I love the movie, its no big deal, but the only problem I had with the movie is Brad Pitt looked to good to portray a drunk. He's drinking all the time, but doesn't look like a drunk, except for the time his brother got him out of jail. But the rest of the time he looked great, and in control, even though he'd been drinking a lot.
Sadly, my uncle, who drank himself to death at age 43, in 1964, also looked great. He was very popular with women, much-loved by his family, and is still spoken of with great love and sadness. He simply killed himself with alcohol, and seemed intent on doing so from an early age. He, like Paul, was an anomaly. He was raised the same as his brothers and sisters and had the same life experiences. His parents nor any of his forebears were alcoholic. Sometimes it just happens.
shareSome people can get away with it - for awhile. Were Montgomery Clift and Errol Flynn drinking a lot in their prime?
shareMonty Clift looked great in his prime, but was tortured about his homosexuality and drank to excess and took pills.
At the peak of his fame, he was in a horrendous car accident that smashed his gorgeous face and left him in constant pain. At a birthday party at Elizabeth Taylor's house atop Benedict Canyon, a doctor pal/groupie gave Monty pills as a birthday gift. Drunk and wasted, he crashed his car into the canyon, and miraculously survived. He continued to act in movies despite his altered looks, but suffered greatly until he died in his 40's.
Hi avenueaddison,
Everyone who attended the party said that Clift was sober throughout it. He was shooting Raintree County at the time and was on good behavior. There was a heavy fog that night. He was following Kevin McCarthy and crashed the car near Elizabeth Taylor's home. The crash destroyed his looks. Very sad case.
I've always wondered just how tortured he was about his homosexuality. An older friend had seen him in a play in New York, went backstage. He was surrounded by a number of young men and seemed very comfortable. I think he had a number of personal demons.
@digitaldiva
Interesting. Of course we'll never know whether Montgomery was high that particular night, but it doesn't matter. I read that he got a birthday card from the "Dr Feelgood" who hung out with Elizabeth Taylor who wrote scripts for pills to various celebs. Glued to the card were a colorful array of pills for Clift as a birthday gift. Then supposedly Monty went to the bathroom, and nobody knows if he took any of the pills or not. But it doesn't matter. He crashed the car, and suffered for the rest of his life because of that unfortunate accident.
I also heard that he was openly gay within the Hollywood community, but like most homosexuals in that era, lived in constant fear of being outed publicly. Just a sad fact of the times. I met an older gay man who was famous in that era as a writer, and knew Clift a bit. Only said he was a very funny guy at parties, etc.
Hi gioconda91423,
I can only repeat what Kevin McCarthy said. It was a dinner party given by Elizabeth Taylor and her then husband, Michael Wilding and Clift was on his best behavior. Clift suffered from multiple health problems so he may have used pain pills but McCarthy said he was sober and blamed the fog for the accident.
Clift wasn't a studio contract player and lived the life he wanted to. I'd read that he was quite funny too, a fabulous talent.
Brad Pitt was making producer's panties wet back in the day. They couldn't bear to make him a smidgen ugly. His character was hideous in Legends of the Fall as well, but they shot it like he was a demigod descended from heaven.
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Call them ISIL. Isis is an overloaded term that has many other legitimate uses.
He wasn't just a drunk but a general party guy. He liked having a good time and drinking was only a part of it. Genetics and youth could have also worked in his favor.
He was pretty darned cute in this film. I've known a few lushes that retained their looks, but not in their 40's. That's when things start to slip and slide.
Why ain't you at the garden party you heathen?