Tombstone (1993)

Film: Tombstone (1993)

Stars: Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, Powers Boothe, Jason Priestley, Dana Delany

Director: George P. Cosmatos

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Each month, as part of our 2023 Saturdays with the Stars series, we are looking at the Golden Age western, and the stars who made it one of the most enduring legacies of Classical Hollywood.  This month, our focus is on Sam Elliott: click here to learn more about Mr. Elliott (and why I picked him), and click here for other Saturdays with the Stars articles.

Sam Elliott's career, honestly, could've just continued in the same mold it had throughout the 1980's for the rest of his time in Hollywood.  In the 1990's, he continued to take small (but steady) parts in more westerns & war pictures, including our film today, one of the more profitable traditional westerns of the 1990's.  But in 2015, Elliott started to have something of a resurgence.  He had a terrific supporting role in the film Grandma opposite Lily Tomlin (for my money, this was the role that should've won him an Oscar nomination), and got cast in The Ranch opposite Ashton Kutcher & Danny Masterson on Netflix (at the time this would've been a big deal given Kutcher's recent success on Two and a Half Men...now the call list feels like it should come with a subpoena).  He got a lead role in The Hero, playing a faded cowboy star, and then came the moment that it seemed like would never come: Elliott's part in A Star is Born.  In the film, he plays the much older brother of Bradley Cooper's lead, and Elliott informed not only his own performance, but that of Cooper (who was clearly imitating the actor's distinctive gravely voice).  The film, at the age of 74, won Elliott his first Academy Award nomination.  Asked for comment at the time, Elliott said "it's about fucking time."

(Spoilers Ahead) We've already reviewed and discussed at length A Star is Born, so we're going to go back to the 1990's when it wasn't clear this was something that was in Elliott's future, and review the film Tombstone.  In 1993-94, two films (this and Kevin Costner's Wyatt Earp) were released basically with the same premise, focusing on the lives of Wyatt Earp (Russell) & his brothers Virgil (Elliott) and Morgan (Paxton).  The movie covers a lot of ground, including the Gunfight at the OK Corral, which would make the Earp Brothers true legends, and the ensuing revenge that took place after that would injure Virgil and result in Morgan's death.  Along the way, they are joined by Doc Holliday (Kilmer), and Josephine Marcus (Delany), the former their compatriot who is dying pretty much the entire film, and the latter the romantic partner of Wyatt Earp throughout most of his life.

If you're wondering why I'm writing that plot summary like a history lesson rather than our "deconstruct the plot" approach we usually do, it's because Tombstone is not a good movie, and has very little actual connection to these characters.  The film feels so formulaic as to be reading a history book (albeit one with a lot of fallacies about what actually happened, as forgotten brother Warren Earp is lifted entirely out of this narrative despite being there for key parts of this story in real life).  Russell, Elliott, & Paxton don't have much connection to one another as brothers-there's little camaraderie, with Elliott in particular badly miscast as a stoic figure (Elliott's at his best when he's playing something of a rascal, not a stern disciplinarian).  Even Golden Age western star Charlton Heston shows up for a "why's he here?" cameo with little fanfare.

The one saving grace of the movie is Val Kilmer, who is not as good of an actor as the other three men in most films, but here steals the entire movie wholesale.  His Doc Holliday, with an affected accent & covered in sweaty makeup, is delicious.  He flirts with everyone, he clearly is competent even while his body shuts down, and you spend the entire film rooting for him even though you he's not going to make it.  At the time, there was some Oscar buzz for Kilmer for this role, and while 1993 is hardly a year to complain about the Academy's lineup (one of the finest Supporting Actor sets that AMPAS ever assembled), watching this you definitely wish Kilmer had been able to get some accolades.  At least after this he got to be Batman.

And with that, we're going to end our month devoted to Sam Elliott, an actor who still works in film & television with such regularity there will hopefully be more shootouts & galloping in his future.  Next month, we're going to ride this season into the sunset, with our final Hollywood cowboy, a man who saw acting as a second career...a second career that brought about the final chapter of the Golden Age western.

OVP: The Big Country (1958)

Film: The Big Country (1958)

Stars: Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston, Bul Ives, Charles Bickford

Director: William Wyler

Oscar History: 2 nominations/1 win (Best Supporting Actor-Burl Ives*, Score)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

Each month, as part of our 2023 Saturdays with the Stars series, we are looking at the Golden Age western, and the stars who made it one of the most enduring legacies of Classical Hollywood.  This month, our focus is on Gregory Peck: click here to learn more about Mr. Peck (and why I picked him), and click here for other Saturdays with the Stars articles.

Last week we talked a lot about Gregory Peck's long career in westerns, and how they were a large part of his persona throughout the 1950's.  This week, we're going to end our season with another western (it is our theme for a reason-he made a lot of them), but we're going to talk in terms of Peck's career around how, after a long decade of being leading man in a variety of films, he finally gained his stature as one of the "important" actors of his generation by securing an Academy Award for Best Actor, which to this point had alluded him.  Between 1960-64, Peck appeared in a lot of very big & well-received movies, including The Guns of Navarone, Cape Fear, and How the West Was Won, but it was not in a western but as a small-town lawyer that Peck found his signature role.  Playing Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, Peck got his Tom Joad, his George Bailey, his Sergeant York role that would define his career, and is usually the performance that he is name-checked with.  Decades later, Atticus would be named by the American Film Institute as the "Greatest Hero in American Film History" and would win him an Oscar in 1962 against the very stiff competition of Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia.  As I've seen The Big Country many times before, we are going to focus on the Oscar win of a different actor, Burl Ives, today with our film as we finish up our month devoted to Peck.

