To call Jeff Bridges "the most underappreciated great actor of his generation," as did Janet Maslin in her The New York Times review of "American Heart" (1992), became something of a cliché in contemporary film criticism. Hailed for his relaxed, naturalistic performance style, Bridges remained an A-list leading man for over four decades without the benefit of ever having been a box-office champ. Furthermore, Bridges accomplished this feat without ever having to resort to the broad self-parody of such contemporaries as Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson and Robert De Niro. Basically a character actor