CaveGirl Posted September 8, 2018 Share Posted September 8, 2018 Yes, I think in films girth is often a very valuable commodity and being rotund can be useful in character development. Actors with a bit more adipose tissue can hold their own in scenes, much more than a body shaped like that of Don Knotts. There is one obvious starting point in coming to praise men [or women] of the XX-size in films, but I am going to forego the usual choice and say mine is...Thomas Gomez! Now in some films certain camera angles are used to intensify the largesse of the acting individual, but Gomez needs none of these shenanigans to make an impression on screen and to stand his ground and seem larger than life, with both voice and presence. I would probably watch any movie if I see his name in the early credits, since he is always viable, interesting and sometimes even a bit scary. But this attention to bringing a real personality to his parts, never is missing in his performances, at least to me. Though he's been in over 100 movies I think, and has some very important credits like in Polonsky's "Key Largo" my favorite of his parts is that of Leo Morse, as the brother of Joe Morse, as played by Garfield in "Force of Evil". He is menacing, and threatening but also shows the other side to his relationship with his brother, and perhaps this is one of his best showings due also to the fact that the movie itself is so well done. The ending still gets me, and the dialogue is sine qua non as to being literate and moving. So...I'll go with Thomas as my choice for Big Man on the Film Campus but who is your favorite larger than life choice, male or female for the Actor with Avoirdupois to Spare, who makes a giant impression on screen? P.S. James Mason from the film "Larger Than Life" will not be accepted as a choice sadly, since his oversized ego was caused by outside pharmaceutical compounds like cortisone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zea Posted September 8, 2018 Share Posted September 8, 2018 There's two and in different categories. For most consistently menacing SYDNEY GREENSTREET is my quintessential nominee. Even when he played comedic and/or low-key roles (as in "CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT" & "CASABLANCA"), there was still a creepy skepticism he just might revert to type. Playing strictly comedic roles and my nominee for personally the most irritating is S.Z "Cuddles" SAKALL. I could never take his cheek-slapping "gnah-gnah-gnah" too-cutsey characters. Oddly enough the only time when I could marginally not be annoyed by him was in the very two movies listed above for Sydney Greenstreet in which they both appeared! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaveGirl Posted September 8, 2018 Author Share Posted September 8, 2018 54 minutes ago, Zea said: There's two and in different categories. For most consistently menacing SYDNEY GREENSTREET is my quintessential nominee. Even when he played comedic and/or low-key roles (as in "CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT" & "CASABLANCA"), there was still a creepy skepticism he just might revert to type. Playing strictly comedic roles and my nominee for personally the most irritating is S.Z "Cuddles" SAKALL. I could never take his cheek-slapping "gnah-gnah-gnah" too-cutsey characters. Oddly enough the only time when I could marginally not be annoyed by him was in the very two movies listed above for Sydney Greenstreet in which they both appeared! Sakall was good in CIC, and Greenstreet showed his comedic abilities too. Great movie and always a perennial seasonal favorite. I like your choices and I just wish once, that Cuddles would have played an earthy villain, who would kill over perhaps missing out on some Lemon Meringue Pie or other tasty victual. Wouldn't that have been great to see, Zea? Imagine S.Z. pulling some heat out of his portly vest area, and pistol whipping someone like Elisha Cook Junior for getting the last piece of Yorkshire pudding at the diner or some such gastronomic sin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted September 8, 2018 Share Posted September 8, 2018 1 hour ago, CaveGirl said: James Mason from the film "Larger Than Life" will not be accepted as a choice sadly, since his oversized ego was caused by outside pharmaceutical compounds like cortisone. I think you meant BIGGER THAN LIFE (1956). Yes? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigger_Than_Life 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaveGirl Posted September 8, 2018 Author Share Posted September 8, 2018 13 minutes ago, TopBilled said: I think you meant BIGGER THAN LIFE (1956). Yes? