There aren't many actors in my mind who can compare to a young Marlon Brando. Maybe I was scarred (in a good way) by seeing him in Guys and Dolls (1955) on television when I was a kid. He was smooth, sophisticated and a bit of a bad boy. It's that Marlon Brando, the improbably singing Brando of Sky Masterson, more than his brilliant Don Corleone, who I hold in my heart.
Luck be a lady tonight: Marlon Brando as Sky Masterson
Brando is primarily responsible for an entire school of acting. So many actors since his critically acclaimed work of the 1950s — James Dean, Paul Newman, Warren Beatty, Steve McQueen, Robert DeNiro — have followed in his footsteps. And what footsteps. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Viva Zapata! (1952), The Wild One (1953), Julius Caesar (1953), On the Waterfront (1954), The Young Lions (1958).
His film work in the 1960s, by comparison, has been criticized as lightweight. But it is more than understandable, after such an intense run of films, that Brando might want to shake up his image and reputation — of a hyper-intense Method mumbler. Brando didn't consider himself a proponent of The Method. He was taught the Stanislavski technique by Stella Adler, which stressed naturalism above all else. He did attend classes at The Actor's Studio, but was resentful of Lee Strasberg's trying to attach himself to his acting style.
"After I had some success, Lee Strasberg tried to take credit for teaching me how to act. He never taught me anything. He would have claimed credit for the sun and the moon if he believed he could get away with it. He was an ambitious, selfish man who exploited the people who attended the Actors Studio and tried to project himself as an acting oracle and guru. Some people worshipped him, but I never knew why. I sometimes went to the Actors Studio on Saturday mornings because Elia Kazan was teaching, and there were usually a lot of good-looking girls, but Strasberg never taught me acting. Stella did – and later Kazan."
Certainly one of the best American actors of any generation, Brando must have wanted to pull back, from time to time, from the many intense stage-to-screen dramas he starred in and try something different, even funny. In 1964's Bedtime Story, in which he starred with David Niven, he is definitely having a blast.
Marlon and friend in Bedtime Story
"Working with David was the only time I ever looked forward to filming. I just couldn't wait to wake up each morning and go to work so he could make me laugh."
I have always been a big fan of Frank Oz's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which stars Michael Caine and Steve Martin as two rival con men, one polished, one boorish, who try to fleece an American heiress, played by Glenne Headley. Filmed on the French Riviera, it is a bright, smart comedy that isn't afraid to look silly. Oz has always had a great hand with farces and comedies of manners (What About Bob? Housesitter, In & Out, Bowfinger) and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is an ever-escalating exercise in comedic one-upmanship. I was surprised to find out recently that this favorite comedy was actually a remake, of the 1964 film starring Niven and Brando. Bedtime Story was not just the basis for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, but an exact blueprint. From the plot to the characters' names, to the location — the second film is almost a scene-for-scene copy.
Brando & Niven: Private Freddie Benson teaches Lawrence Jamieson about women
Martin & Caine: And again
I think of Brando's '60s work as a respite. He pulled back from Hollywood and tried to sort out how he felt about the world. He became involved politically, especially focusing on civil rights issues. By the '70s Brando was "back" in Hollywood, as the critics and public were concerned, with his amazing turns in The Godfather (1972), Last Tango in Paris (1972), and Apocalypse Now (1979).
[When asked how he spent his time away from the camera] People ask that a lot. They say, "What did you do while you took time out?", as if the rest of my life is taking time out. But the fact is, making movies is time out for me because the rest, the nearly complete whole, is what's real for me. I'm not an actor and haven't been for years. I'm a human being — hopefully a concerned and somewhat intelligent one — who occasionally acts.
Con men Freddie and Lawrence — Marlon as Ruprecht the Monkey Boy
At the casino: David Niven, Marlon Brando and Shirley Jones
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels all: Michael Caine, Glenne Headley, & Steve Martin
I still love Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, but after seeing Bedtime Story (the whole movie is available on Youtube, and I was able to mirror it full-screen to my Apple TV) I am amazed at how funny Brando and Niven were together. And even more, I was really amazed to see whole bits of business —especially Brando's take on "Ruprecht The Monkey Boy" that Steve Martin lifted wholesale. The only bum note for me in the older film was Shirley Jones as Janet. She plays a typical bland '50s good girl, and her voice and performance are very one-note throughout. Glenne Headley, on the other hand, may start off in a similar manner, but her character takes an interesting twist. She's also frankly, a much better actress, and can hold her own with her two scheming boys.
