By John H. Foote As Dr. Martin Dysart in Equus, Richard Burton delivered arguably his greatest film performance, though his work as George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) certainly must be considered in that conversation. In Peter Shaffer’s breathtaking Equus, Sidney Lumet’s probing camera strips Burton free of everything but his face and…
By John H. Foote Confession: Alan’s recent article on Marsha Mason sent me back watching a handful of Richard Dreyfuss films from the seventies, so I thought I might flash back to him. Credit to Alan for inspiring this one. After a few years toiling between small roles in film and television, Dreyfuss was cast…
By Alan Hurst For about 10 years Marsha Mason had a pretty decent run in films. She was in some major box-office hits, she received positive reviews and Oscar nominations for her work in both comedy and drama, and she usually projected a likeable and relatable screen presence. But by the mid eighties she had…
By John H. Foote Watching Warren Beatty dressed up in gangsta clothing, rapping his political speeches was often hysterical. Yet if you listen to what he is saying, really listen, there is an urgency, a primal scream in the words telling us how things are, how to fix them, and the cost of doing so.…
By John H. Foote The raid on the village is subsiding, the fighting is much less as the rebels have taken to the jungle to hide. Kilgore (Duvall) orders his chopper to land on the beach so he can get a look at the surf. He has encountered a famous surfer from Malibu and destroyed…
By John H. Foote “My men were chopping off heads … because that’s what they were into” explains Bob Hyde to his visiting wife Sally, while on liberty in Hong Kong. She knows at once he is changed, off somehow, but she has no idea how deep the wounds on his soul really are. Captain…
By John H. Foote “I was a better man as a woman with you than I ever was as a man. I just have to learn to do it without the dress. I mean, I think at this point in our relationship one of us should wear pants” the flustered actor tells the love of…
By John H. Foote Derek (Edward Norton) is an imposing figure as he stands in the middle of his street, wearing only boots and jockey shorts. Muscles ripple, a swastika covers his heart, various tattoos cover him, his head is shaved. He puts down his gun, gingerly as the police arrive, placing his arms above…
By John H. Foote When he comes into view there is unmistakable swagger in his walk, despite being in chains, an arrogance, a huge chip on his shoulder, hair perfectly teased into a pompadour, his eyes blaze with seething anger. It is as though he challenges anyone he encounters, as though he has something to…
By John H. Foote Is it possible to show Adolf Hitler as the least bit sympathetic? Vulnerable? Even, dare it be said, human? He was after all just a man, but a man who put into motion the most vile mass murder of a people in modern world history. Can this man ever be portrayed…