Brando Was Putting Everyone On
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dsolgoo-net — 18 years ago(January 14, 2008 12:01 PM)
I agree. In some ways this was the best thing he did because the character was invented from the ground up. You can see that happening and if you like acting you'll appreciate this. The Nightcomers gives a similar memorable performance and with a very similar accent. There's an evil in this that's jocular: a really strange combination. No one was as physical as this guy. Sharing a carrot with your horse!!! Man that takes the cake! This movie really what would it have been without that performance. Sorry, this isn't a mailed in performance. And I'd rather have a scribble by Picasso than hard work by an unimaginative painter too!!!!
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joekiddlouischama — 18 years ago(January 28, 2008 03:39 AM)
I would agree that Brando's performance marked something of a put-on. It's eccentric and morbidly memorable in its own right (Brando was just that kind of actor), but rather than disciplining his portrayal, I think that he sensed the problems with the script and film and amused himself with tawdry outlandishness instead.
The problem, however, is that Nicholson was playing his part very straight and honestly, so
The Missouri Breaks
becomes uneven, with Brando in one place, the script in another, and Nicholson and director Arthur Penn in yet another. -
Desmond6661312 — 17 years ago(April 18, 2008 04:14 PM)
My problem with Brando is he looked down on acting and if he really felt that way,then be man enough to walk away and stop wasting the time of directors and other actors.Even though they were friends,I read that Nicholson couldn't stand working with Brando because he would show up late and pretty much be a jerk to everyone.
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edorapietrafesa — 17 years ago(June 21, 2008 11:34 AM)
you had to reign him in (no pun intended). kazan could do that. others didn't know to. and if they didn't, he had contempt for them and went over the top on PURPOSE. he knew this performance especially with the bonnet was a joke and didn't give a sh*t. he got his money and left.
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ccooterangus — 17 years ago(June 30, 2008 10:23 PM)
This post explains it all. Nicholson admitting that Brando acted circles around him with little effort. Kudos to you, Jack! My opinion of Mr. Nicholson just got a little higher. Thanks for the enlightening post ash131! ps. I liked the film.
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lukejbarnett — 5 years ago(January 10, 2021 11:36 AM)
this interview with jack is so unbelievably beautiful i'm in so much pleasure right now thinking abut jack being in such awe of marlon while filming this with him.
gosh just thinking about an article having jack talk about marlon is so beautiful and feels so great to me.
so it sounds like jack was blessed and humbled working with marlon on this film. it also sounds like her revered him like he was a god or something to jack which is so awesome.
and in this film if you compare their acting its night and day. marlon is so much better at acting in this that he's in a completely different universe of acting prowess, and greatness than jack. as great a jack in in this which is really impressive, jack is not anywhere close to as great at acting in this film as marlon is.
ok, so this is it. i've watched the best actors act in movies. none of them are like marlon brando. there is something magical about him. something i can't put my finger on bc it's beyond what any other actor has done. you can't teach it bc it's instinctual. he gets inside of his character and is able to bring them out in a way in which is so real that it's like he's possessed by them.
i love how you put that back on that ignorant and unintelligent person who doesn't know that every performance brando made is genius.
lukejbarnett -
freojim — 17 years ago(July 08, 2008 03:42 AM)
Disagree. This is a key 70's Western. Brando and Nicholson both do some some great acting (as do all the cast), and certain scenes - Brando's death, and Nicholson confronting the rancher Braxton, are both moving and unsettling,
Unfortunately the DVD we have here in Australia (PAL) is a pretty bad transfer, esp. the interiors - grainy and slight (but noticeable) colour shifts. How is the picture quality on the NTSC US DVD? Best wishes from OZ. -
RoddmannW — 17 years ago(October 16, 2008 11:04 PM)
I would say that 95% of people who are now only seeing this film for the first time are doing so out interest in Brando's wonderfully eccentric, ostentatious performance as Robert E. Clayton.
Terrorism is the war of the poor, war the terrorism of the rich - Peter Ustinov -
rdaytonc — 14 years ago(December 17, 2011 11:05 PM)
So many people claim that Brando was the greatest actor, ever. They say that other actors consider him to be the greatest actor, ever.
I have never liked him; I don't think he was a good actor; I regard him as a pretentious blow-hard and a ham. I don't think that "On the Waterfront" shows us a genius Brando, I think it shows us what Brando was then and what he remained until he died a pretentious poseur. A good actor lets you forget that he is acting. Brando never, ever, managed that, at all. He was always posturing and acting the drama queen. I cannot think of one film I liked him in.
The only worse actor than Brando was his little supplicant, adoring, worshipful monkey, James Dean. When it came to being a pretentious, fake intellectual and a walking, talking exaggeration, Dean won the prize. The one thing he did that was really good was that he didn't bore film audiences for anywhere near the length of time that Brando did. -
joeparkson — 14 years ago(February 21, 2012 05:18 AM)
Meh.
This movie marks the beginning of Brando's 'take the money and run' final period. Soon they'd have to shoot him from the waist up because he didn't even bother to put on his pants.
Brando's last movie where he really became the character was 'Tango'.
A method actor becomes the character, if only for a brief time. Not once in this movie did I ever forget I was watching the real Brando as he really must have been in his decline, ordering fast food and ice cream at 3AM.
Absurdity: A Statement or belief inconsistent with my opinion. -
SteveH2002 — 14 years ago(March 25, 2012 01:38 PM)
Came over here because I've just finished watching 'Free Money' (1998), Brando's next to last movie, and his performance in that reminded of his in The Missouri Breaks.
If someone wants to call Brando's performance in Missouri Breaks 'brilliant' that's fine with me, no skin off my nose, but I see it as more an expression of contempt (ditto his work in Free Money.) This mucking around seems to be a pattern of his after Last Tango.