He was a cool guy. He used to come to my workplace more than a decade ago when I worked there and was always pleasant. He would always talk to a few of us (mostly my boss) and joke around. Sad to see him go
Roger Ebert on Madsen’s breakout role in Reservoir Dogs:
> One of the discoveries in the movie is Madsen, who has done a lot of acting over the years (he had a good role in “The Natural“) but here emerges with the kind of really menacing screen presence only a few actors achieve; he can hold his own with the fearsome Tierney, and reminds me a little of a very mean Robert De Niro.
The interesting thing is that I think WarGames was likely [heavily] inspired by Colossus: The Forbin Project [1], released in 1970! It too, holds up extremely well.
But his work as Toni Cipriani in Grand Theft Auto 3 was what I always remembered him for. Bumped into him while I was at the beach on vacation forever ago. I was pretty lit and couldn't remember his real name so I said "ayyyyy Toni!" He picked up on it immediately and did the "do you know who I am? I'll beat the shit outta you for this!"
I was just watching Donnie Brasco earlier this week. He was so awesome as Sonny Black (great movie if you have never seen, true story undercover mob fbi story)!
Last night, only hours before he died, I chose to watch Thelma and Louise. I was really struck by his character this time around, particularly in the diner and motel scenes. He absolutely nailed a male archetype I’m familiar with as a woman: the un-self-aware douche, and he managed it with Susan Sarandon staring at him. Chef's kiss and RIP you gorgeous thing.