Am I the only one who thought Orson Wells' performance was unwatchable?
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MADDOXRJM — 19 years ago(May 16, 2006 01:42 PM)
I suspect you are not completely alone with that opinion, but I thought his performance was great, and also found it easy to understand him when he spoke.
Perhaps after living in the south for many years it was easier for me. -
ktbooks2003 — 19 years ago(May 16, 2006 04:28 PM)
I saw this film for the first time this afternoon. I have to agree Welles was pretty hard to take and to understand. Everyone else was pretty good, but the makeup situation with Mr. Welles was so distracting in every scene he was in. The greasy wig was repulsive.I didn't buy the reconciliation with Jody at the end either. Too patseems to me Daddy Varner would be more likely to kill him when he came out of that barn. High melodramavery much like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof!
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rhonda-yates — 19 years ago(July 02, 2006 12:22 PM)
It always seemed like the pace was perfect through the barn burning scene, and then everything was hurried along for the Hollywood ending. Earlier Will had told Alan Stewart to keep quiet about jilting Clara or "I'll tear you apart with my bare hands". What do you think he would do if you locked him in a barn and set it on fire? But they had to get the "Jody" problem out of the way so we could see Ben and Clara finally together at the end. A minor flaw in a great movie!
BigPhil -
vickistg — 19 years ago(October 29, 2006 12:33 PM)
I agree with the part about Jody to an extent. It did seem a little pat, but then I thought about men I've known like that. All they wanted was for their sons to show some backbone. Perhaps Daddy had been needling Jody for years to get him to "man up"! It could have used a little more development,though.
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practicepiano — 19 years ago(November 06, 2006 06:55 AM)
This is one of those movies I've never been able to make myself watch the "hot, sweaty, family power struggle, women in slips and men with various ego problems" films don't always hold me!
I'm watching it now, and I do find the makeup and wig very distracting (having just read that the nose often fell off didn't help).
But I'm finding the most distracting thing about Welles' performance to be his posture and focus looking down, hunched over, rarely making eye contact. Besides being constant enough to be distracting, it also seems out-of-character for the role.
I keep thinking that if I close my eyes and listen, I might like the performance better. -
jasperparker — 18 years ago(July 12, 2007 05:35 AM)
I absolutely love this film. I thought Orson Wells' performance was outstanding. The interplay between Will Varner, Ben Quick and Clara Varner
is what I love most about this film. Oh, and I understood everything that
Will Varner said perfectly. -
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nosnojsirhc — 17 years ago(August 08, 2008 03:12 PM)
if i think of the film as a historical account of southern lives in the first half of the 20th century, i don't like Welles or Franciosa's performances or Woodward's, for that matter. but if i think of the film as a sprawling fun hollywood southern story, it's great fun. i prefer having fun, so i choose the latter.
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WarpedRecord — 16 years ago(April 07, 2009 11:46 AM)
It was certainly the worst performance I've seen from Orson Welles. As with most films in this vein, the whole cast overdoes the Southern accent, but Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward are a bit more subtle.
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