BRANDO DIES?
It's not on Drudge yet, but a Phoenix TV station is reporting it.
Confirmed.
The Good Choices:
JULIUS CAESAR (1953) - It would seem a strange choice for Brando, but I immediately liked the whole production and Brando is better than Robin Williams impersonation in Dead Poet's Society would have you believe.
ON THE WATERFRONT (1954) - Easily one of the ten best film performances of all time. If you haven't seen it, you should pull up a chair.
GUYS AND DOLLS (1955) Another strange choice for Brando? He does such a good job and it's such a fun movie you forget that he made his reputation with dramas.
THE GODFATHER (1972) - Can't say enough!
The Overrated Ones
THE WILD ONE (1954) - The classic biker picture doesn't really hold up and seems to have little point. If you've seen Brando in that black leather and Fonzie white t-shirt then you've seen a picture from this film.
STRRETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951) - Brando seemed a bit much to me here. This is supposed to be a breakthrough in modern acting and a tour de force. It may have been for its time, but I had trouble getting through it.
VIVA ZAPATA (1952) - Brando as revolutionary leader Zapata left me cold. The story seemed uninspired and Anthony Quinn is more interesting in the film.
A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG (1967) - The last film direct by Charlie Chaplin. It's just plain silly in an old fashioned way with no point.
APOCALYPSE NOW (1979) - I liked Robert Duvall as the mad Colonel, but once they hit the river I feel myself drifting. Brando's part is incomprehensible. It's the essence of indulging an actor's nonsense.
Not Sure
THE YOUNG LIONS (1958) - Brando joined by Monty Clift and Dean Martin. Brando plays a sympathetic Nazi. Dean and Clift plays Americans. I liked it enough, but I don't remember much about it.
LAST TANGO IN PARIS (1972) - Brando gives a great performance, but the movie is a bit too odd in that early 1970s way when American films were trying to be more like European films (see Altman's 3 Women). Well, Bertolucci directed the thing so I guess it isn't that American after all. Pauline Kael said movies were changed forever when this was released. Roger Ebert said a couple of years ago that Kael had been wrong. This was a just an interesting blip.
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