Montgomery Clift - Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) Discussion

[–] alydar21 20 years ago

No doubt. If this movie comes on, I watch it only for Clift's courtroom piece and Judy Garland's. Amazing.

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[–] 20 years ago

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[–] oldskoolmovieguy 15 years ago

totally agree. i can smoothly say that this film was one of the best films i've ever watched and believe me, i watched ALOT. those actors' (RIP) acts should have shown in acting schools.

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[–] kevkoomer 11 years ago

You certainly underestimate several other members of the cast. There were no less than 7 or 8 Oscar-worthy performances

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[–] musickco 20 years ago

Clift was originaly offered the role of the prosecuting council, the part played by Richard Widmark, but having read the script Clift opted to play the much smaller role. Kramer stated that he could not afford Clift's usual fee for such a small part - with Clift then playing the role for scale and having his fee go to charity.

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[–] Steviardo 20 years ago

It's certainly an incredible performance and certainly meritted an Oscar.Totally believable and desperately moving,it's one of those rare performances that always moves me to tears regardless of how many viewings it gets.

When he holds up his mother's picture to the court and says to Rolfe,"You tell me,was she feeble minded?" is heart breaking

Spencer Tracy's reaction to all this is spot on and lends even more emotional impact,as does Schell's sensitive soft spoken end to his questioning after his humiliation of Clift.

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[–] renee916 19 years ago

i was in tears at the end with of that scene but in all honesty, montgomery cliff did awful with that accent. JMHO

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] lazerlover 19 years ago

he was robbed of an oscar, plain & simple.

the guy was amazing in this role.
only a few minutes and that is the best part of the movie.
i read alot of reviews and they mention tracy and garland alot, but monty
was perfect.
the best supporting role.performance i have ever seen.

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[–] metalman091 18 years ago

Both Garland and Clift were more than brilliant. They both made me emotional.

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] SchauWert 18 years ago

What accent? I couldn't hear any difference from his other movies...

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[–] Tickerage 17 years ago

I was reading Monty's biography by Patricia Bosworth and was well into it when this movie was shown unexpectedly by a professor of mine in a film class. I cried in class and oddly felt that I could really feel Monty's presence. Being all of 20 at the time in a classroom filled with other similar aged people, I felt very connected with and as if I really knew him at that moment.

Knowing his life story and how his mother was, it makes the mother dialog extremely moving.

You know what else is sad? Poor people who have dreams.

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[–] dougy-mcintosh 17 years ago

i totally agree - this has to be one of the most intense performances ever captured on film.even in a million years from now i cant see how it wouldnt be in the top ten (and id say top 5) or to put it another way, have you ever seen a scene as intense and raw/emptional? id struggle to come up with an answer

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[–] spope2 17 years ago

I'm 34, and agree that Monty's performance was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO powerful, that for a 3 hour movie, it is only his performance that kills me EVERY time I see it. And it's a GREAT movie......Schell is magnificent.

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[–] pythoner 13 years ago

his accent was fine and btw he spoke fluent German.

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[–] kennellygerard 11 years ago

'' Spencer Tracy's reaction to all this is spot on ''

describe how you interpreted it

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[–] butaneggbert 11 years ago

I didn't know he was up for Widmark's role! I'm glad it turned out the way it did. He did a spectacular job with the smaller role. Granted where he was in his personal life, with trouble remembering lines and other difficulties, he may not have done nearly as well with the bigger role and longer commitment.

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[–] SanityLapse 16 years ago

He lost the Oscar to one of the gang members from West Side Story. That is a complete insult to film. One of the biggest blunders the Academy has ever made.

---
I know what gold does to men's souls.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] SanityLapse 16 years ago

Award shows are fun to watch, and have plenty of great suggestions for movies you may have missed. I'm sorry you don't enjoy them :( But because I'm a movie fan, I find them interesting.

---
I know what gold does to men's souls.

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[–] CinemaBuff84 16 years ago

As much as I like Clift's performance in this film, one of his finest. It's VERY hard for an actor to get an Oscar for one scene albeit an excellent scene. I don't know the exact number off hand but for over 300 Oscar winners in the Acting categories a VERY small number I would say 10 at the most for a one scene performance. Beatrice Straight for Network in Supp. Actress comes to mind.

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[–] A_Fistful_of_Pennies 16 years ago

His character is so much different in this movie than his other films. He's barely recognizable, because he's so into the character. He was used to being kind of the pretty boy, hotshot type character. Here he plays a man who has suffered severe emotional trauma at the hands of the nazis. What a wonderful performance. And as to only having one scene, it goes on for quite some time. Plus he has more lines in this scene than a lot of supporting actor nominees have had in an entire movie. The scene is played so well that it is extremely memorable. I think he deserved an Oscar.

