If only he wasn't in competition with Robert DeNiro for "Raging Bull," Robert Duvall should have won the Oscar. I like him in this movie much much more than in his Oscar winning performance in "Tender Mercies." Who agrees?
shareI have to say I agree. He was better in The Apostle than he was in Tender Mercies (just my opinion).
shareI always thought that Tender Mercies was a yawner. I also believe Robert Duvall's Oscar for it was actually an Oscar for The Great Santini delivered a couple of years late.
shareDuvall gave many performances superior to "Tender Mercies." In addition to "Great Santini," I think that Duvall shined in as the Consilieri in "The Godfather" Parts I and II, as Colonel Kilgore in "Apocalypse Now," and many other roles.
shareI'd have to agree too. An incredible performance as an amazing character.
shareHeh heh, do acclaimed actors/directors EVER win their awards for their actual best work?
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I've always viewed this film as Duvall's unsung masterpiece. He's absolutely riveting here.
Though DeNiro stole the Oscar that year, Duvall plays a far more riveting and horrific character. DeNiro's Jake La Motta is a dumb oaf. A one dimentional caveman. Santini is a different beast altogether. Far more complex, brutal and horrific. I guess the difference is that Duvall draws empathy, whilst De Niro is just a big dumbo. La Motta's only self realization, really, is his mirror speech. And that works more as a cinematic idea ("now I see myself") than any acting technique on De Niro's part.
"Rape is no laughing matter. Unless you're raping a clown."
Even DeNiro has had better performances than LaMotta. Me thinks his Oscar was for the weight gain.
shareDuvall is an outstanding actor and it is quite an effort to find one that is "the best" because they're *ALL* so amazingly good.
Still, "The Great Santini" has to be, at the very least, the most outstanding role Duvall has ever played that nobody knows about (I never see this film mentioned by critics when they write about him and for the life of me I cannot figure out the reason for that).
Oh and his laugh--drunk in the bar on Ben's birthday or during his night flight at the end is just unreal.
"HEY HEYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
:)
It really was magnificent, and a great example of what "acting" is. He wasn't playing himself, like so many actors do today, or even some of the classic ones of the past got away with.
Find his performance in the Twilight Zone, where he plays a very meek, milquetoast man, (where he obviously didn't have his skills quite polished yet) and then watch "The Great Santini". Amazing.
It is truly one of the greatest movie performances ever. Subtle when needed, over the top when called for, but it always seems like a REAL PERSON, not Robert Duvall in a uniform. I can't put BOGART at the top of any "best of all time" lists when this performance exists.
Did I mention it was great?
The rest of the cast supports him well too, by the way.
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Out of his leading man performances, this could indeed be it. As for the best performance of the year, there are 3 clearly above others - Duvall here, De Niro in Raging Bull and Edward Woodward in Breaker Morant. I think I would NOT pick De Niro, myself - he's indeed kind of one-note... even though that note is very compelling.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan