Karl's Seven Films
The legendary Karl Malden died today at age 97. We should all be around so long and look back on such a full and accomplished life. Malden was a solid and believable presence in 70 films on top of his run in that 1970s TV cop series, called Streets of San Francisco. But he earned major artistic esteem in only seven films, three of them with Marlon Brando and spanning an 11 year period, from 1951 to '62.
Malden's first blue-ribbon, brass-ring film was A Streetcar Named Desire ('51), in which he played the beefy momma's boy Mitch, the best friend of Brando's Stanley Kowalski. The next Brando pairing came with On The Waterfront ('54), in which Malden played Father Barry. His third and final Brando collaboration was in One-Eyed Jacks ('61), in which he played the cowardly and sadistic Dad Longworth, under Brando's direction.
Malden was also excellent as the chief detective in Alfred Hitchcock's I Confess ('53); as the obsessive high-strung father of Jimmy Piersall (Tony Perkins) in Fear Strikes Out ('57); opposite Burt Lancaster in Birdman of Alcatraz ('62), in which he played Alcatraz warden Harvey Shoemaker; and as Warren Beatty's dad in John Frankenheimer's All Fall Down ('62).
Okay, I'll throw in his role as Gen. Omar Bradley in Patton ('70) and make it eight. But he only had one or two decent scenes in that Franklin Schaffner film, which George C. Scott owned top to bottom.
With Marlon Brando in On The Watrerfront.
I love Malden's third-act Waterfront moment with Brando in the Hoboken bar when he snaps at the bartender, "Gimme a beer!" And his line to Eva Marie Saint in the beginning: "You think I'm just a gravy-train rider with a turned-around collar...don't you? Don't you? (Pause) I see the sisters taught you not to lie."
In Streetcar Malden says to Vivien Leigh, "I was fool enough to believe you were straight." And she answers "Straight? What's 'straight'? A line can be straight, or a street. But the heart of a human being?"
I love the One-Eyed Jacks moment when the hog-tied Brando spits in Malden's face just before being bull-whipped on Main Street; ditto Brando's faking Malden out in the final shoot out, running and diving into the dust and shooting Malden in the back three times.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 1, 2009 at 1:22 PM
comment #1
Monument
says ...
Father Barry was such a great role, I love this scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XLbRI0kdLg
Posted by Monument
at July 1, 2009 2:19 PM
comment #2
George Prager
says ...
What about BABY DOLL?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvgfLilPZP4
"FOOOOOD!!!! FOOOOD!!!"
Posted by George Prager
at July 1, 2009 2:26 PM
comment #3
George Prager
says ...
Harve Presnell R.I.P.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090701/ap_on_en_ot/us_obit_harve_presnell_2
Posted by George Prager
at July 1, 2009 2:39 PM
comment #4
High Chaparral
says ...
Y'know, you remind me of the man that lived by the river...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX6wOOJy0hk
Posted by High Chaparral
at July 1, 2009 2:57 PM
comment #5
p.Vice
says ...
Finally, someone worth eulogizing.
He was also good in Wild Rovers.
Posted by p.Vice
at July 1, 2009 3:27 PM
comment #6
COCO
says ...
The man ruled....in ''Nevada Smith'' by the creek at
the end......''FINISH ME.......FINISH ME!!!''
Just terrific stuff.
Will miss him....RIP.
Posted by COCO
at July 1, 2009 3:45 PM
comment #7
Halhillco
says ...
In October of 2002 I attended a screening of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE at the Goldwyn Theatre at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills. At the film's conclusion, a microphone was handed to a then 90 year old Karl Malden who was seated in the rear of the theatre. A thousand people rose to give him a standing ovation and then in an emotionally filled voice he croaked these words into the mike:
"They all gone. All gone."
It was really chilling. But I was glad I was there.
Posted by Halhillco
at July 1, 2009 3:59 PM
comment #8
mccool
says ...
Only seven huh?
Malden's Father Barry made me want to be priest when I was 11 or 12. From meek to brash while in the good graces of God? What's better than that? Course then I grew up....but still. Awesome about sums him up.
Posted by mccool
at July 1, 2009 4:13 PM
comment #9
BurmaShave
says ...
I'm pretty sure I've repped it on here before, but his work on THE WEST WING shouldn't go overlooked.
Posted by BurmaShave
at July 1, 2009 4:16 PM
comment #10
Stringer Bell
says ...
97! God bless him. Lets not forget his Amex commercials.
Posted by Stringer Bell
at July 1, 2009 5:06 PM
comment #11
alynch
says ...
Is seven really a low enough number require an "only" qualifier. I think that's better than most actors were able to do.
Posted by alynch
at July 1, 2009 5:45 PM
comment #12
T. S. Idiot
says ...
Malden has small roles in some good films early in his career: Kiss of Death, The Gunfighter, Where the Sidewalk Ends.
He's very good expressing lust for Jennifer Jones in Ruby Gentry, a wonderfully overheated King Vidor melodrama, and plays variations on this same role in Baby Doll and The Cincinnati Kid. He provides a welcome sparkle in the otherwise dreary Billion Dollar Brain. And his understated befuddlement and slow burns balance Ustinov's typical overacting in Hot Millions.
His villain in One-Eyed Jacks is by far his best work. He should have played bad guys more often.
Posted by T. S. Idiot
at July 1, 2009 7:22 PM
comment #13
TheCahuengaKid
says ...
In his autobiography, Brando said that Karl Malden was the most decent and ethical man he ever met in Hollywood...
Posted by TheCahuengaKid
at July 1, 2009 9:55 PM
comment #14
Rod32303
says ...
Watch his excellent work in his SEVENTIES in Marty Ritt's "Nuts" where he played Barbra Streisand's father. He and Dreyfuss in the courtroom scene - one of the best of both of them.
R.I.P.
Posted by Rod32303
at July 1, 2009 10:32 PM
comment #15
JaySmack
says ...
Jeez, the hollywood/celebrity columns are starting to look like the Obits.
Posted by JaySmack
at July 2, 2009 4:26 AM
comment #16
mizerock
says ...
OK, it wasn't a movie, but no love at all in the comments for "The Streets of San Francisco"?
Posted by mizerock
at July 2, 2009 7:20 AM
comment #17
free games
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God bless him.
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at November 1, 2009 11:37 AM
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dd
says ...
Watch his excellent work in his SEVENTIES in Marty Ritt's "Nuts" where he played Barbra Streisand's father. He and Dreyfuss in the courtroom scene - one of the best of both of them.
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