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Richard Wordsworth...Brillian t Performance

posted 17 years ago by moviemaniac2002
12 replies | jump to latest

I've said this to any other sci-fi horror fan I've come across - Richard
Wordsworth's performance in this film is one the best pieces of acting I've ever seen in any movie...ever. He simultaneously breaks your heart and scares the living crap out of you...all at the same time. Watch his face and head
movements in the scenes where he's strapped in the chair at the clinic... he puts out little chilling harbingers of the predatory beast he's transforming into. And the scene with him in his wife's "getaway" car..bone-chilling beyond belief(..slightly hampered by that horrendous extra-loud dubbing of the wife's voice) And remember the tortured close-up of his face in that sequence
...Victor Caroon's last look at his wife as his humanity and identity slip away from him.
An immortal film performance.

[–] Little Minx 17 years ago

I absolutely agree with you. It remains a complete mystery to me why he wasn't a more well known and utilized actor. He conveys such emotion without uttering a word. Brilliant is indeed the word.

"When I count my blessings,I count my horse twice."

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] bastasch8647 16 years ago

One bit of dialog, but it's spoken *for* him... "He says, 'Help me...' "

Truly horrendous and pitiable.

[–] lovecraftfan 16 years ago

the only horror film that ever got to me! I was a kid when I first saw it I dont remember how old, minimal makeup maximum effect excellent acting especially when he was in the chair.His face!
The slightly cheesy end creature a bit of a let down but best available at the time.

The box, you opened it we came.

[–] Dapitro 16 years ago

Agree !! What also makes this movie GREAT is the eerie music in the background through out this movie !! Also in a simular eerie roll of a Alien is Bronco in the 1961 Italian classic Sci-Fi Movie "Planets Against Us" - kind of a cheesy movie, but also eerie in a way!! These movie's bring back some good memerios !! Also I have just seen the original 1951 Classic "The Day The Earth Stood Still" & Michael Rennie plays a good part in a Alien w/ no emotion also !! I think Keanu Reeves did a pretty good job in the New One also !!

[–] onnanob2 16 years ago

Richard Wordsworth can also be seen in Hammer's "The Revenge Of Frankenstein," and "The Curse Of The Werewolf."

[–] BillyFisher 15 years ago

Wordsworth really was very good in this. Surprised me, as he tends to be a bit hammy in his other Hammer appearences (Revenge of Frankenstein, Curse of the Werewolf).

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[–] bastasch8647 15 years ago

Also, if memory serves, his character gets roughed up by/roughs up James Stewart in The Man who Knew Too Much. He's a taxidermist misidentified by Stewart as a link to the people who have kidnapped Stewart's son. If memory serves.

[–] BillyFisher 15 years ago

That's right. I forgot he was in that movie.

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[–] bastasch8647 15 years ago

Yeah, I was wondering why I was getting a sort of creepy memory thing when I saw him in Knew 2 Much... then I recognized him, or thought I did, as the doomed astronaut from the Q film...

[–] SteveResin 15 years ago

I agree, he was absolutely terrifying in this, much more so than the rubber blob he became towards the end!

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The memories of a man in his old age are the deeds of a man in his prime

[–] tubularbelle2003 14 years ago

I watched this film again today for the first time in several years. I had forgotten just how good Wordsworth's performance is.
I wonder how many of today's actors could pull off a magnificent performance like that without benefit of special effects?

The Long Walk stops every year, just once.