The chameleon-like nature of actors

The image shows Leslie Nielsen in the comic "Dracula, Dead and Loving It." 

 

Actors can go from being bad guys to good guys. Would anyone want to do it the other way around? It has been said of Vince Vaughn that he has a problem of not being able to vary his acting technique. 

An actor can be so impressive in a role, the role sticks in our head in a way that makes it harder to accept new roles by the actor. With me I'm thinking of Matthew Broderick. And no, I'm not thinking of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," I'm thinking of "WarGames" which also gave us Allie Sheedy in an equally appealing role. 

I must have had time on my hands when I saw "WarGames" because I saw it twice. So when Broderick showed up in subsequent movies like "Godzilla" and "Glory," I couldn't help but remember "WarGames." 

Versatility as an actor: Just think of Leslie Nielsen! He played both serious and comical roles in his long career. The comedy came in the closing stages and he was an absolute master. My generation of the boomers really couldn't get enough. It started with "Airplane." Such an impression was made, was it literally impossible for the guy to play a straight role again? 

 

Try this

A curious phenomenon is when you have occasion to watch an older movie with Nielsen "straight." We are highly distracted. The best example is "The Poseidon Adventure" because Nielsen looked the same as in "Airplane " and his subsequent comedy roles. He of course played the top officer on the ship. And as we anticipate each new line, we can't help but anticipate an absurd comedic line, maybe a pun. 

"You can tell me, I'm a doctor" (from "Airplane"). I would argue it is impossible for many of us to resist an urge to have our attention disrupted this way. 

Will Nielsen be remembered best as a comic actor? If my generation has anything to say about it, yes. Boomers' perceptions carry lots of weight. 

Nielsen wasn't alone in putting his serious persona aside. These guys were told by the director to say their (comedic) lines just as they would always say their lines. And of course that was a big part of what made it funny. "And don't call me Shirley." 

The boomers had troubling impulses in their movie-watching IMHO. They wanted to see old concepts made farcical. It's like they (we) wanted to tear everything down. Maybe we did, in a sense, because we saw aspects of our parents' values that we questioned. Well, first and foremost, for U.S. forces to go over to Vietnam. It went beyond that to outrage over racism and sexism. 

It has been said of "Woodstock" that it was primarily a "multicultural celebration." We refused to countenance racial or ethnic stereotypes. A women's place was not in the kitchen. The attitude carried over to entertainment where we really let our hair down. It reached troubling levels IMHO. 

I have read that the movie "That's Entertainment" with narration by Frank Sinatra had a purpose of trying to get people to pine for the previous era when things were taken more seriously. Things like movies. 

Deconstructing the western

I mean, movies had devolved to where "Blazing Saddles" was a sensational hit. Not that Mel Brooks himself was like the boomers, he just had a sense for mining the boomers' attitudes. It was a reflection, as is much of what Hollywood gives us. 

"Young Frankenstein" made a joke out of what was really a serious sci-fi story. The horror movies of an earlier time, at least outside of low-budget, were to be seen in a serious light. Let's assume the actors then were all just professionals coached on how to deliver a product. 

And in this vein I'll remember Rodney Dangerfield from about 1980. He became huge in the eyes of the boomers. But I vividly remember watching him at the Minnesota State Fair and seeing obviously that he was fed up with his silly boomer audience. It became not so subtle. 

Dangerfield had a background just like Sinatra. The boomers got turned on to Dangerfield in various ways but mostly from the movie "Caddyshack." "Caddyshack" catered to the boomers at their irreverent best (i.e. worst). Make people look like idiots, especially the older (vain and stuffy) people. 

The young people of today are so different: they do not poke fun at traditional images or at the older folks at all. 

I sensed the weakness of my generation at the time but hardly dared to say anything about it. The peer pressure was enormous to go along with it, like to laugh almost continually through "Blazing Saddles." The movie gains increased notice today for how it used  objectionable racist terms (but did so actually to demean racism, to cheapen it). You simply CAN'T DO THAT today. 

P.J. O'Rourke did the same thing for humor effect in his famous newspaper satire "Dacron Republican-Democrat." It has been called the Rosetta Stone of newspaper satires. The metropolitan daily newspaper was at its peak. Hey, are newspapers still around? 

 

Neville Brand as "Reese"

Neville Brand in "Laredo"

Finally, let me cite a prime exhibit of an actor going from bad guy to good guy. This is Neville Brand. He had a long acting resume before taking a role in a 1960s TV western. A prime time network show back then made the actors huge stars, gave them defining roles even if those roles weren't totally consistent with what they had done previously. 

Brand was on call to play the "heavy" for a long time in movies such as "film noir." He was perfect for film noir, an example being "Kansas City Confidential." 

The boomers learned who Brand was in the late '60s TV western "Laredo." It happened to be my favorite western. It often had a light tone. And there was Brand who emerged with his crusty nature. He was a character actor. 

He made such an impression, I'm sure this was why he was enlisted for a cameo in "Tora Tora Tora," the movie about the Pearl Harbor attack. My generation could embrace Mr. Brand as a likeable, hero kind of guy. Good for his legacy. 

A footnote about Brand is that he was one of those celebrities who had commendable military service in WWII. Unfortunately he was a heavy smoker. In "Laredo" he played the character "Reese Bennett." "Laredo" came along when the Vietnam war was at its worst for America. Ironic how so much good cinema and music could be created during the worst of Vietnam. But it's in the record. 

"Laredo" came along toward the end of the primacy of TV westerns. The cutoff was in 1970. Brand made his mark in the genre. 

Today we are reminded of westerns with the movies "Horizon" and "Rust." I'm glad the genre is now taken fully seriously, unlike what "Blazing Sales" gave us. Boomers, hang your heads in shame over having been entertained so much by totally irreverent stuff.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com