MovieChat Forums > Lonelyhearts Discussion > Was Montgomery Clift unique? Yes!!!

Was Montgomery Clift unique? Yes!!!

posted 18 years ago by jolypm
5 replies | jump to latest

Just saw the movie last night, on video. And now, I want to see (or see again) all of Clift's movies! He was fabulous. His acting style, (and this voice!), is so great that all the others' look very pale compared to his. Except for Myrna Loy. But her part is so small, badly developed that you really wish it would have been a better one. Stapleton (Maureen, not Jean) didn't really impressed me. She's good, yes, but not that much! It was her movie debut and she did some better work after this one. It was Monty's first movie after his terrible car accident. And it shows. He seems to have great difficulty to walk and doesn't look too well sometimes but his acting is SO intense that Robert Ryan looks as if he were rehearsing and needed a good kick in the ass just to be a bit better than him! As for the story, well, the movie has been made in 1958 and it shows a lot: still, for the pleasure of watching Montgomery Clift, go for it. A great acting lesson! Brando and Dean just took his acting style, Newman and all the others. But truly, he was really the FIRST one! And, UNIQUE!

[–] zurichpoet 15 years ago

Monty was a great one. That's true.
Nathanael West the author, whose book this movie is based on, is a great writer too.

The role Monty plays is a tough one.
He has to show innocence as a choice, and not merely because the guy is young or totally naive. Well played!

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Moon_and_New_York_City 14 years ago

I love Montgomery Clift the man so much, sometimes - like in this movie - it is hard for me to watch Montgomery Clift the actor; in a tortured, haunting performance battling all his old demons: pain killers, alcohol, homosexuality.

And yet here - as always - he is brilliant. And unique. There is only one Montgomery Clift.

"the best that you can do is fall in love"

[–] jazinegrrrl 14 years ago

Monty was great but I don't think he eclipsed Robert Ryan. I think they complemented each other very well, the tension between the two characters were great. Robert Ryan was a great actor in his own right.

[–] Zuider_Zee 12 years ago

I like Clift as well but doesn't he always seem to play the same character? His voice, his mannerisms, his style do not seem to vary from one film to another. Granted, I haven't seen that many but, of those I have seen, he doesn't seem to have much variation.