Why Bogey may be the best in history

[deleted]

Brando is the best

>Why Bogey? For me, the criteria is generally what was left behind and
>Humphrey Bogart appeared in more classic films than just about anyone
>I can think of.
>
>Can anyone name an actor who left behind a stronger body of work?

An inarguably stronger body of work?

No.

But an arguably equal or stronger body of work ......
I think there are probably several in that list.

Of course, when you start doing things like listing the "all time classics" that someone appeared you get into a secondary area of opinion as to what all movies count as "all time classics" .... as opposed to just being excellent movies.

I think that in the discussion of "greatest movie star based on cumulative body of work" you have to include such people as:

Cary Grant (Topper; Gunga Din; His Girl Friday; The Philadelphia Story; Bringing Up Baby; Arsenic and Old Lace; Notorious; To Catch a Thief; North by Northwest)

Jimmy Stewart (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; The Philadelphia Story; It's a Wonderful Life; Harvey; Rear Window; Rope; The Man Who Knew Too Much; Vertigo; The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance)

Henry Fonda (Jezebel; The Grapes of Wrath; The Ox-Bow Incident; Fort Apache; Mister Roberts; The Wrong Man; 12 Angry Men; Fail-Safe; On Golden Pond)


One might not consider some of the movies in these lists to quite be "all time classics" (although I certainly think that the vast majority of them are), but neither are they exhaustive lists of those men's high quality work. (For example, Grant's list does not include such movies as Suspicion, An Affair to Remember, or Operation Petticoat.)

Note that two of these three men's lists benefit from a relatively extensive number of collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock.

yeah but no ones cooler then Bogart, might not be the greatest actor of all time because thats debatable, but i'de say the greatest star.

When the script said for the camera to move in on Bogey to catch his reacton to something, it was often not the best part of the picture. This is evident in Key Largo in the scene where the sheriff announces he has just killed the Oceloa Brothers, thinking they'd murdered Sawyer. The camera closes in on Bogey and rather than being offended, he looks like he's about to be sick, which I don't think was the intention.

Just picking up on the reaction shot when the sheriff announces he's killed the Osceolas. I can't recall the shot itself, but the whole mood of that scene seemed to convey something akin to guilt and nausea; the captives so wanted to speak but if they did the sheriff would've been killed too.

De Niro must have appeared in as many great films as anyone.

What causes pip in poultry?

I'm going to disagree with you only about Bogart's physical acting, particularly his reaction shots. Have you seen Dead End? Bogie's reaction when he finally realizes what Claire Trevor has become is one of the best I've ever seen. Other of his performances, including Casablanca and To Have and Have Not (as examples) are full of brilliant, subtle, understated reaction shots. I guess I think Bogart is even greater than you do! lol

The only problem with Bogie was that, frankly, he didn't live that long, dying at age 57. Who knows what great work he might have had in later years?

Fonda was in his 70's when On Golden Pond was made, Wayne was 69 when he made The Shootist, Cagney retired from films at a relatively young age, then came back with a memorable performance in Ragtime at the age of 82. They considered Grant for James Bond, he was in his early 50's at that time and made his last movie at 62 and could have made more, he lived another 20 years. Even Clark Gable was making films into his last years, with his final picture, The Misfits(also Marilyn Monroe's last) being released after his death in 1960. Bogie made his last film at the age of 56, The Harder They Fall, in which he is clearly dying. But there is no doubt he could have gone on for a long time if his health would have let him.

And tell me how many other actors have their own phrase in the American lexicon, "to Bogart", to borrow something with no intention of giving it or paying it back. Bogie "bogarted" cigarettes in every movie he ever made.

With apologies to Spencer Tracy, Claude Rains, Kirk Douglass, Montgomery Clift, et al or some of today's biggies, DeNiro, Nicholson(my favorite contempory actor), Eastwood, Hanks or Pacino, I believe the list of best actors ever begins and ends with those above, Cagney, Fonda, Wayne, Grant, Gable and, of course, Humphrey Bogart. I can't put one above the rest, so I'll chicken out and say they are tied for number one.