BRANDOFAN
One Eyed Jacks is a trio of aces.
Saw it last evening for the 2nd time and was blown away by the fact that it is not like a shoot em up western but allows for the characters to build their stories. One of the most beautiful movies to look at.
Brando shines as an actor and does a remarkable job directing the film. there are touches in everyone's performance which seem like they have been made up at that very instant, a typical brando trademark.
Brando looks great and his line - "dont be doin her like that", in the saloon is an absolute delight. the menace that he conveys by just saying it dead pan, is chilling...
The story is that brando and malden rob a bank in mexico and are on the run, brando stays back to stall the mexican law enforcement people, while Malden goes to get fresh horses. Malden decides not to go back ( a beautiful scene which shows how money blinds all) and keep the loot for himself.
Brando is imprisioned and breaks out after 5 years and goes looking for revenge. Malden has become a sheriff and has married a mexican and has a step daughter (pinna pellicer - beautiful). Brando comes back and plays Malden saying that nothing happend to him...then the sotry unfolds.
Has a whiplashing scene which has to be seen to be believed. A brilliantly acted and directed western. Was a box office hit but could not be termed so outright coz brando's inexperience behind the camera made the shoot linger on and on...
he took time to make the film but it was well worth the time. A great supporting cast - with Ben Johnson deleivering a cracker performance.
Brilliant!!
Its a pity he dint direct more often...
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
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2 comments:
Just to talk about one of the key elements of this unique film, Karl Malden as Dad was a casting that really paid off; Brando was convinced that only Malden was the actor for the role, which is a tribute to both Brando the director and Malden the actor. Brando should have made at least one more directing work -- perhaps another movie with Malden and without himself as an actor, in order to focus on the staging and the narrative per se. I don't think Stanley Kubrick nor Sam Peckinpah, great filmmakers as they were, could have crafted a piece so strangely fascinating as Brando's One-Eyed Jacks, had either of them been able to put their hands on the material.
mate, when kubrick was directing he had wanted spencer tracy for malden's role, but brando wanted malden even though tracy is one of the greats, but i think malden worked more because he normally played good guys...and too see such a role reversal was brilliant...
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