I am a movie man, just like I’m a book man, and I love books, so you can fairly say that I love movies. But not just any movies. Like many people, I enjoy laughing and finding humor in life’s situations and events– but I don’t necessarily like watching it on film. As much as I appreciate humor, the number of comedic movies that I like you can count on the fingers of two hands. Really. And I’m not one for blockbusters so much either. Oh, I paid homage to the double trilogy of Star Wars, and the one trilogy of Lord of the Rings, and I still am willing to pay to see the occasional “big release” in theaters– mostly out of curiosity– but I am more interested in seeing dramatic movies, where the cast has to convince us that they are indeed the characters that they are portraying.
I am here today to sing the praises of the late Paul Newman, in my opinion, the finest actor of my generation, and the finest of his. There are few actors today who are as convincing in their movie roles as Paul Newman was in his roles. Each year, when I watch the movie award shows, (Golden Globes, Screen Actors’ Guild, and the Oscars) and see the actors of this era being paraded on camera, I cringe on the inside when I hear any of them referred to as being “legendary.” I stopped paying attention to an artist being referred to as a “legend” when I heard Britney Spears being introduced as a “legend” on a music awards show one year. I’m not kidding, it happened. Paul Newman defined the words “legend” and “actor” and “artist.”
It’s hard to describe the art of acting in motion pictures to the generation of today, weaned on computer-generated images and animation, and characters portrayed by actors judged only by their degree of “hotness.” With the exception of a voiceover for “Cars,” Paul Newman was not a part of any movies resembling “Transformers” or “Twilight”– he did much better than that. He and his acting brethren of the age concerned themselves with portraying a character. He concerned himself with helping to tell a story.
Paul Newman was nominated for an Oscar nine times. Nine times. He won only once, for his return performance as “Fast Eddie” Felson in “The Color of Money,” sequel to “The Hustler.” This piece of trivia leaves me speechless.
His other Oscar-nominated roles were in movies that are consensus picks on all-time greatest movie lists: Brick Pollitt, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” Eddie Felson, “The Hustler,” Hud Bannon, “Hud,” Luke Jackson, “Cool Hand Luke,” Michael Colin Gallagher, “Absence of Malice,” Frank Galvin, “The Verdict,” Donald J. “Sully” Sullivan, “Nobody’s Fool,” and in a supporting role, as John Rooney in “Road to Perdition.” In my opinion, exceptional performances, each and every one. The two things that stood out to me in the Newman roles I’ve seen are his sincerity, and his vulnerability. If you watch “Cat On a Hot Tin Roof,” maybe you’ll see Newman’s character of Brick, the often-drunk and frustrated ex-high school jock who only wants his father’s approval. Or, if you watch “Absence of Malice,” maybe you’ll see Newman’s character of Michael witnessing his world crumbling because of lies and rumors printed in the newspaper.
My favorite Newman performance was as Frank Galvin in “The Verdict,” where Galvin’s life seems to hit absolute rock-bottom. Galvin has had everything that could go wrong in his life go wrong. If it weren’t for bad luck, he wouldn’t have luck at all, as a song says. Galvin becomes a lawyer, and he marries into a prestigious law firm, only to have his wife die. His law career then dies a slow death-- losing his position with the firm, he develops a booze problem. In desperation, he becomes an “ambulance-chaser.” He is thrown a bone– his law mentor finds him a medical malpractice case tried in civil court. The movie becomes a serious and interesting drama when Galvin must make and win a case against two prominent Boston doctors, (the charge is wrongful death) defended by Boston’s most prestigious law firm. Along the way, Galvin finds out that he actually is a fine lawyer, but not before hitting some more bumps in the road. This is my favorite Paul Newman movie, simply because I think that it’s his finest performance.
There are other actors of Newman’s generation whom I regard as exceptional– Jack Lemmon, Jack Nicholson, William Holden, Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger come to mind– but I still vote for Newman as the best of the lot. He avoided being typecast, and he avoided being in and overshadowed by an Epic Movie.
When you want to see an actor act, treat yourself sometime to a Newman movie, and watch Paul Newman at work.
No comments:
Post a Comment