James Marshall makes brooding young men seem more vulnerable than their poses suggest. We value his unshowy sincerity in Twin Peaks and A Few Good Men, though quietness alone will not carry a scene.
Fi1m perspective
In Twin Peaks (1990), James Hurley sings ‘Just You’ as though there were nothing embarrassing about declaring a feeling so plainly. The motorcycle and leather jacket suggest a harder young man than Marshall's performance supplies. We were unexpectedly moved by the song, because the singing is so earnest that its awkwardness becomes touching. That willingness to look sentimental is his chief strength here, in a series which finds both comedy and fear in jealousy.
Hurley was his breakthrough, and David Lynch remains the director who makes the clearest use of Marshall's sensitive loner. He reprised the part in Lynch's prequel, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), while Gladiator (1992) gave him a lead as amateur boxer Tommy Riley. We find him most persuasive as one sincere presence among more forceful characters, rather than when asked to sustain a scene on his own. His restraint needs something to work against; left with brooding alone, he can struggle to keep a scene interesting.
Rob Reiner puts that quality to work in A Few Good Men (1992), casting him as Pfc. Louden Downey, one of two Marines on trial. In a film driven by Aaron Sorkin's sharp dialogue, Marshall's understated performance gives us somebody who cannot compete on those terms. He allows Downey to seem outmatched without making a show of the character's limitations. His quiet manner is useful: the courtroom needs someone who is not another virtuoso talker. That is valuable supporting work, even when the film's thinking about military responsibility is less sharp than its exchanges.
The weakness is that Marshall's restraint can become passivity, particularly when Twin Peaks gives him scenes that need firmer handling. The wounded sincerity does not always carry him through, and some of the soapier material exposes how much he needs a director to shape the performance. His return as Hurley in the revival of Twin Peaks (2017) brought him back to the part that still provides the clearest reasons to watch him. Start with the original series, allowing for the stretches where everybody takes a little too long to get on with things.
Biography
James Marshall is an American actor, born James David Greenblatt on 2 January 1967 in Queens, New York. He is best known for portraying James Hurley in the television series Twin Peaks (1990–1991) and the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), and for his role as Private Louden Downey in A Few Good Men (1992).
Marshall has appeared in other films including Cadence (1990) and Gladiator (1992). He has also worked as a musician and songwriter. He is married to actress Renee Griffin.
