--- jacquesdebierue <
jacquesdebierue@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Yes, it's a fantastic film, and in a way Widmark
is
> emblematic of the
> era. Not an actor in the
Cagney-Robinson-Bogart
> style, but a perfect
> hardboiled figure in the right films. He
was
> somewhat mysterious, with
> some of Mitchum's hardness but without the
latent
> spookiness of the
> latter.
>
> In the end, a relatively low profile actor "who
was
> always there", yet
> he ends his life recognized as an important
figure.
> He is lucky: often
> the reverse is true. It helps that the old
noirs
> have been reassessed
> so favorably, of course.
*****************************************************
Widmark's incredibly creepy performance as Tommy Udo in KISS
OF DEATH, I think by itself puts him in the Pantheon. He did
several other performaces of equal intensity. Certainly his
overall choices of roles sent his career all over the map,
but when he made the kinds of movies he was great in, he was
as good as the best. Cagney, for the most part, made more
consistent choices. But Widmark brought a real-world
sleezyness to the underworld that probably inspired Dinero's
character in MEAN STREETS, and Pachino's in NEEDLE
PARK.
Patrick King
____________________________________________________________________________________
Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 30 Mar 2008 EDT