I loved him in "Absence of Malice!" He was only in the movie the last 10 minutes but stole the movie away from Paul Newman and Sally Field. You have to be a pretty darn talented actor to do something like that. I remember reading years ago when the studio bought the screenplay the studio head thought it would never work because the screenplay called for an actor to come in at the end of the movie and command and steer the whole film to it's conclusion. The director said, "I know just the guy!, and picked Brimley for the role. Brimley was a theater actor who had done some bit roles in movies, such as "The China Syndrome," up until that point, but no one knew who he was. His role in "Absence of malice" changed all of that. It's also why he got the role of the manager in "The Natural."