Films/DVD Asylum

The signs were there all along... IF you were paying attention. nt

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sjb

In Reply to: RE: I guess..like Crowe would go from cold blooded psychopath killer posted by Duilawyer on January 28, 2008 at 11:28:58

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"You can safely assume you have created God in your own image when he hates all the same people you do."

Follow Ups:

Isn't that James Coburn's big line in "The Last of Sheila"? - Duilawyer 13:53:37 01/28/08 (0)
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I agree. * - mr grits 12:34:18 01/28/08 (0)
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Complicit Constapo Talibangelical since MMIII
Really, who could pay attention to that clinker? A cold-blooded killer - tinear 12:05:29 01/28/08 (6)
played by a major actor that just wouldn't let it ride: he had to have some wonderful characteristics, too.
Ah, for the old days when evil could be just... evil.
Henry Fonda in the Leone film was content just to be bad. Crowe is a wussie.
- Whether you buy it or not, it had nothing to do with Crowe. - Harmonia 20:46:02 01/28/08 (0)
  Tin, the turnabout is in the book.
  
  It's in the script.
  
  That's the way the actor played it. That's the way the director wanted it.
  
  This is not OUATITW. You may not like or buy 3:10 to Yuma but don't blame it on Crowe wanting to whitewash his character.
  
  Be careful of putting your own hobbyhorse onto Crowe. Crowe may be guilty of much but not of this particular sin. If you must lay blame lay it on the right sinner
  
  For all Crowe's off camera shennenigans and massive ego, he generally plays it straight with scripts and is not known for being overly protective of his characters in that way - he's possessive of his roles and he's certainly script conscious but he's generally not at all worried about looking pretty or being a nice guy on the screen.
  
  You may be thinking of Mel Gibson, who demanded his dark character in 1999's Payback be given redeeming qualities. Gibson and writer/director Brian Helgeland famously clashed bigtime over it. The star got Payback taken away from Helgeland, much to the movie's detriment. (Helgeland was fired the week after he won an Oscar for LA Confidential.) Payback was eventually recut/restored/re-edited by the director in 2006.
  
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  And totally OT, I loved Alan Tuddyk's character in 3:10 to Yuma.
- Perfect analogy. Picture what Fonda did to the kid in OATITW - Duilawyer 13:51:50 01/28/08 (2)
  That's what real psychopaths do, they don't develop a warm fuzzy feeling for a boy who looks like a girl and keeps his mouth open.
  - But that's not the story, or the character. - sjb 15:44:50 01/28/08 (1)
    You both specifically mentioned Crow... as if he chose to play a psycho who also was capable of feeling and/or doing good. If you just meant the character that's a different story... I have no problem with a character who's multi-faceted and complex and could go either way (kill you without a second thought or help you) depending on how he feels in the moment. If you guys do that's certainly your prerogative.
    
    I thought he played that character almost perfectly... the level of confidence and charm seemed spot on. He decided to make sure the kid got the dough because he respected the kids courage and the fathers courage AND because he was tired of his crew and liked the challenge of escaping from the prison train and/or prison.
    
    There's an obvious tongue in cheek-ness to the character that made it fun... it's not supposed to be anything like Fonda in the SL film. Why would anyone want their psycho's to all be played the same way?
    
    "You can safely assume you have created God in your own image when he hates all the same people you do."
    - Agreed.. - Harmonia 20:39:03 01/28/08 (0)
      This movie isn't trying to be OATITW, nor did Crowe write the script or direct himself!
      
      I actually thought Crowe was having a lot more fun (and was thus much more fun to watch) with this baddie than he was with his cop role in American Gangster.
      
      Actors work with the material at hand.
- Um... that's the character... in both the book it was based on and when Glenn Ford played the role in 1957. - sjb 12:24:48 01/28/08 (1)
  And, again, what happens at the end isn't a surprise if one has been paying attention.
  
  Also there's a certain kind of evil, mixed with some sense of goodness or rightness... but never knowing which will win the day, that can be very unsettling.
  
  "You can safely assume you have created God in your own image when he hates all the same people you do."
  - I'm sure you agree that artists take... artistic license when needed. But, that - tinear 14:25:24 01/28/08 (0)
    point aside, a cold-blooded recitation of events hardly bears comparison to a film, does it? Or are the many creative artists involved in a film, from the director on down (or sideways), just reporters (that always have biases, too...)?
    Read "Lolita" (if you can...) and see Kubrick's version. COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.
    But each praised as a classic.

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