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[–] mikekrit62 11 years ago

He looks so different here because he had been in a horrendous car accident five years earlier that had severely damaged his face. He had become addicted to pain-killers and alcohol as a result. All of this, on top of his already fragile psyche, had made him an emotional and physical wreck by the time JAN was made. In many ways, he WAS Petersen by then.

He couldn't remember his lines, and Stanley Kramer eventually gave up and told him to just ad-lib his lines as close to the script as he could, and it would help convey the confusion of the character. How must that have made Clift feel? It's OK you're a basket case...use it. That took a lot of guts.

This was an actor working largely on instinct, and listening and reacting as himself to the dialog as it came to him. It is a mesmerizing performance, but it's terribly sad when you consider how much of Montgomery Clift himself was in that performance as well.

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[–] Moon_and_New_York_City 16 years ago

Yes - both Monty Clift and Judy Garland were robbed of Oscars that year .... George Chakiris and Rita Moreno from "West Side Story"?!? Please, those were hack performances from C-List actors... Clift and Garland were film legends and here was the Academy's last chance to honor them for not only their brilliant, memorable performances in this film, but also for a lifetime of excellence in cinematic achievement. I think at the time Hedda Hopper snarled that big stars should not be in supporting categories just to get awards, that it was akin to a "bank President taking the title of Secretary just to get a coffee break"; but I think if the Academy had an "OSCAR DO-OVER" vote for 1961, Clift and Garland would win overwhelmingly.

Quite simply - they deserved it.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] trob226 15 years ago

The Oscars are even more political now than they were then, and getting worse. The ones that get Oscars are the ones that buy them, and the ones that buy them are the producers wanting their big moneymakers getting recognition. And if you are not a proper Hollywood politician, forget it - of course, if you're not a proper Hollywood politician, you probably don't care whether you get an Oscar or not anyway.

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[–] MissMellieY 10 years ago

I completely agree that Monty and Judy were robbed but Rita Moreno is far from a c-list actress. She is incredibly talented...but this role and this movie...did not equate Oscar level performance.

"A man's kiss is his signature" -- Mae West

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[–] wtl471629 15 years ago

I agree that this performance was outstanding and should have won the oscar. Unfortunately Hollywood was partial to musicals at the time and George Chakirus rode the success of West Side Story and got the oscar. That was a shame too because Cliff should have won it. That was one of the times that the Academy didn't get it right.
Thank goodness Shell was able to win his well deserved oscar.
Judy Garland was great but Rita Moreno's performance was also deserving in West Side Story (I give the musical that one). Still it would have been better had Moreno and Garland tied that year for those great performances.
The entire cast was great and this movie was the best one that year.

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[–] Sadycal 15 years ago

It's interesting how Clift and Garland were able to give such intense and emotional performances playing people who had suffered so much because the two of them were so troubled in real life. They both suffered addictions and mental illness. I think they were able to channel this real life conflict into their performances.

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[–] preppy-3 15 years ago

While I don't deny that Garland and Clift were great in this movie I think people are coming down on Chakaris and Moreno a little TOO hard for winning. They were great in "West Side Story" and that movie was not an easy one to make. The actors were pushed to their limits by co-director Jerome Robbins. Also award shows are (partly) popularity contests. Garland and Clift were known as being difficult to work with and not well liked---Chakaris and Moreno didn't have that problem. ALSO Chakaris and Moreno were two of the VERY few latino actors to ever win an Academy Award. Lighten up people!

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[–] susenet 10 years ago

George Chakiris played a Puerto Rican in West Side Story, but Chakiris was GREEK, not Latino.

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[–] vikram8402 14 years ago

He was just so good in this movie. He was fabulous. Fabulous. Spot on. And everything was just so perfect within his performance. Its such a short performance, but he blew me away.

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[–] suicidea 14 years ago

I think movie lovers' admiration and praise 50 years after a movie is made should account for more than any award. I have seen thousand of films and very few of the performances I've seen match Clift's role here. It wasn't a cheap dramatic appeal to be a tearjerker scene, he really lived the character.

Despite having Spencer Tracy (one of the greatest Hollywood actors), R. Widmark, B. Lancaster, J. Garland, M. Dietrich, E. Binns plus M. Schell in a performance that cannot be justly described in words, Clift's scene is what comes to mind upon the mention of this movie. This cannot be said for 90 percent of Oscar winners.

You win the Oscar, you're the talk of the town for about a week, then it's over. People start talking about the oscars of the next year. Who cares? Give a performance that people will remember and praise for half a century, that should mean more than a faceless one-foot statue.

Never be complete.

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[–] webgeekstress 14 years ago

I think that this was first time I had seen Montgomery Clift, and I was totally blown away!

Later, when I learned that he supposedly wasn't as good following the accident, I was amazed, because I can't think of any better performance. (Well, okay, maybe A Place in the Sun).

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[–] TheManInOil 14 years ago

I honestly think it's his best work. Maybe the best performance in a movie full of great performances.

"I'll book you. I'll book you on something. I'll find something in the book to book you on."

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