Do the Bob

Last night, Futurballa settled down to Neil Jordan's remake of Melville's Bob Le Flambeur, The Good Thief with Nick Nolte. I've never actually seen the original so this won't be a comparison, though some of the camera work and editing was reminiscent of other Nouvelle Vague films I've seen. I enjoyed the film and it inspired me to check out the original. What did catch my blogging fancy was Nick Nolte's performance.

Others have written about his hard living, hard drinking, well worn like an old pair of shoes face, so I'll leave that for now. What struck me about Nolte was his ability to simply be in the role. So many of our great actors today have to constantly perform. They don't act, they interpret. Some of my favorite actors are guilty of this. Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against a little scenery chewing, but when an actor stops acting and just is, that is so much more astounding. I don't want to see the wheels turning constantly, and there is something to be said for just hitting your mark.

I was very sad about Kate Hepburn's death, but as always when a great performer dies, it gives us an opportunity to see much of their work shown on AMC and Turner Classic. And the peripheral effect is seeing their co-stars as well. I've had the chance to watch several classic Hepburn and Tracy movies recently because of these circumstances and enjoy Spencer Tracy's understated performances. I think he did once say something to the effect of an actor's job is to show up, remember your lines and hit your mark.

Tracy was the master of this style of acting, or lack of style, depending on how you look at it. Occassionally Tom Hanks can aspire to one of these everymen that just disappears into the scenery. His recent role in Spielberg's Catch Me if You Can was one of those performances where he disappeared into the character.

I will say one thing about scenery chewing. If you are going to do it, at least have the good graces to be British. Peter O'Toole or Geoffrey Rush can chew it up to their hearts content, but please Mr. Pacino, Mr. Hoffman, Mr. Deniro, take it down a notch.