MovieChat Forums > Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) Discussion > Peter O'Toole can break my heart

Peter O'Toole can break my heart


I suppose that is the mark of a very great actor - someone who can rise above any material to touch something sublime and human and true. It really doesn't matter what I've seen him in, he always seems to transcend the material and bring tears to my eyes. He is the best of this movie. His reaction of stuttered connection to reality when he learns of his wife's death always breaks me open...and this from a sixties movie so riddled with musical cliches it can sometimes make me cringe. And in Troy, another over the top movie stuck in its era, he takes his scenes and makes them human and universal. When he works with Oscar material like Lawrence of Arabia, he's stunning,no less so when he's working with schlock like High Spirits. He's a treasure.

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This is why he is one of my favorite actors.

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That was so very well said. I have nothing that I can add to improve upon it in the least. Hear, hear!

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I cut my teeth on westerns, but over the years I have seen the greats. Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn, Laurence Olivier, Alec Guinness, George C. Scott, Sean Connery, Ian McKellen, Richard Burton, Ingrid Bergman, Robert De Niro, Anthony Hopkins, Robert Donat.

I can't pick #1, #2, etc., in excellence; not even in order of pleasure they bring me. But one thing I can say. I love Peter O'Toole as much as any one of them.

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So true. Just finishing up my 10th or 20th viewing... A truly great actor.

It astonishes me how few comments this movie has. 45 comments, for a 46 year old movie.

He was brave, and strong, and true. Like you.

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