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Post by timshelboy on Sept 18, 2024 22:08:51 GMT
   Robert Ryan may not be a household name (if he ever was) but buffs cherish him. Classic cinema would be a poorer place without him. He was born in Chicago 1909 and was 30 before he made a movie - an unbilled bit in THE GHOST BREAKERS 1940 being his first. His first significant part was as Fred Astaire;s buddy in THE SKYS THE LIMIT  BEHIND THE RISING SUN was an effective flagwaver  After THE IRON MAJOR and GANGWAY TO TOMORROW he got a big one in TENDER COMRADE as Ginger Rogers' main squeeze  His first foray into Noir THE WOMAN ON THE BEACH with Joan Bennett & Charles Bickford.  CROSSFIRE found him the heavy in this drama about antisemitism. He got a support Oscar nomination  THE SET UP is generally regarded as a career high but its charm eludes me personally.  ACT OF VIOLENCE saw him again as psychotic heavy pursuing Van Heflin  CAUGHT saw him cast as a Howard Hughes like millionaire unhappily married to Barbara bel Geddes. THE RACKET paired him with Mitchum  ON DANGEROUS GROUND saw him as bad cop enamoured of Ida Lupino.  CLASH BY NIGHT probably saw him at his sexiest - Stanwyck's bit of rough.... Below - with Marilyn  He essayed another loon in BEWARE MY LOVELY with Ida Lupino again, then got waylaid in Westerns THE NAKED SPUR generally thought of as a peak  INFERNO was a good thriller with Ryan abandoned to die in the desert - in 3D originally  He didn't get many romantic leads but ABOUT MRS LESLIE qualifies, in itself a beguiling thing.  BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK is probably his finest hour  HOUSE OF BAMBOO and THE TALL MEN were OK BACK FROM ETERNITY lacks the charm of the 1939 one but is well worth a watch  GODS LITTLE ACRE was apparantly his own favourite role on screen. A jolly bucolic comedy.  LONELYHEARTS saw him as Monty Clifts editor - a great performance in a neglected movie. Below with Myrna Loy  ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW Is a bit overrated in my book. ICE PALACE did for Alaska what GIANT did for Texas. With Richard Burton  He played John The Baptist in KING OF KINGS and took a cameo in THE LONGEST DAY I wish i liked BILLY BUDD more than i do.  THE PROFESSIONALS, THE DIRTY DOZEN and THE WILD BUNCH were probably the best of his late 60s output  AND HOPE TO DIE, a French thriller, is probably the pick of his 70s movies This is incomplete filmography. He died in 1973 Thanks for reading.  |
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Post by mikef6 on Sept 19, 2024 0:42:10 GMT
The Iceman Cometh (1973), directed by John Frankenheimer was the final film for both Robert Ryan and Fredric March. It was part of the American Film Theater project, a noble cause that lasted two years. In Eugene O'Neill's 1946 play, Ryan plays Larry, one of a group of alcoholics and derelicts who live at and frequent Harry Hope’s barroom. Although the main character is usually said to be Hickey (Lee Marvin), I always thought it was Larry and Robert Ryan proves it with a towering performance.  |
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Post by Isapop on Sept 19, 2024 0:42:12 GMT
Interestingly, Ryan got that role because James Mason who was originally cast, wanted to get away from those menacing roles he had been playing and preferred to play the sympathetic doctor, even though the millionaire role was more prominent. So, they traded parts.
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Post by Isapop on Sept 19, 2024 0:50:19 GMT
I was privileged to see Robert Ryan on stage in the late 1960s. On a school field trip, we saw a touring production of Our Town. Henry Fonda was the stage manager. Ryan was Charles Webb, the newspaper editor. And I do remember liking Ryan's performance the best out of the cast. He just seemed so totally genuine.
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Post by jervistetch on Sept 19, 2024 1:37:17 GMT
Thank you, timshelboy. You give damn good presentations. You and Teleadm are the Ken Burns’ of the Classic Film Board. |
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Post by Teleadm on Sept 19, 2024 5:49:25 GMT
 The Proud Ones 1956 In itself a rather routine western of the 50's, heightened by the presence of Robert Ryan as a town marshal. Who can only watch and do nothing while his once small sleepy town changes and decays into a boom town without any moral. One of his lines: "No, Sam, I don't. I take it as a personal reflection on you - all of you! The minute you people smelled money, this town got an attack of larceny. I don't blame it on Barrett; I blame it on you. You're supposed to be respectable. You talk about law and order; you'd sell out for a copper penny - any one of you. You're robbin' and stealin' the same as he is, with your fifty dollar boots and your twelve dollar hotel rooms. If I was on this council, I couldn't look in the mirror without vomiting!" Thanks for another great presentation timshelboy |
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Post by Carl LaFong on Sept 19, 2024 9:03:14 GMT
Thank you, timshelboy . You give damn good presentations. You and Teleadm are the Ken Burns’ of the Classic Film Board. Don’t forget Petrolino! |
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Post by Carl LaFong on Sept 19, 2024 9:05:55 GMT
The Proud Ones 1956 In itself a rather routine western of the 50's, heightened by the presence of Robert Ryan as a town marshal. Who can only watch and do nothing while his once small sleepy town changes and decays into a boom town without any moral. One of his lines: "No, Sam, I don't. I take it as a personal reflection on you - all of you! The minute you people smelled money, this town got an attack of larceny. I don't blame it on Barrett; I blame it on you. You're supposed to be respectable. You talk about law and order; you'd sell out for a copper penny - any one of you. You're robbin' and stealin' the same as he is, with your fifty dollar boots and your twelve dollar hotel rooms. If I was on this council, I couldn't look in the mirror without vomiting!" Thanks for another great presentation timshelboy It was on TV here yesterday afternoon. Didn’t watch it though. |
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Post by politicidal1 on Sept 19, 2024 12:31:36 GMT
Great actor, especially in the realm of film noir.
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Post by Carl LaFong on Sept 19, 2024 12:48:28 GMT
He’s fantastically whiny and desperate in Clash by Night!
Superb performance.
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Post by jervistetch on Sept 19, 2024 14:54:04 GMT
Thank you, timshelboy . You give damn good presentations. You and Teleadm are the Ken Burns’ of the Classic Film Board. Don’t forget Petrolino! Damn! I knew there was a third. petrolino completes the triumvirate! |
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Post by jervistetch on Sept 19, 2024 15:03:06 GMT
He joined the ranks of actors to have played Jay Gatsby (here with Jeanne Crain as Daisy) in a 1956 episode of “Playhouse 90”.  |
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Post by politicidal1 on Sept 19, 2024 16:42:59 GMT
He also got to play a fugitive that romances Barbara Stanwyck in the adventure movie Escape to Burma (1955).  |
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Post by Power Ranger on Sept 19, 2024 19:24:09 GMT
I liked him in Lawman too. He was always good.
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Post by mikef6 on Sept 20, 2024 4:24:12 GMT
Ryan starred in the offbeat western “Day Of The Outlaw” (1959), directed by André De Toth. It is set in the winter desert of Wyoming in a little town at “the end of the trail.” It starts out like a rancher-farmer feud movie. But just as the two sides reach the brink of violence, they are interrupted by the sudden arrival of the cool, classy outlaw Burl Ives and his gang of psychos. Now the two sides in the feud have to work together and sacrifice for one another to protect their families. Robert Ryan shines as the tormented head of the rancher faction. Robert Ryan makes this compelling. Also with Tina Louise, Nehemiah Persoff, Jack Lambert, Dabbs Greer, and Elisha Cook, Jr.  |
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