(Spoilers Ahead) A giant, nearly three-hour western from director William Wyler, The Big Country is an adaptation of a series of Saturday Evening Post stories by novelist Donald Hamilton.  This is a big movie, so I'll try to summarize enough to keep us grounded.  To start we have James McKay (Peck), a docile sea captain who is in the West to meet his spirited fiancee Patricia (Baker), whose father the Major (Bickford) owns much of the land in the area.  His rival, and by proxy Patricia's rival, is Rufus Hannassey (Ives), with whom he has a long-standing feud that we initially read as being Rufus's fault (after all, his daughter is engaged to our leading man), but as we continue we begin to understand that this is a complicated, shades-of-grey western where Rufus is just trying to get access to a water reservoir that is owned by Julie Maragon (Simmons), a kindly schoolteacher who is best friends with Patricia.  After a standoff between the Major & Rufus at Patricia & McKay's engagement reception, things escalate, with all sides starting to show their true colors.  Patricia, not liking McKay's more gentlemanly attitude, particularly after ranch-hand Steve Leech (Heston, in a rare for this era supporting role) insults him, calls off the engagement, and the film ends with the Major & Rufus killing each other in a standoff, with McKay & Julie ending up together and riding off to their own ranch & life in the west.

I really liked The Big Country, much more than I expected for a western that rarely makes it onto the pantheon of great movie western lists.  I thought the cinematography was astounding.  The fistfight scene between Peck & Heston, shot much in the dark, is glorious, and there's a clear love of the countryside that encapsulates the best of western photography.  The movie needed a bit more focus (there's maybe one too many plotlines keeping it away from being an all-timer), but I think the strangest thing for me was how good Ives was.  Ives' win here is generally considered by most Oscar historians to be something of a proxy win for his more notable work in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that year, which he'd been campaigned as lead for by MGM, but he's superb here as a man who understands the value of everything around him, and is much smarter and even mildly sympathetic compared to what you'd find for a traditional western villain of this era.  His views on honor, and the way he handles his whimpering son (loving him, but also not respecting him) is really smartly played, and adds levels to a movie that could've been paint-by-numbers.  It's a cool win, something I honestly didn't anticipate going into this movie given other reviews I've read of this picture.

Coming out of To Kill a Mockingbird, it's clear that Peck was ready to move onto a different chapter of his career, his time in Hollywood cemented by the city's highest honor.  While he'd make other movies, including roles in MacArthur and The Boys from Brazil, as well as in smaller parts in remakes of his films Cape Fear and Moby Dick, he'd never be in a movie as big as the ones from his 1940's to early 1960's heyday.  He would go on to a number of leadership roles in the industry, including as AMPAS President and Chairman of the American Film Institute.  He would become involved with politics, being a critic of the Vietnam War, and would campaign for a number of Democratic politicians, including US Senator Donald Stewart and Peck's own son Carey who ran for Congress in California in the late 1970's.  He even did voiceover work in the (successful) commercials made to stop the confirmation of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court in 1987.  Peck died of pneumonia in 2003 at the age of 87.

Next month, we're going to take a step back and take a look at an actress whose career started before Peck's and the one woman we're going to profile this year for Saturdays with the Stars, a performer who for a time in the 1930's & 40's would find success in the most unlikely genre imaginable given how her career started: the western.

Secret of the Incas (1954)

Film: Secret of the Incas (1954)

Stars: Charlton Heston, Robert Young, Nicole Maurey, Thomas Mitchell

Director: Jerry Hopper

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Each month, as part of our 2022 Saturdays with the Stars series, we highlight a different Classical Hollywood star who made their name in the early days of television.  This month, our focus is on Robert Young: click here to learn more about Mr. Young (and why I picked him), and click here for other Saturdays with the Stars articles.

Last week we discussed They Won't Believe Me, which was made during Robert Young's time as a freelance artist after his contract with MGM expired.  This was the best and most interesting time of Young's career as a leading man, making movies like The Enchanted Cottage and Crossfire which won acclaim (and Oscar nominations, though never for Young).  But in the early 1950's, Young's career started to falter badly.  Without a studio contract he didn't get steady work, and couldn't guarantee a substantial part even if he could get decent billing.  By 1954, when he made today's film (his last film) he hadn't worked in a major movie in two years (and his last film had been a generic western from RKO called The Half-Breed).  Secret of the Incas didn't even have him as the star-Charlton Heston, who was having a bit of a hot streak coming off of The Greatest Show on Earth (and 16 years Robert Young's junior) got the leading man role while Young was decidedly supporting.  This could've been the end of Young's career...but his luck was about to change.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie is focused on Harry Steele (Heston) who is a tour guide in Peru (the film was actually shot at Machu Picchu, a first for a Hollywood movie).  He is in search of a rare Sunburst (a gold & jeweled plate), and has a map of where it is but has no means of getting there.  He works with a double-crossing associate named Ed (Mitchell), who frequently tries to kill him.  Enter a woman, Elena (Maurey), who is beautiful but doesn't have money...and is trying to find a way to America.  Harry makes an exception to his "only for money" tours, and helps her, but uses her to to get to Machu Picchu, therefore getting him a shot at the treasure.  When he gets there he meets Dr. Stanley Moorehead (Young), who is also in search of the Sunburst, but doesn't have the coordinates like Harry does (Stanley also falls for Elena, but you'll be forgiven for ignoring this plot as Elena sure does).  Harry eventually steals the Sunburst, having to fight off Ed to get it (Ed dies, falling down a cliff to his doom), but returns the Sunburst to the Incan people, realizing he loved the chase (and Elena) more than the treasure itself.

