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Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Robert Ryan: always just a punch away from an unqualified triumph

Robert Ryan (1909–1973)

Robert Ryan as Earle Slater in "Odds against Tomorrow" (1959) directed by Robert Wise

"UK film writer Philip French in the Observer in 2009 related that Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) “was the favourite film of Jean-Pierre Melville, who saw it 120 times before directing his noir masterwork Le deuxième soufflé [1966]”.

Gloria Grahame & Robert Ryan in Robert Wise's ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW (1959)

"Odds Against Tomorrow" is a work of art: truly the culmination of film noir and deserving of much greater recognition not only as a consummate film but as the harbinger of the re-invention of noir in the 60s by Sam Fuller in Hollywood and Melville in France.

Most commentators see Orson Welle’s Touch of Evil (1958) as the valedictory film noir of the classic cycle, but to my mind that film’s cross-border setting and non-urban locale do not truly reflect the big city alienation that distinguishes the classic noir cycle.

In Odds Against Tomorrow, New York City and its industrial fringe are quasi-protagonists that harbor the angst and desperation of life outside the mainstream – sordid dreams of the last big heist that will fix everything. But as always in the noir universe the relentlessly deterministic metropolis in cahoots with capricious fate kick those dreams out of the ring". Source: filmsnoir.net

Robert Wise was quoted as saying, “Bob was a dream to work with… He was a very real person, and had no phoniness… He was always helpful with the other actors, and if I ever had a problem with one of them, he would always be patient… Bob worked with people whom other stars of his caliber would have had great trouble dealing with.” -"Robert Ryan: A Biography and Critical Filmography" by Franklin Jarlett (1997)


Shelley Winters was also an admirer of Ryan and first met him at Schwab’s during her early years in Hollywood through their mutual friend, Marilyn Monroe.

In her account of the filming of ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW in her autobiography "Shelley II: The Middle of My Century", the actress recalled: “… Robert Ryan and I would sit in our little set of a cheap run-down flat that was sort of an apartment hotel. We would talk about the theatre, organic farming, where Hollywood was going in this age of television, anything but what we were really thinking about.

If I remembered correctly, Bob had been rather a heavy drinker when I’d known him in my early Schwab days, but you never could tell if he was drunk. He would just grow very quiet after eight hours of drinking. The only time I suspected he had a hangover was when he had two beers at breakfast.” -"Shelley II: The Middle of My Century" by Shelley Winters


“If I ever loved a man again, I’d bear anything,” Barbara Stanwyck’s wounded Mae declares in CLASH BY NIGHT. “He could have my teeth for watch fobs.” End to end, the film’s dialogue makes continued use of mutilation motifs. “Batter his brains out,” the cuckolded Jerry is advised by his Uncle Vince (J. Carrol Naish); when the hulking Jerry confronts his unfaithful wife, she backs into a corner and threatens “I’ll smash your face with the first thing I can lay my hands on.”
Elsewhere, young lovers Marilyn Monroe and Keith Andes square off in mock fights that invariably cross the line into actual physicality yet theirs is the one relationship in CLASH BY NIGHT to pin your hopes on.
While deception and betrayal are key tropes in film noir, here the cards are all laid on the table early on, with each character unflinchingly honest about his or her shortcomings.
“My heart’s in the wrong place,” Earl declares at his first meeting with Mae, who in turn tells Jerry she’s no good for him. If anything, the characters betray themselves. Mae marries Jerry but lets Earl take her down in a violent clutch during which she slips her hand under his “wife beater”, her fingers appearing positively skeletal through the thin fabric, as if she is reaching deep within her lover, plumbing for anything like a soul.
And the kicker is, Earl has a soul, he’s got a hell of a soul, but he’s too scarred, too broken, too enamored of getting the last word to ever fire it up for real.
As a projectionist, smiling Earl is a delivery boy for dreams he can never share. You could say he’s on the outside looking in or the inside looking out and both would be equally true. Lang’s frequent bridging shots of the roiling Pacific or gathering thunderheads marks his characters as elemental but Earl’s private Hell is to remain forever out of his element". Source: moviemorlocks.com

"His ability to play such individuals so well was apparently part of an obstinate adherence to an artistic standard that the actor developed out of his own beliefs and experiences.

