Whys and why nots of the rating game

As a prelude to the Oscar extravaganza, V. GANGADHAR discusses the recent BBC ranking for the greatest film actor of all time, the ten who have made it to the top and a few deserving ones who have not...

THE BEST ever. Best in the millennium. The ranking game goes on. It is one of the most fascinating pastimes. As a young boy, I would sit with my cousins, selecting the Best Ever World XI in cricket. We would end up quarrelling with each other! I guess that is how all ranking games end.

Take for instance, the recent BBC ranking of Hollywood star Paul Newman as the greatest film actor of all time, following a survey of well-known movie critics, published in its `Radio Times'.

The survey took into account box office success, Oscar nominations, acting range and marriage appeal! Paul Newman finished ahead of James Stewart, Marlon Brando, and Cary Grant. Newman was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar seven times, finally winning it for his role in the 1986 movie, ``Colour of Purple''.

The top ten in the BBC poll were Paul Newman, Tom Hanks, James Stewart, Harrison Ford, Marlon Brando, Cary Grant, Robert Redford, Sean Connery, Tom Cruise and Gary Cooper, in that order. A reader's poll conducted simultaneously, disagreed with these rankings and put on the top of its list, the Scottish actor and the original James Bond, Sean Connery!

Give one hundred people pen and paper and ask them to draw up lists of their ten favourite actors. You can safely bet that there would be 100 different rankings. Yet, certain actors would figure in the lists of all those who made the lists. Frankly, I was surprised that the critics put Paul Newman at the top of their list. It was a pleasant surprise, because he was one of my favourite stars.

But how `popular' was the blue-eyed actor? Newman chose his scripts with care and was known to be a thinking man's actor. Though his `Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' turned out to be an enormous box office hit, he was more remembered for his brooding roles in films like ``Hud'' and ``The Hustler''. If Newman managed to win only one Best Actor Oscar, that too quite late in his career, it was because of his close association with the American anti-war, liberal movement. Hollywood, particularly the people behind the Oscars had always preferred gung-ho all American males like John Wayne who often portrayed the American super male!

Newman was often mentioned in the same league as Marlon Brando who was Time magazine's choice as the ``Actor of the Century''. Both preferred intense, emotional roles, both loved the stage. In his desperate efforts to assume a `different' image, Brando was openly critical of the Hollywood system which made him do roles totally unsuited for his enormous talent. Yet, I am surprised that the critics gave him only the fifth rank. Have they forgotten that Brando's ``On the Waterfront'' was one of the greatest films of the century or how he came back from the ruins to play Don Corleone in the unforgettable, ``Godfather''? And followed it up with another challenging role in the ``Last Tango in Paris?''

Tom Hanks of the modern generation is lucky to have bagged so many plum roles. But many would agree that the number two ranking was a bit too high for him. James Stewart at number three was a distinct surprise. Stewart was a solid professional but lacked the star quality to be ranked so high. He was wonderful as the common man's hero in films like ``Mr. Smith goes to Washington'' and was often the popular choice of the great Alfred Hitchcock. Watching Stewart act, one had the impression that he was holding something back.

I am sorry, folks, but Cary Grant did not deserve to be in the all-time list. He was the suave, well dressed, sophisticated urbanite expertly mouthing witty dialogue and making the women audiences swoon. That was all. Grant lacked the versatility to be a really great actor. Remember how uncomfortable Grant was in a period costume film, ``Pride and the Passion'' with Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren? Harrison Ford deserved to be in the list. Over the years he has tackled the different roles with gusto. So had Sean Connery, who had progressed remarkably from the macho James Bond roles. Gary Cooper at number ten was a disappointment. But then he was made to do too many Westerns, though it was for one of them (`High Noon') that he bagged his only Best Actor Oscar.

The BBC list contained some shocks though. How and why was a performer like Gregory Peck not considered? He had star quality, won Oscar nominations, exhibited tremendous acting range and as for marriage appeal, had Hollywood ever seen a more handsome star? Peck, who rebelled against the studio system and often freelanced, had his share of bad roles during his early days (`Captain Horatio Hornblower', `Only the Valiant', `David and Bathsheba'). Director Alfred Hitchcock thought that Peck was miscast in his `Spellbound'. But how did the critics come to ignore the wide acting range and versatility of Peck? Starting from `Gentlemen's Agreement' and `Keys of the Kingdom'. he did any number of different roles and was gentleman enough to play second fiddle to young Audrey Hepburn in ``Roman Holiday'' for which she won a richly-deserved Best Actress Oscar.

Peck's portrayal of the small town lawyer Atticus Finch defending a black man accused of rape in a racist town in the American South, was so good and realistic that it induced several young men to take up a legal career. It brought him a well deserved Oscar. He was ready to tackle new challenges. Peck's Captain Ahab in John Huston's ``Moby Dick'' was not well received but it was a dramatic challenge to any actor. He had his share of `big movies' which made a lot of money (``The Big Country'', ``The Guns of Navarone'' and ``McKenna's Gold'') but I felt, he was happier doing roles which were more demanding.

I could always trade Burt Lancaster with Cary Grant in the BBC list. Starting as a stunt actor who specialised in acrobatics, Lancaster ended up ready to experiment all kinds of roles. A tense husband longing for lost youth in ``Come back, Little Sheba'', a virile truck driver in Tennessee Williams' ``Rose Tattoo'', a devil-may-care preacher in ``Elmer Gantry'' and so on. Such was his versatility that after starring in the circus epic, ``Trapeze'', he produced and acted in the ``Sweet Smell of Success'' playing the role of a newspaper publisher ready for the worst kind of blackmail. The film also gave a chance to Tony Curtis to show audiences that he could do other things besides looking handsome! In the history of Hollywood, ``Big Burt'' had enacted more divergent roles than any other star.

I wonder why no place was found for Clark Gable in the list. Gable, known as the `King', had to fight against this image and often ended up bigger than the average roles he was offered. ``Gone with the Wind'' was no doubt spectacular, but it had everything a movie should have. And Gable was a cog in the machine. I see Clark Gable as a victim of the studio system which refused to take chances with its prized possession.

I would have preferred Kirk Douglas in the list in place of Tom Cruise. Despite being lost in the `tough guy' image, Douglas was an innovator whenever he got a suitable role. Finally, it is a pity that Montgomery Clift did not make it to the list. As gifted as Paul Newman or Marlon Brando, Monty Clift was a tortured soul. He was a homosexual in an age when it was best hidden in the closet. Unable to lead a double life, Monty took to drink and drugs and obviously committed suicide. Before that a motor accident smashed his handsome face. But watch him in ``A Place in the Sun'' or ``I Confess'', you would feel you were in the presence of a genius. If fate had been kinder to Monty Clift, he would have ended up as the greatest actor ever!

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