GREAT STARS OF THE PAST YOU JUST DON'T LIKE in Favorite Stars Forum

RSS
Email

0 Points

GREAT STARS OF THE PAST YOU JUST DON'T LIKE

Author	Comment
Richard Valley	MacMurray	#21	[-]
Posts: 54081 Jan 14 03 8:16 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I think if a guy's good enough at comedy for long enough, it becomes difficult to accept him as a serious actor, unless he's really good. Around the same time as he made the Disney films, Fred MacMurray tackled a seriocomic role in Billy Wilder's THE APARTMENT and acquitted himself beautifully . . .
	Remove this ad
Richard Valley	Re: COOPER & MONROE	#22	[-]
Posts: 54081 Jan 14 03 8:20 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Actually, with the sole exception of the actor I myself mentioned--William Holden, who I don't exactly hate--I very much like everyone who's been mentioned on this thread . . .
DonM435	Re: MacMurray	#23	[-]
Posts: 9514 Jan 14 03 8:22 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	MacMurray was very good in The Apartment. I liked him less in Double Indemnity.
freddybastion	Re: COOPER & MONROE	#24	[-]
Posts: 2774 Jan 14 03 9:25 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I really think Cooper is terrific in a lot of of his early to mid-30's Paramount work: PETER IBBETSON, DESIGN FOR LIVING, THE GENERAL DIED AT DAWN, DESIRE, even as the White Knight in ALICE IN WONDERLAND. There is a certain awkwardness about him that for me adds, rather than subtracts or detracts, from his performances. Also, even in his most cheerful moments, a wistful sadness. In his later work I feel he became (as so many stars have) a simplified caricature of his earlier persona. Marilyn Monroe doesn't do much for me either as an actress or as a sex symbol, even though I'm a straight, libidinous male. Her innocence seems genuine, and that is much of the problem; as a friend of mine once said, viewing her sexually is something akin to "screwing Bambi"... if you get the idea. Of course, I think it's a shame she had to endure the suffering that she did, but it doesn't make me think more of her as a star.
MarkDClark	Re: COOPER & MONROE	#25	[-]
Posts: 4501 Jan 15 03 11:47 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	>>Fred MacMurray tackled a seriocomic role in Billy Wilder's THE APARTMENT and acquitted himself beautifully . . .<< And he was tremendous in THE CAINE MUTINY.
Ken Hanke	Re: SMASHING IDOLS	#26	[-]
Posts: 71448 Jan 16 03 2:51 AM Administrator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* Among the female screen legends, I gotta vote Marilyn Monroe. Yes, she was gorgeous but so what? Even in her best films (like SOME LIKE IT HOT, which I love) she's more a curvaceous prop than a convincing actress. Good God! Mark Clark and I agree on something! Of course, we are polar opposites on Gary Cooper, though, so it kinda balances out.
Richard Valley	Re: COOPER & MONROE	#27	[-]
Posts: 54081 Jan 16 03 3:00 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Anyone who's seen other actresses in the roles played by Marilyn Monroe in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES, BUS STOP, THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH, and SOME LIKE IT HOT--as I have--knows full well what charm and musical ability and superb comic timing she brought to Lorelei Lee, Cherie, The Girl Upstairs, and Sugar Kane. My admiration for her has nothing whatever to do with her personal history . . .
Ken Hanke	Re: COOPER & MONROE	#28	[-]
Posts: 71448 Jan 16 03 12:39 PM Administrator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I still agree with Mr. Clark on this one.
MarkDClark	Re: COOPER & MONROE	#29	[-]
Posts: 4501 Jan 16 03 12:53 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	>>Good God! Mark Clark and I agree on something!<< Well, it had to happen sooner or later. I guess.
len2476buster	Re: COOPER & MONROE	#30	[-]
Posts: 7251 Jan 17 03 1:31 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	And, oddly enough, I'M siding with Mr. Valley on Marilyn Monroe! - Mr. Len
	Remove this ad
Daisy Hilton	Re: COOPER & MONROE	#31	[-]
Posts: 5954 Jan 17 03 2:15 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Piffle! Piffle! Piffle! That's what I say to the non-admirer's of Miss Monroe's talents! Well, Mr. Hanke can keep his dream-girl Ms. Kidman, it's funny but I never knew that a flying saucer had landed in Australia, and left behind its weakest link - - I'll take the real thing, MONROE. A true force of nature. An actress capable of making the blandest script bearable. A remarkable range for one so young. Unbeatable. Underestimated. Stunning. Sexual. Underappreciated, and quite simply, the most entrancing American female of the 1950's. (Audrey Hepburn would be the foreign-born entrancement). We are just surrealist pilgrims; melting clocks in marble halls.
MarkDClark	Re: COOPER & MONROE	#32	[-]
Posts: 4501 Jan 17 03 11:05 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Yeah but Audrey Hepburn could act, too. And for American-born entrancement I'll take Grace Kelly.
