MissGoddess

The handsome photographer's model, Robert Ryan

In *Odds Against Tomorrow* , Ryan is a frustrated, hemmed in failure who is desperate for one more shot at the big time. In this scene (top picture), which takes place early on in the movie, we glimpse his vulnerability, but that will be all but eclipsed by his angry bigotry in the film's climax.

Theresa, I hope you (and everyone) can see *About Mrs Leslie* one day. I woudl be in heaven if TCM could air it. It's the tenderest love story, but you will be bawling your eyes out at the end. I haven't seen it myself for probably more than 10 years, but it made that much of an impression on me. *Here he is needling Myrna in Lonelyhearts, and below, with Shirley Boothe in About Mrs Leslie*

>>>Has anyone seen Born to Be Bad (Ray, 1950)? It's one of the few times I've been a bit disappointed in a Ryan performance. Maybe the title and the director made my expectations too high.<<< I felt the same about it. This was definitely one of those roles that was way too small for him.

VisualF: I've never seen CAUGHT, either, but I've been hearing lots of good things about it lately. RR, about to be caught:

>>>Miss G, this is a great tribute to a wonderful actor. I really cannot think of a single Ryan performance that I do not admire. Thanks.<<< I am very happy that you enjoyed it, and others, too. I hope you all will visit that website I linked to, as well. It's one of the best I've seen, especially the "Journey Into Ryan" segment---that you have to see.

>>>I didn't realize Ryan was in Gary Cooper's North West Mounted Police, Miss G. I also didn't realize what Madeleine Carroll's character's name was in that film, either. Interesting. <<< I have forgotten Ryan's part in NWMP, it's been a long time since I watched it. You can imagine the thrill I feel whenever Gary says MY name. And I love Gary's character's name, it's my favorite: "Dusty Rivers". Great name.

>>>Miss Goddess _ Thank You for starting the Robert Ryan. Those Irishmen from Chicago ARE GREAT, especially THE LIBERAL ONES. <<< Yes they are wonderful, in many ways.

*Billy Budd* is one I still haven't seen. I know it's a part of that recent set of Literary Classics, but whether it will be shown on TCM I don't know. Probably not if it's Fox. If that's the case, Fox Movie Channel, maybe will air it. I will be renting it from Netflix no doubt.

Four of my favorite Robert Ryan films that haven't been mentioned are: Woman on the Beach Bad Day at Black Rock (another "bigotry" role) Lonelyhearts House of Bamboo I'm glad you brought them up, ChiO. From that list, Woman on the Beach and Lonelyhearts impressed me the most. Especially *Lonelyhearts* . I find his character very riveting and charismatic, and---this is just my perverse sense of humor---hilarious. I can't help but feel amused at his vehement cynicism, it's too strong not to be crying out to be proven wrong. And I think Myrna's character has a heck of a time staying married to him given his constant hammering on her about her infidelity. However, I think she might have fared better had she jerked her head up and gave him as good as he got, and not taken every word he said so seriously. He's not God, his judgements are not absolute and he can be persuaded to change his mind. But no, everyone stands around, mutely, providing him with a willing audience to spew to and so of course he keeps on spewing. Interesting character development by a very good actor.

Thanks, CM---I know what you mean about how intimidating he can appear. I felt the same whenever I first saw him in movies, I couldn't stand him. But now I see how talented an actor he was and in looking more closely, how some of his tough guys showed a spark of humanity and troubled conscience. But always, he was a force to be reckoned with. What makes me most drawn to his more romantic or complicated parts is that pull of opposites: the inner sensitivity fighting like mad, not to come out, but to stay hidden! In several movies he is absolutely terrified of allowing himself to be loved, to be tender, to relent. And behind that I can't help but see a scared little child.

