Comments on: Family Viewing Time

By: dcairns

dcairns — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 10:55:41 +0000

Of course, Taylor would make a magnificent King Lear. It could still happen! Rod, if you’re out there…

Am thrilled he’s playing Churchill (at about 30 years too old, probably) — another example of Tarantino using his powers for good. I get a pretty uncomfortable feeling about that movie though.

Ah, Bendix! They should build a statue to his performance in Detective Story. A thousand feet high! They could put it at Ground Zero to scare the terrorists away.

By: Randy Cook

Randy Cook — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 02:41:23 +0000

Hi Fiona. To my knowledge, Taylor never played any of the roles in the classical repertoire, and I wish he had . Australia has produced so many marvelous actors (as well as Frank Thring, who almost balances the ledger, to inadvertently name another pretty good one); I can’t help but think how well he’d have performed some of the loftier roles if he’d stretched himself in that direction.

I hear he’s playing Churchill in the new Tarantino film, and imagine he’ll have fun with that and it ought to be worth waiting for. Very underrated artist.

Newton is a great favorite of mine. His Frank Gibbons in THIS HAPPY BREED is a beautifully understated piece of work, as enjoyable on its own terms as his BLACKBEARD THE PIRATE, a movie which must have had a fully-stocked bar on the set. Wonderful/Awful film (William Bendix’s daughter Lorraine told me in 1972 that there were only two films of her dad’s he wouldn’t let her see: BLACKBEARD and IT’S IN THE BAG, another of my favorites).

By: Fiona W

Fiona W — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:02:44 +0000

Hi Randy, Mrs David here. (Fiona) Couldn’t agree more about Taylor’s line reading in TTM. It’s a thing of beauty. And the score is wonderful too.