i watched this at school after we read the *beep* book and i cant get over how over the top and theatrical cottons acting is. all the other kids are normal but he cant act like a normal 15 year old kid. oh and did any one else notice that the music from THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS apears quite often
shareYes he did belong in theater, because he STARTED out in theater!! Barry Robins was first and foremost a stage actor, doing Broadway plays such as "Camelot", "The King and I", etc. And here's something you should know--Barry was 25 years old when he made that film, so he was an adult playing a 15 year old!! He wasn't supposed to act like a "normal" teenager, because Cotton wasn't "normal". Hence, the "Bedwetters" and the so-called "losers" of the summer camp.
Yes, that was the music featured on the "Young & The Restless", because they refitted a tune called "Cotton's Dream" to becoming the title track for Y&R that was later used for "Nadia's Theme" in honor of the Gold Medal Gymnast from the 1976 Olympics.
If Barry Robins had been that good he would have known that acting on stage and doing it in film aren't the same thing. He ought to have adjusted his style accordingly. Theater work requires a lot more emoting and projecting to reach the audience.
shareI think Barry Robins did a good job in the part, I think the character he was playing was kind of over the top. But you have to keep in mind, that if a performance needs pulling back, that's the job of a director.
shareI'd say both the director and actor share credit and blame for a performance's strengths and weaknesses. As for Barry Robins here, he was much more strength than weakness in a film with inconsistent performances.
I have probably watched this film a dozen times now, and it's more of a sentimental favorite than a quality movie. The storytelling is a bit patchy, and the point of it all has been lost over the years – if it was even found when this was released – but as far as well-meaning efforts go, they don't get much stronger than this in my book. This is a coming-of-age film during a much different era for adolescence, and compounded with the environmental theme, it's a strong reminder that we are just a drop of water in an endless sea.
I agree, an actor and director definitely share responsibility for a performance. As someone who has performing experience, sometimes you can't accurately see how you're coming across, and the direction of "more" or "less" can make a huge difference, but I'm with you, I think Robins is a plus in this movie. The best character is Teft. It's all subjective, but I love this movie, and I don't think it's totally nostalgia, I think it's a great movie, although I tried to make the point in a (much) earlier post that if you first see this movie as an adolescent, it has a huge emotional impact that doesn't leave you, and that could very well be along the same lines as it be a sentimental favorite. I always found it interesting that one of Swarthout's goals in writing BTBAC was to provide a counterpoint to Lord of the Flies - Beasts being a story of adversity that causes the boys to band together to do something heroic, which really resonated with me when I saw this on tv, when I was around the age of the characters in the movie.
shareVery true. I think with this film more than most, the viewer's perception of it is shaped by their age and circumstances when they first saw it. This has always had a soft spot in my heart, though I can see someone watching it fresh today and not connecting with it. As for the performances, it seems child actors today are expected to be more nuanced and less "cutesy" or extreme. The actors here are very much a product of their times.
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