If you're having a sense of deja vu reading that, you're not alone.  Secret of the Incas was a hit in 1954, but it's not a particularly good movie.  Heston is not quite sexy enough to pull off an adventurous role like this (he was better suited for the stoic biblical epics that would become his bread-and-butter), and Young is banal in his supporting part.  But Secret of the Incas is noted for being the clear inspiration for Raiders of the Lost Ark, and it's staggering watching this that Spielberg doesn't owe the writers money.  Not only do they completely crib Heston's look for Harrison Ford in the movies, but they actually steal scenes from this movie to put in Raiders.  The famous scene where they discover the location of the grail through light-and-mirrors...that scene actually happens in Secret of the Incas as Heston finds the Sunburst.  So if you're an Indiana Jones fanatic, you need to see this even if it's not great, simply to marvel in what was clearly an inspiration for the movie.

As I mentioned above, this was Robert Young's last movie, but Young would quickly transition to massive success on television.  For years Young had been doing a radio program called Father Knows Best, which in 1954 became a TV show which he made with Jane Wyatt.  He'd follow that a decade later with a second hit, Marcus Welby, MD.  Both series won Young Emmy Awards, making him the first actor to ever win Emmy Awards for both comedy and drama (actors like Edie Falco, Carroll O'Connor, & Ed Asner would eventually follow).  Young would continue to make reunion films & specials for both series (as well as being the spokesman for Sanka for years), but would largely retire after Marcus Welby, dying in 1998 from respiratory failure at the age of 91.

The Three Musketeers (1974)

Film: The Three Musketeers (1974)

Stars: Michael York, Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay, Richard Chamberlain, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Geraldine Chaplin, Charlton Heston, Faye Dunaway, Christopher Lee, Simon Ward, Raquel Welch

Director: Richard Lester

Oscar History: No nominations, though Welch won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical, so it's possible she was close?

Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

Each month, as part of our 2020 Saturdays with the Stars series, we highlight a different actress known as an iconic "film sex symbol."  This month, our focus is on Raquel Welch-click here to learn more about Ms. Welch (and why I picked her), and click here for other Saturdays with the Stars articles.

As I said last week, Raquel Welch's career after Myra Breckinridge never really recovered-she was never able to properly transition away from sex comedies, or roles that traded on her beauty (and curvy figure) in a comic or exploitive way.  That being said, Welch was a star in major studio films throughout the 1970's, and what is generally considered to be one of her best roles (and best films) of that era was The Three Musketeers, a retelling of Alexandre Dumas' classic novel, though told with more comedic elements than you'd generally expect from this story.  The film is an ensemble & star-studded, and while Welch is one of the lead characters, she's not one of the most important, a testament to Welch's inability to land solo roles in films that might have elevated her beyond her plastic screen persona.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie actually sticks pretty closely to the novel, though it only tells half of the story (the movie was followed by The Four Musketeers, and then many years later The Return of the Musketeers, a film that resulted in the tragic death of one of its stars, though that's a story for a different day).  We have young, naive d'Artagnan (York), starting from his humble beginnings in hopes of someday becoming one of the king's musketeers.  After inadvertently challenging all of the three musketeers (Reed, Finlay & Chamberlain) to duels, they start out on adventure to try to stop Cardinal Richelieu (Heston), who is undermining the Queen (Chaplin), who is having an affair with the Duke of Buckingham (Ward).  Despite the Cardinal and his accomplice Milady de Winter's (Dunaway) intentions, the Musketeers (including d'Artagnan) & the Queen's dressmaker (Welch) are able to help the Queen save face, and hide her affair from the King...though we get over the closing credits an indication that there will be more mad adventures with those involved.

The film is more fun than it should be.  The script is meandering, the characters are all two-dimensional, but Richard Lester (who made several films with the Beatles, who at one point were intended to star in this film), knows how to craft comedy, and the action sequences are played for maximum effect.  No one in the film is giving a great performance, but everyone is game.  We see several actors (Welch, Dunaway, & Heston specifically) totally trade on their real-world personas for maximum comedic effect, and the central story around the Queen trying to hide her affair works.  This was a hit for a reason-it's mindless, but pleasant fun.

The movie has a weird place in Hollywood history that I'd be remiss not to mention.  If you watch the movie in its original cut (as I did) you'll notice a preview to the sequel over the end credits.  This was something that films occasionally did at the time (we saw that during our month devoted to Nancy Kwan with The Wrecking Crew advertising a sequel that never came out).  However, this was unusual because the actors involved didn't know they'd made a sequel; the two movies were intended to be one four-hour epic, and the stars of the film only found out that they'd made two movies for Fox when they attended the premiere.  This was technically legal at the time-there were no guarantees that a studio couldn't do something like this, but the stars (who were only paid for one movie) were enraged, and eventually there was a union clause set out by SAG that actors had to be informed how many movies they were being asked to film prior to the release of a film.

Welch won a Golden Globe for this film, and is fun in it.  This is not stretching for her-we see men fall over themselves, including Michael York, trying to bed her in the movie, but at least she feels like she's in on the joke here.  The movie would not, however, win her an Oscar nomination like we saw for Ann-Margret.  The competition was fierce in 1974 (a legendarily good lineup by AMPAS), and had one of those women left, my gut says that Liv Ullmann in Abdication would've bested Welch for this slot (Ullman was deemed ineligible for her seismic performance in Scenes from a Marriage, and considering the hubbub Oscar might've wanted to go with her for literally any performance as a way to acknowledge her work).  

This was the only time in Welch's career she came close to a nomination.  She would continue making bad (but sometimes successful) sex comedies or action-adventures for the remainder of the decade, until the troubled production of Cannery Row cost her her career.  Welch was accused of diva-like behavior on the set, causing the studio to dump her as its lead, and instead cast (the younger) Debra Winger.  Welch sued, and would win over $10 million in the lawsuit for breach-of-contract, but this essentially ended her career.  No one sues the powers-that-be in Hollywood & gets away with it, and while Welch would do television & theater throughout the decade, she'd make no feature films between 1977 and 1994, and even after that her work was simply in cameo roles.  She'd make tons of money on beauty & health products (at 80-years-of-age, Welch still is fashionable & looks decades younger), but her time as a movie star was over.

