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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
 Posted - 03/10/2006 : 02:16:32 AM
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For example, Ryan O'Neal in The Driver. This was a slick modern day film noir. Thin on character development, but loaded with good action. All that was needed was a charismatic lead and the filmmakers might have pulled this off. Instead, they cast probably one of the worst leading men in modern film history. Ali MacGraw was more macho than this guy. Klaatu changed facial expressions more often. Prince Randian was more energetic. HAL had more charisma...
You get the picture.
A second example: O'Neal in Barry Lyndon. I wasn't all that crazy about this movie, anyway, but with a more dynamic lead actor at least it might have had a shot. Instead... well, reread my comments above. |
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Victoria Silverwolf
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
USA
80 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2006 : 03:24:05 AM
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Well, you have a point, although I adore Barry Lyndonand think it's one of Kubrick's masterpieces.
Let's see; other than the performance of George Lazenby, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the definitive Bond film.
Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra; with a really fine lead performance, this could have been a classic Hollywood epic. (Taylor wasn't a bad actress -- witness Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? -- but she's wrong for the part.)
Reality is a crutch for people who can't face up to science fiction. |
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Neville
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Spain
1590 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2006 : 08:12:33 AM
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Rounders could have been a semi-documantal view into the world of illegal gambling and poker games, but John Malkovich overdoes his Russian villain to the extreme he swallows the whole movie.
And The Last Outlaw could have been an excellent spaghetti western if the main role had gone to anybody else than Mickey Rourke at the lowest point of his career.
Both are still very good films, anyway. |
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Ken HPoJ
Supreme Potentate
USA
1530 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2006 : 09:38:07 AM
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It didn't really ruin it, but even for the Bond series, Denise Richards as a nuc-u-lar scientist in The World is Not Enough (or whichever one) was an absolute riot.
Two other not-too-good movies that still suffered from hilarious mis-casting are (of course) The Conqueror, with John Wayne as Gengis Khan, and our own A Stranger Among Us, with Melanie Griffith as a tough, Dirty Harriet homicide cop.
PEGGY: I don't see how having a girl on the team would ruin it. Did a woman judge ruin the Supreme Court?
HANK: Yes, and that woman's name was Earl Warren.
--King of the Hill |
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kdraut
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
343 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2006 : 10:21:28 AM
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Chesty Morgan in Double Agent '73.
Ok, I can't even type that with a straight face.
http://www.kdraut.com/photo |
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Ambrose Bierce
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
USA
53 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2006 : 10:46:53 AM
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| Well of course not. And why are you trying to type with your face? |
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CobraCmdr
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
70 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2006 : 1:48:25 PM
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| I always thought The Quick and the Dead would have been a lot better without Sharon Stone. Russel Crowe's preacher character should have been the focus of the film. |
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Gristle McThornbody
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
Germany
186 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2006 : 8:25:21 PM
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Any non-romantic comedy/sports film that has Kevin Costner in it. The man simply cannot act.
Sofia Coppola in 'The Godfather part III'. Granted, the movie's not a classic by any measure, but holy crap was she bad. If you look up "Why is nepotism bad?" in Wikipedia, it should show a clip of her "acting".
"Hi, I'm Bob Evil!" |
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BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2006 : 9:03:19 PM
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| The Watcher In The Woods wouldn't have been all that great, but it would have been tolerable... if it weren't for Lynn-Holly Johnson. Is it any wonder she never caught on with audiences? |
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Neville
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Spain
1590 Posts |
Posted - 03/11/2006 : 04:57:47 AM
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| Jan-Michael Vincent *could* ruined Charles Bronson's The Mechanic, but luckily someone realised in time the boy couldn't act and gave him a character that essentially is a scumbag, so you can hate him and it doesn't hurt the movie that much. |
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 03/11/2006 : 2:27:28 PM
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How about Keanu Reeves in Dangerous Liaisons?? He didn't actually ruin the film- too much other talent involved- but he gave it his best shot.
Ryan O'Neal doesn't ruin Barry Lyndon for me, but hearing him try and do an Irish accent is pretty painful. Not to mention playing 17 at the beginning when he's clearly about 43, but that happens in many classic films with long internal time-spans.
