"If you'd been any prettier, it would have been Florence of Arabia" -- Noel Coward
Constant Viewer was glad to see Forest Whitaker win an Oscar for his performance in The Last King of Scotland. It wasn’t his best movie or his best performance, but even a bad performance by Whitaker is better than the best of any number of other working actors today. But that cannot be said about at least one other nominee at last year’s Academy Awards whose nominated performance, though excellent, was also not his very best but whose film career and talents far exceed the vast majority of Oscar winners of any generation: Peter O’Toole.
Just released on DVD, Venus is a small, independent movie about the May / December romance between O’Toole’s character, Maurice, an actor whose advanced age and declining health have left him physically impotent but psychologically unscathed and a very young woman, the niece of his best friend come to London to find work. It is both a coming of age and coming to grips with aging story, ragged and strained in parts, but magnificently performed by O’Toole and by the venerable Leslie Phillips as his friend, Ian. The film had a brief and unsuccessful theatrical run but definitely deserves a larger audience now that the DVD is available, if only to watch them both show how it’s done properly. (Vanessa Redgrave, whose politics CV despises but whose great talent is beyond question, also has a lovely smaller part as Maurice's ex-wife.)
Watching O’Toole in a good part in one of his better films –- he has been in many bad ones as well -- is just about as good as it ever gets, but he has never won a best actor Oscar. Here are the films in which he was nominated but lost: Lawrence of Arabia, Becket, The Lion in Winter, Goodbye Mr. Chips, The Ruling Class, The Stunt Man, My Favorite Year and Venus. Here were the winners:
Gregory Peck -- To Kill a Mockingbird, "Atticus Finch"
Rex Harrison -- My Fair Lady, "Professor Henry Higgins"
Cliff Robertson -- Charly, "Charly Gordon"
John Wayne -- True Grit, "Rooster Cogburn"
Marlon Brando -- The Godfather, "Don Vito Corleone"
Robert De Niro -- Raging Bull, "Jake LaMotta"
Ben Kingsley -- Gandhi," Mahatma Gandhi"
Forest Whitaker -- The Last King of Scotland, "Idi Amin"
CV won’t quibble over some of these choices and understands the Academy has often voted its politics (Ghandi) or a sentimental favorite late in his career (Wayne) over a stronger performance. CV is a fan of John Wayne, too, but notes that not only did O’Toole lose to what was, entertainingly but predictably, John Wayne playing John Wayne yet again, so also did Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight both lose that year for their nominated performances in Midnight Cowboy. Had O’Toole’s Arthur Chipping lost to Hoffman’s Ratso Rizzo, one would have had to nod understandingly, but losing to Rooster Cogburn? As for Rex Harrison, CV cannot help but think of dinner theater at the mention of his name.
Oh well, that’s show business. CV also realizes it is an unfair competition, but rent the loathsome Troy some evening just to watch the tent scene between O’Toole’s Priam and Brad Pitt’s Achilles. It’s like watching Fred Astaire dancing with a trained bear. O’Toole exudes charm and grace, skill and style. Pitt, by contrast, only plays at acting.
O’Toole is literally one of the few left of a dying breed, a host of actors of the mid to late 20th century who carried their deserved stardom both on and off the screen with élan. A bit peeved at the honorary Oscar he won in 2003, O’Toole noted in his acceptance speech that he hoped he had a few more good runs left in him. He did and does, as his Maurice in Venus confidently demonstrates. Toward the end of the movie his friends look at a newspaper photograph of O'Toole taken some forty years ago. “God, he was gorgeous,” one of them says. He still is.
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8 comments:
John Wayne playing John Wayne yet again
You could argue that Peck was almost playing himself in Mockingbird, although he was a better actor than Wayne.
Pitt, by contrast, only plays at acting.
Pitt seems similar to Wayne in that they have a stock set of facial expressions they pull out at any given time to let you know what their character is supposed to be feeling.
Well Pilgrim, I don't remember Brad Pitt playing any rolls as iconic as Rooster Cogburn.
Peck played good guys through most of his career, but that was typical in the studio system days and I'd say there was more range among those characters than with Wayne. Also, no one said his Josef Mengele in The Boys From Brazil, admittedly late in his career, was a stretch.
Wayne's early work with John Ford was a bit more varied but, as Stuart notes, he became so iconic as John Wayne he wasn't about to take many risks after his absurd casting as Genghis Khan in The Conqueror.
Brad Pitt will never come close to achieving that iconic status, though that's not entirely his fault. The industry is different now, and while there are a handful og iconic types in Hollywood today (e.g.,Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks) it has become less and less possible for a current star to extend a career over three or more decades.
Pitt, by contrast, only plays at acting.
Brad Pitt did a great job in Se7en, Fight Club and Twelve Monkeys. He didn't play Achilles the way that I would have liked him too, but that film was by far the best movie adaptation of the Trojan War I have as yet to see.
D.A.R.,
One film (or a few of them) can give you iconic status. They'll be writing about Sigourney Weaver for the next hundred years because of her performances in the first two Alien movies.
Brad Pitt did a great job in Se7en, Fight Club and Twelve Monkeys.
Pitt has a beserker-mode character that is at least more interesting than his usual fare.
As for Sigourney Weaver, we may be talking at cross purposes. Perhaps the strong female role will be considered a "Sigourney Weaver" role in future generations, perhaps not. Wayne, Bogart, Jimmy Stewart (early career), Hepburn, etc. all were iconic in the sense that their own personae transcended the roles they played. You could say they were captive to those personae, also; but every film fan knows instantly what a John Wayne movie will be like, especially a western or war movie, and what sort of role Wayne will play even if he's never seen the movie before.
There are dozens of iconic characters, too -- De Niro in Raging Bull, Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter, etc. I'd say Weaver's Ellen Ripley falls somewhat into that category in that writers, directors, etc. probably will say of a part in a screenplay that it calls for a Ripley character. But when you look at Weaver's overall career (or De Niro's or Hopkins', etc.) you wouldn't say that role has defined or limited it.
Pitt has a beserker-mode character that is at least more interesting than his usual fare.
Maybe or maybe not. I just think that he was good in those particular films and each role was quite different (cop v. messeniac terrorist v. insane activist). Anyway, Pitt has been in some of my favorite films, so he must be doing something I like.
Perhaps the strong female role will be considered a "Sigourney Weaver" role in future generations, perhaps not.
Given the amount of scholarly literature (as well as college student essays) churned out every year discussing her efforts in those two movies I'd say the former is a safe bet.
Wayne, Bogart, Jimmy Stewart (early career), Hepburn, etc. all were iconic in the sense that their own personae transcended the roles they played.
They are iconic IMHO largely because they can be caricatured (e.g., "play it again sam").
I'd say Weaver's Ellen Ripley falls somewhat into that category in that writers, directors, etc. probably will say of a part in a screenplay that it calls for a Ripley character.
Not only a Ripley character but also a Ripley film (consider how many times those films have been knocked off).
But when you look at Weaver's overall career (or De Niro's or Hopkins', etc.) you wouldn't say that role has defined or limited it.
If Sigourney weaver is remembered a hundred years from now for anything it will be the Alien films. Not Ghostbusters or The Year of Living Dangerously or Death and the Maiden (all of which are great movies - particularly the last).
DAR,
Note that I am a big fan of Weaver's movies. She seems to pick good roles to play in generally. But I am also realistic about what others remember about her roles and it is my experience they largely remember her performances in Alien and Aliens.
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