me. I think a lot of guys my age grew up with that sort of situation. He was very fragile at the end, but I could tell that he was proud of me.”
