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Weekly Top 5 - Marlon Brando Films
Posted by Brian C. Gibson (brian@filmschoolrejects.com) on April 3, 2007
Welcome to this week’s Top 5 movies. This week we would like to take a look at 5 of the best Marlon Brando films, in honor of his Birthday. Not an easy task, Brando is a legend who has taken on many roles that both challenge and compliment his skills. Some of his roles can be considered minor, but even when his screen time is minimal Brando has always found a way for his characters to light up the big screen.
- The Godfather
I do not think it is a coincidence that Brando’s best role came from the #1 ranked film of all time by the users of IMDB. Don Vito Corleone is the foundation on which The Godfather films were built. The film and Brando’s performance have produced numerous copycat films and practically invented the gangster film genre.
- Apocalypse Now
Perhaps the greatest character actor ever, Brando showed immense depth with this performance as Colonel Walter E. Kurtz. Francis Ford Coppola took a role that seemingly could have never been right for Brando and entrusted him to carry the film through its climactic ending.
- On The Waterfront
Winner of 8 Oscars, On The Waterfront is without a doubt one of Brando’s best leading performances. A classic story where the little guy refuses to let the big guys win, Brando carried this film into cinema history.
- A Streetcar Named Desire
The film that began Brando’s legacy, is also the film that legitimized him as a leading man. Not to overshadow Viva Zapata!, Brando showed that in 1952 he was not only willing to drive box-office success, but also willing to experiment with less typical roles.
- Julius Caesar
As convincing a Marc Antony as cinema will ever see. Brando took a mediocre film that otherwise probably wouldn’t have received much attention and in the end received 6 Oscar nominations and one win.
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One Comment
April 4th, 2007 at 10:30 am
Brando’s success in Julius Caesar is a testament to his talents–look at Pacino’s laughable attempts at Shakespeare for a telling contrast. For all his notorious mumbling he had a masterful command of the English language, if he wanted to use it. (By the way, I don’t know if I’d call it mediocre. Robards, Mankiewicz…it’s pretty good.)
And I don’t think it’s entirely fair to say that Brando “carries” On the Waterfront, which is probably THE best-acted American movie ever; even the people in bit-parts are in top form. Brando is certainly at his best though; the hurt with which he pushes away Steiger’s gun (”no, Charlie…”) is enough to bring me to tears. Don’t let’s forget the masterful direction from Kazan & photography from Boris Kaufman, as well. What I’m trying to say is that even with the insufferably wooden Gregory Peck in the lead OTW would still be a modest success!
The tough thing about a list like this is that every Brando performance deserves an honorable mention; he could elevate any piece of fluff into a picture worth seeing. I would’ve tossed in there somewhere, just to be difficult, Guys and Dolls, for which he gets a lot of guff. (I think a lot of it stems from the glee critics get in tearing him down. How many “Boy he was fat, huh?” articles were run after he died?) He’s not much of a singer or dancer, but he’s competent enough to get by, and right before he breaks into “Luck Be a Lady”, the trepidated sadness with which he delivers the line: “I got a lot more than money riding on this one” is something the musical theater never sees. For contrast, listen to Peter Gallagher’s “playing for the backrow” delivery of the line on the New Cast Recording CD. Ugh. Or the way he keeps Sister Sara from leaving the Meeting House in an early scene; that’s some masterful Method.