And with that, the traditional film sex symbol also seemed to fade.  Welch was the last real star of that mold-the kind of buxom, sex goddess role-that had a sustainable career in film.  Some blips on the screen like Bo Derek or Megan Fox popped up, but they disappeared just as quickly.  Television became a much more lucrative spot for these types of stars (think of Farrah Fawcett or eventually the quintessential TV sex bomb, Pamela Anderson), as did modeling, pop music, & reality television.  The only star that comes close to the heyday of sex symbols in the modern era is Jennifer Lopez, who really treads the line between music & movies in a way none of her predecessors would've had to.  We will start a new theme, and a new year of Stars next Saturday, but before then we'll take a look back at what we've seen this season tomorrow as we close out our year devoted to Classic Hollywood sex symbols.

AFI's 25 Greatest Actors, Part 4

This article is part of a 15-Year Anniversary series commemorating the American Film Institute’s 25 Greatest Stars.  For the Actresses, click the numbers for Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.  For the Actors, click the numbers for Parts 1, 2, and 3.

We've now gone through all of the actors that were on the list of the 25 greatest from the AFI.  A crowning achievement, to say the least.  And yet, don't you feel like a few names were missing?  Like I did with the actresses (click through all of the links above if you're catching up, as there's been a lot of discussion centering around this conversation), I thought it was appropriate to chronicle ten superstars of the era who probably just missed the cut.  These ten men were the closest in my opinion (if you disagree, click on the comments below):

Montgomery Clift (1920-1966)

Oscar Nominations: 4 nominations, though he would never win an Academy Award during his short but celebrated career.
Why He Was Close to the List: Montgomery Clift was one of the first leading men to really be emotional or sensitive onscreen.  Paving the way for the likes of James Dean and Marlon Brando (and people like Ryan Gosling and James Franco today), he was intensely beautiful, but also someone with a secret, an introvert with something to tell.  He probably is still referenced so often today not just because of his tragic life and his closeted homosexuality (the gays are taking over this list, for the record-he's not the only one that I'm name-checking), but because his acting style is far more utilized by today's leading men and women than that of Bogie or John Wayne.  He was a pioneer of the hidden emotion.
Why He Missed: Clift's career never fully recovered after his near-fatal car accident in 1956, when his emotional state (already a bit damaged) and his physical appearance became altered and deteriorated quickly as a result.  Consequently, his filmography is impressive but quite brief, costing him against someone as prolific as Edward G. Robinson or Robert Mitchum.
My Favorite Performance: Looking through, I've actually seen almost all of Clift's films (I didn't realize this, but I have well over 50%, better than any other actor we've profiled, male or female, except for James Dean).  I will go with his sensational work in A Place in the Sun, where he plays a social-climber who wants nothing more than to leave his past where it is, but cannot escape it.
Glaring Miss in His Filmography: As I said, I've seen most everything.  I'll go with Hitchcock's I Confess as I'm curious to see what Hitch does with an actor that he knew was gay off-screen (Hitchcock was pretty good about the gay allegory and worked it well with Anthony Perkins).

Bing Crosby (1903-1977)

Oscar Nominations: Crosby received three nominations in his career, winning for Best Actor for Going My Way.
Why He Was Close to the List: Crosby's stature in the film community is still recognized today, particularly with his work in Holiday Inn and White Christmas (it helps when you star in a holiday classic-take note actors wanting longevity).  Crosby's vocal prowess and singing ability was legendary, and his many films with Bob Hope are still remembered to this day.
Why He Missed: A couple of reasons.  For starters, like Hope, his principle fame didn't seem to just be from the cinema, but instead from a different format (for Hope, it was stand-up and television, for Crosby, it was music).  It appears that most of the actors listed by the AFI are chiefly famous for their on-screen ability (only Judy Garland really made the crossover to another medium with an equal level of success).  There's also the little factor that Crosby's reputation has taken a severe downturn since his death due to his parenting skills and bizarre will (much like Joan Crawford's, an actress who probably could have made it to the Top 8 had it not been for Mommie Dearest).
My Favorite Performance: Unlike Clift, I don't love Crosby in quite the same way (I always found Bing a bit stiff onscreen) and so I'll go with a personal favorite from childhood in White Christmas.
Glaring Miss in His Filmography: In one of those rare situations where I haven't seen a Best Picture winner (I've seen over 80% of them), I've never seen Going My Way, which would need to be at the top of the list.

Errol Flynn (1909-1959)

Oscar Nominations: Flynn never received an Oscar nomination or win in his career, a stunning bit of news considering how long he was a Box Office draw.
Why He Was Close to the List: Flynn lives on today as a swashbuckler par excellence.  His name conjures images of dashing technicolor and elaborate sword battles.  It helps when you're creating an on-screen persona if you have one that no one else has ever had or can imitate, and that was the case with Flynn, who was a cad but one that you rooted for onscreen.
Why He Missed: Flynn doesn't have a particularly large list of easily-recognizable classics in his oeuvre, with the obvious exception being The Adventures of Robin Hood.  His extremely questionable relationship with Beverly Aadland (when she was just fifteen) further damaged his reputation in Hollywood, which was already pretty badly damaged from years of pretty open philandering (he reportedly romanced Marlene Dietrich and Delores del Rio while married).
My Favorite Performance: I'm not going to embarrass myself here.  I've seen a spattering of Flynn films, but none of note, and none that I'm going to claim as a favorite for such a legendary actor.
Glaring Miss in His Filmography: Clearly I've got my work cut out for me (there's a chance you do too if my theories about his filmography are to be believed).  Together we can make a point of hitting The Adventures of Robin Hood, Captain Blood, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, and The Sea Hawk.

