the best performances for me -
Montgomery Clift and Judy Garland. For the short period of time in the stand, their performances gave me goosebumps!!
i was blown away!
Montgomery Clift for me
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MovieChat Forums > Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) Discussion > the best performances for me -
I was actually REALLY surprised by Judy, never seeing her in any hard-hitting drama before. Judy is a great actress, love her in everything, but her in JaN was a pleasant surprise. Completely out of her element, but brought a powerhouse performance with the rest of the cast.
shareMs garland was excellent in suchba drama. I did not know she had the chops.
shareMaximillian Schell's performance here was one of the top performances ever, in any film. So I'd rate it first.
However, I have to add that Richard Widmark, an actor whom I don't care much for in many of his other movies, really grew on me as I've watched this film many times over the years. He's spot on as the officer who's on the brink of madness after all the things he's seen and was unable to stop, and is now desperately looking for justice, or revenge, or both.
In fact, in such a long film with so many characters sharing screen time, you can't really find any fault with anyone's performance. Everyone is at the top of their game here.
Never be complete.
Interesting thread. Personally I felt Schell overacted dreadfully. Very little nuance in his performance.
Clift and Garland were both great, as usual. But Spencer Tracy is the greatest American film actor ever, IMO. His is simply unbelievable in every single film.
Maximillian Schell's performance for me too. He was overbearing and dramatic....like the person who started it all.
I had the chance to work with Michael Jackson who was as brilliant as they come.
Tommy Mottola
The performance I like to watch over and over is Clift's. Just the way he says, "My mother..." is heartbreaking. Obviously she was a woman who meant much to him (probably the only woman who ever loved him), and to hear her called feeble-minded in the courtroom was more than he could bare.
shareMy mother.....yes, that was heartbreaking. I recently watched the Playhouse 90 version and although the actor who portrayed that part was good; it made me realize how great Montgomery Clift's performance was. No comparison.
Unfortunately, Clift was a troubled man. From http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/288389%7C0/Trivia-Judgment-at-Nuremberg.html "Although Spencer Tracy greatly admired Montgomery Clift as an actor during the filming of Judgment at Nuremberg ("He makes most of today's young players look like bums."), he was less enthusiastic about his behavior at the Berlin premiere. As screenwriter Abby Mann later recalled, "Monty showed up stoned and drunk out of his mind, jumping on Spence's back. He freaked out in the theater, crawling on his hands and knees between the aisles and screaming out all sorts of crazy things. After Spence got up and left, it crossed my mind that seeing Monty in that advanced state of deterioration might have reminded him of his own drinking problem."
I had the chance to work with Michael Jackson who was as brilliant as they come.
Tommy Mottola
Schell. This was HIS movie. Tracy was great too as was the entire cast, but Schell was special.
shareClift completely overdoes his ticks and contortions which never for a second feel authentic or natural. Actually, it's the first time I've seen Clift fail to convince in a role.
It seems the OP is fond of tearful histrionics since Garland happens to have the other showy role in the film.
"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan
Clift completely overdoes his ticks and contortions which never for a second feel authentic or natural. Actually, it's the first time I've seen Clift fail to convince in a role.
Clift's performance begins mechanical and manufactured but it transforms somewhere along the way and by the end the viewer is brought to tears.
In general all major characters give strong performances (Tracy is probably the most consistent) only Lancaster drags the movie down at the end and makes me hesitate giving out 10 stars.
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I 1000% agree with you on the scenes with Judy Garland and Montgomery Clift. Clift's performance in particular was gripping. I cannot watch it without becoming emotional. His ability to convey the agony and shame his character endured was masterful. Prior to this film Clift had been recovered from a serious auto accident that nearly killed him. For sure it impacted his career. It is heartbreaking when his character recalls the horror of his experience at the hand of the Nazis and says "Since that day I've been half I've ever been". It was clearly art imitating life.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that was the single best and most powerful scene I've ever seen in a film.
Not only that, but I've read that Clift never came to terms with his homosexuality and always struggled with a feeling of guilt. That monologue about being half a man certainly echoes his inner pain about it.
His character evokes a lot of sympathy and pity in the audience, but beyond that, I was appalled at how he could convey the mannerisms and way of speech of a person who's not a complete imbecile, but only rather slow. The way he reads the document to the court, the way he can't understand complex questions and is ashamed by it, and most of all, the way he gestures with his finger as if to say "hold on a second" before showing his mother's picture. It may come off as emotional or even goofy to some, but if you've been around or worked with people like that, you realize that it's actually terrific, very accurate acting.
Never be complete.
I thought they all were outstanding, Clift and Garland had the showier performances, but I found Burt Lancaster's performance to be the best- the most riveting. Especially when he shouts "Enough" at Garland's testimony and cross examination, and his comment to Tracy at the end that he never knew the atrocities would become so great.
shareagree!!
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