In this movie, Jack Palance exhibits all the best traits of a good, sensitive man fighting the good fight and loving his woman (who also loves him!). In "Shane", he exhibits all the worst traits of a truly horrible human being and murderous bully. It's amazing to me how he can play such contradictory parts with such complete accuracy and conviction!!! He's probably the most underrated actor of all time. Might be my favorite actor of all time.
shareExcellent points
shareCheck him out in Robert Aldrichs minor classic "Attack". If you have never seen the scene between Palance and the Nazi tank, find this film!
shareAnd they gave him an Oscar. And he did one-handed push-ups after accepting it.
sharePalance is incredible in Attack, and Lee Marvin is very good too.
If you want to see a great Palance vehicle, get the TV version (Playhouse 90 or one of those shows) live of Requiem for a Heavyweight.
Short Cut, Draw Blood
They grow 'em pretty tough here in Pennsylvania.
sharehe was great too in monte walsh and he was playing a good guy
sharethose are great points about palance, "probably the most underrated actor of all time", when i first realised he was going to play with an accent in a smaller part i was disappointed, and then you're left just blown away by his performance standing out from the rest of the movie, a co actor in the dvd bonus material describes palance as a quiet person on the set, that is quite a contrast from his often intense acting style. bit of an unusual piece this, it is the only western i remember seeing where one of the players is thinking about the animals. what a cast, i recognise about every actor in this, some i've seen only in movies made decades later, a funny thing, there's an actor in this from trading places that happens to use the same kind of language in this, also i recognised the chef and train conductor from "the shining" and "silver streak", great dialogue too, i'm glad the best went to palance, as i said it worked even though he had put on an accent, but most memorable line of the movie was early on the "only people make love face to face"!. extraordinary much bonus material on the dvd release i got. major spoiler follows, usually these kind of movies kill off one star after another as the movie goes along, extraordinary hardly anyone gets killed in this not even the main crook.
spirit that brought me home,
a voice among others speak in lingo,
truth i couldn't see in the past,
so clear now walking the christian path,
when strengths gone,
natural force to rely on,
lord take my hand,
in the field lost all i had,
somehow found back to the game,
though with nothing left in this world i'm at,
found the christian path.
There is an odd cult film called Baghdad Cafe which Palance has a large role in. It's really worth seeing, funny and heart-warming and off-beat.
share