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigger_Than_Life I did, I did, I did!! You are an excellent proofreader, corrector of egregious mistakes and friend, TB! Thanks so much for your intervention. I'd blame bad liquor but it really is just an addled mind with too many movies in it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted September 8, 2018 Share Posted September 8, 2018 1 hour ago, CaveGirl said: I did, I did, I did!! You are an excellent proofreader, corrector of egregious mistakes and friend, TB! Thanks so much for your intervention. I'd blame bad liquor but it really is just an addled mind with too many movies in it. You weren't too far off the mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaveGirl Posted September 8, 2018 Author Share Posted September 8, 2018 I would have lost though in "Trivial Pursuit: The Silver Screen Edition", TB. Speaking of movie mistakes, I remember once we were playing Trivial Pursuit, and the movie question was "Who addressed the U.N. while wearing a gun?" and my friend, Ann said "Uh, maybe John Wayne?" I always thought that mistake was funny. I think it was really someone like Yasser Afafat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted September 8, 2018 Share Posted September 8, 2018 Just now, CaveGirl said: I would have lost though in "Trivial Pursuit: The Silver Screen Edition", TB. Speaking of movie mistakes, I remember once we were playing Trivial Pursuit, and the movie question was "Who addressed the U.N. while wearing a gun?" and my friend, Ann said "Uh, maybe John Wayne?" I always thought that mistake was funny. I think it was really someone like Yasser Afafat. I wonder if poverty row classics or B films were addressed in the Silver Screen edition of Trivial Pursuit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaveGirl Posted September 8, 2018 Author Share Posted September 8, 2018 16 minutes ago, TopBilled said: I wonder if poverty row classics or B films were addressed in the Silver Screen edition of Trivial Pursuit. I played that game only once and I don't really think so as I recall. It really concentrated on more famous films, though it did get into directors and incidents within films that were good trivia. Now for the group here, they would have to invent a super-duper dark state trivia master edition, as no one here could be stumped on hardly anything with all the ultra knowledgeable folks here like you and so many others, TB. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cigarjoe Posted September 9, 2018 Share Posted September 9, 2018 I nominate: Orson Welles Laird Cregar Raymond Burr Paul Maxie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zea Posted September 9, 2018 Share Posted September 9, 2018 On 9/8/2018 at 2:11 PM, CaveGirl said: I like your choices and I just wish once, that Cuddles would have played an earthy villain, who would kill over perhaps missing out on some Lemon Meringue Pie or other tasty victual. Wouldn't that have been great to see, Zea? Imagine S.Z. pulling some heat out of his portly vest area, and pistol whipping someone like Elisha Cook Junior for getting the last piece of Yorkshire pudding at the diner or some such gastronomic sin? If not physically appearing as a menace, how about his projected 'essence' as a vehicle for terror? IOW: Imagine a psychological thriller (a la Mel Brooks' "HIGH ANXIETY") about someone being slowly driven insane by Zakall's signature affectation secretly broadcast throughout their house in a constant loop of: "Gnah, gnah, gnah! Ganh, gnah, ghah! Gnah, g..................." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily Emerac Posted September 9, 2018 Share Posted September 9, 2018 Personally, I like a man with a bit of girth on him. In previous centuries, that body type was considered virile. In one firm I worked at, there were 19th Century prints on the office walls as decor, and many of them were portraits depicting statesmen, jurists, and merchants, and all of those men had a lot of expanse under the vest. I've always found Edward Arnold to be an attractive man on screen, with an air of authority and manliness, although I don't think he was ever quite as corpulent as the figures discussed so far here. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fedya Posted September 9, 2018 Share Posted September 9, 2018 3 hours ago, cigarjoe said: I nominate: Paul Maxie Nobody likes a fat man except his grocer and his tailor. