newclassicfilmfan

No, didn't like it at all - stupid film and I thought Brando had such a small part and was paid millions of dollars for that.

Most time he looked like he had brown hair though. Has anyone seen Viva Zapata? It's a movie I always wanted to see but can't find anywhere. Is it out on DVD? Can TCM ever play this film?

I'm wondering if Borat is funny - I hear people raving over it - not sure whether to buy the DVD though.

I think my parents have t.v.s that are over 20 years old - one of them still uses rabbit ears. They never wanted cable and just enjoy whatever programs they can get. I don't know what they are going to do - they don't like to learn anything new.

Oh otter, I have to get back on topic - I lost track of myself with all this undie talk. Brando wore such a short skirt in Julius Caesar, yet nothing showed below his hem. How disappointing.

Otter - who knows maybe he left his undies on the floor and Stella picks them up for him. Cinemascope, what a nice perspective you must have of Brando now. He always looked like he never wore any undies - in every film I ever saw him in. Mutiny in the Bounty was another film where he looked free as a bird - it's distracting to always see the diddlydoo.

Yes, rewatch it and look closely - especially the parts right before the part at the birthday table where he "clears the table" and the party where he walks in on Blanche after he comes home from the hospital where Stella is having a baby - he clearly wasn't wearing undies - I'm surprised none of the other women posters here mentioned it - I'm sure every woman would notice it - that was the best part of the film. Of course the whole film was great too. Message was edited by: newclassicfilmfan

Maybe it will - but what if an elderly person doesn't know how to set it up or has difficulty getting out of the house to buy a t.v. set. What if they don't know how to use the converter box? What if they wish to stay with what they have and are used to? A lot of elderly people find it very stressful to change their ways - and I think this isn't right to do to people.

A great person to have "In The Spotlight". I always liked Sal Mineo and thought he was a fine actor. I have seen him in Giant and Rebel Without a Cause and Exodus. I just recently saw his as a guest star in the Combat! t.v. series. An excellent underated actor - it is quite a shame the way in which he died. I can't believe it happened in 1976- 31 years ago went by so quickly.

Too bad all the folks with analog t.v.'s don't protest this vehemently. I have elderly relatives who still use rabbit ears and don't have cable t.v. and that's the way they like it and are used to it that way. Why should they be forced to buy new t.v.'s or pay lots of money for a converter box they wouldn't know how to hook up or use? I think it's awful - you think a person in their 90's can even get out of the house or know how to buy a new t.v. and hook this thing up? I wouldn't even know how to do it. I just think it's an inconvenience and it's thrown at elderly people who won't have a choice. I hope the whole thing backfires and people can choose how they want to watch television.

Thanks, I loved that scene from On The Waterfront, the whole film was awesome. And as for A Streetcar Named Desire, the whole film blew me away it was so good. Vivien Leigh was good, but Brando was great. I loved the first glimpse the viewer sees of him as he walks into his home and spots Blanche there. I've never seen an actor from the old days have such a great body, usually they looked so paunchy. Brando was way ahead of his time. He was dripping with sex appeal - I'm a woman and this guy was about the most handsome animal I've ever seen - plus I don't believe he was wearing any underwear which was an added bonus.

I'm glad people liked the story I posted. In reading through the posts, I'd just like to say that I think Brando was the best actor - I just posted that on another Brando thread. That being said, he was eccentric - but why does anyone care about his personal life so much? The fact that he went for men and women is practically commonplace in Hollywood these days. Lots of classic actors were in fact gay or bi-sexual - but it was hushed up back in the old days. It doesn't make me think any less of him or the fact that he gained weight later in his life. Sometimes when too many books or stories (lots of which are gossip to make money), are printed - too many things are said about someone's personal life and then it overshadows the person's acting. For me, the focus is on Brando's acting and his movies - and I think he has made some of the best movies ever seen - that's all that counts for me.

