193 thoughts on “Marlon Brando Movies”

1. What’s the movie?

   Damn how can a movie with so much talent be so damn bad? Movie is directed by 15 time Oscar nominated John Huston (he won twice). It stars 8 time Oscar nominated Marlon Brando (he won twice) and 5 time Oscar nominated Elizabeth Taylor (she won twice). The movie is a bizarre tale of sex, betrayal, and perversion at a military post.

   The story is just strange. Brando gives maybe his worst ever performance. Taylor might be the best part of the movie…but that is not saying much. Robert “Jackie Brown” Forster in his film debut has the weirdest part. He gets to be a peeping tom, horse whispering, panty sniffing and who likes to ride horses nude. Evidently, all of Forster’s strange ticks are the reasons that Brando falls in love with his character. Final thought: I am a huge John Huston fan (one of these days I will do an UMR page on him)….but this is the worst Huston film I have ever seen.

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   1. As French actor Louis Jourdan observed “Brando is the Don Quixote of actors: trying everything and anything; always taking chances and tilting at windmills to show us what might work on screen and what might not. He dares for US!”

      Obviously since Brando experimented a lot things didn’t always work out whereas with many other mega stars audiences were usually guaranteed a “safe” largely standard competent performance.

      As one critic expressed it “Brando was never steadfastly fashionable – he was too diverse in his roles and movie subjects for there to be a “Marlon Brando film” in the way that were was a “Bogart film” and a “Cagney film” but he could do things on screen that they wouldn’t have even thought of.” Indeed Bogie himself said of him”This guy will be still acting when the rest of us are picking potatoes!”

      Reflections in a Golden Eye has had it is true many detractors but it also had some high-profile prestigious fans. For example:

      1/”When he saw the critical reaction to his carefully-constructed performance in Reflections it is no wonder that Brando seemingly lost interest in his career for a while.” David Shipman renowned film historian, author and critic.

      2/”The best performance that I personally have ever gotten out of an actor came from Marlon Brando in Reflections in a Golden Eye. Others might get better ones but that was MY best” -John Huston who got some powerhouse performances out of the likes of Humphrey Bogart

      Anyway as the saying goes one swallow doesn’t make a summer. See for example Part 2 of this post

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      1. BUD – when he wants to be.” Henry Fonda. NOTE: Bud was Brando’s nickname

         3/” Because he takes way-out chances Brando has at times made some bummers, that’s true. But when he’s on song he’ll hit the moon and you just know that nobody else will be able to give THAT great performance!” Jack Lemmon

         4/”There is before Brando and there is after Brando. THAT’s it! HE is the marker. I used to lie awake at night wondering when he might next appear and in what new guise.” Martin Scorsese.

         5/”What do I think of him now he’s gone? I loved him – and there will never be his like again!” Elizabeth Taylor

         6/”When I first saw him on stage in Streetcar -and I was one of the earliest to see him perform though I don’t claimed to have “discovered” him– I didn’t know who he was but I immediately knew that I was watching someone very special.” Maureen O’Hara

         6/”Brando dimmed the lustre of virtually every other recognised great actor before him. Even Frederic March became antiquated; and in fact [leaving aside the more theatrically-orientated Laurence Oliver] only Spencer Tracy’s reputation has survived Brando.” Wikipedia.

         7/Now that he has passed-on America will miss Marlon Brando – President George W Bush

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      2. Hey Bob….I am thinking this in response to my letterboxd review that did not mention the movie. That was a reminder to me to do an UMR page on Reflections in a Golden Eye. Good information on what others thought of Brando in this movie. I respect John Huston’s opinion on movies way more than mine….so I could be wrong about the performance….but I still did not like the movie at all. Good stuff as always.

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         1. HI BRUCE

            No quarrel with your comments here as for example I admired Brando’s prformance in 1960s The Fugitive Kind [aka Orpheus Descending] but didn’t like the film itself which I consider dry goods as some of Tennessee’s stuff is.

            For the record I didn’t like Reflections either but again I did admire Brando’s acting.

            Anyway have a good weekend.

