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the studio head objecting to the pre-release cuts.
I couldn't notice anything significant (except for the glorious exception of that famous eternal opening shot: no music, no titles overwhelm it, now), though it has been sometime since I viewed the "original."
Welles should have garnered a Best Actor Oscar for this performance. He certainly was as good an actor as he was a director behind the lens.
The ensemble equally amazes: Akim Tamiroff as the sleazy, but curiously endearing Uncle Joe;
Janet Leigh as the all-too-gullible bride;
Dennis Weaver in what has to be one of the most over-the-top jobs of all-time--- and a brilliant allusion and counterpoint to the Anthony Perkins' role in "Psycho:" he even is a motel clerk hosting Janet Leigh (who provides some lascivious thrills for the viewer in her motel room, yet again!);
Marlene Dietrich as some sort of gypsy fortune teller/courtesan;
Mercedes McCambridge as a very diesel tough girl;
Joseph Calleia as the detective most loyal to Welles' Captain Quinlan.
If you're very attentive, you'll also spot Welles' favorite Joseph Cotton in a tiny cameo, as well as Zza Zza Gabor…Wait a minute… I forgot to mention the hero, Vargas as played by Charlton Heston. Fresh off his role in "The Ten Commandments," Heston has lost little of his imposing stage presence. That he is totally miscast--- brown face paint and all--- as a Mexican isn't the issue: he is so wooden that the idea that bodacious Janet Leigh would even give him the time of night is unbelievable. Still, as a figure representing unbending law and order, he may be just about perfect. He certainly provides plenty of irony as a straight-shooter who exposes (pun intended) his new bride to dangers and terrors no honeymooner should experience.
Edits: 05/30/14 05/30/14 05/30/14Follow Ups:
I generally agree with your observations on this great film. But lay off Charleton Heston. The film would not have been made without his support, just as few recent Scorsese films would have beem made without cute little Leonardo DiCaprio.
the leas trace of irony, a tough feat to bring off in the days of the anti-hero. John Wayne was another, of course, but Duke did have range, could do comedy, could do complex characters.
Though I am a great fan of Michael Moore, I think his notorious ambush of the aging Heston at his home was despicable, inexcusable, and sickening.
I've often wondered if Welles put in this line as a sly nod of recognition that Heston as a Mexican is absurd.
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