Who could play Archie Rice today?

I think Al Pacino would be good. He's one charasmatic sonuvabitch and carries homosexual aura around but is far from it and is in my opinion just as good as an actor.

Is the play good? I thoght the movie was brilliant; latley TCM has been showing great stuff and I get to catch it all cause I'm on Spring Break. Somtimes I stay up till like 4 to catch a showing of Passage to Marseille or somthing. I think films are overlooked as in not being taught in schools like they do with literature. Literature is probably better for learning but you can learn stuff from movies too. They should at least teach Citizen Kane or somthing, most kids think it's a rock group or somthing.

P.S.-A Patch of Blue airs 10:30PM on Wed. Theres somthin you can learn from
P.P.S.-Did you catch The Entertainer on Monday? Just curious.

Absolutely not. He's too caught up in being "theatrically realistic" without actually being natural. Nor has he shown any evidence of the over-the-top theatrical technique needed for the music hall scenes. I can't think of an American actor who could do the role -- Christopher Walken probably comes closest -- and very few Brits: Kenneth Branagh is still too young. Robert Lindsey could probably do it, and I'd love to see him go at it in a theatre. Ian McKellan could do it, and probably John Wood -- but why on earth would anyone ever try to film it again? Plays are meant to be recreated day after day after day. Films are not. Take another recent remake, "Alfie". Apparently someone thought "hey, let's re-make Alfie, and make it relevant to today." The thing is, the original Alfie is still relevant today. So on the one hand you have Michael Caine, Lewis Gilbert, Sonny Rollins, Otto Heller, and a brilliant supporting cast, and in the remake you have a bunch of people who suck. "The Entertainer" is a brilliant, relevant movie, there is no reason to remake it.

This is one heavy, heavy role. A character so stuffed with sentimentality that only an acting giant could make him believable off stage and sympathetic. Olivier didn't quite manage to un-sweeten Archie Rice. At moments, he does seem believable, but eventually bursts into a theatrical performance. This character is not suited for the screen, imho. And Olivier is one of them hams that never truly mastered acting for the screen. Lousy choice from the very beginning.

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5+ years ago, I saw The Entertainer on stage with Kenneth Branagh as Archie. (The poor man has condemned himself to always chasing Olivier's ghost.) He was good, though technique-y, performance. The standout was Greta Scacchi as the wife.