Charlton Heston (1923-2008)

Oscar Nominations: Heston received only one Oscar nomination in his career, but he won for it in Ben-Hur.  He also received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1978.
Why He Was Close to the List: Heston was one of the biggest and most recognizable stars of the 1950's, frequently leading his way through biblical epics like El Cid, Ben-Hur, and in particular The Ten Commandments that are still watched heavily today (most of these films you can catch on Turner Classic Movies during Easter).  He also made Planet of the Apes late in the 1960's, adding another classic to his list of motion pictures.  All-in-all, there is no one else in the history of the movies that quite had the stature and heroic gravitas that Heston did onscreen (for those unfamiliar with his onscreen work-and for the love of pete, please change that-Russell Crowe in Gladiator probably comes the closest), and with the shift toward more relatable heroes, we probably won't see another one ever again.
Why He Missed: While with Flynn and Crosby I think part of their miss on the list came from their offscreen behavior, I'm utterly confident that Heston's was a result of that as his filmography is too big to ignore otherwise.  Heston's neoconservative beliefs and in particular his strong advocacy for the National Rifle Association alienated him from a generation of moviegoers and bitterly divided public opinion on him, an opinion that only got worse in the years following the creation of this list (particularly after Michael Moore's documentary Bowling for Columbine was released).
My Favorite Performance: I genuinely loved Ben-Hur and think that it's an epic masterpiece, but Heston was better in Touch of Evil, where he has to match wits with Orson Welles and watches his entire world slowly deteriorate.
Glaring Miss in His Filmography: I've seen the Big Five films from Heston (all name-checked above), so I'll go with The Agony and the Ecstasy, an adaptation of the Irving Stone novel where Heston plays Michelangelo.

Rock Hudson (1925-1985)

Oscar Nominations: Hudson received one Academy Award nomination in 1956 for Giant (he lost to Yul Brynner).
Why He Was Close to the List: Hudson's fame comes from two different places.  First was his acting in the 1950's and 1960's in larger-than-life roles romancing Elizabeth Taylor and most frequently Doris Day (he later enjoyed success on television opposite Susan Saint James in McMillan & Wife).  The second source of his fame surrounded his personal life (he was one of the very first major stars in Hollywood to come out as gay) and his bringing AIDS to light in a major way to the public (Hudson ended up dying from the disease, but his admission that he had AIDS was a hugely influential point in the AIDS awareness movement considering now everyone in America knew someone who had the disease).
Why He Missed: Hudson's fame at this point is almost entirely surrounding his sexuality and his association with AIDS.  His filmography hosts films like Giant and Pillow Talk, but it's not really large enough to compete with someone like John Wayne or Kirk Douglas who enjoyed decades of hits and significant movies.  Also, Hudson suffers a bit from that stereotype that pretty men can't act (don't believe this is a stereotype?  Compare the Best Actor lineup to the Best Actress lineup in any given year and tell me I'm wrong).
My Favorite Performance: I love Hudson as the hunky fake Texan in Pillow Talk, where he manages to be both charming and incredibly sexy while wooing Doris Day.
Glaring Miss in His Filmography: Like Clift, I've seen most of Rock Hudson's most significant films. I'll probably pick Ice Station Zebra (which plays constantly on Turner Classic Movies), one of his last major hits.

Charles Laughton (1899-1962)

Oscar Nominations: Laughton earned three Oscar nominations during his career, winning for The Private Life of Henry VIII.
Why He Was Close to the List: One of the great Shakespearean and theater actors, Laughton commanded major respect on the screen in almost everything he did (for those unfamiliar with his persona, think Philip Seymour Hoffman meets Laurence Olivier, with a bit of homosexuality for flavoring).  He brought a theatrical sense to the screen, and had the good sense to play in large epics during most of his career, meaning that his filmography is spattered with major classics from Mutiny on the Bounty to The Hunchback of Notre Dame to Witness for the Prosecution.
Why He Missed: Laughton never quite had THAT film to claim as his own.  All of those films are bona fide classics, but they aren't classics you instantly think of when discussing the term.  As a result, you end up with someone similar to Myrna Loy for the ladies-when you mention them as a candidate for a greatest stars list, you say "of course!" but they don't spring to mind unprompted.
My Favorite Performance: I'm going to cheat here, as I've missed most of Laughton's most significant acting work and don't want to embarrass myself, so I'll go with his sole directorial effort in The Night of the Hunter.
Glaring Miss in His Filmography: If I cannot find a favorite performance that means another marathon list, so we'll put the four films I listed above along with Spartacus and Captain Kidd and make up for lost time.

Steve McQueen (1930-1980)

Oscar Nominations: McQueen received just one Oscar nomination in his career, for 1966's The Sand Pebbles.
Why He Was Close to the List: What James Dean was to the 1950's, Steve McQueen was to the 1960's.  McQueen was a devilishly handsome daredevil who played by his own rules and frequently romanced some of the leading ladies of his day (including Ali McGraw) and played rebellious, modern roles like that of Frank Bullitt in Bullitt, one of his most noted pictures.  His death at only age fifty added a mystique to McQueen's already enormous aura.
Why He Missed: Two reasons: one, McQueen's partying and racecar-driving caused him to miss out on a huge number of classic films, and as a result his filmography is much slimmer than most of the men listed here.  Secondly McQueen was more of an actor that was famous in the 1960's, considerably later than Hollywood's Golden Age and is more in-line with the likes of Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, and Paul Newman, though his early death occasionally groups him with the stars of an earlier era.
My Favorite Performance: I have always enjoyed him as the totally crushable Rocky in the (admittedly dated, but still enjoyable) Love with the Proper Stranger.
Glaring Miss in His Filmography: I've never seen McQueen in Bullitt, a genre of film that isn't really my cup of tea, but clearly is one that I should hit sooner rather than later regardless of the film subject.

