MovieChat Forums > Humphrey Bogart Discussion > he killed George Raft's career.

he killed George Raft's career.


according to a TCM bio i watched yesterday.

reply

Deliberately, or was just that Bogart was so boss Raft caved in?

reply

he was a better actor and the director's recognized it.

reply

Bogart doesn't get the credit he deserves as an actor. He's one of those who gets saddled with the "oh, he was always just playing himself!" thing, but I don't think he was, and even if he had a narrow range, so what? One can accomplish greatness in a narrow range. Just ask Billie Holiday!

reply

I think Bogart was a fantastic actor. It wasn't at all unusual on the old IMDb boards every six months or so to see a 'Who was the better actor - Brando or Bogart?' thread appear, and opinion was always pretty evenly spread (I'd certainly sooner watch him than Brando any day).

reply

Generally-speaking, yeah, I'd agree that I'd rather watch Bogart. That could be the films, though. So, I prefer The Maltese Falcon to The Wild One, for instance. Bogart is a real talent. I feel like there are, broadly-speaking, three kinds of actors: leads, character actors, and chameleons. Or, at least, those are the three kinds of roles. Some actors are really good at one or two of those categories, but if the public doesn't perceive them as "chameleons," they get rated lower.

Bogart is deceptive. He's like a villain who got to play the hero, and as a result, he's hard to pin down. I think because he had VERY distinctive mannerisms, speaking voice, and physicality a lot of people pigeon-hole him into a particular type of role. I've seen his breadth, though, and whether he's playing it cool (Sam Spade) or utterly losing control (Capt. Queeg) he's always great.

reply

'Bogart is deceptive. He's like a villain who got to play the hero, and as a result, he's hard to pin down. I think because he had VERY distinctive mannerisms, speaking voice, and physicality a lot of people pigeon-hole him into a particular type of role. I've seen his breadth, though, and whether he's playing it cool (Sam Spade) or utterly losing control (Capt. Queeg) he's always great.'

Good points. One of my very favourite performances of his is Charlie in The African Queen. Very different type of role for him (which of course he won the Oscar for).

reply

I think my personal favourite is his role in In a Lonely Place. He plays right along the edge of likeable and hatable, and it's really something. He's at his "Bogarest" in The Big Sleep (in my opinion), but for dramatic range, yeah, I'd agree with you that Charlie is up there. I also admired his comic capabilities in Sabrina. We don't get to see that a lot with Bogey - outside of a few choice one-liners or sardonic quips, of course.

reply

The Big Sleep is a great one. I haven't watched that in some while. My absolute favourite Bogart role is Rick Blaine. But then Casablanca is my all time favourite movie!

reply

If forced, I will answer, "What's your favourite movie?" with "Casablanca," but I find that category too large. How do I compare Casablanca with Duck Soup or 2001 or Lord of the Rings? But, yes, Casablanca basically has everything you could want in one picture, and yes, Bogart knocks it out of the park.

reply

Raft killed his own career. He kept turning down roles that then fell to Bogart - little films like The Maltese Falcon which Raft refused because he didn't want to work with a first time director.

reply

Raft was sexy in an oily kind of way, but he was a crap actor, a real dick, he had serious mob connections (no, really), and didn't know a hit script when he was offered one.

If the studios preferred Bogie, there were reasons.

reply

If Raft had had better judgment

reply

Well if pigs had wings, then beggars would ride flying pigs, right?

No, Raft had the career he deserved, or more than he deserved. He was popular largely because Mob films were in vogue during the early 1930s, and he was mobbed up. But his popularity didn't last as long as the genre's did, because Cagney, Gable, and Bogart were after the same roles, and were better actors.

reply

I'd always heard it was because he was all mobbed up that sank his career. Chances are it was a little of all the reasons people are giving here.

reply

No, being mobbed up was probably the only reason he had a career in the first place!

Seriously, I think the declining popularity of mob films was a bigger issue, and that guy was typecast as a mobster for a reason.

reply

Exactly.

reply

I always saw him as a brilliant co-star rather than a great leading man, Bogart was the opposite.

reply

Nonsense. Bogart didn't kill anybody's career. One career doesn't tank just because another good actor emerges in the same genre of films.

reply