Few could emulate and, at times, few could understand how personally costly this might be. Ryan‘s friend and professional colleague John Houseman once explained that “Ryan is a disturbing mixture of anger and tenderness who had reached stardom by playing mostly brutal, neurotic roles that were at complete variance with his true nature.”
Ryan, whose personal warmth and kindness was cited by those who knew and worked with him, was also a man whose political and social views were often 180 degrees opposite of the many bigots he played, from the murderous soldier in Crossfire to the virulent racists in 'Bad Day at Black Rock' and 'Odds Against Tomorrow'.

In his private life, he and his wife Jessica were politically supportive of the Committee for the First Amendment, the ACLU, civil rights, the United Nations and SANE, an organization devoted to a serious discussion of the nuclear policies of the world". Source: moviemorlocks.com


Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg as Dicky Eklund and Micky Ward in "The Fighter" (2010) directed by David O. Russell

"2010's 'The Fighter' came to great acclaim in some circles, although I didn’t care for it nearly as much as others did. I liked some of the performances, but I found the actual boxing scenes to be lacking a visceral quality and included an annoying commentary from Jim Lampley.

At the other end of the spectrum, is Robert Wise’s taut and brutal masterpiece The Set-Up, which is not only a brilliant boxing film but a first-rate film noir, hovering precisely between the genres and ultimately transcending them both. What elevates the film is the moral complexity brought about from the fact that Stoker is not told of this deal to take the dive, providing the film with the existential crises that is so prevalent in film noir". Source: filmsworthwatching.blogspot.com


THE SET-UP is arguably the greatest boxing movie ever filmed.

Tough and tender, ethical and compassionate Ryan injects Stoker with a tragic yet heroic power. His scenes with Audrey Totter who play his wife in the film, are touching and effective.
She’s tired of her life as a fighter’s wife.

Ryan uses his eyes very effectively in a number of scenes. When he talks about being only ‘one punch away’ from the big money they light up and sparkle. But then later as he gazes at the hotel where his wife is or the empty seat he bought for her in the arena, despair and a quiet despondence creep in. It’s impossible not to cheer for him…

Cary Grant told Robert Ryan: "I want you to know that I just saw The Set-Up and I thought your performance was one of the best I’ve ever seen."

When he died in 1973, Newsweek wrote…“Ryan died this year, leaving behind a lifetime of roles too small for his talent.”
© John Raspanti, August 2008


“I do remember my Dad talking about how much he liked working with Robert Wise (The Set-Up was my dad’s absolute favorite of all the films he was in) and when I finally met Wise I could understand why … he was incredibly warm and gracious, obviously a sensitive, caring man, with no huge ego evident.” -Lisa Ryan

“As a co-star [in The Set-Up]", Alan K. Rode mentioned, “it had to be Audrey Totter in The Set-Up. You believed that they were married in that picture".

Audrey told me that ‘Bob was a living doll’ and that the movie was her favorite.” Totter‘s remark about Ryan remind me that, unlike his more typical, highly cynical film noir roles, Ryan plays a man who, while capable of highly efficient bouts of violence, is also a gentle, almost idealistic character in The Set-Up.

Alan K. Rode mentioned when describing Ryan‘s power on screen:
“I think Ryan was similar to Spencer Tracy in that neither one of them ever got caught acting. Ryan expressed angst and rage as authentically as anyone. One critic referred to him as ‘infernally taut’, a quality that is quietly but persistently building throughout this movie". Source: moviemorlocks.com


"Larry Slade, the barroom philosopher and disillusioned anarchist of The Iceman Cometh, may have cut even closer to the bone: suffering from a terminal illness, he confesses to one of his fellow drunks, "What's before me is the fact that death is a fine, long sleep. And I'm damn tired."