Hi Theresa! I'm glad to you see you like Robbie-Baby, too. He possesses that outer toughness, inward, sensitive intelligence I find irrisistible. I still have many of his movies to discover, but it's a journey I'm bound to enjoy. You've mentioned *Her Twelve Men* before, but I didn't realize RR was in it---even better!

Thanks for that "Link" on Mann of the West, Angie. It's coincidental I just added a couple of links to a thread of mine in the Westerns forums by the same writer. I like much of what he has to say, at least what I've read so far.

Frank - I couldn't stop laughing at the Some Came Running quotes, I mean the last one by Dean Martin's "Bama". I know he's being mean but he just has me rolling every time I see him in that movie. By the way, I've read the book it's based on---what an interminable read that was---and apparently Martha Hyer's character "Gwen" had had a relationship that turned her sour but she was much more sexual, though repressed, than Hyer came across. In fact, one scene in the book showed her to possess a rather perverse sense of humor. At least in the movie her character is easier to understand. In the book she's almost too complicated, I can't put a finger on what makes her tick and so in the end, I just found her too annoying. And Ginnie seems to be combination of a couple of characters. The ending, as you may know, is not the same as the book's. Also, Bama does call women like Ginnie "pigs" all through the book, but he's a lot meaner than he comes across with Dean in the part. At first I thought "pig" might have been a substitute for a stronger word used in the novel but it's not. It still sounds vicious, though, doesn't it? Sorry guys for getting off topic, but I love this movie too (for Frank, my eyes are always on him but I have to admit that Dean and McLaine steal the show).

Good pix from *Good Sam* are hard to come by, thanks Angie!!! They are all beautiful, in fact.

Wow, John, Pat Neal sounds like my kind of party girl. Her lip-loosener is brandy? Mine's champoo but both are dangerous for unlocking the gates. I bet her accent gets broader, too, right? Mine does. I can't stand that Warner's didn't use your interview with her for a Fountainhead documentary!! I hope you can find a way to squeeze some of it in somewhere. When will people learn how important it is to share this kind of stuff---and to get it recorded while there are still those around who were there. I wish the Academy would give Miss Neal an honorary gimcrack --- she has to be one of the gutsiest women in the business. Or have they done so already?

MEOW--does anyone remember the episode of Bewitched where Gladys Kravitz hears a cat lapping at the saucer of milk she put outside--when she looks out the window it's a girl in an evening gown--crouched on the ground lapping the milk! ABNER Naturally! It's one of my favorite episodes! It was purrrrrrrrrrrrrfectly cast, too, with that actress with the almond-shaped eyes.

Dobsie, you are a big man. No need to worry about giving your opinion, at least with moi. I've had to take it on the chin for *Gone With the Wind* many times, and thank you for including a clip of my darling Viv trying to get a part she was much to pretty for.

>>>So how did a thread about violence turn into a thread about The Birds?<<< I just hope my thread on Hitchcock doesn't turn into one about Violence!

>>>I have been planning to spend a week or two watching Hitchcock movies. I think sometime in October would work nicely<<< On October 9th I'm looking forward to the release of "AH Presents - Season III". They always release the dvds of his show in October for some mysterious reason...

