Robert Duvall

Just got done watching the movie. Hadn't seen it in a few years, chills as always. One of the best baseball movies ever, of course.

Really studied Robert Duvall's performance as Max. I've always thought that when people talk about the best villains ever in a movie that this character should be brought up, and he never is. To me, Max is worse than the Judge or Gus. Media manipulation can be a truly awful thing in the hands of the wrong people. I believe it happens in all areas, sports being the least important, but still in sports just the same. When Max tells Hobbs, "I can make you or break you", it makes me wonder how many times that has actually been said to different athletes by reporters or journalists over the years. And I wonder how many of those athletes perhaps changed their approach to the way they played because of it. Not everyone has the inner strength or will that Roy Hobbs obviously had. That's why I think that Max is such a disturbing character, a real movie heel.
The Judge and Gus are ruthless people for sure, but there's something so sleazy about a guy like Max, basically manipulating people's feelings through the pen. And Duvall, as always, was brilliant as that sleazeball.
Its interesting that Redford was basing Hobbs on Ted Williams, who was HATED by the media cuz he didn't play their game. Williams won the Triple Crown two times, and hit .406 one year. He wasn't named MVP for any of those three years and many feel that was because he was so anti-media.
Any thoughts on this?