The Silver Screen Oasis

I read recently that the film adaptation of Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) had originally been planned as a vehicle for Gene Kelly to play Mr. Dark (played by the very good Jonathan Pryce by the time the film was made). Reading this reminded me of the injustice of Kelly never having a chance to reproduce his Broadway breakthrough role in Pal Joey. Though Kelly played "not so nice" fellows early in his screen career in For Me and My Gal and Christmas Holiday, and his Mencken-like character in Inherit the Wind was certainly a cynic, it would've been terrific to see the great dancer blending his tough edge and magnetism into a truly wondrous role as the sinister carnival barker in the Bradbury story. Btw, in a further "what might have been" for this project, David Lean, Steven Spielberg and Sam Peckinpah were all once approached to direct this movie, which was eventually a task done by Jack Clayton.

This made me wonder:
Have you ever wished that some classic actors and actresses had the opportunity to play a true bad guy or gal?

My first experience with Edmund Gwen, at the age of 10 or so, was in "Miracle on 34th Street". When I saw him as the would-be assassin in "Foreign Correspondent", it was totally shocking! I mean, SANTA CLAUS as a killer????? Huh-uh.

This could be a scary thread, Moira, for those of us who are comfortable in our actors' types. I mean, John Wayne as a stone cold killer? Shirley Temple as an abusive mother? Now I really am scared......


great thread idea!!!

I believe that one of the most jarring type-reversals I've ever watched was that of Clint Walker as the vindictive scalphunter who tries to ambush Charles Bronson (as Bill Hickock) in DeLaurentiis' White Buffalo.
Clint's on-screen time playing that belligerent, bloodthirsty backshooter is fairly brief . . but it's easy to see that he truly relished the challenge of that character!
Trust me, Cheyenne Bodie was nowhere to be seen!

Bad girl/guy roles are the juiciest parts. It really doesn't matter that you're not playing the lead. You're the antagonist, the point on which the whole story hinges, and it's you the audience remembers not some silly hero. Since you do have the most important parts, many times the lines are a cut above the rest of the fare.

My wife was strictly a character actress and she once said (about playing leads) "I don't know how some people play those boring characters."

BTW, I was rather disappointed with Something Wicked This Way Comes having been a fan of the book for many years. I will say though, that the scene in the library was remarkable, and was exactly played out and acted as the book was written. Pam Grier also made a fine Dust Witch.

How about Fred MacMurray? I saw him first in those Disney live actions ("Shaggy Dog" "Absent Minded Professor" and "Son of Flubber") and "My Three Sons." Imagine my surprise when I saw what Billy Wilder did to him in "Double Indemnity" and "The Apartment." Wow.

As I have said before, I think Macmurray was so underrated as an all-around actor. He did it all--romantic comedy, straight comedy, drama, film noir...he should be a SOTM.

I've also read in a coupleof places that the ending to "Suspicion" was changed because the studio was afraid no one would accept Cary Grant as a bad guy. Ive always disliked the ending to that movie--wonder if the original would have been better?

And Bette Davis--what would have happened to her career if she hadn't insisted on playing "bad" women? She didn;t really catch in until after she talked them into letting her be in "Cabin in the Cotten" and "Of Human Bondage."

My favorite Fred McMurray story is that he was at Disneyland one day, and this woman comes up to him and says how she always took her daughter to see his movies, and then she took her daughter to "The Apartment." Then she slugged McMurray.

There is always the crazy fan danger, I suppose.

My favorite role reversal was Henry Fonda in Once Upon a Time in the West. He was truly despicable in that.