"With his veiled stare, his weary face,and his bitter voice, Ryan trails behind him all the lassitude and solitude of the world." Thierry G?nin, L'Avant Sc?ne Robert Ryan didn't like talking about himself, he let his work speak for itself, apparently. If left at that, many might get the impression this quiet actor was one of the meanest men in town, since the majority of his most vivid screen roles were tough, steely-eyed villains, bigots, psychotics and at least one "Jasper". Doing a little digging around I found the man himself to be quite different. Quietly, but firmly and decidedly, different. Robert Ryan never rose to the ranks of fame as that of actors he deeply admired, men like Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy and Gary Cooper. But don't get the idea that bothered him. Without that fame and the fuss that comes with it, he managed to fill out great parts and tower in the lesser ones and keep doing the work he loved, almost until he died. He was also a study in contradictions: * A Dartmouth graduate who majored in literature. And who was, in four years of intercollegiate boxing competion, undefeated (a record). * An Ivy Leaguer who during the Depression would take on jobs such as ranch hand, male model, gold prospector, sand hog (he helped dig the Linoln Tunnel - many commuters don't thank you for it, Bob), stoaker aboard a steamer, and even as a loan collector. He had this to say about the last job: "Here I was collecting money from families who hadn't eaten in days. It was too much. I was bugged by it and quit after two weeks." * The tough boxing champ and future screen menace was, in fact, very shy as well as bookish: "I am an only child, which can have a very damaging effect. Moss Hart once said that he thought all the people in the theatre, or at least successful people, came from an unhappy childhood. I don't know whether that's true or not and I can't say that mine was that unhappy, but it was quite often a lonely one." * The incarnation of bigotry in movies like *Crossfire* and *Odds Against Tomorrow* , he was always very liberal in his values: "I have been in films pretty well everything I am dedicated to fighting against." "[Ryan is] a disturbing mixture of anger and tenderness who had reached stardom by playing mostly brutal, neurotic roles that were at complete variance with his true nature." John Houseman * Seldom given the romantic lead, and anything but warm and fuzzy in his style, he in fact enjoyed one of the more relatively stable marriages (to one wife, actress/children's book writer Patricia Cadwalader) and homes in Hollywood. He and his wife also founded and helped direct the Oakwood School (right in their backyard) for children, a progressive school which still flourishes today. * So natural a fit in the gritty, urban world of the noir, he slipped into a saddle in a number of memorable westerns with ease: "There's a whole body of Americans, at least, who think I've never made anything but westerns ... But I am an urban character. I was born in the big city. I also have a long seamy face which adapts itself to Westerns - but I don't for one moment consider myself a Western actor essentially." * Remembered only as a screen tough guy, his first love was the stage, to which he would return at the drop of a hat. He helped organize a theater group at UCLA, was one one of the founders---along with Henry Fonda and Martha Scott---of the Plumstead Playhouse Repertory Company. "You say Shakespeare and I'll play it in the men's room at Grand Central." * After serving in WWII in the Marines as a drill seargent and seeing the effects of combat on returning soldiers, Ryan became a dedicated pacifist. His wife, coming from a Quaker background, shared his views. I have enjoyed spending a little time getting to know the man behind the tough guy image---which was only partly true, for though he was tough, he was also humane and that does shine through his finest work. If you are not familiar with his movies, don't miss: On Dangerous Ground Clash by Night The Set-Up Crossfire Beware, My Lovely The Naked Spur About Mrs Leslie God's Little Acre Any others who admire this actor and would care to discuss him and his movies? P.S. If you are a fan, don't fail to visit this marvelous site, which provided me with many of the Robert Ryan quotes I included here: http://www.hillebrander.de/ryan.html

I thought 'Tippi' and Rod were just fine, too, and it breaks things up to have two different stars for a change. I really adore Rod Taylor (in fact, I find him sexier than Grant) so I don't think there is anything wrong about choosing him for a leading man anytime. FF---you don't want to miss that featurette, it's very illuminating about what went into making The Birds.

I enjoy the stylish banter between Rod (gorgeous) Taylor and 'Tippi' and like you said, I would stay along for the ride even if it didn't venture into birdland.

>>>The Birds is my favorite motion picture. By anyone.<<< I find it quite marvelous what the artists did with matte paintings and all the special effects. It's an incredible achievement. The "Making of" featurette on the dvd was one of the most informative and interesting I've ever seen.

The French mime and clown Marcel Marceau has passed away at age 83. I mention it here only because his extraordinarily universal "language", like that of the great silent comedians, is mentioned in the article as having influenced Gary Cooper. I can see how, since as an actor he predominanlty relied on facial expression and his eyes to convey thought and emotion, as opposed to dialogue. http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2175737,00.html