marlon brando

How can you say that about THE godfather!

I think he was great in "The wild one":

How about "Streetcar Named Desire"? Or "On the Waterfront". You have to understand that dramatic acting was redefined with the performances of Brando back in the day. Without him there'd be no DeNiro's or Pacinos and without them there'd be no Sean Penn or, well, I really can't think of anyone else on the same level.

I agree that streetcar and waterfront were superbly well done but that hardly qualifies him to be the greatest of all time after all it's only two pics

I agree with lovejoy that he was not one of the greatest actors, although I think that he was one of the better ones. I thought that his performance in "The Godfather" was stilted. He looked like a gerbil, with the cotton that was stuck in his mouth. I could never perceive him as the head of a criminal enterprise.

He was a method actor, and he often mumbled instead of projecting his voice. One of the things that I consider to be "great" about an actor, is that when he is in his roles, the audience forgets about the person playing the part, and reacts to the role that he plays. IMO, Marlon Brando was always playing Marlon Brando.

El Stud (hubby) asked that I relay his opinion that he resembles that suppository remark about gerbils. (His sports teams are the 'gerbils)

Even so, I agree that Brando always played Brando in every role and was unable to assume any other role. That takes him out of the realm of great actors. I think that has always been Alan Alda's greatest handicap as an actor too--he was never able to play anybody other than Alan Alda.

I think actors like Steve McQueen and Paul Newman and a few others were more revolutionaries paving the way for a new concept of what movies could become than what we can claim for Brando.

I just recently watched The Godfather, I've heard so many people rave about it, but it just didn't have that much appeal to me and I never got around to it.

When I finally did watch it, it surprised me and is a much better movie than I'd expected. But one thing I can't agree with is how great Brando's acting was. He was not bad but I didn't think it was anything to write home about either, and I don't get the Brando praise either. Nothing against him as an actor (hey, I'm not familiar enough with his body of work to have a strong opinion there) but I hear a lot of people speak of his acting in superlatives and haven't seen any cause for it myself.

Gene Hackman.

dys- In his quiet way, IMO, Gene Hackman is a superlative actor. He was able to "become" the role that he was playing, a skill that eluded Brando.

I wouldn't put Brando in the bottom 1%--after all, a great many actors make careers out of repeatedly playing themselves, Kevin Costner used that method to make himself a multi-millionaire and a "mega-star." But i also don't think he deserves all the adulation he gets. I would say he had more range than people like Costner or Mel Gibson, but not by much. I suspect his reputation rests on his Broadway work before he got into motion pictures; and equally, i suspect that he settled into a few forms of expression which were to stand him in good stead for the rest of his 50 year career in the movies.

You can spot the truly great actors, people like Anthony Hopkins, because they are capable of being someone completely different from one role to the next--so much so that you sometimes won't recognize them. But they can also get type-cast, not as a particular role, but just to play themselves (for however producers see them). I think this has begun to happen to Anthony Hopkins, although he is much better than that. It probably also happened to Brando.

Craven, Godfather II is even better...by far....it's two movies in one....and only if you want to see the entire series watch III...it has it's moments, but doesn't really add much to the story.

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I've never been much of a Brando fan, I even searched out several of his older films just to see what the big deal was....Waterfront and Streetcar were ok, and several of his other films of that era....One Eyed Jacks...etc...I had to make myself pay attention to them. He just comes across as a notch above one of these modern Emo kids.

But as someone said earlier, Brando and a few others paved the way for our modern actors....so I do appreciate his role in changing things up....just watch an old 40's drama or comedy or even a ghost story....I would equate the acting skills of that era to what you see now in a late night infomerical....zzzzz.

Hackman, pretty solid...Hopkins....Jack....De Niro...and all the other guys that are usually on the "list".....I tend to lean toward character actors when it comes to fav's....Ted Levine...Delroy Lindo....David Morse....Chris Cooper, guys like that.

If I had to pick a best of all time actor...I would lean toward Hopkins, with Daniel Day Lewis, and Denzel trailing slightly behind him.

Brando was good in some, not so good in others. My husband called him hambone. I liked him in The Young Lions, Desiree, and Mutiny on the Bounty.

Never saw Kevin Spacey in a bad movie.

Mutiny on the Bounty

I remember the first few times that I saw Geraldine Page. She was a magnificent actress, but for the longest time, I could not connect her in my mind from one film to another. She BECAME the part that she played.

Since I never met Brando in person, I can't really say that he always played himself. Don't know what he was really like. I've always been of the opinion that he always played Stanley Kowalskey [Sp.?]. Only role he knew.

Hate to disagree with you, Letty, but to me his protrayal of Mr. Christian in Bounty was nothing short of bizarre. Only word I can think of. Then again, maybe it's just because I remembered Clark Gable in that role. (Although, of course, Gable's reading of the role was equally implausible but in a different direction.)

The problem i have with Gable, or Brando or Gibson in the role of Fletcher Christian, is that they were all too old for the historical character, and a great deal of his reaction to the situation aboard HMAV Bounty was probably conditioned by his immaturity and inexperience. To that extent, Gibson was probably the most convincing, as being the most self-centered and immature. Christian was just 25 when the mutiny took place in April, 1789; and had previously had only three short round-trip voyages to the West Indies. For that matter, only Anthony Hopkins nearly approaches the right age for Lieutenant William Bligh, who was only 35 at the time of the mutiny--Charles Laughton and Trevor Howard both seemed too old to me.

Of course, the movie is about the heavily propagandistic version of events which made Bligh some sort of demented bad guy, rather than what can be known about persons and events. The first two movies, Mutiny on the Bounty, are based on the Nordhoff-Hall novels. The last named movie, Bounty, was based on a short book which appears to have sought to redress the popular view of Christian, Bligh and the mutiny. I doubt it succeeded very far.

So, as far as the role each was expected to play, i'd go with Gable-Laughton as most nearly approaching the (completely unfounded) popular view of the chief protagonists and the event.

I was just listening to an old interview with Vincent Price, and he said that the actors in his circle were more inclined to speak in a highly polished way....Shakespearean.....whereas Brando and Dean, {the new guys} tended to speak in the vanucular. That's a pretty good point....but not to say that all actors pre 1955 spoke like true gentlemen....Bogart and Gable were mumblers....Jimmy Stewart stuttered a bit...and whatever kind of accent WC Fields had...but I don't think he just meant the speech patterns...but also body language and such.

I had forgotten all about James Dean, he was another emo boy....the only thing I remember from his career is a line from..."East of Eden" when he asked the girl..."Is it cause I'm bad"....I thought that was one of the worst lines I've ever heard....very contrived....I was probably 16 or so when I watched that movie, and I did not get the whole "Dean was the coolest guy ever" thing....I thought he was...dorky. The only reason I watched that movie was because of the dad....Raymond Massey...I'd always liked him after seeing him play Lincoln, and also one of the funniest things I remember as a child....his scene in "Arsenic and Old Lace" when he gets the fork stuck in his foot and remains motionless....I'd really like to see that movie again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkSufbaqVUg

Couldn't find the scene I mentioned...might even be from another Dean film....pretty sure it had something to do with the overall.....It's cause I'm bad and my brother is good....theme. But anyway, this scene also made me cringe a bit....he looks like a little tiny Brad Pitt.

You are too kind to him Phoenix he was a talentless nobody

Gene Hackman is probably my second favorite actor, coming in behind Jack Lemmon. #3 is Denzel Washington. Those three you can/could count on, no matter the movie.