Lee Marvin was great too. Underrated.
--
Perhaps underated -- and perhaps forgotten? -- now, but Lee Marvin worked long and hard as a character guy, supporting actor and TV star (M Squad) and finally had a short but major superstar career in the 60s that tapered off in the 70's(when he made good but non-hit movies like Emperor of the North.)
It started in 1965 for Marvin. His premature white-gray hair actually helped tone down his mean, simian features, and added sex appeal. He won the Best Actor Oscar in 1965 (ten years after Borgnine's 1955 win) for the comedy Western Cat Ballou and a drunk act that had some serious overtones as a broken-down gunslinger. (Over time it became clear in movies that Marvin's drunk act wasn't an act.) Also in 1965, Marvin was good(and drunk again) opposite ..Vivien Leigh!? in Ship of Fools. In 1966, he had his best role(IMHO) as the cool, deadpan mercenary with a heart of gold(opposite Burt Lancaster) in the Western adventure The Professionals. 1967 was a huge year for Marvin-- The Dirty Dozen in summer and Point Blank in the fall.)
Marvin then did something that, in retrospect, was wrong for him, even if entertaining. He dropped out of the William Holden role in The Wild Bunch(yes, he HAD accepted it) to play a comedy Western drunk again in Paint Your Wagon(1969) opposite Clint Eastwood, in a MUSICAL. Paint Your Wagon actually hasa a lot of fans but something about that movie hurt Marvin's star momentum.
To match his mistake in dropping out of The Wild Bunch, Marvin 6 years later turned down Quint in Jaws.
Personally, I think that William Holden -- a handsome, faded, struggling movie star -- was better casting for The Wild Bunch than the super-hot at the time Marvin. T But Jaws could have rejuvenated Marvin's career -- Robert Shaw was great, but Marvin came with "ex superstar credentials."
And oh...Lee Marvin AND Ernest Borgnine were BOTH henchmen of villain Robert Ryan in Bad Day at Black Rock. They went far.
reply
share