Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
This is one of those days when the very foundations of Hollywood tremble and shake. A legend is gone. The man who arguably created modern film acting has passed away, and that means that we will never again enjoy this peculiar genius on the big or small screen... not that any screen ever seemed to be the right size to contain his enormous personality.
For many people my age, SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE was the first time we became aware of him, and his brief appearance as Jor-El is unforgettable. That opening scene with him addressing the elders of Krypton about Zod and Ursa and Non was instantly arresting. The first time he absolutely rocked me as a viewer, though, was with APOCALYPSE NOW. I am still blown away by what he pulled off in that movie, and watching George Hickenlooper’s HEARTS OF DARKNESS only deepens my appreciation for how Brando could pull brilliance out of total chaos.
To understand the impact he had on film, though, you have to realize that when he made his second film, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, so-called “method” acting was still controversial and had not yet made its way into the mainstream. Brando’s performance was incendiary, like a hand-grenade being rolled into the Hollywood system, and it’s as powerful today as it was then. How many actors have struggled to define that role for themselves, and how many have failed to step out from under the enormous shadow that he cast with that primal bellow of “STELLLLLLLAAAAA!!!!!”?
He was nothing if not fearless. A sampling of his work in films like THE WILD ONE, ON THE WATERFRONT, VIVA ZAPATA!, GUYS AND DOLLS, ONE-EYED JACKS, and MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, a decade’s worth of work, shows how hard he was pushing to change the nature of what an actor could do on film. He brought a naturalism to every role, no matter how removed it was from his own experience, that has inspired several generations of actors since.
Have you ever seen BEDTIME STORY, the film that was later remade as DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS? He plays Freddy Benson, the role that Steve Martin played in the remake, and you probably figure, “Oh, well, it couldn’t have been that close. I’m sure Martin’s version is sillier.” You have not fully appreciated Marlon Brando until you’ve seen his version of Ruprecht the Monkey Boy. Trust me.
As the ‘60s wore on, he seemed less and less interested in appearing in mainstream Hollywood fare, working with Charlie Chaplin as a director in COUNTESS OF HONG KONG, and the films he did that aren’t as well known are no less interesting or challenging, like THE APPALOOSA, REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE, THE NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY, CANDY, BURN!, and THE CHASE. Many people felt that Brando had marginalized himself, almost completely dropping out of the system.
And then 1972 rolled around, and Francis Ford Coppola cast him as Don Corleone in THE GODFATHER, one of the most iconic roles of his entire career. Is there anyone who doesn’t know this performance by this point? It’s been parodied and imitated so many times that it’s possible for younger viewers to not appreciate it for what it is, but this is a sly and charismatic portrait of power on the wane. My favorite moment in the film is his death scene as he plays with his grandchildren in the garden. It’s so human, so simple, and so real that it makes you feel like you’re not watching a big-studio adaptation of a pulp gangster novel, but that instead, you’re watching home movies, that you’ve gotten a glimpse at the real Corleone family, the ones behind all of “those” rumors and stories.
That same year, Brando starred in LAST TANGO IN PARIS, one of the darkest emotional journeys ever captured on film. Brando seemed to crack himself open and pour his heart and soul out onto the screen, and the effect tore people apart when they saw it. Pauline Kael’s now-legendary review of the picture, written after seeing the premiere, was actually reprinted on the inside of the laserdisc jacket. She was destroyed by the movie, and it hasn’t become any easier to watch in the 32 years since. The film is sexually explicit, but the emotional violence that simmers just beneath the surface is what makes it truly disturbing and profound.
After the one-two punch of APOCALYPSE NOW and SUPERMAN in ’78 and ’79, Brando pulled a bit of a fade, appearing in only one film (THE FORMULA) until 1989, when he was Oscar-nominated for his performance in the South African drama, A DRY WHITE SEASON. Personally, I’ve always been partial to his work in THE FRESHMAN, where he gently parodied his own work in THE GODFATHER, and where he also seemed to embrace his legendarily-expanded physique. The sight of him effortlessly propelling that startling mass on tiny ice skates manages to be graceful and silly all at once.
DON JUAN DeMARCO is another late-era highlight, especially for Johnny Depp fans. It almost feels like you’re watching the torch get passed from one generation of film genius to the next. It’s a lovely movie, with a nakedly romantic heart, and the best moments in it belong to Brando completely.
And, yes, I admit that THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU is a gigantic train crash, but it’s almost impossible to look away as it plays out in front of you. I ended up seeing it three times in a theater just because I couldn’t believe my eyes. Brando perfectly embodies a brilliant mind spun dangerously out of control, and I challenge anyone to name a better performance as an unhinged genius. When he’s playing piano with the midget and pouring ice into the steel bucket on his head, that’s pure crazy, straight from the tap. One of that film’s greatest pleasures is when Val Kilmer’s character has gone nuts near the end of the movie and he lapses into a Brando impression that seems all the more shocking knowing that Brando was actually on that set somewhere.
His last few movies are a fairly sad affair... the largely-unreleased THE BRAVE (available on R2 DVD for any American fan who is interested), FREE MONEY, and the generic Frank Oz thriller THE SCORE, none of which really make good use of him or his abilities. Even sadder is the idea that his last appearance of any type on film was in Michael Jackson’s “You Rock My World” music video, co-starring with Chris Tucker, Michael Madsen, and Jackson in a muddled mess of a gangster story.
How his career ended doesn’t matter, though. There is no way to accurately estimate the impact that Brando had on cinema and on acting in general. He was frustrating, contradictory, cantankerous, and difficult, but when he connected with a piece of material, his performances were absolutely transcendent. I ache to think that his career really is over now. Perhaps the greatest part of being a Brando fan was the idea that there was always potentially one more great performance just around the corner, some surprise in store for us that we would be able to relish forever. Now that’s been taken from us, and suddenly the world of cinema is slightly less interesting, less promising.
When I was working at Dave’s Video in the valley back in the early ‘90s, I met Brando’s then-manager and started talking to him whenever he’d come in, collecting great stories about the actor, and one day, the manager brought in a screenplay with him called JERICHO. Intended to be a starring vehicle for him, the script would have called for Brando to drop all the extra weight and get back into fighting shape so he could play a CIA agent who goes on a very personal mission. The manager explained that there was only one copy of the script, but since I’d asked about the film, having heard rumors about it, he’d be willing to loan it to me.
I never saw him again. He never came back in. I tried calling him, tried returning it, but nothing. Nice accidental collector's piece for me, I guess. The script I still have here at the Labs actually has handwritten notes on it from “M.B.,” and I think this afternoon, I’ll re-read it and imagine at least one more Brando performance, one last gem to add a little bit of luster to an already-luminous career.
Marlon Brando was 80 years old. There will never be another one like him.
"Moriarty" out.
