A Contender, A Somebody

Brando
My earliest memory of Brando is his singing in Guys and Dolls. Ugh! Why in the world does everyone think this is a great actor?
I next saw him in A Streetcar Named Desire and I then knew why. His quintessential interpretation of Stanley was a lesson in the actor’s art. I later learned that he originated the role on Broadway, his only major stage performance.

Many thought him a method actor, yet he himself said he was not. He simply imitated life he observed, including his own. His was the technique of Brando, unique to Brando and only Brando. He muttered, hesitated, and tossed off lines as if they just popped into his head. His acting was both raw and self-indulgent, yet in the right role, it was brilliant.

In the Godfather, he reached a pinnacle of his career, even though he was only forty. His interpretation of Don Corleone, the tired, old, yet still powerful Mafia Godfather, blew me away (so to speak). I recently saw this film again and you cannot tell he is acting. It is as if the producers went to New York, found this old Godfather sitting in Central Park and asked if he would like to make a movie…and yet, it is acting, pure and simple. Let’s face it; he is Brando, playing Brando’s interpretation of a Mafia Boss. He later spoofs this role in the delightful little movie “The Freshman” with Mathew Broderick. However, I dare you to watch these movies back to back and tell me the difference in the acting. Other than the context and the lines, it is the same.

Apocalypse Now in 1979 shows us a Brando completely unleashed. He was always indifferent to schedules and scripts, but in this role as the unbalanced Col. Kurtz, he explodes, delaying shooting, improvising lines and throwing off the other actors around him with his actions – Col. Kurtz to a tee.

One of his last films was Don Juan DeMarco with Johnny Depp and Faye Dunaway. A pretty good little film in which he plays a psychiatrist (all 300 pounds of him) who must try to cure Johnny Depp from his delusion of being Don Juan. I recommend it, if just for the scenes between Brando and Depp or Brando and Dunaway. Fun

As for On The Waterfront, other than the scene between him and Rod Steiger in the back of the cab, I didn’t really care for it much…just too pat, too dated. I know, blasphemy! But do not take that as a diminishment of the man and his art. He was, after all, a contender, a somebody.

Fini
Tracy