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            1. I have not seen The Fugitive Kind yet….one day I will see it….if only because of Brando….but not thinking I have ever enjoyed a Tennessee Williams story yet.

2. HI BRUCE: Thanks for sharing the Island of Dr Moreau trivia with me as I was unaware of the fact that you have revealed. Awful film though of a movie that has been made in a couple of other versions down the years- 1932’s Island of Lost Souls with Charles Laughton as Dr Moreau; and 1977’s Island of Dr Moreau with Burt Lancaster as the good doctor.

   I should explain that it is a coincidence that we should be discussing Brando when you have just released a Kevin McCarthy page.

   I explained once to Steve that Kevin chumed-about with Marlon and Monty Clift at one time and there are pictures and maybe even a video on the internet of the three dressing up for prankster games which they regularly played at each other’s houses; and the visuals concerned show them clowning about pulling funny faces at each other.

   However Kev’s agent persuaded him to break off the friendship as the agent feared that Monty being gay might harm Kev’s career in those intolerant days of the 1950s.

   Ostracising poor Monty never of course worked in getting Kevin into the Brando/Clift league as a star though Kev did have a reasonably-successful and prolific career spanning over 70 years overall as your page well illustrates.

   Whether Kevin saw much of Brando after breaking from Monty I don’t know. I can’t say that I approve of Kev dropping a good friend like Monty in the way that he did, particularly for the prejudicial reason coincerned; but I don’t really care what actors such as Kev do in their personal lives provided they don’t kill another human being – or kill another actor’s career in the Joel fashion!

   Accordingly I loved watching Kevin on screen and his performance in 1956’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers frankly mesmerised me and it was good to see you giving it a high 82% rating.

   I also enjoyed McCarthy’s work especially in Eddie Robinson’s 1956 Nightmare and Rock Hudson’s 1963 Agathering of Eagles. A bit surprised though given the Monty Clift controversy Kev’s agent let Kevin appear in a Rock film! Anyway your McCarthy page is most welcome and therefore “Voted Up!”

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3. BOB ROY to BOB COX
   June 21, 2022 at 7:09 am

   HI BOB COX

   THIS father would like to thank your for your kind Father’s Day wishes. YOU have certainly a high profile among our more thoughtful viewers.

   Incidentally our big supermarkets over here in Northern ireland were selling droves of Father’s Day cards sporting numerous images of Brando’s face in a variety of scenes from The Godfather.

   One set of cards suggested in hyperbole that Don Corleone was “The GREATEST father of them all!” No argument from me there!

   Anyway Robert Cox I hope you are keeping well and I always look out for your enjoyable posts as your obviously humane ideology engenders great feelings of warmth in me.

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   1. Good thoughts Bob. I hope you had a great Father’s Day as well.

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      1. HI BRUCE: Thanks for the kind wishes.The Godpop Father’s Day cards that I spoke of are definitely hyperbolic. I mean a Mafia Don as the greatest daddy of all time!

         That said I understand that Godpop 1 is in The Donald’s top 3 fave movies of all time; and that Godpop 2 is Obama’s out-and-out most-liked movie ever.

         Accordingly there might well be consensus among both devoted US Republicans and Democrats that the Don is indeed a great “family man”.

         Certainly I’m not gonna argue with them if that’s the case. Actually my wife not being a particularly star-struck person herself cannot understand my fascination with the likes of Brando, Laddie, The Duke and Royal Gregory Dano and she will sometimes tease me by appropriately paraphrasing popular songs such as

         “My Bobby’s a Brando fan,
         Myrna Loy’s an also-ran.”

         Anyway give my own best wishes to the rest of the Cogerson clan the ‘Fonda Dynasty’ of UMR – and please take care.

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         1. Good information on the Godfather Father’s Day cards. Speaking of the Godfather movies, I watched all three of them about a month or two ago. I appreciated Brando’s role even more this time around. I like the Fonda Dynasty of UMR…..we are all doing well…Sam (DoC2) is half way through high school, Emily (DoC3) is about to be in her last year of middle school, Katie (DoC1) is expecting a child, as for our boys…all three are well on the way into their careers…proud of all of them. As for me and WoC…..she is enjoying her new job and I am getting a chance to recover from the school year. Good song lyrics except for the Loy part…lol.

