When I go through my list of favourite actors, I'm not sure where Tony would place or even if he would come to mind. That's a misnomer, really. Because many of his movies would make, and have made, several of my lists. He made my list of favourite movie sword fights for his emotion charged duel with Kirk Douglas in The Vikings .
He also deserves honorable mention for his fencing work in what was once one of my favourite comedies, The Great Race. The only reason that movie is no longer one of my favourites is, quite frankly, because they stopped showing it on TV and I haven't thought about it in years
So from this we can establish a couple of things about Mr Curtis, that he was an incredibly athletic actor and he had a way with comedy. More proof of his physical talent comes in movies like Trapeze, an incredibly corny circus melodrama that is memorable only for director Carol Reed's typical wonky camera angles and the dazzling trapeze scenes Curtis performed with Burt Lancaster
More proof of Tony's comedic excellence can be found in a movie that does make a lot of my lists. Some Like It Hot is often remembered for Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon, but Curtis's triple role .. as the jazz player on the lam, that man's drag identity and the Cary Grant impersonation he does as Monroe's wooer .. always stand out in my mind. I'm pretty sure that as the fake millionaire pursuing Marilyn, Curtis used the phrase "Judy, Judy, Judy" which became a staple of Cary Grant impressions for many years.
I suppose these are the images of Curtis that linger in most people's mind, the gorgeous physically gifted comedian .. and let's face fact, the man was gorgeous. So gorgeous that he was cast in Spartacus as Lawrence Olivier's boy toy.
But the man had a long, long career and in that time played a wide variety of roles. He took noteable dramatic turns in movies like The Defiant Ones with Sidney Portier, a movie that was famous in its day for addressing issues of race but come across now as a bit of a pot boiler
But that movie proved Tony's bravery and his dedication to the craft of acting. He was a movie star, he was a pretty boy, he was packaged as a romantic leading man, but he wasn't scared of pursuing controversial roles, like The Defiant Ones, or roles that did not cast him in the most flattering of light. One such example is The Sweet Smell of Success (again with Burt Lancaster) that cast Curtis as a totally immoral, devious Broadway public relations man. He did not hide from this character's hard edges, he come across as slimy and heartless under that polished, gleaming pretty exterior
More famously, Curtis put his reputation as a suave, funny leading man on the line with the darkest performance of his career, as the titular Boston Strangler. Curtis did not hold back in this role. He played the man as a monster, a predator, and his role is surprisingly restrained while at the same time showing us some of the terrible darkness that must live inside someone who could perform such deeds
It seems that to survive for decades in Hollywood, you have to be able to reinvent yourself. Curtis was certainly capable of doing that. Comedian, leading man, dramatic actor, ultimate villain. In later life, he reinvented himself as Hollywood icon and artist and of course, father of Jamie Lee Curtis .. that in itself a significant achievement don't you think
Tony popped up in movies and TV over the last couple of decades, usually playing soap operaish bad guys or some caricature of himself. Perhaps that is why I don't often think of him, now, as being one of my favourites. And yet look at that movie list. Certainly The Vikings is one of my all time favorite movies and he was not just a tourist in that movie, he was an integral part of what makes it work for me. Some Like it Hot and Sweet Smell of Success often come to mind but of course for very different reasons. Both are overall strong movies and, in a sense, ensemble pieces. He was a movie star who had no problem being a co-star.
Now that Tony is gone, let's not forget about him. A lot of his movies were very much of their time and perhaps don't stand up, but others are as good today as the day they were released. He was nominated for an Oscar for The Boston Strangler but he did not win. Perhaps that is why he rarely is mentioned as a great dramatic actor. Or perhaps it's because he was a such a fine comedic actor, albeit an understated one, happy to immerse himself into a role, or a variety of roles in one movie, as in Some Like It Hot. Or, even better example, The Great Impost0r, where he played a man who pretended to be everyone, in his life
When I think of Tony Curtis I think of the movie star, of the icon, as the legend. I don't immediately think of the actor, not until I think of the roles and the movies themselves. So Rest In Piece, great impostor, what better appellation could one give to a great actor.
No comments:
Post a Comment