Don't get me wrong — a dramatic Brando is also a superb Brando. His performances in all of the '50s films listed above were brilliant. He positively oozed sex appeal, not unlike his friend Marilyn Monroe. But this most naturalistic of actors also had a flair for comedy. Check out Bedtime Story and you'll see what I mean.
Hollywood is not really a town, if you've ever visited. Not a town like the small one that some folks come from, or a bigger one, like where I live, here in D.C. But every once in a while Hollywood puts out a movie that takes place in "a small town," just like the ones that we know never really existed, but maybe would like to visit, or at least pretend to live in, for ninety minutes to an hour. And it's clear that the key to the attraction is as much the locals as the remote location.
InDoc Hollywood Michael J. Fox plays his usual smart-ass, this time as a hot-shot doc wanna-be Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who lands smack dab in the middle of the squash capital of the South. After waking to a morning skinny-dipping goddess vision and a pee-in-the-woods mating ritual, he is smitten with the girl, the town and its cast of kooks and so are we. And it's got Woody Harrelson in a good bit part, among others. Anther film with the same small town fish-out-of-water fun is the brilliant Groundhog Day, with Bill Murray reliving a day and getting to know everyone and everything really well until he gets it right. He also is in one of my all-time favorites. What About Bob, where he takes over Richard Dreyfuss's vacation, family and life ably abetted by some helpful neighbors.
Julia Roberts manages to lure Richard Gere from the Big Apple, or is it the other way around, in Runaway Bride? The Maryland town she is supposed to inhabit is full of a bunch of people you'd want to hang out with. Any town that sports Joan Cusack would be worth looking into. There are strange, unexplained details that make you wonder. What's with all the multiples? There are different sets of twins and triplets in many background scenes. Maybe it's something in the water...Housesitter, directed by Frank Oz, is another small-towns-and-romance-go-great-together movie, where Goldie Hawn insinuates herself into Steve Martin's life after a one-night stand. It's interesting, because we watch her fall in love with his house and his life and his family and (most of) his friends and have to wait impatiently for him to catch up. Oz hits another home run with In and Out, which has Kevin Kline slowly but surely discovering his inner homosexual and learning that everyone in town still loves him as much as we do. The final scene where everyone parties down so that his mother can get the "wedding" she always dreamed of is pure fun. And again, Joan Cusack lives there.
Casablanca is a classic, with the magnificent Bogie and an exotic collection of individuals all trying to escape from something. Wartime and romance are major plot points, but as the credits roll, I am secretly glad that Bogie has decided to stay in Casablanca with Louis and fight the good fight. It sure seems like they're going to have a hell of a time.
There are some other excellent movies that have fascinating small towns that I am glad I only have to visit for a little while, as they would be terrifying to live in full-time. Hitchcock must have been fascinated by small-town America, because he depicts it many times, all to sinister effect. Two of my favorite of his movies, Shadow of a Doubt and The Birds turn the safety and familiarity of living in a place where you know everyone on its head, as one town is hosting a serial killer and the other is besieged by unexplained deadly bird attacks. A holiday classic, It's a Wonderful Life, actually shows a town, that no matter how wonderful some of its inhabitants are, would be a pretty rough place to have to live. I'll pass, thanks.
I don't live in New York any more, but once you have, it never quite leaves you. New York is not a small town, but there have been a few film fantasies that somehow manage to get a sense of the city. Guys and Dolls is a real slice of Broadway history, both musical and depicting the sorts of characters that used to hang out near Times Square. A far cry from the Disney theme park that exists there today. And Marlon Brando sings! The Godfather, Part II is a crime classic, but it also gives a slice of what it meant to be an Italian immigrant in this country, coming through New York. Another fun film set in downtown New York is After Hours, the ultimate trip through SoHo in the 80s with Griffin Dunne being dragged from one bizarre situation to the next. Woody Allen is well-known to be in love with his home town New York and has made movies set in the city many times, but as an ex-new Yorker, I don't really get a strong sense of the city, except as travelogue, in his films. Hannah and Her Sisters is one exception, where the SoHo and downtown sequences seem truly "the city," as Michael Caine tries to seduce Barbara Hershey in bookstores, her partner's painting studio, and on the street.
So whenever big city life gets to be a bit much, I know I can retreat to one of these film oases. Any other favorite film fantasy small towns?
