Marlon Brando?
I love Eli Wallach, but he doesn't look like enough of a ladies man. I think the role was tailor made for Brando.
What do you think?
I think Eli Wallach did a fantastic job as Silva Vacarro and was very believable in this role. He and Carroll Baker looked really good together!!!
shareI agree -- it would have been easy to cast a hunk in the role. Besides, while Wallach's no pretty boy, he has tremendous charisma. I can easily understand why she was turned on by him.
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Vacarro doesn't have to be a "ladies man" - he has to be someone who poses a threat to Meighan; someone who Baby Doll would find attractive. In just about every respect, Eli Wallach was perfect casting for Vacarro.
I've read suggestions here about Marlon Brando playing Vacarro and Marilyn Monroe as Baby Doll. Although I think they're both great, they would have been completely wrong for the film; they were both so iconic at that time they would have overwhelmed the movie. "Baby Doll" benefitted immensely from the less-familiar faces (and, needless to say, brilliant performances) of Eli Wallach and Carroll Baker. Their comparatively low profiles in 1956 made the film & its characters all the more convincing.
I don't think Vaccaro is meant to be a ladies man. He's someone who grows on Baby Doll; not someone to whom she'd have been immediately attracted. He treats her in a way that works with her. He gets 'rough' at times but follows it up with tenderness. He's serious but also playful. He comes on to her then backs off. It's a constant push and pull.
He knows exactly how to push her buttons to get what he wants from her. The whole time he has her thinking he wants one thing, her; but all along he has his own agenda in mind. It works because she's accustomed to men wanting sex from her. By denying them, she retains full control. With Vaccaro it's different, it gets to the point she's practically throwing herself at him because he's not really after that. She's trying to assert her control and even when she thinks it's working, it's not. Like a magic act, he diverts her attention so he can easily pull the trick off in a different direction.
And, let's not forget, Vaccaro has a modicum of wealth; something her husband does not have and couldn't give her. That attracts her too. He knows that. For once she's met her match. She's not able to use her sexually to get what she wants because he doesn't want her. She's young, dumb, the place is dirty, and she can be easily duped and made to turn against her own husband. She may not like him but, as long as they're still tied to each other, turning against him is turning against her own best interests. Vaccaro points out many times he's Sicilian from the old country. Loyalty and principles mean a lot. His only score he has to settle with Archie Lee is for torching his gin and he got that proof.
Vaccaro always looks out for 'number one', himself. He's even willing to go into business with Archie Lee, the very man he knows burned down his cotton gin, because he sees the benefit of it. Archie Lee's gin works well and it will be profitable for him. That's all that matters. Baby Doll doesn't get it. That's why when she's left 'holding the bag' in the end, it's much to her surprise. The movie ends with her being in an even worse position than where she started.
That's a perfect analysis of the film and the characters in it. Well done Mdonin. I couldn't have done it better myself. Thank you.
~It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: The music is nothing if the audience is deaf.~
Thanks mrsugaless, how nice of you to say! I like your quote and agree with it. I don't recall ever hearing that specific one. Is it from a movie or did you come up with it yourself?
shareThank you mdonin. I'm not wise enough to come up with a quote like that on my own. My signature quote is from Walter Lippmann. Lippman was an American writer, reporter, and political commentator famous for being among the first to introduce the concept of Cold War, coining the term "stereotype" in the modern psychological meaning, and critiquing media and democracy in his newspaper column and several books, most notably his 1922 book Public Opinion.
~It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: The music is nothing if the audience is deaf.~
That's a perfect analysis of the film and the characters in it. Well done Mdonin.
Marlon Brando would've been about as effective as a giraffe's butt hole in this role.
Brando couldn't do the comedy.
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