Lee Marvin

[MissGoddess]

I thought I would post this from James Woollcott at The New Yorker (from an upcoming book by Wolcott), I thought it was so funny and typically Marvinian:

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/wolcot ... es-Collide

Former U.S. Marine and future Cat Ballou, Lee Marvin recalls his introduction to Method Acting and its founding godfather, whose strictures were seldom countermanded.

“...It’s important not to think too much about what you do. Take Strasberg. [Lee Strasberg, director of the Actors Studio and later founder of his own teaching institute.] I went to his joint once, back when I was first hanging out in New York, doing plays. I did a ten-minute scene in his class: the guy who had gangrene in his leg in The Snows of Kilimanjaro. After I did the scene, he starts in with, ‘Well, you were going for the pain in your leg, but I didn’t see it, so you didn’t put it over and thus the scene failed.’ I told him that he didn’t know anything about gangrene. When it’s in the terminal stage, there isn’t any pain. What I was going for was that the guy was trying to feel pain, because if he had any pain, it meant he wasn’t going to die. But he couldn’t feel a damned thing. I know about that s*** from the Pacific. Strasberg was furious when I corrected him. He threw me out, so I said ‘f*** you’ and walked. He’s not my kind of guy at all. I didn’t dig it when he came in using his acting-school reputation to get the creamy acting jobs that some other old actor who’d paid his dues might have really needed. Nah, you can have him. He’s not in my outfit, pal.”

When it came to director John Ford, however, Marvin was glad to have him in his outfit, or to be part of Ford’s. He describes the scene in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance where a white-aproned Stewart is working in the restaurant kitchen and the steaks and skillets alike are giant-sized. Marvin:

“‘Ford,’ he says reverentially. “‘F***ing Ford. You’ll never see skillets and steaks like that in anybody else’s picture. He’s like Dickens. It’s all about bigger than life. That’s the what the old guys understood about movies. If it’s not bigger than life, put it on television.”

--from “Drinks with Liberty Valance: Lee Marvin Shoots from the Hip” in Robert Ward’s upcoming journalism collection Renegades (Tyrus Books)

I will also go ahead and post this YouTube classic, which many of you probably have seen and is featured at my website on Ford, from an interview Marvin did for John A. Gallagher's Directors Series:

(sorry the YouTube player code isn't working for me)

[moira finnie]

I'm glad to read that it looks as though more attention is being paid to the entertaining Mr. Marvin in print--and I'm even happier to read of any time when someone stood up to that pedantic bully, Lee Strasberg, who always sounds vile--though I know that many talented people worshiped the ground he walked on. I may have mentioned this in the past, but in college I had a history professor who was in the same Marine unit that Marvin was in during the assault on the Solomon Islands during some of the worst fighting of WWII. According to Prof. Yearley, Marvin was a helluva warrior (even when wounded, which happened more than once) and just exactly as he appeared on screen in real life.

Btw, did you know that the complete DVD series of M Squad can be had for less than 23 bucks on Amazon?! I love that show. The fifties attitudes, clothes and the "I-don't-give-a-rip-what-you-think-of-me" gaze that the leading man has are a real kick--and holy cats, that show made The Untouchables look like kindergarten in the realism dept. Lee Marvin always looks as though he has a throbbing headache from the revelry of the night before and he is always ready to share the pain with others.

Gripping the steering wheel and looking for crime on the mean streets, while nursing the usual hangover.

More comments from past conversations about Lee Marvin the actor and videos with him can be seen here:
http://silverscreenoasis.com/oasis3/vie ... 000#p22000

[MissGoddess]

Oh no wonder I couldn't find an existing thread, I should have though to look in the Noir/Crime forum! Thanks for the link, I knew there had to have been a conversation on him at some point.

I enjoyed the first few episodes of "M Squad" which I recently rented from ClassicFlix. Lee was the whole show. He is so entertaining and it isn't too often he was on the right side of John Law, . It's perfect because you feel he's definitely a man to meet the toughest thug on his own level and no arguments!

I didn't know that about your professor...impressive! I can well believe it. There is not a shred of phoniness about Lee, you can tell he's the real deal. From the blurb I read at Amazon, Donald Zec's biography of Marvin (Marvin: The Life of Lee Marvin) contains an account by the actor describing one of his war time experiences, vividly. I may seek this biography out, even though I have sadly fallen out of the habit of reading just for pleasure.

