Posted on 12/01/2012 6:09:35 AM PST by PJ-Comix
Even good actors sometimes get horribly miscast in the wrong roles. The case most often cited is this first one in which John Wayne played an odd role for him...a Mongol warrior.
John Wayne: Miscast as Genghis Khan in "The Conqueror," the Duke had to utter lines like: "My blood says, take this Tartar woman."
Susan Hayward: Co-starring as the tartar woman love interest in "The Conqueror." Yeah, an Irish chick from Brooklyn as a Tartar woman on the Asian steppes. The closest thing about Hayward to a tartar is that she had a tart tongue.
Chuck Connors: Tall, blond, blue-eyed, Connors somehow was chosen to portray an Apache Indian barely five feet tall. Does not compute!
George Peppard: I really enjoyed watching "The Blue Max." My favorite aerial movie about WWI. However, one person just did not fit the role...George Peppard as Lt. Bruno Stachel. Peppard was simply too American to convincingly portray a German. Oh, and you don't have to be a German to portray a German since two English actors in the same movie were very convincing as German officers: James Mason and Jeremy Kemp.
Laurence Olivier: Yes, even actors at the top of the acting profession can be horribly miscast as Olivier was as General Douglas McArthur in "Inchon." Thankfully very few people have seen Olivier in his completely miscast role.
Leslie Howard: I recently saw "Gone With The Wind" again for the umpteenth time and noticed that Leslie Howard was quite long in the tooth to be playing the youthful Ashley Wilkes. And did Southern gentlemen talk with British accents?
Jimmy Stewart: Stewart was almost twice the age of the 25 year old Lindbergh when he flew solo across the Atlantic. Sorry, but mere hair dye does not make one convincingly youthful in "The Spirit of St. Louis." Actually, George Peppard would have been good in the role of Lindbergh...if he mastered Lindbergh's slightly sing-song upper Midwest accent.
Richard Burton: As Leon Trotsky in "The Assassination of Trotsky."
Charlton Heston: His miscasting in "A Touch of Evil" was so horrible that it was even referenced in "Ed Wood" when Wood ran into Orson Welles at a bar and after telling Welles about being forced to miscast roles, Welles replied: "Tell me about it. I'm supposed to do a thriller for Universal. They want Charlton Heston as a Mexican."
Robbie Benson as Ghandi.
Similarly, I think a younger (early X-Files era) David Duchovny would have made a terrific Gatsby. I could see him lurking, brooding in the shadows while a huge flapper party was in full swing on his estate. He's not stunningly handsome like Redford, but is far more cerebral, and would be the kind who could have convincingly dealt in the prohibition era underworld, while still cleaning up to participate in more genteel society.
I’m surprised that Brando in Guys & Dolls didn’t top the list, but he’s been mentioned.
I’d go with Ralph Fiennes in The Avengers. Other missteps regarding the movie aside, the only contemporary actor who should have played Steed was Kenneth Brannagh. But Fiennes comes off as cold, whereas the key ingredient in the Steed persona is charm.
Also, I’m going to go with Dean Martin as Matt Helm. He actually would have been a very good choice for the role had the movies been straight adaptations of the literary version of the character. Martin had demonstrated his ability to deliver credible dramatic performances, and much of his personality would have meshed perfectly with Donald Hamilton’s Helm.
Zardoz was one of the strangest films I have ever seen. Why Sean Connery ever took the part is a mystery to me, he must have had bills to pay.
The book was good.
The book, Battlefield Earth, was good. L. Ron Hubbard was always a better writer than he was a god.
I think Ricardo Montalban would’ve been a good choice for “Evil.” However, despite the ridiculous makeup, Heston did a good job.
“Dinner” was too preachy, and the biggest mistake in the film was having Hepburn’s niece in the role of the daughter. Why would Sidney Poitier’s accomplished doctor want some flaky, naive, cheerleaderesque twit for a wife ?
When I saw the thread title, the first thing I thought of was John Wayne as Gengis Khan and sure enough it was the first example you mentioned. John could do war movies and westerns, (and even do a terrific job as a college football coach!) but Gengis Khan? Just wow.
I also liked Tony Curtis as a gladiator, complete with Bronx accent: "Yonder is the castle of my fodder."
Hopkins sounded like a drunk Irishman in “Nixon.”
Why does everyone hate Battlefield Earth? I thought it was great Sci-fi. It is nearly universally reviled as one of the worst movies of all time but I actually enjoyed it.
He must have been liquored up.
I DARE you to watch Gentlemen’s Agreement and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? back to back!
Havent’ seen “Fisher King”, liked “Awakenings”, HATED “What Dreams May Come” and “Patch Adams.” The beginning of the end of Williams’ relevance IMO, further exacerbated by such pap as “Jack” and “Bicentennial Man.”
Possibly. But if we don't all cringe whenever he appears on screen maybe it really is time to break up the country after all.
Also as Fletcher Christian in "Mutiny On The Bounty" in which he attempted English accent with a sissy lisp. It was kind of hard not to burst out laughing every time Brando opened his mouth in that flick.
Sean Connery as a Berber in "The Wind and the Lion".
Sean Connery as a Spanish knight in "Highlander".
Sean Connery as a Russian navy officer in "The Hunt for Red October"
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