Marlon Brando, James Dean, Montgomery Clift?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by alexpop, Oct 20, 2014.

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  1. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits.... Thread Starter

    Roughly the same brush stroke.
    Who do you prefer?
     
  2. stepeanut

    stepeanut The gloves are off

    Brando by a country mile.

    Funnily enough, I just picked up a first edition hardback of Songs My Mother Taught Me, from a charity shop, this Saturday gone. A bargain at £3.99.
     
  3. The Wanderer

    The Wanderer Seeker of Truth

    Location:
    NYC
    The Godfather
     
  4. jjh1959

    jjh1959 Senior Member

    Location:
    St. Charles, MO
    Brando. It's no contest.
     
  5. tman53

    tman53 Vinyl is an Addiction

    Location:
    FLA
    Brando, while I like them, the other two are not in the same class.
     
  6. guidedbyvoices

    guidedbyvoices Old Dan's Records

    Location:
    Alpine, TX
    I assume we're just judging by their 50s work? Brando easily but I do like Clift a lot too, especially in A Place in the Sun. No slight on Dean, I like him a lot in Giant
     
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  7. ralphb

    ralphb "First they came for..."

    Location:
    Brooklyn, New York
    The same brushstroke? You're just starting these threads to be argumentative, aren't you? Because if you really believe this, well....
     
  8. Andy Lee

    Andy Lee Active Member

    Location:
    North Shields, UK
    At his best, Brando, but Clift was good in pretty much everything. Dean's iconic, but as an actor, I'll pass.
     
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  9. jjhunsecker

    jjhunsecker Senior Member

    Location:
    New York city
    Brando is the God of acting, so he's Number One in my book. Clift was excellent, but unfortunately his demons got to him, and a lot of his later career was wated . Dean was a very good actor who sadly did not have the time to mature even further
     
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  10. jwoverho

    jwoverho Licensed Drug Dealer

    Location:
    Mobile, AL USA
    If Clift had died at roughly the same point in his career as Dean, he would probably be held in the same esteem Dean is today. Instead, he carried out what has been called one of the longest suicides in Hollywood history.
    He never really recovered from the car accident that left his face partially paralyzed and led him down a path of alcohol and Demerol that surely contributed to his death at the age of 45. Early in his career, Monty was
    usually the first on the call list for prime parts, then Marlon would be called if Monty turned it down. After Monty's personal demons took hold, Marlon was usually first for producers to call, at least until his issues came to the fore
    after Mutiny On The Bounty.

    Brando and Monty were friends, and they had a professional rivalry that pushed the other to greater heights. Brando even offered to go through treatment with Monty if he would agree to dry out. Monty mixed highballs
    and acted like he didn't understand what Brando was saying. Interestingly enough, Clift was an intellectual who presented himself as common, while Brando would put on airs of sophistication despite his simple
    upbringing.

    Brando and Monty had totally different approaches to their craft: Marlon needed multiple takes to feel his way through the part while Monty usually had everything worked out beforehand and didn't like to do too many takes
    as he felt he would lose the energy he needed for the scene. Dean sort of took traits of Marlon and Monty and came up with his own approach. I personally don't think Dean can be assessed from three feature films. Both
    Monty and Brando would be as big in death as Dean if you took their first three films and had no other work to add to the equation.

    Weighing their body of work, I think Monty had the greater number of brilliant performances, but Brando had a greater body of work to assess. Monty is probably my favorite, but Brando's greatest roles are hard to top.
     
  11. jjhunsecker

    jjhunsecker Senior Member

    Location:
    New York city
    James Dean reportedly once said "I have Marlon Brando on one side saying '**** You !' and Monty Clift on the other saying 'Please forgive me', and I'm in the middle of those two "
     
  12. EdgardV

    EdgardV ®

    Location:
    USA
    While all 3 were great in their own way, my gut feeling in a critical way is that,
    • Dean's characters never appealed to me.
    • Brando seemed to be over the top, over act.
    • Clift was the most real, engaging and appealing for me.
     
    Last edited: Oct 21, 2014
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  13. rene smalldridge

    rene smalldridge Senior Member

    Location:
    manhattan,kansas
  14. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits.... Thread Starter

    Brando = Dad
    Clift = Mom
    Dean= Son




    Sorted.
     
  15. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    I can't stand Dean as an actor. If he had lived longer, he would have become the next Nicholas Cage.
     
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  16. benjaminhuf

    benjaminhuf Forum Resident

  17. jwoverho

    jwoverho Licensed Drug Dealer

    Location:
    Mobile, AL USA
    For those wanting to seek out lesser know films from Monty and Brando, here are a few of my recommendations:

    Brando: Burn!, Reflections In A Golden Eye, Morituri

    Clift: Wild River, The Misfits, Judgement At Nuremberg.

    All three of Monty's are post-crash, which helps to refute the idea that the crash destroyed his talent along with his looks.
     
  18. Jackson

    Jackson Senior Member

    Location:
    MA, USA
    Next to Brando the other two are lightweights.

    A few favorite Brando films, some of which are incredibly underrated

    On The Waterfront
    The Ugly American
    One-Eyed Jacks
    Burn
    The Nightcomers
    Night Of The Following Day
    Don Juan DeMarco
    The Appaloosa
     
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