Kevin Costner in Robin Hood, POT. I would really like that movie but I can't tolerate his "performance", or the Bryan Adams song. |
Edited by - Sardu on 03/11/2006 2:29:25 PM |
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R. Dittmar
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
420 Posts |
Posted - 03/11/2006 : 6:21:47 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Victoria Silverwolf
Let's see; other than the performance of George Lazenby, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the definitive Bond film.
Victoria,
With all due respect, I must strongly disagree. In fact I think the opposite is true. On Her Majesty's Secret Service is a great film because of Lazenby's casting in the part. The fact that he is not Sean Connery made the whole thing possible.
Although I love Sean Connery's performances in the Bond movies, the fact is that he played Bond like a brute. It is a sad commentary on the wavy-gravy, hippy-dippy 60's that Connery forcing himself on women was taken as suave and debonair. He all but raped Pussy Galore in Goldfinger. He threated to get the nurse in Thunderball fired unless she slept with him. Is there any reason to believe that Connery could have displayed anything in the way of tenderness or romance that the plotline of OHMSS required? He shows some flashes of same in You Only Live Twice but that's probably only because the Japanese would have beat the *#@) out of him had he gone around molesting women in Tokyo.
Theoretically there may have been actors who would have done better in the role, but without the break from Connery caused by the new casting the film would never have been as good as it is. Lazenby was undoubtedly a novice, and given the fact that he self-destructed it is not clear that he had the maturity to assay the role for the long haul. But without him, the movie would have been a stinker. All you need to do is look at Diamonds Are Forever to know how badly things could have turned out. |
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Victoria Silverwolf
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
USA
80 Posts |
Posted - 03/12/2006 : 04:56:30 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Neville
Jan-Michael Vincent *could* ruined Charles Bronson's The Mechanic, but luckily someone realised in time the boy couldn't act and gave him a character that essentially is a scumbag, so you can hate him and it doesn't hurt the movie that much.
And what a nifty little dark and cynical film that is!
And to R. Dittmar, I certainly see your point. I guess I just wish the role had been taken over by an actor at the same level as Diana Rigg (probably impossible.)
Reality is a crutch for people who can't face up to science fiction. |
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Dirk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
237 Posts |
Posted - 03/12/2006 : 09:19:07 AM
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Madonna in Dick Tracy, anyone?
On OHMSS, it's a shame that Lazenby's first Bond film was also the most un-Bond film in the entire series - Bond gets married? His wife gets killed? It ends with him sobbing over her bullet-riddled corpse? Had Lazenby been given time to mature in the role, he could have been good. As it stands, his performance is sometimes good, sometimes absolutely terrible ("He had lots of guts!" "He branched out!").
Bond's been a downright bastard for pretty much his entire existence. It's just that sometimes he's more blatant (Connery) and sometimes he covers it up with a few quips (Moore). Can anyone forget when he duped Solitaire into "giving up" her powers by handing her the rigged deck of Tarot cards? It wasn't until Dalton and (to a much greater extend) Brosnan that Bond became the "Damn it, why do I have to be a globe-trotting secret agent???" type. Consequently, the movies have gotten progressively lamer.
Oh - hows about Madonna in Die Another Day? The movie was already terrible, but her cameo was distracting and irritating. |
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Neville
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
Spain
1590 Posts |
Posted - 03/12/2006 : 2:32:06 PM
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James Bond's badass mode is still there for those who still want to read between lines... Nobody remembers Pierce Brosnan killing Marceau's character in cold blood in The World is not enough or throwing a crystal ashtray on a semi-conscious henchman in Tomorrow Never Dies?
I've always liked this badass side of Bond, the suave, ladies' man that has become the character trademark wouldn't last 15 minutes in the real world. Daniel Craig can look and play both sophisticated and rough (anybody seen Layer Cake? I recommend it), so if the producers really want a rougher Bond he's the man for the job. |
Edited by - Neville on 03/12/2006 2:33:52 PM |
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Cannon Fodder
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
Australia
176 Posts |
Posted - 03/13/2006 : 12:01:37 AM
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| I've got to say I agree with Lazenby ruining On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I can understand the argument that Connery's portrail of Bond might not have been appropriate for the movie but Lazenby was simply awful. He was woefully miscast as Bond and could barely walk through a door convincingly let alone pull off suave and sophisticated. I could possibly buy him on screen as an aussie yob but as a debonair and worldly superspy, no way in hell. He was awful in the emotional scenes as well. |
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