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fedya Posted September 9, 2018 Share Posted September 9, 2018 Grace Hayle in Front Page Woman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swithin Posted September 10, 2018 Share Posted September 10, 2018 Two ladies of whom I am very fond: Thelma Pelish as Mae in The Pajama Game Ayllene Gibbons as Mrs. Joyboy in The Loved One 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewhite2000 Posted September 10, 2018 Share Posted September 10, 2018 On 9/8/2018 at 2:55 PM, CaveGirl said: I would have lost though in "Trivial Pursuit: The Silver Screen Edition", TB. Speaking of movie mistakes, I remember once we were playing Trivial Pursuit, and the movie question was "Who addressed the U.N. while wearing a gun?" and my friend, Ann said "Uh, maybe John Wayne?" I always thought that mistake was funny. I think it was really someone like Yasser Afafat. Here's the New York Times story the day after the address. No proof of a gun, apparently. https://www.nytimes.com/1974/11/14/archives/dramatic-session-plo-head-says-he-bears-olive-branch-and-guerrilla.html 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrylfxanax Posted September 11, 2018 Share Posted September 11, 2018 Shirley Stoler in The Honeymoon Killers (1970) comes to mind. Shocking and realistic, it tells the story of Martha Beck (Stoler) and Ray Fernandez (Tony Lo Bianco), who together swindled, and sometimes murdered, unsuspecting women who met Ray via a "lonely hearts club" scenario. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cigarjoe Posted September 11, 2018 Share Posted September 11, 2018 Shirley Stoler in Seven Beauties (1975) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted September 11, 2018 Share Posted September 11, 2018 Well, I think OLIVER HARDY, JOHN CANDY, ANDY DEVINE, EDWARD ARNOLD, EUGENE PALLETTE and all the others mentioned would be just as entertaining regardless of whether or not their weight was measured in pounds OR kilos. It's good to see however, that SOMEbody pays attention to The Reader's Digest's "Increase Your Wordpower" feature. Sepiatone 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyCronin Posted September 11, 2018 Share Posted September 11, 2018 Miriam Margolyes as Mrs. Mingott in "The Age of Innocence". This enormous woman attributes an attack to "an excess of Thanksgiving." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaveGirl Posted September 12, 2018 Author Share Posted September 12, 2018 On 9/10/2018 at 10:10 PM, darrylfxanax said: Shirley Stoler in The Honeymoon Killers (1970) comes to mind. Shocking and realistic, it tells the story of Martha Beck (Stoler) and Ray Fernandez (Tony Lo Bianco), who together swindled, and sometimes murdered, unsuspecting women who met Ray via a "lonely hearts club" scenario. On 9/10/2018 at 10:10 PM, darrylfxanax said: Shirley Stoler in The Honeymoon Killers (1970) comes to mind. Shocking and realistic, it tells the story of Martha Beck (Stoler) and Ray Fernandez (Tony Lo Bianco), who together swindled, and sometimes murdered, unsuspecting women who met Ray via a "lonely hearts club" scenario. One of my favorite movies of all time, Mr. Zanuck! Tony Lo Bianco makes hairpieces look good and Shirley is tops. I always remember seeing the clip of Truman Capote on a talk show mentioning how he knew Martha Beck as he was growing up. Great story and love the music on the soundtrack. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaveGirl Posted September 12, 2018 Author Share Posted September 12, 2018 On 9/11/2018 at 6:46 AM, cigarjoe said: Shirley Stoler in Seven Beauties (1975) That movie is killer! Shirley definitely has got something in every film and in that one, she shows all her most perverse abilities. Thanks, CigarJoe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cigarjoe Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 2 hours ago, CaveGirl said: That movie is killer! Shirley definitely has got something in every film and in that one, she shows all her most perverse abilities. Thanks, CigarJoe! She's also good in her small part in Neo Noir Miami Blues Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo Posted September 13, 2018 Share Posted September 13, 2018 I might have missed it, but I don't think anyone has yet mentioned Charles Durning... ...and David Huddleston... (...now there's ya a couple o' guys who could "throw their weight around" in movies) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted September 13, 2018 Share Posted September 13, 2018 "Throw their weight around"? Sure. another two would be famed and well-heeled character actors-- JAMES WESTERFIELD and...... STANLEY ADAMS Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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