In Praise of Mandy Patinkin: Pop Culture As Spiritual Practice

I can remember Mandy Patinkin in various movies of the week on broadcast TV when I was small. Let me say that I definitely grew up with his work, and if it could be said that I love him in a real way, I do.

In 1987, we were treated to his most famous work as Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride. It’s hilarious, but it’s profound in a way that a fractured fairy tale has little right to be. As he said in character, “I have been in the revenge business so long, now that it’s over, I don’t know what to do with the rest of my life.” Feel free to Google his insight from that line he applied to his own life. If you don’t weep along with him, you’re stronger than me.

In 1989, he starred in the film Alien Nation, alongside James Caan. In that science fiction film, an alien race the humans eventually call “Newcomers” come to Earth and settle in Los Angeles. It’s a metaphor for the challenges of immigration and assimilation, without being preachy, in my view. Patinkin stars as Sam “George” Francisco, alongside Caan’s Matthew Sykes. It was successful enough to spawn a Fox TV series in 1991, with the lead roles taken by Eric Pierpoint and Gary Graham, respectively.

Though the series was cancelled by Fox after one season—the network is known for horrific programming decisions, if you know Firefly—it had such a cult following that eventually five TV movies were made. I think Patinkin is a wonderful actor, but I do know that his own generous heart shines through every role.

He’s done Broadway, and he was also celebrated for his role in Criminal Minds as Jason Gideon, an FBI profiler who leads the Behavioral Analysis Unit, a (fictional) unit that tracks serial killers and other sadists. Patinkin played the role for three seasons starting in 2005.

Fittingly, the role was too dark and emotionally taxing for him, which was simply written into the character’s story. In the original run, the show ran until 2020.

It remained so insanely popular that it was restarted in 2022, and it still runs today, as Criminal Minds: Evolution, on Paramount Plus. The show may be magical in a fashion, in light of its success amid extensive cast changes, but with due respect to all other actors there, I don’t think it would still be with us without Patinkin.

Just the other day, a woman who lost her father to cancer profusely thanked Mandy Patinkin for his role as Montoya on TikTok (it was a favorite to watch together) and asked him if his famous line in response to Chris Sarandon’s evil Count Rugen: “I want my father back, you son of a [expletive]” symbolized Patinkin’s own wrestling with the cancer that took his father as well. Indeed, it was, and again, if you can watch that exchange without tears, you are stronger than me.

I am not going to overdo the spiritual side of his work, hopefully, because we have a twin danger here: first, Flattening out his Jewishness in an effort to find a Judeo-Christian commonality; and second, watering down the proclamation of the gospel in Christ Jesus on account of affection.

But his work has spoken to me at a more than superficial level time and again. Here’s a guy who has given us his whole self for decades, and at least brought me into touch with myself, and deep wounds that can sometimes preclude me and others from being authentically who we’re called to be.

Each day, these great artists age and die. At least in this case, I want to thank him on this side, any linkage in the world to come notwithstanding.

Jason Kettinger is Associate Editor of Open for Business. He writes on politics, sports, faith and more.