Karloff, Lugosi or Chaney (Jr.)?

jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

Rfan, have you seen Karloff in Peter Bogdanovich's Targets?

He plays a famous actor very much like himself who is making a personal appearance at a showing of his old movies at a drive-in. He is an old man obsessed with dying - he fears death and yet he longs for it; at the end he pulls himself together and faces death down, both literally and metaphorically. One of his very best performances, and possibly his last - I'm not sure.
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Post by raftfan »

jdb1 -- Yes, "Targets" is a gem, and offers a brilliant and touching performance by Karloff that should have at least been nominated for an award. Sadly, "Targets" was not Boris'a final picture (it should have been the "one to go out on"). He made those four terrible Mexican movies after the Bogdanovich film. Each. though, was released after his death. Boris apparently just loved to keep working, but what a sorry climax to a remarkable career. As far as I'm concerned, "Targets" will remain Boris's final movie.
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cinemalover
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Post by cinemalover »

My appreciation of Karloff just continues to grow with age. Having recently seen such rareties as Night Key, The Climax and The Strange Door it seems that every performance he gives is interesting enough to make even bad films bearable. He was the consumate professional, no matter how lowly the role.

And for Raftfan, no I don't think Monster Kids ever grow up. Why would we want to? Those films are deeply imprinted on our minds.
Chris

The only bad movie is no movie at all.
raftfan
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Post by raftfan »

So true, cinemalover. And how could it be otherwise when one's most cherished memories of one's formative years are reading Famous Monsters and other genre publications, visiting the Downtown Theater on Saturdays to catch reissues and new Hammer and AIP releases, and watching Saturday night Chiller movies.
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MichiganJ
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Post by MichiganJ »

The first time I saw Bride of Frankenstein was on Creature Features on a Saturday night. Outside, the weather was storming, lightening and thunder (what better way to watch a horror movie?) I distinctly remember being terrified when the Monster was rampaging around the cemetery when my father, who sported a flat-top haircut at the time, came into the room. That still ranks as one of the most satisfying scares I had in my life.

Famous Monsters, was there ever a better magazine? (You axed for it!)
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cinemalover
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Post by cinemalover »

Hi Kevin,
My first experiences with all of the great Universal horrors also came via the late night television experience. Up here in Seattle we had a Friday night "Nightmare Theatre" that was hosted by "The Count". They started at 11:30 and were aften a double feature. If I was able to stay awake long enough to see the second feature (which always led to the potential of sleeping through my favorite Saturday morning toons!) the rest of the house was always asleep and "dead" quiet. It's amazing how distirbing the simplest sounds in the house can be when you're alone in the dark watching Frankenstein's creation or the Wolfman on the prowl.
Chris

The only bad movie is no movie at all.
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MichiganJ
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Post by MichiganJ »

Hi Chris,
I completely agree. The only bad thing about home video is the loss of discovering these amazing films on late-night TV (I, too, missed many an episode of Scooby-Doo in order to see the Wolfman battle the Frankenstein Monster [the Monster obviously won, by the way!]). In New York (Jersey, actually. Same thing), we had Creature Features and Chiller Theater...both on Saturday night (if memory serves). The great thing about Creature Features; if my parents said “no” to a particular movie on that Saturday night, they were unaware that the very same movie was rebroadcast at noon the following Saturday!
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cinemalover
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Post by cinemalover »

Kevin,
It is such a completely different mentality today with all the wonderful opportunities to see so many different films at the touch of a finger. When I try explaining to my kids that when I was their age we had maybe 5 stations (depending on the direction of the rabbit ears, cooperative weather, etc...) and no one even dreamed of a VHS recorder. Well, we did have those 16mm snippets of film that we could play to death silently in our old sprocket projectors. My kids look at me like I'm crazy or making up some big fabrication. I won't even try to explain to them what life was like before cell phones and home computers.
Chris

The only bad movie is no movie at all.
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LiamCasey
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Re: Karloff, Lugosi or Chaney (Jr.)?

Post by LiamCasey »

Now that Det. Jim' has started his three top ten film topics for Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr., I thought that this would be a good time to bump up this ancient topic from 2007-2008 which asks which of the three do you prefer watching and why.

I'll admit, it is a close call for me between Mr. Karloff and Mr. Lugosi. But I give the edge to the former because he had the opportunity to appear in better movies and in a wider variety of movies. And, besides, he has How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966) on his resume.

Similar to one of the original posters to this topic (raftfan), though, if I was asked this same question back in my tween/teen days, I would have said Mr. Chaney because he played all the monsters.
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EP Millstone
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Re: Karloff, Lugosi or Chaney (Jr.)?

Post by EP Millstone »

Thanks for bumping up this topic, LiamCasey!

I somewhat agree with the opinion of Dewey1960. But for me, Lon Chaney, Jr. will always be my favorite horror film star -- and actor! No dispute from me that he lacked Lugosi's suave, continental charm and Karloff's refinement and thespic range. As has been expressed by several horror film "scholars," Chaney, Jr. was the "Everyman" among this particular trio of terror titans. Of the unholy three, Lon Chaney, Jr. conveyed a seemingly intrinsic vulnerability and pathos (a clichéd description, but inarguably apt) -- qualities that don't spring to my mind when I think of the silver screen personae of Karloff and Lugosi. Similarly to his most famous character, Lawrence Talbot, the way the troubled "Lon Chaney, Jr." walked in real life was indeed thorny.

When I first saw Of Mice and Men, I lamented that LCJ got typecast as a "boogeyman." His rendition of Lenny Small -- which, as far as I'm concerned -- should have at least been nominated for an Academy Award absolutely floored me. "Lenny" was a character that he would repeat in subsequent movies -- at the behest of directors, I read in a profile on Chaney. Complementing his iconic performance as Steinbeck's hulking "child" were his appearances in three movies produced by Stanley Kramer: High Noon, Not as a Stranger, and The Defiant Ones. Though LCJ was cast as relatively minor, supporting characters in Kramer's productions, I consider those roles as a trifecta that showcased his solid standing as a reliable, durable, and notable character actor.

Yeah okay, Karloff was "The King."

. . . and Lugosi was The Count.

But, for me, Lon Chaney, Jr. was THE MAN!
"Start every day off with a smile and get it over with." -- W.C. Fields
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