I recently bought the DVD of Streetcar Named Desire - it had two disks - one of which was all kinds of interviews and documentaries. I have already seen On The Waterfront many times and have that DVD as well. Now I'd like to weigh in my comments on Mr. Brando: I've read through lots of posts lately, some good, some bad on Marlon Brando - but after watching Streetcar Named Desire and On The Waterfront - I honestly can't see how anyone can say this man wasn't the greatest actor of all time. These two movies are fabulous and Brando's performance in each one is astonishingly good. On The Waterfront is easily one of the top 5 movies ever made and Marlon Brando demonstrates what acting should be. My favorite scene in that movie is where Edie (Eva Marie Saint) accidently drops her glove and Terry (Marlon Brando) picks it up and then sits on a child's swing and tenderly puts the glove on his hand and talks to Edie with such awkwardness over feelings that he has never known before for another woman. The whole scene was improvised and shows the genious of Brando - nobody could do what he did - I know there's a lot of other good actors - but simply put - they don't compare to Brando. Streetcar Named Desire was also very good. Brando is able to convey varying emotions - animal magnetism, macho, tough guy, tender, vulnerable, childlike with boyish charm. I never saw such a depth of acting and emotions. In my book - Marlon Brando was the absolute greatest actor - there is simply no denying how great he was - especially after watching these two films. I don't have the right words to convey my feelings of how wonderful I think this actor is - suffice it to say, I think he was THE BEST.

I would like to post this story about Montgomery Clift and Marlon Brando. These are two of my favorite classic actors. This story almost moved me to tears - it was so touching. I have gotten this story from a website from a 78 year old woman named Sheila Omalley who said she was Clift's assistant. She got the story from Patricia Bosworth's autobiography of Montgomery Clift. I wanted to post this because I've read so many posts about Brando and he's gotten so much flack and negative feedback. Since most of us don't know these actors personally, it's unfair to judge them and assume what they are like. Here's a look into a side of Brando many of us didn't know existed. I must say, after reading this, I treasure him even more. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I did. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Throughout their careers as actors, Montgomery Clift and Marlon Brando were neck and neck. Montgomery Clift hit his stride a couple of years before Brando did - and Brando looked up to him. He wanted to act like Montgomery Clift, he wanted his acting to seem as real as Clift's did. Clift, of course, was a completely different personality than Brando - so the roles that came to them were almost polar opposites. Montgomery Clift - with his almost unearthly beauty (at least before his car accident) ... The roles he got reflected the response he got for that beauty. People were deeply attracted to it and deeply alienated by it. It was like a Death in Venice kind of beauty. His part in Place in the Sun - the kind of very very secretly unscrupulous person, who fools everyone because of his beauty ... He made a career out of playing parts like that. Brando was all brash masculinity. He was good-looking, but it was more about hot erotic sex appeal, than beauty. But the two of them were linked together in the public's minds - as examples of this new kind of acting. Montgomery Clift was very competitive. So was Brando. They didn't feel competitive with many other actors, but they felt competitive with one another. Clift came out in Place in the Sun - and Brando came out in Streetcar - and they sized up one another's performances warily, checking out the competition - but also - they never lost their admiration for what the other could do. They were worthy foes, let's put it that way. They weren't friends. They ran in completely different circles, but there was a mutual admiration/competition society between them. All of that changed when Montgomery Clift got into his terrible car accident which smashed his face, changing his career forever. He was never the same again. His face lost the easy beauty, half of it was paralyzed, reconstructive surgery had done all it could do. After all of the surgery, etc., Montgomery Clift went into a deep depression. He could not climb out of it. He stayed locked up in his house, drew black curtains across the windows, and wouldn't let anyone come to see him. He was devastated by the change in his looks. Something in his heart and his soul had been crushed as well. He drank heavily. By himself. He became addicted to pain pills. He had his food delivered. He lived with an assistant, who took care of him, and answered the phone for him, and answered his mail, and kept everyone away. This went on for well over a year. He could not climb out of it. He could not go back to work. He did not how to be an actor without having a beautiful face. He didn't want to learn, either. Something precious had been taken from him. One day - a car pulled up in front of the house. And Marlon Brando got out. He was shooting a film, and he had an hour's break, so he drove over. He walked up to the front door, and the assistant answered it - told him Clift didn't want to see him, or anybody. But Clift called out from an inner room, "No, it's okay. Show him in." Brando walked into that inner room, and shut the door. The two of them were in there alone for about 20 minutes. And then Brando walked out, left the house, got into his car, and drove away. Montgomery Clift's assistant walked in to see if Clift was okay. What was going on? Brando wasn't a regular visitor, he wasn't Clift's friend, what had he said? Clift was sitting on the couch, in tears. He said that Brando had put it to him straight. Brando stalked straight into the room and said something along the lines of this: "Look. I am only where I am today because I have had you to compete with. If I'm good, it's because you've always been better. When I saw Places in the Sun, I thought - Damn. He'll get an Oscar for that. I need to be better. I need to work harder. Because if I'm good, you will always be better. And I need you. I need you. I need to know you're out there, beating me at my own game. So I want you to cut all this **** out. You have to stop drinking and taking pills, you have to get back to work again. Because I don't know what the hell I'm doing if you're not out there doing it, too. You get what I mean?" Clift barely said a word in the exchange. Marlon talked on like that for about 15, 20 minutes. Basically opened up a can of whup-****. And then, without another word, turned, walked out, and drove away. Clift said to his assistant, "I had no idea. I had no idea he felt that way. I always felt the same way about him." And although Clift (with the shining exception of The Misfits) never again found the ease in acting that he did before his accident - it was that conversation with Brando that was the catalyst. For that moment, anyway. Clift went back to work again. I love Marlon Brando for that. He wasn't generous to many other actors. He had a tendency to bulldoze right over them. But he needed competition. Without it, he got bored and apathetic. His motives for going to Clift's house that day were selfish, yes, indeed. He needed Clift to keep working so that his acting would continue to flourish. But isn't that true of any competitive sport? Playing against someone who is AS good as you are is a true test of your talent, your gift. It's no fun to play with amateurs. So his words that day also came from a spirit of generosity and acknowledgement of Clift's gift, with or without that damn pretty face, which catapulted Clift back into action. Montgomery Clift never forgot Brando's surprising kindness on that day. And the two of them NEVER spoke of it again, even when they met in person. It was like it had never happened. Message was edited by: newclassicfilmfan

