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Max von Sydow article needs a good quote in the header explaining his reputation and/or importance to cinema. Here are some candidates.
[1]: Roger Ebert wrote in his review of The Exorcist (1973): "And the casting of Max von Sydow as the older Jesuit exorcist was inevitable; he has been through so many religious and metaphysical crises in Bergman's films that he almost seems to belong on a theological battlefield the way John Wayne belonged on a horse. There's a striking image early in the film that has the craggy von Sydow facing an ancient, evil statue; the image doesn't so much borrow from Bergman's famous chess game between von Sydow and Death (in "The Seventh Seal") as extend the conflict and raise the odds."
Ebert wrote in 1993 about "Needful Things": "One day a new store, "Needful Things," opens up. Its proprietor is played by Max von Sydow, always an ominous sign that preternatural evil may be afoot."
Ebert wrote in 1992: "(official cinematic icons Max von Sydow and Jeanne Moreau)"