I reckon Duvall is one of the best actors there is.
shareHe was fantastic, that's true. He had the character down to every hair on his balding head. I loved all the nuances and the subtle bits of acting -brilliant. Travolta did a darn good job of it too.
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Yes, Duvall was BRILLIANT, but I think the whole cast was !
shareThat's why I keep watching this movie everytime it is aired on some cable channel. Everybody did a fantastic job in it, and not only the actors.
shareYes, absolutely everybody!
A CIVIL ACTION is a solitaire, a stand-out move in everybody's career, the best this director ever did, one of the best screenplays ever brought to screen, the acting of everybody involved is fantastic (the movie is one of the best in every of the involved actors careers), the camera is superb, even the music is great!
Is is probably the best "courtroom movie" ever since 12 ANGRE MEN (and beats the also quite good ERIN BROCKOVICH easiy).
Prime stuff, a movie for grown-ups intelligent movie-lovers, a movie that's made maybe once a decade.
While I would never minimize Robert Duvall's amazing career, I did find his acting in this movie occasionally irritating. For instance, when all of the lawyers are meeting at the hotel and Duvall is asking about the free pen, it seemed over the top and a distraction. We get it, you're excentric and complex.
I recall him playing a similar "Yoda" like character in "Days of Thunder" which was also over the top.
Kowalchuk - the scene with Duvall asking for a pen at the conference room? that was a scene built around a real-life occurrence detailed in the book. Your read of Duvall is way off: his was a very nuanced portrayal of an eccentric but legal genius.
:-) canuckteach (--:
it was a nice pen too.
Where there's smoke, there's barbecue!
Duvall asking about the free pen
imo he is like nixon asking ''did you do any fornicating ? ''
just trying to throw off his rival
he is but he does play the same character type in all of his movies. Not much variance to be honest. I thought William H Macy's character was the best acted and believable. Duvall was best as the surfing wannabe officer in Apocalypse Now.
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