MovieChat Forums > Laramie (1959) Discussion > Arthur Hunnicutt in Wolf Cub

Arthur Hunnicutt in Wolf Cub

posted 9 years ago by ben-thayer
5 replies | jump to latest

A very poor choice to cast Mr. Hunnicutt in the role of psychopathic scalp hunter Earl Droody, IMO.

I've seen a couple roles where he isn't really bad, but makes a poor decision at a bad moment and things go downhill...the Gunsmoke episode Cleavus, for example.

But this episode had him playing a full-on bloodthirsty, raving, murderous psycho, who was even about to scalp Jess Harper when he was out cold.

Not that Mr. Hunnicutt isn't a wonderful actor...he is. But I'm sorry, I just can't accept him playing such a despicable character, he's so fully ingrained in my brain as one of the good guys in roles such as Zeb Calloway in The Big Sky, or Bull in El Dorado, or old man Simpson in The Twilight Zone episode The Hunt.

His rustic characters were so darned likeable, I had a real problem taking the role of murderous Droody seriously.

[–] Bilwick1 9 years ago

Then I guess you would have hated him in the role he was supposed to play: the "make him squeal like a pig" guy in DELIVERANCE.

[–] ben-thayer 9 years ago

For real?

Never heard that. That would've been....well, I'm not sure what to make of it. As I said, I had a hard time taking the role of the psycho Droody in Wolf Cub seriously.

Casting Mr. Hunnicutt in Deliverance would've been *really* tough for me to buy into. It would take considerable effort (from him as an actor and from me as a viewer) for me to accept him playing the role of the hillbilly rapist. The role of the 2nd hillbilly...perhaps.

But seems as if John Boorman would realize that a lot of people might have had issues with Mr. Hunnicutt playing a psycho, since he was very well known and the vast majority of his roles were sympathetic characters.

[–] Bilwick1 9 years ago

Just kidding. But I would have liked to have seen it: a usually affable actor going sinister is often very chilling. That's why I'd like to see Tom Hanks play Hitler.

[–] ben-thayer 9 years ago

OK, ya got me! 😁

But actors such as Larry Hagman and Andy Griffith did exactly that. After playing extremely "good" characters they began to play against type and took roles that were more sinister characters.

[–] ronaldt49 9 years ago

Yes!

Can you imagine the conversation if Major Nelson met J.R. Ewing?
Good and bad from same actor in same scene.

Who Shot J.R?
Major Nelson did!!