Can you guys take it off-line though? I mean some of us want to just post our thoughts of Brando on a thread devoted to him. Please take this off-line as I'm sure some of us are reluctant but would like to join in. Please?

When I looked a the topic of the thread, it looked interesting, cause Brando is a provocative topic with lots to discuss. I saw it has over 200 posts - then I look at the thread and see 3/4 are of posters feuding with one another. I'm curious, was there ever any discussion of Brando on this thread? I'd like to weigh in my thoughts of Brando, but I'm curious what others think of him, aren't we supposed to discuss Brando here?

Cinemascope, where did you find all these facts about him? I was browsing them and it's quite in-depth. Some of these facts are good and some go way overboard - like who really needs to know that he wasn't circumcised?

Richard Widmark wasn't good in Yellow Sky? Was it just a bad film or was Widmark really bad in it? Usually he is very good - at least that's what I've heard.

Ken, isn't Yellow Sky a movie with Richard Widmark?

I love the Ten Commandments. A great biblical epic with a terrific cast. I've watched it so many times, I know almost all of the lines before they are said.

I don't know much about Richard Widmark - but I did see him in Kiss of Death and I thought he was great as the villain with that scary snicker. My fondest recollection of Richard Widmark is when he guest starred on the I Love Lucy show, that was one of the funniest episodes - aside from the time William Holden guest starred on the show.

I hate to admit it, but I have never watched a foreign film - I don't care to sit through a film reading sub-titles. Also, I have enough American classic films to watch and choose to enjoy those instead.

I forgot to mention that I thought Celine Dion's dress was hideous. That number from "Dreamgirls" is what finally made me turn the program off. Too much racket for me - and they call that talent?

I laughed at some of movielovers descriptions of bad fashion. I thought the show was a dullfest which put me to sleep. I haven't seen any of the nominated films which didn't help my interest of watching it either. It runs way too long and should be shortened. Nobody can top Bob Hope doing the Oscar hosting duties. I think at least Ellen DeGeneres was a little better than Chris Rock and Jon Stewart, but was far worse than Billy Crystal. As for fashion - I second the notion that Helen Mirren was the best dressed and exudes an elegance beyond words. I personally thought Jennifer Lopez dress was awful and Cameron Diaz looked better as a blonde and her dress looked like she made it out of a paper-doll cutout book. Alan Arkin and Jack Nicholson were doing their best impression of Britney Spears. I thought Will Smith is okay - but could someone please drag that wife away from the camera? Jada Pinkett-Smith always wants to steal the spotlight from her husband and is always "on" with the fake laugh and falseness about her. There's just something that bugs me about this talentless woman.

haven't read all the posts - but I just saw On The Waterfront on TCM last Saturday for the umpteenth time and this film is just awesome. I liked the way Brando was able to alternate from being this tough, macho type guy to being this sweet, vulnerable little boy that you want to take care of. He had a special way about him which distinguished him apart from all other actors.