[about making
Rolling Thunder (1977)] I received one of the best compliments ever on that film. The director,
John Flynn, told me that working with me was like working with
Robert Ryan, and Robert Ryan was one of my favorite actors years ago. So I asked him, "Why is that?" And he said, "Well, you can do anything--you do it by the numbers. All you gotta do is one shot and that's it." Because I am a very good, as they say in the business, technical actor. If there's a lot of physical business to be taken care of, I can do it. For instance, when I threw the knife in
The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972), I'd never thrown a knife before. But you just do it. And that's one of the great things about being an actor: You get to do things you'd never do otherwise.