Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: The Breaking Point (Calling our man Beaver)

From: Patrick King ( abrasax93@yahoo.com)
Date: 30 Jun 2008


--- On Mon, 6/30/08, Stephen Burridge < stephen.burridge@gmail.com> wrote:

My views on the movie aren't as decided as yours. I watched it once a few months ago and was quite impressed. I'll probably see it again.

Having said that, I'll note that I don't agree with all of what you say. Monroe doesn't, as I recall, have nothing to do. She's convincing as the beautiful little sister. Not a fully developed character, perhaps, and Monroe may bring an excess of star power to the role, but it's not a bit part. I also think that Paul Douglas, while perhaps miscast as a fishing captain, is a strong presence whose relationship with Ryan works pretty well. And of course his character is supposed to be dominated by Ryan's.

************************************************

Don't get me wrong. Douglas is an excellent actor and brings a great deal to that role. The problem was casting him next to Robert Ryan. Douglas' character is supposed to be a very large and imposing man. Ryan is a cad but much less powerful than Douglas. Douglas was probably 5'6" and Ryan 6'3' and the director did not shoot their scenes together convincingly enough to make one believe that Douglas could really overcome Ryan in a fight, a point very important to the story. Those are my issues.

I also think the point of Monroe's character being happily married and content is rather lost because she's so glamorous but has very few scenes and insignificant dialog.

Patrick King

      



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 30 Jun 2008 EDT