God damn that guy. Marlon Brando. I read somewhere that famed director (and infamous McCarthy-enabler) Elia Kazan felt that Brando had ruined two generations of actors, his own and the next, by virtue of being That To Which All Actors Aspire. It’s understandable; fifty years later, the guy still defines the word “chops”. In The Young Lions, he created a young, patriotic Nazi you don’t just care about, but actually root for. A Nazi. Had he not flaked out, I imagine Brando would have eventually turned in a knockout performance as an affable and approachable child rapist.
I’ve seen A Streetcar Named Desire, The Godfather, and On The Waterfront, as well as some of the crap he put out later in life (I’m looking at you, The Island of Dr. Moreau.) I sincerely believe that his work in The Young Lions is better than all of them. Not only does he blow Dean Martin (arguably the era’s king of charisma) off the fucking charm map whenever he’s in frame, he makes you forget that Montgomery Clift is even in the movie. He’s that good. That subtle. That impossible to not watch.
And, I mean, it’s from the opening scene of the movie. The film opens on Brando skiing down to a chalet with a young American woman (played by a brilliant and charming Barbara Rush.) They collapse into the snow together in a heap, happy and exhausted, as if they’d just known each other biblically. And well. It is her last night in pre-war Germany and they have obviously been enjoying each other’s company. He tries to convince her to come out with him for New Year’s Eve. By the end of the scene, I would have slept with him.
In another scene, he ends up drunk in the apartment of his commanding officer’s wife. Just the way that he prepares her a drink and gets her a cigarette should be the textbook tutorial for “how to play drunk.” Nothing in excess. Everything the most minor challenge, but still perfectly charming.
Now, the movie is not all about Brando. He just dominates it from a performance standpoint. Clift plays an astonishing, if difficult to fully comprehend, Jewish man from New York whose innocence charms a beautiful young WASP, then faces down anti-Semitism in his army barracks. Dean, somehow playing both to and against type, turns in a cowardly lion version of himself. A pre-Judgment at Nuremberg (and The Black Hole) Maximillian Schell portrays Brando’s fervently committed, but ultimately inferior, superior. And the aforementioned Barbara Rush goes toe to toe with both Brando and Martin and matches them, both as a character and as an actress.
If you’re an actor, watch this movie and study the dozen or so pitch-perfect performances. If you’re a civilian, watch this movie because it is a damned fine way to spend 2 hours and 47 minutes.
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