Anthony Quinn (1915-2001)

Oscar Nominations: Quinn received four Academy Award nods in his career, winning twice for Supporting Actor in Viva Zapata! and Lust for Life.
Why He Was Close to the List: Quinn was one of those actors that everyone deeply admired for his tenacity onscreen and his thespian chops.  Though he starred in very few major films (outside of a supporting role in Lawrence of Arabia), he, like Spencer Tracy, was an actor who carefully selected projects that would enjoy prestige and acclaim from critics, audiences, and awards' bodies.  It also helps that he worked for decades, right up until his death, giving multiple generations a chance to see his work in a theater.
Why He Missed: I touched on it, but Quinn never broke out in a specific role like other actors did.  His most famous part would be Zorba the Greek, but that's not a film a number of people see today.  He's well-respected, but not someone who survives in a memorable way in films since then (he also did a number of supporting parts, which may have cost him considering how headliner-heavy the AFI was in creating this list).
My Favorite Performance: It's been years since I saw it, but I have to imagine that Zorba the Greek will age pretty well if I ever re-visit it in the upcoming years, so I'll go with that for Quinn.
Glaring Miss in His Filmography: I've seen neither of his two Oscar-winning roles (though oddly enough I've seen both of the films he lost the Oscar for).

Mickey Rooney (1920-2014)

Oscar Nominations: Rooney received four competitive Academy Award nominations in his career, but won for none of them.  He did win a Juvenile Oscar in 1939 along with Deanna Durbin and then won an Honorary Oscar in 1983 for life achievement.
Why He Was Close to the List: He was the top box office draw of 1939 and 1940!  Okay, that's a joke that has frequently been thrown out (I don't know why Rooney in particular gets hammered with swipes in that regard).  He was clearly a very popular entertainer (his fellow actors adored him), and his star endured for decades (his career ended up spanning over ninety years), ending only this past year with his death.  He is one of those rare actors who did musicals, dramatic pictures, silent films, child star to aging grandpa-he was one of a kind.
Why He Missed: His onscreen (and offscreen) persona was an acquired taste, and one that not everyone was a fan of, quite frankly.  He was a very good actor, though, and I think if this list had been made a decade later, seeing that Rooney would still be working and would become one of the final links to Hollywood's Golden Era, he probably would have made the cut.
My Favorite Performance: I'm going to cheat here, but not in the way that I did with Laughton.  I'm going to pick Rooney's terrific solo effort on The Twilight Zone in "The Last Night of the Jockey"-if you want proof the man could act, here's a fine place to start.
Glaring Miss in His Filmography: I could go with one of the Oscar-nominated roles, but I'll instead go with some of the Andy Hardy pictures, getting a view of what Rooney truly became famous for (he made fifteen of these pictures in the days before television).

Peter Sellers (1925-1980)

Oscar Nominations: Sellers received two Oscar nominations for acting, for Dr. Strangelove and Being There, losing for both.  He also was nominated for his Live Action Short Film The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film, which he also lost the trophy for.
Why He Was Close to the List: Sellers has long enjoyed an enduring fame, particularly amongst comedians, as one of the pioneers of the art form.  Think of how Steve Martin is revered amongst almost all comics now as being a true pioneer and artist-that's largely what Peter Sellers was in his era.  He also starred in Dr. Strangelove in not one but three roles, a comic triumph any actor would be envious of achieving.
Why He Missed: Sellers, like Steve McQueen, enjoyed his principle fame in later years, particularly the 1960's and 1970's, and as a result may not have felt like an appropriate choice for the "Golden Age Stars" list.  He was also very difficult to work with and very reclusive in his personal life, adding mystique but less public consciousness as a result.
My Favorite Performance: Only a fool wouldn't pick his comedic triumph in Dr. Strangelove, one of the most biting, provocative, and cutting films ever made, and Sellers is a key reason for all of that.
Glaring Miss in His Filmography: I've never seen Sellers in his last great film role, that of Chance Gardner in Being There with Shirley MacLaine (who, contrary to some opinions of Sellers, thoroughly enjoyed working with him).

And there are my hunches as to the ten men who just missed the AFI list-what are your guesses?  Who do you think was the closest (my gut is Heston)?  Who are your favorites?  Who did I forget from the just misses?  Share your thoughts in the comments!

Everybody's Linking for the Weekend

It's the weekend (hooray!), so that means it's time for a roundup of the stories I read on the internet this week...

In Entertainment...

Pewdiepie

TubeFilter: Did you hear that Pewdipie is currently without internet and stealing it from his neighbors?  I find it beyond hilarious that the biggest star on the internet somehow doesn't have access to the web.  And does anyone think this may just be an elaborate prank from Smosh to try and get back on top of the subscriber lists?

Sibelius Blog: Oscar nominee Bruce Broughton (he may have lost one, but the Silverado nod is still intact) discussed how he came to write "Alone Yet Not Alone" and his thoughts on the rescinding of the nomination.  I know I briefly mentioned this yesterday in the Ann Romney post (check it out!), but after reading quite a bit about it this morning, I have to state that I'm becoming truly upset that this was rescinded.  It sounds like Broughton did something questionable, but in no way is different to what Harvey Weinstein or Scott Rudin do each year, and the film is being cited because it has a very small budget and because it's highly questionable whether it should have been nominated in the first place.  After a lot of thought (more than should be spent on such things), I feel fairly strongly that the Academy acted improperly here and that Broughton's nomination should stand (regardless of the actual quality of the nomination-I'm waiting to see the song within the context of the film before I decide on its merits).  After all, they didn't rescind the nominations for The Hurt Locker a few years back when they ran attack ads against Avatar.