[movieman1957]

Moira:

I went through the first couple of discs of "M Street" and I liked it. Yeah, it's 50's crime drama but it's a far sight better than real early "Dragnet" episodes. There were some interesting story threads and Marvin is fine as the hero for a change. (At least at this point in his career.) There are some lousy film transfers but I really like finding these old TV relics.

[ChiO]

Moira wrote:
I may have mentioned this in the past, but in college I had a history professor who was in the same Marine unit that Marvin was in during the assault on the Solomon Islands during some of the worst fighting of WWII. According to Prof. Yearley, Marvin was a helluva warrior (even when wounded, which happened more than once) and just exactly as he appeared on screen in real life.

I, too, may have previously mentioned my slight connection -- A gentleman at our church served with Marvin in the Pacific and he said "He was a helluva tough guy, just as he seems. Could drink, too." (Confirmation by two source; ergo, it must be true.) Their Marine gang has an annual reunion and Marvin came to several in his later years. More impressively, the last Mrs. Marvin continued to come after his death.

No other actor -- as an actor -- has risen more in my estimation over the past few years than Lee Marvin.

[pvitari]

There are some lousy film transfers but I really like finding these old TV relics.

Timeless Media scoured the world, just about, in an effort to release M Squad complete. Unfortunately they were unable to locate some -- but when they announced the release with a few episodes still missing, they were contacted by collectors with the missing material, and they delayed the set in order to add in the episodes and have a complete release of the series.

It's out of stock at Timeless' website so it's good that there are still copies available at Amazon -- and at a bargain price too!

http://www.timelessvideo.com/dvds/msquad.html

There are times I think that Lee Marvin and James Coburn were separated at birth. :)

[RedRiver]

Very interesting article, Miss Goddess! I have no opinion on the Strasberg method. But it's always good to challenge the authority. We need that dissenting voice. That's Lee Marvin to the bone!

I've pretty much missed out on M SQUAD. Don't remember the original run. But re-runs turned up in the mid 1960's. For some reason, I chose not to follow it. My brother and I usually called him Liberty. We'd be watching TV. "Look! There's liberty!" Nothing like character identification.

[Lzcutter]

I just started watching Pete Kelly's Blues which was a TCM premiere the other day. During the opening credits, my brain kept thinking "isn't this movie in black and white?". But then I remembered all the stills I have ever seen of this film were black and white so that's why I thought it would be as well.

Then, less than 15 minutes into the film, Webb goes into the back room and I hear a laugh. My ears perk up because I know that laugh. Then Lee talks.

And I totally forget the argument going on in my brain about black and white vs color and settle in to watch Lee.

He may be the best thing about this film.

I love Lee Marvin.

[moira finnie]

Lynn, I really liked Pete Kelly's Blues, but not for the reasons you might think--though it was surprising how almost life-like Jack Webb was in this part. I thought that William Conrad was very appealing in a gruff, rotund way, of course. I was wandering around youtube today and found an episode of The Barbara Stanwyck Show from the early '60s with Lee Marvin as--get this--an attorney! And it was directed by Jacques Tourneur!

I can't wait to see this one:

[youtube][/youtube]

[MissGoddess]

I've seen that Barbara Stanwyck entry (in fact I rented all the episodes that are on DVD) and it is one of the strangest, casting-wise. I worry the whole time Lee, her attorney, is the one Barbara should be worried about, with that loose cannon temper of his. He keeps her cooped up in a little flat over a carousel in Santa Monica, I think it was, so the two of them can set up her husband. It actually might have been even better had it been on "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", since this is the kind of plot that show specialized in.

Tourneur directed several episodes of "The Barbara Stanwyck Show", which is an entertaining series, aimed I think, primarily at women.

[moira finnie]

I've seen that Barbara Stanwyck entry (in fact I rented all the episodes that are on DVD) and it is one of the strangest, casting-wise. I worry the whole time Lee, her attorney, is the one Barbara should be worried about, with that loose cannon temper of his. He keeps her cooped up in a little flat over a carousel in Santa Monica, I think it was, so the two of them can set up her husband. It actually might have been even better had it been on "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", since this is the kind of plot that show specialized in.

Tourneur directed several episodes of "The Barbara Stanwyck Show", which is an entertaining series, aimed I think, primarily at women.