Directed by John Frankenheimer for the American Film Theater series of the early 70s, the movie shows Ryan at his most honest and vulnerable. Few actors have so openly contemplated their own mortality on-screen, or ended their career with such an unqualified triumph". Source: www.chicagoreader.com



Watch Robert Ryan video featuring stills and scenes from "Crossfire", "The Racket" (with Robert Mitchum, Lizabeth Scott), "The Set-Up" (with Audrey Totter), "Born to be Bad" (with Joan Fontaine), "Clash by Night" (with Barbara Stanwyck), "On Dangerous Ground" (with Ida Lupino), "Act of Violence" (with Janet Leigh), "Tender Comrade" (with Ginger Rogers), "The Woman on the Beach" (with Joan Bennett), "Odds Against Tomorrow" (with Shelley Winters), etc.

Songs "Via Chicago", "She's a Jar", "Hell is Chrome" by Wilco.

Kristen Stewart - Glamour magazine Interview and photoshoot

Kristen Stewart in Glamour magazine's November 2011 issue

Despite being voted the sixth hottest woman in the world in a 2010 FHM survey, Kristen Stewart can’t seem to come to terms with her own natural beauty — “I don’t feel hot.” Is she CRAZY!?

When asked by Britain’s Closer Magazine if she has trouble with somebody calling her ‘hot,’ the 21-year-old responded, “I can’t stand that. What does that even mean? I don’t feel hot.”
Source: www.hollywoodlife.com

“Yes, we’re finished. Filmed every scene.” Next month sees the release of Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 1, while Part 2, in true modern franchise, cash-sucking style, will be released in November 2012. So is Kristen relieved it’s finally all wrapped? Her tell is a wry smile, which then breaks out into a grin you could park a canoe in.
“It’s so rare in a career to feel that a chapter is closing but there’s something final about this. No more epic, iconic scnenes...”

“I was nervous for the wedding scene,” she admits. “When I looked at the set, with the pews and the lights, and I could see everyone was there in all their outfits, I cried. God, that fucking dress!”

“I was stuck in that thing for a week; I could hardly move. But it felt incredibly ceremonial. It felt like a real wedding.”

. Did the actress ever fear for her life?

"Sure. I mean, people are crazy. Everyone does what they have to do to protect themselves, but it would be fake for me to sit here and say people are not crazy. I'm sure lots of people shy away from this question as they want to make sure they look 100 per cent appreciative all the time and that everything is the most amazing thing always … But at the end of the line, people are fucking crazy! I would have been very happy just working from job to job, paying my rent one movie at a time. I never wanted to be this famous. I never imagined this life for myself."

“I don’t want to discredit people’s individuality, bit I think people are pretty much the same. People are very similar. If you have a good enough imagination then you can feel things that you personally have never done before. That’s acting.”

Such a view of her chosen professional art form (not that Kristen would ever call acting an “art form”, one suspects) mirrors her rather dim view of her trade when just a rookie. Aged just 13, she told one magazine she though acting was “living a lie”.


“I think when I was younger, I was trying very hard to sound unpretentious. At that age, I was so bitterly self-conscious, and so desperate not to sound like a total douche. I don’t feel like that at all now. I think it was something I heard my parents say.”

Snow White and the Huntsman is filming in and around Gloucestershire, although Kristen is spending a good deal of time in a rental in Notting Hill, London. The day before, while at the GQ shoot, she had explained that she was looking forward to seeing more of the UK, as “my boyfriend is English”, although when I bring this up again the blood drains into her boots.
“I never would have said that if I knew you were going to be interviewing me.”

You felt journalists hated you?
"The first time around people were definitely aggressive with me. I know it was a response to my energy. I could feel them thinking, 'Come on, what is wrong with you -- play the Game.' But I didn't know how and I didn't know I had to, nor whether I wanted to. But I wasn't being defiant, I just wasn't prepared. And I think people responded to that in a negative way. I was just young and caught off guard. It got people so angry. They think you're a fraud.
'She's just saying she's young as an excuse: get it together or get out of the business.' I had people say that to me. How about, er, I'm an actor and I really don't give a fuck what you think? How about that?" Source: www.strictlyrobsten.com

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart as Edward and Bella in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (2011)

Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Kristen Stewart in GQ and Glamour Magazines, November 2011


Kristen Stewart in Glamour Magazine BTS Kristen Stewart November 2011

Kristen Stewart on the cover of GQ magazine, October 2011 issue