Film Experience (link mildly NSFW): The Cesar nominations have been announced, and Julien over at the Film Experience expressed most every thought I had while reviewing the nominations so I figured why retype?  Just to call out, though, Adele Exarchopolous deserves to be in the Best Actress and not the Best Newcomer category after giving one of the best performances of the year in Blue is the Warmest Color and I am rooting for that film in general (one of the best of 2013).  About the only thing I have to add is "where is Juliette Binoche?"  Granted, I haven't seen her work in Camille Claudel 1915, but I've heard nothing but raves and if the Best Actress list is just going to be a lineup of major French actresses (Ardant! Seigner! Deneuve!), shouldn't Binoche make the cut?

In Politics...

Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau

Politico: Liza Mundy puts together a fascinating look into the life of Wendy Davis, and the incredible gender bias going on in regard to the "scandal" involving she and her ex-husband.

New York Times: I figured this was a link worth mentioning, as it's related to a topic and person we've discussed myriad times on this blog, but it's a very developing story so I'm not 100% sure where it's going: apparently, Chris Christie did know about the bridge closings, a revelation that would be a bombshell in Republican politics.  If this ends up being a larger story, I'll make sure and share more with likely a full and separate post, but this is definitely something to watch.

The Week: I'm actually oddly into financial planning lately, so probably the only mention you're going to get about the State of the Union (aside from the fact that Christie Todd Whitman was right regarding the Republican Party and women's issues) is about the new myRA.  Anyone else looking into this as a retirement option?  My inner Suze Orman found it intriguing.

Toronto Star: My fake Canadian boyfriend Justin Trudeau has done something wildly gutsy (and a little bit confounding) in Ottawa-he has expelled all 32 senators from the Liberal Party in hopes of making the Canadian Senate less partisan.  This article gives a fairly comprehensive look at the how and why behind Trudeau's plan, and since I'm not a Canadian political expert, I shall defer to it or to any readers who have an opinion on Trudeau's latest headline.  And no, this link is not just an excuse to use the above picture...for the most part.

Just One More...

M Live: Easily the oddest story I read this week came out of Michigan, where a conservative Hollywood icon endorsed Gary Glenn for the State Legislature.  On the surface this isn't shocking-Glenn is a Republican, after all.  However, the actor-in-question is Oscar winner Charlton Heston, who died in 2008.  Apparently Glenn and Heston were friends before he died, but still-does this scream wildly tacky to anyone else?

OVP: Ben-Hur (1959)

Film: Ben-Hur (1959)
Stars: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith, Martha Scott, Cathy O'Donnell
Director: William Wyler
Oscar History: Boy howdy, there's a lot-12 nominations/11 wins (the record for most wins, in a tie with Titanic and The Return of the King) (Picture*, Director*, Actor-Charlton Heston*, Supporting Actor-Stephen Boyd*, Art Direction*, Cinematography*, Special/Visual Effects*, Film Editing*, Sound*, Original Score*, Costume*, Adapted Screenplay)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 5/5 stars

Perhaps no film has more staying power than the epic.  Comedies, dramas, horror films, action adventures-they've all got their own "best in shows" that are celebrated on the lists of the greatest films ever made, but it is the epic that shows up with the most regularity-Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, The Lord of the Rings, Titanic-films that tower over their competitors and are "must views" on nearly every collection of films to see before you die.

The problem is, though, that you only get to see these films for the first time once, and I've been trying to savor them, as I have a confession to make-I love epic films.  Yes, I know the pitfalls (they're oftentimes poorer in the acting and writing departments), but I don't care.  I find the big, expansive ideas and images that they bring to mind exhilarating, and every time I hear tell of a new epic, I want to dive in headfirst.  But with me continuing my Oscar Viewing Project, I will have to finally cross the final few that I haven't seen off my list, and today was probably the biggest remaining: Ben-Hur.

I'll admit off-the-bat that I actually knew very little of Ben-Hur, and I'm not ashamed to admit (okay, I'm a little ashamed to admit), that I didn't know if Ben-Hur was a real biblical figure or not.  Turns out he isn't, though there is a Ben-Hur mentioned in 1 Kings.  Even so, the Bible is very present in the film, and a cursory knowledge of the New Testament helps quite a bit.  Ben-Hur, instead, was a creation of Lew Wallace about a Jewish prince who existed at the same time as Jesus.  Judah Ben-Hur (his full name), is played by Charlton Heston, he of the many biblical epics and the strong profile.

If you're wondering why I keep introducing the topic without making the leap into actually, you know, discussing the film, it's because this is a nearly 4-hour movie, and one of the very few essential movies I have never seen, and part of me cannot believe I've finally encountered the movie and that part of me wants to savor it.  As you can see in the tags, this is also an American Film Institute-cited film-one of the Top 100 films in both their original and tenth anniversary list.  I have all but seven now left from that first list, and Ben-Hur was one of my final remaining films to be featured on both.  While I still have some indisputable classics (The Birth of a Nation, Spartacus, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, MASH) left, Ben-Hur was probably the one I was most looking forward to, and I shall miss having it be my answer to "what classic film have you never seen?"

But it's time to dive in, and I think the best place to begin would be the ambition behind William Wyler's storyline.  By the time you've finished, it feels like you've watched four films in one, but in the best way possible.  The movie starts with the introduction of Heston's Ben-Hur and Boyd's Messala, sibling friends and rivals (and probably lovers-I totally got what Gore Vidal was getting at in The Celluloid Closet), then moving to Ben-Hur's unjust banishment as a slave, shifting into his role as a master chariot racer, and finally into his quest to find his mother and sister, and in the process, witness the Crucifixion.  Wyler gives each of these expansive chapters their due, and you don't feel like any get short-shifted.  Some reviewers have commented that they dragged a bit too long, but I didn't feel it.  The repetitive nature of the rowing I found exhausting in a real sense, and the lengthened chariot races made me practically feel the sun in the Roman stadiums beating down on me as I watched and cheered and winced.

