Joel McCrea's acting


Is it just me or does he suck in this movie? I've heard better delivery in 70's porn dialogue.

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When I watched the film for the first time, I thought McCrea was just ok. But after repeated viewings, I thought he was great.
Totally agree with you here. In fact, I have now watched this movie a dozen times since my first viewing and the more I watch it, the more I think his acting was perfect for the part.

He was not supposed to be an experienced, or polished, reporter. He was supposed to be wet-behind-the-ears and I think he played that to the hilt. He really did a great job.

It's a shame that some cannot, or refuse to, appreciate his talent. They're missing out on fun.

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He was not supposed to be an experienced, or polished, reporter. He was supposed to be wet-behind-the-ears and I think he played that to the hilt. He really did a great job. - CindyH

I agree that Joel McCrea did a great job here. If I'm recalling rightly, he had been cast in lighter roles prior to Foreign Correspondent and this was his chance to star in a dramatic role; that was also the case with Dick Powell before he did Farewell, My Lovely, although I could be mixing up the two.

However, I think that McCrea's Johnny/Huntley was "wet behind the ears" only as a "foreign correspondent" (or non-foreign correspondent, as the editor would have it). It's noted early on that he's already a veteran crime reporter, and that experience helps him later when he's looking for Van Meer and then pursuing Fisher and his ilk. So, he's new to his current role but not to the overall profession.

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"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." - Hunter S. Thompson

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Joel McCrea annoys the crap out of me. His light-hearted bonehead character (he plays it every movie) is excruciating. I can take him in this movie exactly once. He's the 40s version of meathead. (a chotch!)

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He's pretty good in the first half though.

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McCrea is one of those actors who is extraordinary because he acts so smoothly that you can't even tell that he is acting. He furthermore always came to productions so well prepared and acted so professionally on the sets that he was constantly in demand in the forties. Hitchcock loved his work in this film.

He had a lot of the same easygoing style of Jimmy Stewart. I loved him in just about everything he was in.

On a sidenote, despite a significant age difference, he and Will Rodgers hit it off hugely when they first met in the early thirties and remained extremely good friends until Rodgers's death. Everything I've ever read about McCrea talks abotu what a good and decent person he was.

But I think he was one of the most reliable actors of the forties. his career faded after that, though he did a lot of Westerns. So many actors just seem to have their time. For some reason his career failed to flourish in the late forties and fifties.

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ckdh67 ~ Is it just me or does he suck in this movie? I've heard better delivery in 70's porn dialogue.

It's just you - you watch too much 70s porn, evidently.

I thought Joel McRae acquitted himself admirably in this film.

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Joel McCrea is the man. Have you ever seen The Most Dangerous Game? He is the man. Period.

http://ocdviewer.wordpress.com

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He didn't suck but it wasn't his finest performance for sure. The actors who played the supporting characters (Herbert Marshall, George Sanders and Albert Bassermann) gave much more memorable performances.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4_C7VSbwvc

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It's just you. I don't know how you think he should have acted, or who you think may have been better in the role, but for me Joel McCrea did it perfectly. I think Hitchcock thought so, too.

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McCrea is great. He's the epitome of what natural acting is all about, and his line readings are flawless. See The More the Merrier, The Richest Girl in the World, Woman Chases Man for his comic performances. I can't think of anyone else that could, with seeming effortlessness,carry off the burden of those heavy final lines in Stars in My Crown.

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