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            1. Interesting run-down of how well the “Fondas” are progressing. Thanks for sharing it.

               As you liked the song lyrics here are some more which you can pass on to Katie with my best wishes. Regretfully I had to leave Myrna out this time. Ah well I think I give her enough publicity on this site!

               “Multiplication
               That’s the name of the game
               And each generation
               You know they play the same.”

               ‘Multiplication’ sung by Bobby Darin in 1961

            2. Hey Bob…. I watched the Val Kilmer documentary Val yesterday, there is some behind the scenes footage on Mr. Brando in that one…..with the funniest part of that film was a line by Val…..”and playing Mr. Brando is Norm”. Norm was Brando’s double for the The Island of Dr. Moreau.

4. COPIED FROM HIRSCH’S OWN PAGE
   I’m told that every American feels that it is his/her right to be free to make as much money as possible [legitimately of course] and if that is correct I am sure Hirsch [who I feel was a deeply law-abiding guy] wouldn’t have wanted to deny even Marlon his constitutional rights; but maybe he thought that The Great Mumbler had too much “freedom”!

   He could be right; but I am sure that Hirsch would not have dared to repeatedly attack the ‘excesses’ of others who were wallowing in wealth and there were and are many of them in Hollywood ; Marlon though was a soft target at the time Joel was writing his 1983 book and penning that other Brando-‘demonising’ material that The Work Horse once published on this site.

   It had though all gone full circle again when Brando died in 2004: Time magazine had has designated him one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th Century on a list that includes the likes of Albert Einstein, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, JFK, FDR and just 3 other mainstream movie stars [Monroe as a sex symbol, Chaplin as a silent comedian and Sinatra as a musician]; the AFI had ranked Brando the 4th greatest movie legend of all time; the “Bible” of the entertainment industry Variety listed him as one of the top 10 entertainers of the 20th century from all branches of entertainment; modern movie geniuses such as Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg have sung his praises; President George W Bush publicly mourned Brando’s passing when Marlon died in 2004; and maybe even better still Hirsch’s own disciple Bruce Cogerson includs Marlon in the Top 30 greatest stars of all time of either gender in Bruce 2019 book “The Top 50 Movie Stars – Statistically Speaking”

   Of course Hirsch could not have know all that back in 1983 when he was treating The Great Mumbler like some kind of nincompoop. It was then impossible for Joel to see that one day once again Marlon would be “in with the in-crowd” whereas most if not all of his detractors from Joel’s time would be “out with the out crowd”.

   “During his absences from the screen I used to experience great excitement at the thought of Brando returning. I would lie awake at night sometimes wondering when that would be and in what acting guise he might reappear.” – Martin Scorsese in TV interview.

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5. COPIED FROM HIRSCH’S OWN PAGE

   Frasier has had a long running feud with his upstairs neighbour Cam Winston in the posh apartment complex where they both live. In the 2- Part “Mother Lode” [Season 9, episodes 12 and 13 aired Jan 2002] presentation of TV’s Frasier the feud comes to a head when Cam complains to the complex condo board that Frasier’s car is taking up too much room in the block’s car park; and Frasier retaliates by paying a plumber to turn off Cam’s water supply when the latter is taking a shower.

   Cam counter-retaliates by draping from his balcony a massive reproduction of the national American flag which completely covers the window of Frasier’s apartment blocking his view and leaving the living room in semi-darkness.

   The dispute goes before a meeting of the condo board where Cam claims to have showcased the flag as he wanted fellow patriots in the neighbourhood to share in enjoying sight of it. This attracts a round of furious applause from the gathering at the meeting.

   A frustrated Frasier frantically attempts to counter with a plea to the meeting that he bought his apartment so that he could enjoy the magnificent view which Cam’s flag was now blocking. However Cam jumps up again and shouts out “NO! NO! You bought that apartment because you are FREE – you are an American!”

   This extracts from the gathering another enthusiastic round of applause and Cam then leads them in a chorus of the patriotically-rousing ‘America! America!’ and Frasier wisely gives up the ghost.

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