This confidence in the viewer's patience is perhaps the film's biggest strength.  There's a lot of big ideas to push forward in this movie-love, country, friendship, honor, religion-and they need time to simmer.  Additionally, William Wyler has created expansive and yet meticulous sets to share with the audience, and you need time for your eyes to feast.  The film won eleven Oscars, but perhaps none so appropriately than the Art Direction Oscar (I know we're not supposed to call it that anymore, but it'll take a few years for me to make the concession).  While Oscar occasionally goes with the film with the art direction that bursts from the seams (see The Grinch) rather than the set that best carries the story, here we find a case where both seem to be true.  The stadiums and Roman houses seem lived in, and if you take the time to stare you see rows of sabers, vases, and furniture all of a similar color palette. Along with the handsome costume design, you feel as if you're watching a moving, breathing Titian fresco, come to life in 65 mm.

The film also doesn't shy away from religion, and in each of those four parts Jesus plays an important role.  While the audience never gets a proper look at the actor playing Christ (you do see his face briefly in the final quarter of the film), his presence is felt first in the Christmas story (which opens the film), then when Ben-Hur, captive in the desert, receives water from Christ (a soaring moment in the score and a stunner visually in the film), the appearance and role of Pontius Pilate in the chariot races, and finally, the full Crucifixion in the final scenes.  It's a fascinating concept having a biblical epic in the time of Christ that doesn't focus on the Christ figure, but instead on a figure that in the confines of the film, is probably just as well-known.  It brings to mind that not all people focus on the same things in the public eye, and also begs the point of what may seem significant now may not be 100 years from now.  I have to say that the Jesus-on-the-edge concept really worked for me, and I was glad that Wyler smartly didn't give us a true conversation between Ben-Hur and Christ in the film, which would have shifted the focus too much toward their cursory relationship.

There's more to the film, though, than just religion, and that begins with the love/hate relationship between Heston's Ben-Hur and Boyd's Messala.  Like I mentioned above, Gore Vidal wrote them as if they had been lovers as teenagers, and though I read this tidbit after watching the film, I felt it throughout, even though it was obviously never mentioned.  Messala looks at Ben-Hur with a deep longing, and Boyd knows just how to strike the balance between his adoration for his old friend and his hatred that their relationship will never be exactly what he hopes it to be.  This conflict is the most interesting part of the first quarter (the slowest act of the film).

I can't discuss Ben-Hur without getting into the spectacular and revolutionary special effects on display in the film, particularly in the naval battle and the chariot race.  The naval battle, one I didn't know much about going into the film, is dazzling, with that excellent camera shot of the ship headed toward Ben-Hur's ship through a porthole, ready to ram into the ship and sink it into the sea.  The chariot race, which you've seen clips of even if you've never seen this entire film, is still a wonder.  The stuntmen in the movie deserved some sort of Oscar for their life-endangering work (as did the horses), and as a viewer you're struck by the immensity of what you're seeing on-screen.  So much of these scenes would be CGI today, which let's face it, takes away dramatically from the spectacle onscreen.  You can tell that there are real men, real animals, chasing around a truly constructed Roman stadium, and that's part of the invigoration.  Every turn of the carts, every crash, brings you further into the scene.  It's one of the most stunning things I've ever seen in a movie, and deserves every accolade that's been showered upon it.

I could go on, and on, and on, but I feel I need to stop this review at some point, but not before I grade the Oscar nominations.  As I mentioned above, the art direction, cinematography, sound, editing, costumes, special effects and score are all top notch, and though I have yet to see all of the other nominees, this movie's going to be tough to beat.  That's true of the top prizes, as well-William Wyler's direction and scope is something I'd have to pick over even the non-stop laugh riot that is Some Like It Hot.  It would probably have trouble taking out Some Like It Hot or perhaps North by Northwest in Best Picture, but lucky for Wyler and unlucky for the Academy's integrity, neither of those films made it into the Best Picture race, and it's tough to see Anatomy of a Murder or The Nun's Story (both films I have left to see) taking out this stunner of an epic.

That gives the film a probable nine trophies within the OVP, and I think that's where it's going to end.  Had the film had a few more of Vidal's touches, it may have leant a bit more to the dialogue and been a contender against Wilder's cross-dressing mob comedy, but Ben-Hur was a team effort, and some of the later dialogue gets a bit bogged down by heavy-handedness.  Amongst the actors, Boyd gives the best performance in the film-a cautious, angry man who gets a full character arch despite being absent for half of the film.  I would need to consult Inside Oscar, but I'm assuming that his non-mention was a large and unexpected snub, considering that he had just won the Golden Globe and couldn't even muster a nomination with the Academy.  Oscar instead chose the racially insensitive performance given by a bumbling Hugh Griffith to win the Oscar instead, and I am not impressed.

Heston's performance also gets quite hammy throughout the film.  Shirley Knight probably said it correctly when she quipped, "Hollywood is where they give Academy Awards to Charlton Heston for acting."  Heston certainly isn't bad, and does what he's called to do in the film, but he goes over-the-top quite frequently (especially during pious tirades) and is a terrible onscreen crier.  One secretly wishes that someone like Brando or Kirk Douglas had decided to take this role instead.  Either way, Heston isn't better than the ease Jack Lemmon brings to his nominated work in Some Like It Hot, or the sexy swagger that Laurence Harvey struts with in Room at the Top.


And now, twelve paragraphs later, I turn it over to you.  What are your thoughts on Ben-Hur?  How many Oscars do you think it should have taken home?  Would you make any casting changes, or leave everything as is?  And what great classic film are you still holding out on in your personal viewing?