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Why Would Robert Ryan Think He Deserved Top Billing?

posted 10 years ago by DrGlitterhouse
14 replies | jump to latest

That item under Trivia almost sounds apocryphal. Why would Robert Ryan think he should get top billing? Deke isn't in the movie that much, and it's not as if he and the bounty hunters took down Pike's crew. The movie wasn't even following the bounty hunters in their pursuit of the bunch; it was following the bunch. It seems like Ryan would have to be delusional to believe he somehow deserved top billing.

Let's take a vote: Who wants to stay and die?

[–] ScopeWatcher 10 years ago

I doubt whether Ryan ever sought top billing for this film or would have. Sounds to me like unsubstantiated gossip.

Most great films deserve a more appreciative audience than they get.

[–] sparker21 10 years ago

Yeah, or it's a spin on what really happened. Billing is a form of payment in Hollywood, so Ryan may have been requesting top billing as a bargaining chip in contract negotiations, or something along those lines. Something like that can easily get spun as childish or narcissistic when it was just business.

[–] mrmathexpert4 9 years ago

robert ryan sucked. name one good robert ryan performance, i dare you.

[–] pullgees 9 years ago

The Wild Bunch of course, he was never better.

[–] plgrief 9 years ago

You got to be kidding. His role was in this film was small and like the other main actors he was overshadowed by the chaotic action and gratuitous violence. He was also coming near the end of the road, dying only a few years later. In comparison to his other films, his performance in this is quite minor.

[–] plgrief 9 years ago

What an idiotic comment. Robert Ryan was among the absolute best in Hollywood during that era. From the late forties until his untimely death he committed to celluloid one brilliant, intense performance after another. My God. How you even seen any Robert Ryan pictures other than his minor role in "The Wild Bunch"? His performance as the satanic Claggart in "Billy Budd" is one of the most memorable in film history and he is outstanding in "Act of Violence," "The Set-Up," "The Racket," "On Dangerous Ground," "Clash By Night," "Beware, My Lovely" and countless others. Absolutely top drawer. He was also a Marine, a champion prize fighter and a civil rights activist. Who the heck are you? Some nobody.

[–] asiamatron 9 years ago

Yeah, Ryan was a great actor: the Set-Up is an excellent film and his performance in that film is top notch, On Dangerous Ground is also a classic. He play his role in the Wild Bunch really well.

[–] antonasmodeus 9 years ago

Ryan was the Judas goat that set the whole film in motion. That's why he thought he deserved top billing.

[–] DrGlitterhouse 9 years ago

The Wild Bunch
In a Lonely Place
Cornered
Clash by Night
Hour of the Gun
Bad Day in Black Rock
Odds Against Tomorrow

And those just ones I've seen.

Je suis Charlie Hebdo.

[–] silentmovie 9 years ago

Did you notice that in the opening credits, it shows a freeze-frame if William Holden's face and displays the name "William Holden"; then it shows a freeze-frame of Ernest Borgnine's face and displays the name "Ernest Borgnine"; and then it shows a freeze-frame of a HORSE'S BUTT and displays the name "Robert Ryan"?!!

Maybe a Sam Peckinpah inside joke?

[–] ohmemercylard-58-17610 8 years ago

Click on Robert Ryan's face and you'll see ninety great performances listed. Notable are the many terrific films noir he starred in, like THE SET UP, CAUGHT, CROSSFIRE, WOMAN ON THE RUN, etc. Too many to list

[–] ohmemercylard-58-17610 8 years ago

Opus. Not WOMAN on the run, but WOMAN ON THE BEACH. Also, WOMAN ON PIER 13, BEWARE MY LOVELY, CLASH BY NIGHT, ON DANGEROUS GROUND, ACT OF VIOLENCE, BORN TO BE BAD. I thought the guy was great in everything he did.I

[–] ecarle (14979) 6 years ago

As a matter of billing, William Holden had been a Top Ten(sometimes Number One) movie star in the 50s, but Robert Ryan was usually "over the title support" or the star of movies that didn't have someone of Holden's caliber in them.
And Holden had a Best Actor Oscar(Stalag 17.). So Ryan would never be billed over Holden.

Similar with Borgnine: He, too had a Best Actor Oscar(Marty.) And a hit TV show(McHale's Navy.) And a role in a recent big hit movie(The Dirty Dozen.) So he got billed over Ryan, too. (Irony: in 1955's Bad Day at Black Rock, Borgnine was lower-billed than Ryan, playing one of Ryan's henchmen. But that was before Marty, by a few months.)

Truly, by the time The Wild Bunch came out in 1969, its as if Holden, Borgnine and Ryan were of "equal weight" -- three name actors whose starring days were behind them. They were cast as a team ensemble.

[–] phillipsdan83 (101) 4 years ago

Well, either Ryan was being delusional or Peckinpah was talking crap because the two didn't get along. William Holden's glory days were behind him, but at this time he was still a bigger name than Ryan. And Dutch, the Borgnine character, is clearly the second lead, so I'll go with Peckinpah being full of crap.