"He's the marker. There was Before Brando and After Brando. I think it's time, especially for younger people, to go back and understand that, to see the pictures in the order in which they were made, mainly because I think that they're too hip to feel those emotions that were up there just exploding on the screen. It's about being human." - Martin Scorcese
"It's been said I sold out,and maybe that's true -- but I knew what I was doing. I've never had any respect for Hollywood. It stands for greed, avarice, phoniness, crassness -- but when you act in a movie, you act for three months and then you can do what you want for the rest of the year." - Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando was truly one of a kind, an iconoclast who forever changed the craft of acting, especially in film. He blazed a trail for all the greats that followed in his wake, from his contemporaries Montgomery Clift and James Dean to several generations of actors, including Paul Newman, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, and Johnny Depp. Even Elvis.
The following list is not in the usual ascending order. It is difficult to quantify or rank Brando's performances, so this one is in alphabetical order instead
Apocalypse Now (1979): As Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, the pivotal figure in Francis Ford Coppola's retelling of Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness, Brando's performance was hampered by the fact that he hadn't read the novel or the script, and showed up weighing 300 pounds. Still, he gives an idiosyncratic performance that, if not exactly what Coppola had in mind, is still pretty epic. "The horror...the horror."
Burn! a/k/a Queimada (1969): A tireless activist for civil rights, Brando chose to play the part of William Walker, who ignites a revolution on behalf of the British, only to return ten years later when the rebels turn on their colonialist opressors.
The Godfather (1972), as Don Vito Corleone. Brando won (and refused) the Academy Award for Best Actor, even though he's on screen for less than half of the film. But that's indicative of the impact of his performance in this epic drama about a Mafia family in postwar America. After years of less than stellar performances in not-so-great movies, this film put him back on top. He would send up his role in 1990's The Freshman.
Julius Caesar (1953): As Marc Antony, Brando proved he could declaim with the best of them, stealing the show from his esteemed British co-stars. His "Friends, Romans, Countrymen" speech is electrifying.
Last Tango in Paris a/k/a Ultimo Tango a Parigi (1972), as Paul. Brando at his most nakedly emotional in Bernardo Bertolucci's story of a man who enters into a sexual relationship with a stranger, played by twenty-something Maria Schneider. Marlon improvised several autobiographical monologues in the film, and is mesmerizing, if more than a little self-indulgent.
The Men (1950), as Ken. While the posters promised "a completely new experience between men and women.," the movie delivered a serious story about paraplegics in post-war America, highlighted by Brando's intense performance in his film debut. Directed by Fred Zinnemann.
The Missouri Breaks (1976): Arthur Penn's uneven Western features a truly gonzo performance by Brando as Robert E. Lee Clayton, a "regulator" hired by a wealthy rancher to execute a gang of whoring horse-thieves led by Jack Nicholson. Sporting an Irish brogue, dressing in drag and other outlandish costumes, while delivering crazy monologues, serendaing his horse, and systematically killing off Nicholson's buddies, Marlon is a hoot.
On the Waterfront (1954), as Terry Malloy. Playing a washed-up boxer turned strong-arm man for the mob, Brando won his first Oscar for this incredible performance. When he falls for the sister of a man whose murder he was an accessory to, he suffers a crisis of conscience and turns informer. Writer Budd Schulberg and director Elia Kazan had both named names in front of the House Un-American Activities commission, and this film is a metaphor for that.
One-Eyed Jacks (1961), as Rio. As a first-time director, Marlon shot over a milion feet of film, turned in a five-hour cut, then lost interest while the studio edited his Oepidal Western masterpiece down to two and a half hours. Karl Malden's character, the sadistic "Dad" Longworth, was modeled on Brando's father, Marlon Sr. On the set of Dr. Strangelove, Terry Southern introduced Slim Pickens to James Earl Jones, who asked Slim what it was like working with Brando on One-Eyed Jacks, to which Pickens replied, "There ain't nothing about Bud Brando that ain't all-man and all-white."
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Brando reprised his Broadway triumph as Stanley Kowalski in Elia Kazan's film adaptation of Tennessee Williams' play. His performance was unlike anything ever seen in an American movie, raw, brutal, sensual, and utterly real. "I was the antithesis of Stanley Kowalski," he would later write. "I was sensitive by nature and he was coarse, a man with unerring animal instincts and intuitions."
The Wild One (1953): The original biker movie stars Brando as Johnny Strabler, the leader of the Black Rebels Motorcycle Club. A girl asks him, "What are you rebelling against, Johnny?" To which he replies, "Whaddya got?" Although looking a little pudgier than he had in previous films, he's still the epitome of cool. Based in part on real incidents much tamer than those portrayed in the movie.
The Young Lions (1958) and "Roots: The Next Generations" (1979). Marlon played two very different Nazis in these two very different projects. As Christian, the sensitive German soldier in the film adaptation of Irwin Shaw's The Young Lions, Brando was criticized for making the character too sympathetic. 20 years later, he won an an Emmy for his portrayal of American Nazi party leader George Lincoln Rockwell in the television mini-series "Roots: the Next Generations."
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Comments
Wonderful that you mention One Eyed Jacks, Queimada and even The Men, which were under-appreciated when first released, and as a result are largely forgotten today.
Nice list. I should get around to seeing The Godfather.
Oh and I'd love to know the source of that great French poster for On the Waterfront...it's awesome!
Honorable Mention:
The Score (2001)
The Brave (1997)
Don Juan DeMarco (1994)
The Formula (1980)
Superman (1978)
The Nightcomers (1971)
The Night of the Following Day (1969)
Candy (1968)
Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)
The Chase (1966)
The Ugly American (1963)
Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
The Fugitive Kind (1959)
Guys and Dolls (1955)
Viva Zapata (1952)
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