Tag Archives: tribute

Robert Duvall, RIP

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Salud, you glorious actor.

I knew this day was going to come because he was only 5 years away from 100 but still, it breaks my heart.

Rest in peace, Robert Duvall.

In my opinion, Robert Duvall was the best of American actors to come to prominence during the 60s and 70s, someone who was consistently great, who could move you to tears or make you laugh, someone who was just as good at being a villain as he was at being a hero.  It’s hard not to think of a single movie that was not improved by the presence of Robert Duvall.

He was the original Boo Radley and, though he was only in To Kill A Mockingbird for a few minutes, his performance was unforgettable.  He captured both the shyness and the compassion of an outcast with a good heart.

In M*A*S*H, he was Major Frank Burns, the dangerously incompetent doctor who drove Bud Cort to tears, got punched out be Elliott Gould, and eventually tried to kill Donald Sutherland.  Burns was the perfect villain and Duvall wisely didn’t play the role for laughs.

In the original Godfather novel, Tom Hagen was described as being bland and colorless.  In the films, Duvall transformed him into one of the most vibrant characters in the entire saga.  During the first film, when he asks Michael “why am I out?,” he breaks your heart.  When Michael snaps at him in the sequel, you realize that Michael is losing the one person who still cares about him.  His absence in Godfather Part III is so deeply felt that it makes you realize that Robert Duvall was just as important to the saga as Pacino, Caan, Brando, and the rest.

(Robert Duvall had previously worked with Brando in The Chase and, on the set of The Godfather, he was one of the few actors who could call Marlon out.  Once, when Marlon was holding up filming with a hundred nit-picky questions, Duvall said, “Don’t worry, Marlon, we don’t have anywhere to be either.”  Marlon laughed and shot the scene.)

In Apocalypse Now, Duvall delivery of one line — “I love the smell of napalm in the morning,” — summed up everything that the film had to say about war.

In Tender Mercies, he gave one of the most honest performances that I’ve ever seen and he won a deserved Oscar.  Tender Mercies is one of the great Texas films and that’s largely due to Robert Duvall.

In the miniseries Lonesome Dove, he made you laugh, he made you cry, he made you believe that he had stepped out of the Old West, and he made it all look easy.

With The Apostle, he proved himself to be as strong a director as an actor.  He crafted one of the best American films about religion to come out in the 90s and he gave a fearless performance that should have won him a second Oscar.

Even in a seriously flawed film like The Judge, he could hold your attention like few other actors.

Robert Duvall was born in California, raised in Maryland, and began his career in New York and yet somehow, he was one of the most authentic Southerners that I’ve ever seen on screen.  Down in my part of the world, we considered him to be something of an honorary Texan.  By most reports, he had the fiercely independent but generous spirit that defines the best of the Southwest.  When he was a struggling actor, his roommates were Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman.  His best friend was James Caan.  He knew and worked with the best actors and directors of the past 60 years.

He was a truly one of the greats.  He may be gone but his performances will live forever.

 

A Late Tribute To Bud Cort

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Bud Cort died on February 11th, at the age of 77.  He was a beloved character actor, one who had a real skill for bringing eccentric characters to life.  He became a star briefly with films like Brewster McCloud and especially Harold and Maude but Hollywood never really knew what to do with him.  After he was nearly killed in a car accident in 1979, his momentum stalled.  Smart directors still cast him because he always gave good performances but he spent most of his career in small roles.  (In Heat, he was the obnoxious restaurant manager who drove Dennis Haysbert back into a life of crime.)

When Cort died, most of the stories focused on his performance in Harold and Maude.  That was understandable.  That said, I’ve always been touched by Cort’s performance in 1970’s MASH and I wanted to take a moment to just express how wonderful I thought he was in the role of Private Boone.

Though he had previously appeared in two earlier films, Cort got an “introducing” credit for his role in MASH.  He played Boone, a usually quiet corpsman who speaks with a slight stutter.  When a patient in Post-Op develops complications, Major Frank Burns (Robert Duvall) tells Boone to get a cardiac needle.  Boone obviously isn’t sure what Burns needs but Burns snaps at him to get it.  When Boone comes back with a needle, the patient has already died.  Burns calls Boone an idiot for getting the wrong needle.  Burns offers to get a nurse.  “It’s too late, Boone,” Burns says, motioning at the dead man, “you killed him.”  Burns walks away as Boone, a look of shock on his face, tries not to cry.

And I have to admit that I want to cry with him.  It’s one of the more shocking scenes in Altman’s film and it works because of not only Robert Duvall’s memorably nasty turn as Burns but also Bud Cort’s emotional vulnerability of Boone.  Boone, who is in Korea because he was drafted, has not only seen a man die but he’s been told that he’s responsible.  With just the slightly cocking of his head and the sniffling of a young man who doesn’t want to cry on duty, Bud Cort shows us just how devastated Boone is.

And, of course, Boone was not responsible.  Trapper John (Elliott Gould) takes one look at the patient’s chart and sees that it was Burns’s own incompetence that is to blame.  When Trapper punches out Burns, it’s a cathartic moment.  The only thing you regret is that Boone wasn’t in the room to see it.

