(Photo: Richard DuCree/HBO MAX)
Bratt is currently starring in HBO Max’s DMZ, as Parko Delgado, opposite his co-star Rosario Dawson
By Roberto Leal
Benjamin Bratt found himself in a number of supporting roles in the ’80s and early ‘90s in films like Juarez, Nasty Boys, One Good Cop, and a few stand-out pivotal roles in Blood In, Blood Out, Demolition Man, and A Clear and Present Danger.
On television, Bratt landed the role of Detective Ray Curtis appearing in five seasons of the long-running NBC hit series, Law & Order. It was this role that earned him much richly deserved international recognition and critical praise. Detective Ray Curtis, as played by Bratt, was a proud Latino with smoldering passions just beneath a cool, seemingly detached demeanor that often erupted into rage and sometimes violence. Detective Curtis was not above roughing up a suspect or employing extra-legal tactics to secure justice for a victim.
That hard-edged character he created on Law & Order became the signature persona that has served him well in all his film and TV roles.
After Law & Order
But in 1999, Bratt decided it was time to leave Law & Order. “I’ve felt like it was time to get back home to my family,” Bratt told the New York Post. “How do you walk away from the best job in the world and a group of people that you’ve grown to love? It’s not easy, and it was an extremely difficult decision that I had to make.”
Bratt didn’t stay home clipping coupons or watching telenovelas very long. Post Law & Order he put his unique acting skills into such films as, Miss Congeniality, Traffic, Catwoman, Snitch and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Most recently Bratt also used his voice acting in the animated feature, Despicable Me and the Academy Award-winning, Disney film Coco.
The Van Cleef Effect
Despite the fact Bratt has played Latinos in film and TV from all walks of life, it’s his uncanny, chilling portrayal of evil men that stands out in his resume. Currently, in the HBO Max action-adventure mini-series DMZ, he plays an especially evil hombre named Parko Delgado, opposite his co-star Rosario Dawson. Bratt plays Delgado with devilish relish and very bad intentions. It’s an intense performance that Bratt has proven himself to be especially skillful at playing. For some actors, they might fear being typecast as villains. But Bratt is on the same career trajectory as other infamous movies “bad guys.”
Legendary character actor Lee Van Cleef made a career playing bad guys in films. After all, it was Van Cleef who was “the bad” in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Van Cleef was non-other than the murderous but memorable, Angel Eyes. Lee Marvin and Jack Palance also got their start in supporting roles as villains. But eventually, this led to them becoming lead actors as heroes; Van Cleef (Escape from New York), Lee Marvin (The Dirty Dozen) andJack Palance (City Slickers).
Bratt recently finished filming Dead for a Dollar, a Western directed by Walter Hill. Dead for a Dollar follows a famed bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) who runs into his sworn enemy (Willem Dafoe), a professional gambler and outlaw that he had sent to prison years before, while on a mission to find and return his wife (Rachel Brosnahan) of a successful businessman who is being held hostage in Mexico. Standing in the way is an infamous gangster (Bratt) who gets a piece of any action that happens along the Mexican border.
OMG! I’m shocked, shocked to discover Bratt has been cast as a Mexican gangster. No worries. Bratt is bound to add depth and make him a compelling, scene-stealing bad guy who will garner critical praise.
Cultural Pride and Recognition
“On a national level,” Bratt has been quoted as saying, “There is a tendency to portray Latino culture as a monolith, which is an inaccurate way of seeing ourselves. There is as much diversity and uniqueness within the Latino culture as there is in any other American culture.”
As if to prove his point, in 1996 Bratt not only starred but produced the award-winning film Follow Me Home, going against all Hollywood Latino stereotypes. Follow me Home directed by Peter Bratt (Benjamin’s brother) tracks the lives of four artists, one African American, one Native American, and two Chicano cousins, who embark on a cross-country road trip to paint a mural on the White House. The film also starred Jesse Borrego, Alfre Woodard, and at that time, an unknown, Salma Hayek in a small role. An official selection at Sundance Film Festival, Pulitzer Prize winning author Alice Walker called Follow Me Home “a work of genius”. In 2020 the fim was re-released, streaming for a week, accompanied with panel discussions with the cast and crew.
In 2009 Bratt he starred and again produced the feature La Mission which was written and directed by his brother Peter. A story set in the Mission district of San Francisco about a reformed inmate and recovering alcoholic working hard to redeem his life and to do right by his only son, Jesse, whom he discovers is gay.
The Perfect Film-Noir Man
Bratt has all the physical and emotional attributes that would have made him a natural leading man in the Hollywood film noir classics of the 40s and 50s. He comes out of that rich tough guy, anti-hero tradition as Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitcham and Alan Ladd.
It’s not too far-fetched an idea to imagine a modern-day Latino film-noir reboot of The Maltese Falcon, Out of the Past or This Gun for Hire.
Bratt was very good as a bad guy in DMZ and more than likely has an equally good performance in Dead for a Dollar. However, he has the look, attitude and style that would be perfect for an original Latino urban gritty crime drama. Picture this. Bratt is a hard-boiled, morally ambiguous private detective working in his hometown of San Francisco’s Mission District barrio, Chinatown and the Wharf and Pier in a thriller titled Fish Don’t Scream. Lots of cold, foggy exteriors laced with the aroma of seafood and the sounds of Coltrane and Thelonious Monk. Benjamin Bratt looking very lean, mean, and stylish in a fedora and trench coat would make a cool highly sought-after grainy, black and white movie poster.
For now Bratt is currently working on
Natasha Lyonne And Rian Johnson’s Peacock Mystery Series Poker Face being produced by
Also executive producing are Maya Rudolph, Danielle Renfrew Behren, Ram Bergman, and Nena Rodriguez.
