Just a little shout-out for Jeffrey Tambor

Most of us know him from The Larry Sanders Show.  More recently, he's been terrific as the pathetic pilfering patriarch of Arrested Development.   But the first thing I remember seeing him in was in Norman Jewison's ...And Justice For All, from 1979, with Al Pacino. 

Tambor is one of Pacino's law partners.  Early in the film, Tambor chews Pacino out for screaming at everyone's least favorite Judge, Henry T. Fleming (John Forsythe).   When Pacino compliments Tambor's tie, he responds, "it's Fleming's favorite color," and the two of them start howling in the men's room.  Later, Tambor is howling again, when their law firm finds out that a) Fleming has been charged with rape, and b) he wants Pacino to represent him! "I'm going crazy!" Tambor shouts, an ominous foreshadowing.

Here's a scene where Tambor, completely wasted, barges in on Pacino, who happens to be spending the night with Christine Lahti.   Tambor moves brilliantly from obnoxious drunk to crushed spirit.   The script is only fair, but Tambor rises above it. 

Later, we see him with a shaved head, and Pacino is worried.  He should be, because when we next see him...

Tambor is completely inarticulate, and yet what he's doing, and his facial expressions, say everything.  It's hilarious and sad at the same time.  

I'm glad that Tambor has achieve so much success on TV since this film.  And I can't wait for new episodes of AD coming to netflix.