Daisy Hilton	Re: COOPER & MONROE	#33	[-]
Posts: 5954 Jan 17 03 11:21 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	As Ethel Merman once sang, "I'm always doing something for the boys...." We are just surrealist pilgrims; melting clocks in marble halls.
len2476buster	Re: COOPER & MONROE	#34	[-]
Posts: 7251 Jan 18 03 8:50 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well, thanks, Miss Daisy! I once went out with a girl who - as far as I was concerned - kind of reminded me of Grace Kelly, and it didn't go well. Nevertheless, I still enjoy many films featuring Ms. Kelly, and I think she had some good acting ability, despite what some of the critics had and have said about her. REAR WINDOW for one. As for Gary Cooper, how can anyone NOT like his work for Frank Capra, MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN and MEET JOHN DOE and his superb performance in perhaps my favorite baseball movie, PRIDE OF THE YANKEES? - Mr. Len
Richard Valley	Kelly and Monroe	#35	[-]
Posts: 54081 Jan 18 03 1:18 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I like Grace Kelly well enough, especially in her Hitchcock films, but that takes nothing away from my great admiration for Marilyn Monroe--who could act very well, thank you. Would the roles Kelly played in REAR WINDOW, DIAL M FOR MURDER, TO CATCH A THIEF, and HIGH NOON have been perfect casting for Monroe? Of course not. Would Kelly have been able to play Monroe's roles in SOME LIKE IT HOT, GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES, THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH, and BUS STOP? Not on your life! And don't kid yourself that the Monroe roles don't require just as much talent--or more, since two of them require singing and dancing--as the Kelly roles . . .
jmaci(d)	TALENT vs APPEAL	#36	[-]
Posts: 1255 Jan 18 03 1:57 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Richard this brings up an interesting point. I'm sure I did not make it clear when I got this thread going: for me, it rarely has anything to do with talent, whether I like a star or not. I agree that Monroe had more than enough talent for her better roles. Same with Kelly (can't imagine anybody else in REAR WINDOW). I guess I was looking for big stars we don't like just because, well, they don't inspire us, they don't 'grab' us, perhaps for no explainable reason. Another one for me is Spencer Tracy. Undoubtedly one of the finest actors to appear in American film, yet he seldom excites me. I don't mean a physical appearance/attraction thing either. It's about 'Star Quality', an elusive thing to be sure. Monroe had Star Quality in spades. I can see how her entrance in any film is an 'event' to be reckoned with. Yet, I remain unmoved. "I don't undertand any of it, I never did" Jay M ******************************* "That's the way it crumbles, cookie-wise"
Richard Valley	Re: TALENT vs APPEAL	#37	[-]
Posts: 54081 Jan 18 03 3:14 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Spencer Tracy is a great favorite of mine, in terms of both talent and star quality. One need only watch INHERIT THE WIND to see that, for all Fredric March's hammy huffing and puffing, Tracy quietly wipes him off the screen . . .
len2476buster	Re: TALENT vs APPEAL	#38	[-]
Posts: 7251 Jan 18 03 4:21 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well, Fredric March's performance IS supposed to have a bit of "ham" in it, no? I thought both he AND Tracy were great in INHERIT THE WIND! AND Dick York too, now that I think of it! Just about everybody in that film was at their very best! You know, that "Talent vs. Appeal" angle explains a lot of our KARLOFF VS. LUGOSI skirmishes, does it not? - Mr. Len
The Borgo Kid	Re: TALENT vs APPEAL	#39	[-]
Posts: 3768 Jan 18 03 5:10 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Male: Frank Sinatra. Aside from his early musicals and maybe THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, I could never take his weasely, wise-ass, tough-guy posturing. A ten-year-old could have mopped the floor with him if Jilly Rizzo wasn't in the same room. Come to think of it, I can't stand any of the Rat Pack except Dean Martin. Female: Loretta Young. I can't watch one of her films without thinking of the overdressed, faux goody two-shoes, holier-than-thou image she so desperately cultivated in "real life". How that one ever managed to give Clark Gable an orgasm, I'll never know.
Richard Valley	Re: TALENT vs APPEAL	#40	[-]
Posts: 54081 Jan 19 03 2:12 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Fredric March's performance IS supposed to have a bit of "ham" in it, no? I thought both he AND Tracy were great in INHERIT THE WIND! Oh, I agree, but it works because the hammy, self-important character seems so much like Fredric March himself. When March plays what is supposed to be a more straightforward character--his Dr. Jekyll, for instance--with the same thick slices of ham, he's rather ridiculous . . .
	Remove this ad

<< Previous Topic Next Topic >>

Yuku free message boards

GREAT STARS OF THE PAST YOU JUST DON'T LIKE