Dan Duryea - Winchester '73 (1950) Discussion

[–] wildbillharding 15 years ago

I agree, Madmadrid. He often made a bad movie bearable - like He Rides Tall, for example. He was superb in an early Rawhide segment called Incident With An Executioner. The problem was that when my Pa taught me to enjoy westerns as a kid, he once called him Dan Diarrhoea!!

Lee Marvin was always great, too. A marvellous actor and brave soldier in WW2, he should have played Pike Bishop in The Wild Bunch instead of William Holden. Holden was fine in the part, but Marvin came up with the original story for the film and should have played Pike. Instead he was in that turkey of a musical, Paint Your Wagon.

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[–] grandfunkfan 14 years ago

When I first saw this movie, one comparison I immediately made was bad guys Dan Duryea and Lee Marvin. They could both portray a down-right crazy madman to perfection.

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[–] sockscats 13 years ago

"Lee Marvin was always great, too. A marvellous actor and brave soldier in WW2, he should have played Pike Bishop in The Wild Bunch instead of William Holden"

It's my understanding that Marvin didn't want a role in the Wild bunch because he thought it was too similar to "The professionals" filmed a year before. He was in that star studded film.

In any event i hate it when people take a great role in a great film and complain about who played the part. Holden did that role as well as could be done.

Some people even lament that Eastwood tuned down the Harmonica role in Once upon a time in the west. For crying out loud Bronson was born for that role!

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[–] madmadrid 15 years ago

Yes. I actually enjoyed the supporting actors more so than some of the stars. Warren Oates,Jack Elam,Claude Akins come to mind too.And who could forget Leo Gordon in all those 50s western parts.

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[–] SonicAndy 14 years ago

Dureya and Bart Maclane were both great bad guys, the difference being that Maclane was a brute through and through, while Dureya was (almost always) a snivelling coward. Both were great actors. Too bad they seldom got to play other parts.

"I'm a gentleman's gentleman, and you're no bloody gentleman !"

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[–] romarub 14 years ago

Richard Widmark in Kiss of Death; Neville Brand in D.O.A.; James Cagney in White Heat; Jack Palance in Shane; Duryea was terrific in this, too.

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[–] abccollectibles 14 years ago

Duryea had a way of making you like the Bad Guy. Of course most of the time he portrayed someone who was slightly nuts but interesting:)

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[–] TheSilverScreenJunkie 13 years ago

Just watched the movie for the first time in my life, and right away, as great as james stewart was, MAN was "Waco johnny dean" by far my favorite character of the film, and you nailed it, "nuts but interresting", you could see he was a little off like he had killed many people before, but man he kept making me laugh and his lines were GREAT especially the delivery

i was happy to see i wasnt the only one to appreciate what Duryea did in this movie, i thought he was awesome, and when he kills ol stevie, MAN that was lightning fast draw, left handed, ANd sitting down, bad ass.

"...8 year olds, dude..." -Walter , The Big Lebowski (1998)

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[–] sjl004 14 years ago

Yeah seeing him in a few things recently, Woman in the Window and Scarlet Street.

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[–] okrim37 14 years ago

IMHO he deserved to be nominee as best supporting actor for his perf in Anthony Mann's picture; he's terrific in WINCHESTER '73!

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[–] mvassa71 13 years ago

Just saw him for the first time in this film. That guy had charisma to BURN, I wonder why he didn't become more famous? He almost seemed to have the "method" style of acting, and was a real standout for me.

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[–] madmadrid 13 years ago

Yep a real classy character actor,one of the best.

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[–] jbacks3 13 years ago

I just took in Winchester '73 on Netflix instant view-thing to inaugurate my new DVD blu-ray player and was re-amazed at Duryea's performance. He had the ability to improve any project he appeared in--- sadly, I think his drinking affected his career and would contribute to his death... but an amazing actor! I also look for his son Peter on things in the 60's...

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[–] chrisasiama 13 years ago

I just watched this movie again earlier and I forgot how good Dan was as Waco. I've seen him in a few old movie westerns and film noirs and he always gave a great, interesting performance.

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[–] Doc-McCoy 10 years ago

"sadly, I think his drinking affected his career and would contribute to his death... but an amazing actor!"

Duryea was not an alcoholic. He had a serious heart condition that stemmed from a heart attack he suffered in 1932 at the age of only 25, as a result of job-related stress. It took him a year to recover from that, after which he decided to go into acting. The heart condition resulted in his never really gaining much weight, in his early roles he was especially thin.

"Life is a scam" - Steve McQueen

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[–] peterwin12345 11 years ago

"I didn't come here to pick blueberries" - one of my favorite lines ever.

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[–] nedeljkodjukic88 10 years ago

I can only talk of western 'bad guys'. Yes, Dan Duryea is great, I first saw him in 'Ride Clear of Diablo', then in 'Night Passage' (plays character named Whitey in both) and was thrilled with his performances. I liked his laughter in particular. These are some other bad guys I liked:
Jack Palance, Richard Boone, Lee van Cleef, Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Gian Maria Volonte, Klaus Kinski, Arthur Kennedy, Telly Savalas and of course Jack Elam as the best side-negative-character.

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[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] nedeljkodjukic88 10 years ago

Yes, I remember a little bit that scene from Hondo. But I'll have to see that one - Quantrill's raiders.

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[–] dalbrech 9 years ago

The nice thing about Duryea is that when playing a psycho,he relised that less is often more, and a more controlled approach was better then just chewing up the scenary.

I'll Teach You To Laugh At Something's That's Funny
Homer Simpson

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[–] wsimpson3 8 years ago

Lee Van Cleef
Robert J. Wilke

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