That was Bud Cort’s big moment in MASH, though he appears throughout the film.  Indeed, if you watch carefully, there’s a subplot in which Boone starts dating one of the nurses and eventually becomes much more confident in himself.  We don’t know much about Boone but we do see that he’s become a member of the gang.  Unlike Burns or David Arkin’s Sgt. Vollmer, Boone is accepted by the inhabitants of the Swamp.

He even gets to attend the mock suicide of Painless..  Reportedly, Boone’s line of “You’re throwing away your whole education,” was improvised on the spot by Bud Cort.

Ah, Bud Cort.  Rest in peace, you wonderful actor.

Diane Keaton, RIP

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I’m so sad to hear the Diane Keaton has passed away.  She was 79 years old.

A great actress, she was also one of the few performers who seemed to be as genuine off-screen as she was on-screen.  She brought Kay Adams to life in The Godfather, adding a certain edge that wasn’t present in the novel or the script.  She starred in Woody Allen’s best films.  She lent her voice to Finding Dory.  She won an Oscar for Annie Hall and was nominated for a few other films as well.  In 1996’s Marvin’s Room, she easily stole the film from showy performers like Meryl Streep and Leonardo DiCaprio and earned perhaps her most deserved Oscar nomination.    At a time of generic faces and publicist-written statements, she was refreshingly real.

Diane Keaton, RIP.  She will be missed.

 

Rest in Peace, Joe Don Baker

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I knew this day was going to come, due to his advanced age and the fact that it had been a while since he had appeared in a film (his final appearance was a wonderful supporting role in Jeff Nichols’s Mud), but it’s still pains me to say goodbye to Joe Don Baker.

As a fan of grindhouse cinema, as a fan of the classic Bond films, as a fan of Texas actors, and as a fellow graduate of UNT who used to enjoy eating at that Denton Whataburger that had his picture painted on the wall, I will have a special place in my heart for Joe Don Baker and the entertaining, if often ridiculous, films that he made.

He was 89 years old when he was passed away on May 7th.  They don’t make ’em like Joe Don anymore.

Here he is in 1973’s Walking Tall, enforcing justice with a big stick.

Rest in peace.  I’ll be watching Mitchell in your memory.

Gene Hackman Has Passed Away

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Gene Hackman has passed away.  He was 95 and reportedly found dead in his Santa Fe home, along with his wife and dog.  That’s what the authorities are saying.  They also say there’s no sign of foul play.  I’m sure there will be a lot of online speculation about what that all means.  That’s the way of the world nowadays and it’s a shame.

Gene Hackman was one of the greats.  He went into acting after a stint in the Marines and, according to most accounts and his own interviews, he never lost that grit and that expectation of professionalism from everyone he worked with.  A former roommate of Robert Duvall’s, a close friend of Dustin Hoffman’s (from the days when they were both unknown stage actors), Hackman went from doing episodic television to becoming one of our best film actors.  He was hardly a traditional leading man but his talent was undeniable.  His Popeye Doyle was the classic eccentric cop.  His Lex Luthor was a great comedic villain while his performance as Little Bill Daggett in Unforgiven proved to be the perfect portrayal of the authoritarian impulse. Interestingly enough, he was reportedly set to make his directorial debut with The Silence of the Lambs but he withdrew from the project, saying he didn’t like the violence.  (Reports vary on whether he would have also played Lecter or Jack Crawford.)  Hackman was a liberal but of the old-fashioned, blue collar variety.  He once said starring in The French Connection changed his whole view of policing.  It takes courage to admit to having changed your mind on anything.  It’s not something that a lot of celebs have the guts to do anymore.

I’ve always respected that Hackman retired under his own terms.  Faced with spending the latter part of his career appearing in movies like Welcome to Mooseport, he said, “I’m done.”  Someone would have to be the once great star who humiliated himself by taking the lead role in Dirty Grandpa but it wasn’t going to be Gene Hackman.

Gene Hackman, RIP.  He had a great career and gave us many great performances and that’s all we can really ask of an actor.

Rest in Peace, David Lynch

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I’m truly devastated to hear the David Lynch, one of the few true visionaries of our age, has passed away.  His death was not totally unexpected.  He had recently opened up about his health difficulties.  But it’s still hard to believe that David Lynch is no longer with us.  He was 78 years old and he was one of the best.  I’m sure we all have much more to write and share about him in the future.  For now, I’m still coming to terms with the news.

From What Did Jack Do?

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Roger Pratt Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking.

Yesterday, it was announced that the veteran cinematographer Roger Pratt passed away in December.  Known for his work with Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton, Pratt left behind a legacy of visually stunning films.  It’s time for…

4 Shots From 4 Roger Pratt Films

Brazil (1985, dir by Terry Gilliam, DP: Roger Pratt)

Batman (1989, dir by Tim Burton, DP: Roger Pratt)

The Fisher King (1991, dir by Terry Gilliam, DP: Roger Pratt)

12 Monkeys (1995, dir by Terry Gilliam, DP: Roger Pratt)

 

Two Scenes From Young Frankenstein (In Memory of Teri Garr)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, everyone was saddened to hear about the passing of actress Teri Garr.  The veteran actress and dancer, who was best-known for her comedic performances but who also showed that she could handle drama, was 79 years old.

Since this is October, it seem fitting to share two scenes from 1974’s Young Frankenstein, featuring Teri Garr as Inga.