According to Drudge, who links to a Phoenix news site:
http://www.kpho.com/Global/story.asp?S=1990163&nav=23KtOOSA
Yep Raj,
The Godfather is dead.
AP just reported the same thing. Brando died at the age of 80. Truly a sad day in the film industry.
I was never a brando fan, thought he was a miserbale man in real life and all that stuff, but still its sad to see a legend die.
For a lot of reasons as Dunners mentioned Brando wasn't the best person in real life, but his film presence was unmistakable. I'm very shocked to hear this.
I'm pretty shocked as well, the God Father has died, but at least there won't be a sequal to "The Island of Dr. Moreau".
No sequel to Dr. Moreau? Of course there will be at some point, probably right after the sequel to Happy Gilmore. Once Hollywood has scrapped the bottom of the barrel and is working on the bottom of the outside of the barrel. Which should happen in about 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, now.
raj:
Ok,ok,ok. Dr. Moreau will ge a sequal but a least Brando can't be Moreau now. God I heard he was terrible in Moreau.
Actually Brando is the only thing that made THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU interesting. His performance actually saved the movie from movie oblivion.
I'll be saying more about my favorite all time actor this week. He was much more than a great actor. His greatest unseen contribution to the world is still unseen by all his fans.
(http://www.bikemenu.com/photos/famous/Marlon%20Brando%20The%20Wild%20One08.jpg)
Here he is seen with his very own motorcycle (triumph) from the film THE WILD ONE. He agreed to do the film only if he could use his own bike.
Post Edited (07-02-04 16:17)
I'll give Brando credit for his early work, but for the last 20 years or more he was just acting for the money. I remember seeing an interview with Robert Duvall talking about Brando in the Godfather and how they had his lines hanging from a tree on a cue card and he was just reading them.
Trek hits the nail on the head. Of course, there's nothing wrong with taking roles for the money, it does put food on the table, and Brando had a pretty big table to fill.
The Don is dead. Thats all that needs said.
At least illness prevented his last movie from being Scary Movie 2.
I watched "Apocolypse Now" again last night- he was SO amazing in that movie! Honestly, I can't think of another actor right now that could pull off that role as well as he did.
I have less of a problem with him taking acting work just for the money, unlike many big stars, he admitted that was why he took lots of the roles he did. Two quotes that have been making the rounds since his death are one where he said he acted because it paid the best of anything out there while you were figuring out what to do with your life (he seemed to be only half joking in the Larry King interview where he said it). The other was when he said that he took jobs for money because he lack the moral courage to turn it down when offered.
Looking at some of the crap movies big names get involved with at times, I give him credit for owning up to selling out. People wouldn't have offer the money (or have met his salary demands) if they didn't think they would get something out of it. So Bando and the producers who paid him big bucks were both using each other, at least it's out in the open. Look at all the summer fodder that comes out, surely all of the actors involved don't believe that "Lethal Weapon" clones or the latest "fart jokes and frat boy humor" comedy are great cinema? Nope they want to get paid well.
Getting back to Brando's work, he could do interesting work when he wanted to. Look at "The Freshman" skewering his Don Corleone character. Or try "Last Tango in Paris" or watch him in the period political tale "Burn!" It's fun to watch him hamming it up in "The Missouri Breaks", which kind of puts you off guard for just how brutal and deadly his character really was. Even in bad, bland, or weak films, like "Bedtime Story" or "The Island of Dr. Moreau", "The Chase" he was still interesting, despite being wrong for the part or just out and out slumming. And he could steal a scene with just his presence in a small role like in "The Formula". He couldn't save a film just by being there (like "Dr. Moreau", but I did enjoy Val Kilmer's imitations of him), and despite several attempts I have never made it all the way through "The Ugly American", but the man did have his moments.