Let's hear it for George Macready's fine performance - Paths of Glory (1957) Discussion

[–] Gonzo_Knight 17 years ago

I agree 100%. In a movie full of amazing performances he really stood out as one of the best. Amazing work.

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[–] HijodelCid 17 years ago

How did he get that scar on his right cheek?

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[–] HijodelCid 17 years ago

A car accident? Did he crash his car, or was he run over?

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[–] James_Bond_007_218 17 years ago

HEAR HERE! Macready is a fantastic actor! Have been a fan for ages and I single this performance out as his finest!

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[–] Rifuarians 17 years ago

Just got done rewatching this film, and I have to agree.

The scar looks a fraternity dueling scar to me (common among the military elite in pre-WWI Europe).

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[–] lrcdmnhd72 16 years ago

He was also quite good in, "Seven Days in May," especially when he and Kirk Douglas got into it.

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[–] onepotato2 15 years ago

I'm 40 minutes in and I'm already finding MacReady to be over the top. He also has noticeably audible breathing before and after his lines (interior scenes) that is distracting. ...more later.

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[–] lrcdmnhd72 15 years ago

Hi onepotato2,

George MacCready and Kirk Douglas also locked horns in the 1964 movie, "Seven Days in May." Good or bad acting chemistry between these two actors, depending upon your viewpoint.

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[–] pepperdoggie 15 years ago

Yay George.

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[–] vonmazur 15 years ago

You can tell by my sig line....Good Flic, one of the best...

Dale

"If those sweethearts won't face German bullets--They'll face french ones!"

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[–] tropicaldiver2001 8 years ago

MacReady and Douglas also locked horns in The Detective Story (1950) with MacReady as a quack abortionist and Douglas as the NYPD detective who loathes him.

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[–] clore_2 13 years ago

Also in Detective Story and Two Weeks in Another Town.

It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me

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[–] mac_alain 17 years ago

How did he get that scar on his right cheek?

from his IMDb file:

"Added to his whole demeanor was a significant curved scar on his right cheek, remnant of a car accident in the 1930s - better PR that it was a saber slash wound from his dueling days as a youth."

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[–] tropicaldiver2001 8 years ago

He got a scar in a car accident years before but in other films it is covered well by makeup. In POG I don't know if it was over emphasized by makeup. The scar in POG is much more pronounced than in other films such as The Detective Story and Tora, Tora, Tora.

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[–] gunblastsushi 17 years ago

the finest actors are the ones who make you love to hate their characters. Macready stole the film in my honest opinion. His & Douglas's performances were pitch perfect & the scenes where it was just the two exchanging dialogue are some of the best scenes ever put into any war film.

'nuff said

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[–] DD-931 17 years ago

Macready is truly one of the top character actors of the 20th century. He even gives great performances in several episodes of THE OUTER LIMITS in the 1960s.

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[–] mburch5717 17 years ago

Can't agree more with everybody's praise of George Macready. It's good to see he's so well remembered here. He is one of a handful of actors who always captured your attention no matter how long he was in a film -- and he was in plenty of them. Take a look at his credits and see the number of fine films he was in. It's no accident: he was a key compnent in making them great.

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[–] FaceDog-alert 17 years ago

He made Gen. Mireau into one of the most repulsive cinematic characters ever. And that is no mean feat.

The Man with the Harmonica: When you hear a strange sound, drop to the ground.

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[–] Metropolitan99 13 years ago

Agreed, the man was a brilliant actor - an archetype of the alpha male who puts career advancement above humanity.

Had the Gen. Mireau character been alive today, he'd be an SVP at Goldman Sachs.

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[–] arubi2 13 years ago

I thought Ralph Meeker was the standout but anyway, like every Kubrick film, POG isn't really about the performances.

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[–] FANatic-10 11 years ago

Macready was brilliantly hateful, inhuman in his thinking yet completely convinced in his head that he was absolutely correct and doing the right thing. Soldiers were just chattel to him, there to do a job, which meant there to be killed if he felt it necessary, whether it served any real military purpose or not. Completely obtuse to any point of view except his own.

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