Possibly one of the most intense performances on film. And the score is brilliant, too.
Aren't we all tired of reading how these films don't do their original books justice, things left out, etc. But we're looking at a ninety to one hundred twenty odd minute format, folks. Try squeezing it all in? I think we'd have a lot of unwatchable high speed twaddle as a result. If anything people become curious and will explore the source material.
The dog is almost as intense!!!
Tendrils of Obfuscation
I'm fifteen minutes into it, thinking, 'Oh brother, here we go... Steiger's going to ruin this movie too.' God he sucks. He gives the same overbearing performance in every movie. Guy needed to learn to act, and learn about nuance.
share"He gives the same overbearing performance in every movie"
What? If you don't like Steiger, OK, but I can't think of another film he's in where he is this overbearing. There are moments of it, but they are just moments. In The Pawnbroker, he only gets aggressive once. And as far as In the Heat of the Night, I don't understand how that could be thought of as not nuanced.
Now it is possible that you have seen more Steiger films than I have, as the 3 mentioned are the only ones I have seen recently. Others I have seen (Waterloo, On the Waterfront, Dr Zhivago, Oklahoma!) I have not seen recently, but I don't recall bad performances.
Tendrils of Obfuscation
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Rod Steiger is commandingly intense here, which went a long way to keeping me interested in this film. He gave many an over-the-top performance, and I miss him greatly.
This film doesn't get the respect it deserves. It's pretty apparent this is adapted from much better source material – a book that is probably not very filmable – but Steiger, the co-stars (including the dog), the direction, the set design and the score deliver. 7/10 stars from me.
I happen to adore Steiger, but I can't deny he was one of the most hammy over-actors ever (Richard Burton is in the #1 position). Steiger was capable of a nuanced performance, such as The Pawnbroker. And sometimes his intensity is warranted, for instance in Dr. Zhivago.
shareIndeed, Richard Burton was king of the hams, but I generally love seeing him also. Today people like Al Pacino and Nic Cage for much the same reasons, but I prefer my ham vintage.
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