|
Author
|
Topic: Henry Fonda A Boring Actor?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tom Spielman
Master Film Handler
Posts: 339
From: Minneapolis, MN, USA
Registered: Apr 2016
|
posted January 18, 2017 10:29 PM
His star has fallen partly because his children haven't painted a very endearing picture of him as a father. And partly because the majority of the public are too young to have seen many of his movies.
This forum is filled with a bunch of movie buffs, but if you asked an average person to name 3 movies from each decade starting with the 40's, how many of Fonda's movies would get mentioned? It's not that he was a bad actor or that he wasn't in good films, it's just that few, if any, really stand out from the crowd.
Back the original question, was he a boring actor? I think it's fair to say that most of his characters were fairly reserved in nature. That doesn't mean they weren't interesting characters or that they were easy to portray but I think it does make them less memorable.
[ January 18, 2017, 11:43 PM: Message edited by: Tom Spielman ]
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mike Newell
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 826
From: United Kingdom
Registered: Jun 2003
|
posted January 19, 2017 09:54 AM
Interesting comments.
One quote was Fail Safe and 12 Angry Men, Good movies. How often would you watch them Honestly Once and he was surrounded by very good actors!
"Once upon a Time in the West", Jason Robards steals every scene he is in followed by Charles Bronson. Fonda is the black dressed villain. Blank expression and you know he is going to die from beginning of film he leaves the least impact.
Henry Fonda arrived in Hollywood in early 1930s when virtually every actor who had any stage experience was given a chance by the Studios. If you look at the list of all his films and believe me it is hard to compile as they all seem to be Hanks Top 10 films.
His early films prior to Ford are either forgettable or unknown except to film buffs. The only two stand outs are Jesse James and Frank James where he plays the boring brother, No prizes there.
The difference between the original James film and the sequel is more to do than script.
Now we come to the good ones he made with "one director" John Ford "Young Mr Lincoln", "Grapes of Wrath" and "Drums Along the Mohawk" which are the foundation of his entire reputation.
One more good film followed after the WW2 service which was "My Darling Clementine".
He made two other films with Ford "Fort Apache" my most disliked
Ford Western. His leaden performance drags the entire film down. I know he was playing a martinet with no personality but it seems to be a role he took to his heart.
After quite a absence from films for Broadway stage he returned with his favourite role "Mr Roberts". A great stage success but that sums it up it is a very talky stage play. Ford gets the blame for this turkey but I think he tried to fix elements that wouldn't work in a film with Fonda resisting and blocking all changes.
Makes you wonder if Fonda had been given total control what film would have been made.
Hitchcock made one film with Fonda with the apt name "The Wrong Man" a disappointing film in all aspects and the famous director never returned for him again.
After this is a mishmash of films followed varying from cameos, minor westerns when everyone made westerns to wholesale turkeys like "Madigan", "Meteor", "Swarm" and "Rollercoaster" plus a lot you would have too research on You Tube.
Ironically, his last role was his most emotional "On Golden Pond" which was cinematic family counselling which is the stuff aging senile Academy Award voters loved and rewarded with a Oscar.
1981
On Golden Pond
Summer Solstice
1980
Gideon's Trumpet
The Oldest Living Graduate
1979
Meteor
Roots: The Next Generation
Wanda Nevada
1978
City on Fire
The Swarm
Fedora
1977
Battle Force
Rollercoaster
Tentacles
1976
Midway
The Great Smokey Roadblock
1974
Last Days of Mussolini
1973
Ash Wednesday
1972
The Serpent
1971
Sometimes a Great Notion
1970
The Cheyenne Social Club
There Was a Crooked Man
Too Late the Hero
1968
Once Upon a Time in the West
The Boston Strangler
Yours, Mine and Ours
Firecreek
Madigan
1967
Welcome to Hard Times
1966
A Big Hand for the Little Lady
The Dirty Game
1965
Battle of the Bulge
The Rounders
In Harm's Way
1964
Sex and the Single Girl
Fail-Safe
The Best Man
1963
Spencer's Mountain
How the West Was Won
1962
Advise and Consent
The Longest Day
1959
Warlock
The Man Who Understood Women
1957
The Tin Star
12 Angry Men
Stage Struck
1956
War and Peace
The Wrong Man
1955
Mister Roberts
1949
Jigsaw
1948
Fort Apache
On Our Merry Way
The Fugitive
1947
Daisy Kenyon
The Long Night
1946
My Darling Clementine
1943
Immortal Sergeant
The Ox-Bow Incident
1942
The Male Animal
Rings on Her Fingers
Tales of Manhattan
The Big Street
The Magnificent Dope
1941
The Lady Eve
Wild Geese Calling
You Belong to Me
1940
The Grapes of Wrath
The Return of Frank James
Lillian Russell
Chad Hanna
1939
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
Let Us Live
Drums Along the Mohawk
Young Mr. Lincoln
Jesse James
1938
The Mad Miss Manton
Spawn of the North
I Met My Love Again
Blockade
Jezebel
1937
Slim
You Only Live Once
That Certain Woman
Wings of the Morning
1936
Spendthrift
The Moon's Our Home
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
1935
The Farmer Takes a Wife
Way Down East
I Dream Too Much ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
| IP: Logged
|
|
Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted January 19, 2017 11:56 AM
Fonda aged incredibly well, as well. in "My Name is Nobody", while older, he certainly looked a lot younger than his best friend Stewart.
Cooper really opened the door for actors to "age" on screen. At first, people said that he would be the wrong person for "High Noon' and were punching for a younger actor, but Cooper so nailed the part as an over-the-hill marshall on his last legs, that it opened up other actors like Wayne to play parts when they were, as a general rule, way past the age of playing the part realistically
--------------------
"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted January 20, 2017 11:19 AM
I'm a regional, more local actor, (working in an occasional local play and my own productions, few as they are), so i wouldn't be as great of an authority as, for instance, Shorty and a few others on here ...
But I personally never got into or bought that whole "Method acting" school of acting that came about in the late 50's and still is around these days. Now, for a fraud as an actor, I'd certianly put Brando in that category. Even in his biggest films (the 50's), I never really bought him as an actor. i know that there are many who would disagree, another wanna be was James Dean, who was just another pretty face. Marilyn Monroe could out-act him any day of the week (and that's saying a lot)!
--------------------
"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
