MovieChat Forums > Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) Discussion > Spencer Tracy RUINED this film for me!

Spencer Tracy RUINED this film for me!

posted 10 years ago by cwade22
18 replies | jump to latest

His acting was terrible. Example, when he was speaking as the witness, he had this stupid, absurd American voice exaggeration thing going on. It Ruined what he was taking about, the atrocities in the camps. Also, he was making it seem as if all Germans were bad and knew about the camps, which wasn't true. Of course, that's the writing, but his acting was terrible. I've never seen any of his other films, but he's one if those overacting, American actors, that may have made progress in the 1940's, but AFTER Brando came on, these actors like spencer Tracy were embarrassing to watch.

[–] Doghouse-6 10 years ago

I think you must be talking about Richard Widmark, who played the prosecutor Lawson, rather than Tracy, who played Judge Haywood.

I am in some agreement; I've always found Widmark's performance in this film overwrought, and probably the weakest of the bunch.

Poe! You are...avenged!

[–] doug65oh 10 years ago

Sounds like Widmark to me also. Much as I enjoy the film, his was the worst performance in the bunch I think.

[–] Doghouse-6 10 years ago

I can wonder only if Widmark felt outclassed in the company of so many players at the top of their games - the electrifying yet nuanced work of Schell, Tracy's characteristically powerful understatement, Dietrich's dignified projection of defiant pride, the brief but riveting scenes of Clift and Garland - and tripped himself up by overcompensating, substituting bombast where control would have been better indicated.

Even Shatner, who would later be accused of hamminess by so many, perfectly embodies the cordial but professional solicitude required, giving presence and dimension to a character that could have been no more than a device, and doing so in a credible and unobtrusive way.

Poe! You are...avenged!

[–] doug65oh 10 years ago

Interesting point you make. Indeed, that makes perfect sense. I wish we could ask Widmark, actually.

I agree entirely with your assessment of Shatner's Captain Byers.

[–] Patmratm 10 years ago

Spencer Tracy was great in this movie. I can't imagine anyone being better. Incidentally, Tracy had a reputation for being America's greatest actor at the time.

[–] marktayloruk (2502) a year ago

Maybe of all time? If his health had matched Katherine Hepburn's...

[–] DivingIntheBlue 10 years ago

Also, he was making it seem as if all Germans were bad and knew about the camps, which wasn't true.

Most Germans knew about the existence of the camps. The United States government was aware of their existence before we even entered the war so it stands to reason that people who lived in Germany, walked by the camps and saw their friends and neighbors simply disappear knew something was amiss. Some might not have known the extent of the atrocities or exactly what was happening but rounding up millions of people and killing them isn't one of those things that can be kept on the low. Far too many people were involved in the process for word not to get out.

There are also letters from that period written by Germans talking about how they saw people rounded up by the SS and put on trains. They then saw those same trains returning with only luggage. They knew.

[–] LCella9370 10 years ago

I agree. Many many ordinary Germans knew. Read Hitler's Willing Executioners by Daniel Goldhagen for a scholarly view.

[–] RP_Mac_27 9 years ago

They knew.
And back to the original topic, Spencer was brilliant as usual. It seems like the OP did not know who Spencer Tracy was or which character he played.

[–] marktayloruk (2502) 2 years ago

They all.knew that the camps existed. They did not know precisely what went on in them.

[–] marktayloruk (2502) 2 years ago

They all.knew that the camps existed. They did not know precisely what went on in them.

[–] marktayloruk (2502) 2 years ago

They all.knew that the camps existed. They did not know precisely what went on in them.

[–] mikekrit62 9 years ago

Spencer Tracy was the judge. Richard Widmark was the prosecutor and the character you are referring to. If you are going to tear apart an actor, at least have the courtesy to know which one you are talking about.

All of the characters in this movie are meant to represent the different viewpoints and emotions regarding the Nazis, the Holocaust, and the war itself. Widmark was supposed to be representing righteous anger and blind pursuit of justice. The performance he delivered is the one Stanley Kramer wanted...quite frankly his performance was low-key compared to most of the actors in this movie.

[–] TheGoodMan19 9 years ago

Also, he was making it seem as if all Germans were bad and knew about the camps, which wasn't true.

All Germans weren't bad, but they knew. Specifics, no butt they HAD to know. Mu Uncle was a staff officer with the US Third Army, because he spoke fluent German and Russian. They had been briefed about the camps before they entered Germany. When he asked POW's and Germans citizens, he got the same reaction that the housekeepers gave to Spencer Tracy's film. The same nervous stammer, "We know nothing, we're not Nazis." He said you could tell it was a bad lie. He also went to a place called Buchenwald. 20 miles away you could smell it. Has anyone ever drove near a freshly killed skunk? Where the smell is so overbearing that it leaves a taste in your mouth? My uncle said Buchenwald was the same with the stench of decaying flesh.

Ask not that The Good Man can do for you but what you can do for The Good Man

[–] irvberg2002 8 years ago

Did all the Germans know? No, not the infants and young children. But the rest of them did. In 1944, Goebbels gave a major speech in which he reminded the German people of Hitler's "prediction" in his January 1939 speech that if the Jews precipitated another war, they would be annihilated; he clearly implied that the "prediction had come true. This was Goebbel's way of telling his audience that they were implicated in the Holocaust,along with the Nazi hierarchy. Indeed, many if not most Germans, believing in he Nazi myth of Jewish domination of allied governments, concluded that the horrific bombardment of German cities was the revenge of the Jews for what the Nazis did to them,

[–] strntz (12231) a year ago

Did all the Germans know? No, not the infants and young children. But the rest of them did.

I'm sure there were those who would never believe such things, but as time went on, news spreads. It became a common expression in Germany at that time to describe the fate of many Jews as "going up the chimney".

Most Germans didn't really care for the Jews anyway (propaganda doing a fine job with this) and by the time most Germans knew, they had their own issues at home with daily news of dead soldiers, Allied bombings, shortages, etc. to care about the holocaust that was going on in their own country by their own people.

[–] cultfilmfreaksdotcom 8 years ago

I agree with your last statement. Brando did change things by being more real. But Spencer Tracy was very, very real in this, no overacting whatsoever. The way he acted in the cell with Lancaster at the end and that line, the great line, his last line and the final one in the movie, couldn't have worked with anyone else.

All Movie Reviews www.cultfilmfreaks.com

[–] r-feinberg 8 years ago

Tracy nailed that closing speech. It was timely, too. Their excuse of "we had to take extraordinary measures to save Germany, we suspended normal ethics and morality because we were fighting for our survival" doesn't hold water, as Tracy more eloquently laid out. It made me think of the "extraordinary measures" we took after 9/11, suddenly okaying torture techniques and suspension of laws that up to that point would have been unthinkable and against everything America is meant to stand for. (sorry to get political, but the issues raised in this film are as relevant today as they were in the 1940s)

[–] Kowalski (75528) 2 years ago

Spencer Tracy RUINED this film for me!

ONLY POSSIBLE REASON FOR THIS IS...YOU ARE A TERRIBLE HUMAN BEING.