Mark Steyn: The Biggest of Them All

The Telegraph ^ | July 4, 2004 | Mark Steyn

[quidnunc]

The man who once embodied male beauty ended his career as the fattest star in motion picture history. But despite the debauchery, the legend of Brando endured.

A few years back, The New Yorker published a cartoon in which two ladies discussed the appeal of Marlon Brando: "He plays galoots really well," suggested the first woman, "galoot" being American slang for a big, uncouth, rough-hewn kind of a fellow — "ya big galoot", "ya big lug", etc.

"No, he's not a galoot," says the second. "Like in On The Waterfront, he's much more sensitive than a galoot."

"He's a sensitive galoot," offers the first.

"Isn't that our ideal?" says the second. "A sensitive galoot?"

For a while, the sensitive galoot was everyone's ideal — raw, physical, bluecollar, but also tender, vulnerable, noble. The biggest night of his life was December 3, 1947, when he opened on Broadway as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. The crowd cheered for half an hour, and by the time they stopped applauding it wasn't just a great first-night performance but a template for a generation of American actors. The publicity shots for the play remained the iconic image of Brando's career — a muscular man in white T-shirt and blue jeans, a new dress code for a new acting style. It's difficult 57 years later to appreciate just what a startling sight it was in 1947, when the big male stars were Ronald Colman, Cary Grant, Fredric March, Bing Crosby. It advertised Brando's authenticity.

But what it was was a costume. The audience, insofar as they thought about it, assumed Brando had pulled on a pair of jeans and grabbed a T-shirt. But the show's designer, Lucinda Ballard, invented the look — the skin-tight undershirt sculpted to Brando's torso, and the first fitted jeans in American history. He was a big galoot, but he was a bespoke one: brutal but beautiful. And that's what he played in that first stellar decade — sensitive toughs, dignified oafs, a Broadway notion of a working-class stiff.

-snip-

[Cicero]

On the whole, I agree with Steyn. There was something larger than life about Brando, but he took his talent and wasted it. I liked On the Waterfront when it first came out, but I don't really want to see it again. I CAN'T STAND ALL THAT PORTENTOUS MUMBLING. I agree that he's good at Don Corleone, but there again, why the damned mumbling? He should've spit the cherry pits out of his mouth before he went on camera.

[shrinkermd]

Steyn writes so often and so well it is hard to believe he is just one man.

[lainde]

Thanks Brian! BTTT

[driftless]

Brando was pretty good in a lot of movies. Not necessarily great, but pretty good. I have "One-Eyed Jacks" on tape and still watch it occasionally. It's still one of the best westerns of the sixties. The scene with Slim Pickens in the jail is my favorite.

[Ruth A.]

Steyn let it loose. Brando was so uneven (poor script judgment at the least) that any attempt to lable him the greatest is truly unwarranted.

[GladesGuru]

" Brando could have done that, if he had known what the hell he wanted to be."

I disagree - Brando did become what he wanted. He was a symbol of the irrational, self-indulgent, deconstruction of American civilization so loudly trumpted by Hollyweird.

From Last Tango in Paris (primarily memorable for making Hollyweird's first sodomy/grocery scene) to his advocacy for some sort of Native American "rights" by supporting the anarchism of AIM and Russel Means, there was always an undercurrent of perversion.

And the fact that the Indians were very acceptant of homosexuals did have a bearing on how (and why) Hollyweird flocked to their "cause".

Steyn was actually rather understated in his critique of both Hollyweird and Brando.

[Desdemona]

His early stuff, the stuff that Steyn likes, "Streetcar" and "On the Waterfront", I thought he was silly in.

IMO, these were his two best roles. That and "The Wild One." In "On the Waterfront" some of the most celebrated stuff was done on the first take, i.e., the glove (it just happened, no direction from Kazan), the backseat of the cab. Those were really powerful performances

People forget that he played the same part in Streetcar on Broadway. He was the original. Now, "Guys and Dolls" and "Teahouse of the August Moon" - Some casting director wasn't thinking.

[Tired_of_the_Lies]

I'd much rather remember his good film roles and just forget the pathetic, self-absorbed weirdo he was in real life.

I think that about almost every actor and actress I like.

[finnigan2]

The information that Brando may have been bi-sexual is news to me because he's always been portrayed as a womanizer who couldn't get enough action. I remember reading that in his early days in movies he would bring three or four beauties on the set each day. When the director called, "Cut!", Brando would look over, point to one and take her to his trailer. The others would stand by waiting for their turn to be called. It's amazing what Hollywood will tolerate and keep under wraps as long as there is money to be made.

[GladesGuru]

Overtly sleazy sex is what has always underlain Hollywood, so what's to hide? Well, from their perspective, at least.