I thought Lee Marvin was a bit non-plussed to find himself acting opposite Stanwyck, (or maybe he just couldn't believe anyone would ever cast him as a lawyer, albeit an ambulance-chasing one). Barbara Stanwyck had an acting field day in the scenes with him as their apparent attraction began and as her frustration and guilt grew while her poor creep of a husband went on trial for her murder. I liked Babs' final bit of advice at the end: If you commit a crime, don't hide out in an apartment over a carousel! Did you understand what real-life murder case BS was referring to when she mentioned that, just as Double Indemnity was based on the Snyder-Gray case in NYS in the late '20s, so was this episode? I have no idea "what recent case" she meant that inspired this episode of the show.

Btw, I think that the series was consciously following the template set by Loretta Young in her long-running show--especially those opening shots of the star in some dandy designer duds hawking her story "for the gas company playhouse" (which makes me think of all sorts of inappropriate comments). Another of the programs directed by Tourneur that I actually enjoyed more than this one was the Western "IronBark's Bride" with Charles Bickford as a gruff (what else?) Texan and Babs as his mail order bride with son in tow. It can be seen beginning here.

[MissGoddess]

I wonder about the real life case she was referring to. She sure went through a bunch of cigarettes in that episode. A couple of the shows were based on the work of another noirly familiar name, A.I. Bezzerides.

I liked the western one, too. I also recommend "The Key to the Killer" with Vic Morrow as a sullen criminal (what else?) and Barbara plays a deputy Sheriff who has to bring him in.

[moira finnie]

I wonder about the real life case she was referring to. She sure went through a bunch of cigarettes in that episode. A couple of the shows were based on the work of another noirly familiar name, A.I. Bezzerides.

I noticed that Bezzerides wrote several of these programs, and was the creator of The Big Valley, which always seemed odd, since it was 180 degrees away from the author's usually gritty and engaging work that inspired the classic noir films, They Drive By Night and Thieves' Highway, among other memorable stories and screenplays. One of The Barbara Stanwyck Shows written by Bezzirides was "The Sign of the Zodiac" with Babs and Joan Blondell together. It can be seen here. Another Bezzirides-penned episode was "The Frightened Doll" with BS playing the title character, a very worn and somewhat homesick floozie dodging bad guys after she takes off with a date's cache of dough. The fellow-du-jour that she picks up in a bar was played by one of my favorite character actors, Harold J. Stone (all through a recent viewing, I kept asking myself how that shallow Shelley Winters could have been so mean to him in The Chapman Report?). "The Frightened Doll" begins here.

I liked the western one, too. I also recommend "The Key to the Killer" with Vic Morrow as a sullen criminal (what else?) and Barbara plays a deputy Sheriff who has to bring him in.

Oh, goody. I'll have to look for that one. I have been watching Combat recently at 3 in the morning (on MeTV) when I can't sleep. Morrow was a fantastic actor, especially when dialogue was minimal. He just had a most eloquent way of expressing his exhausted Sergeant's character best through his lined face and body language. (Of course, I may be projecting my own tired feelings a bit, since insomnia can affect my judgement a bit)

To return to the topic of this thread, there is a good appreciation by director John Boorman about Lee Marvin in several parts on youtube. As can be seen below, the director, who collaborated with Marvin in Point Blank (1967) and Hell in the Pacific (1968), and the filmmakers of this mini-documentary had many good photos, clips and a rather nuanced approach to their evaluation of the man and the actor:
[youtube][/youtube]
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[Lzcutter]

Moira,

Thank you for the youtube vids! The documentary that John Boorman did on Lee is one of my favorites. I could spend today watching those Lee videos but I promised Kingrat I would do a schedule for his Program Challenge. But now, I have something to look forward to after I get that done!

And that picture of Frankie Fane sitting there waiting for his big moment that isn't going to come just makes me laugh out loud. What a guilty pleasure of a movie!

[moira finnie]

Moira,

Thank you for the youtube vids! The documentary that John Boorman did on Lee is one of my favorites. I could spend today watching those Lee videos but I promised Kingrat I would do a schedule for his Program Challenge. But now, I have something to look forward to after I get that done!

I hope you enjoy it, Lynn! I noticed that the doc was made in part with production money from AMC, back in the days when that channel offered real movies for us die-hards. I had never seen it before, but it was very interesting, since Marvin appears to have had so many sides to his personality.

And that picture of Frankie Fane sitting there waiting for his big moment that isn't going to come just makes me laugh out loud. What a guilty pleasure of a movie!

Don't you think that TCM should show The Oscar (1966) every year around Academy Award time, just like A Christmas Carol is run around Christmas? Of course, AMPAS might not be thrilled with the seaminess of the former film cluttering up their domination of the air, huh? We live in hope for next year!