Genius is an overused word, but if any living screen actor can carry that mantle it's Marlon Brando. This is the man who gave memorable, Method, lapel-grabbing performances in "A Streetcar Named Desire", "On The Waterfront", "The Godfather", and "Apocalypse Now" - that's three decades of vanity-free innovation and personal bests, not to mention two Oscars. "On The Waterfront" co-star Eva Marie Saint described him as "an open wound" and she meant it as a compliment.
But genius comes at a price. Marlon Brando is capable not just of bad film choices and difficult off-camera behaviour, but rotten performances. It hardly needs mentioning what a tragicomic figure he cut in the 90s, stooping as low as to parody his own past in "The Freshman", and even lower in "The Island of Dr Moreau".
His propensity for being bad began as far back as 1964, when he attempted light comedy in "Bedtime Story" ("the most vulgar and embarrassing film of the year" said the Daily Express). Further crimes against good taste and common sense occurred in "A Countess From Hong Kong", "Candy", "The Night of the Following Day", and "The Missouri Breaks".
Some Brando lovers will forgive him anything, even the infamous and unbecoming $4 million cameo in "Superman" (well, he does do a lot of genuinely good work for charity with his cash). They'll even let him off the indulgent 1961 western "One-Eyed Jacks", his sole directorial credit, which took him six months and a record-breaking one million feet of film to complete. As Rod Steiger said, "He could have done anything, but he didn't choose to. "
Both "One-Eyed Jacks" and "The Missouri Breaks" are showing , so judge for yourselves. On Back Row we'll be pondering the troughs of Brando's career. We'll also be debating the merits of "Pearl Harbor", and asking why foreign films are dubbed.
Andrew Collins presents Back Row on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 on Saturday June 2nd at 5.30pm. You can listen to Back Row then, or Radio 4 at any time, using RealPlayer and your computer.
