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Post by Prime etc. on Apr 17, 2019 7:34:58 GMT
I read that he didn't like his performance.
I think he was good in the part--having a leading man type for it made sense to me-he's a tragic figure--but so was Achilles, yet he was a heroic persona--a leader of men. Walter Huston--supposedly John Huston's preferred choice...I just don't think he would have been appropriate for it.
I agree with a Peck comment that he was too young but I don't think it harmed the role most of the time. The only scene I find jarring is his very first dialogue shot--where he summons Starbuck. Felt kind of weird, muted.
But the rest of the time, I think he carried the role fine (even more so after reading he got no direction from Huston).
Most importantly he had the voice for it. He was kind of like a scarred Abe Lincoln!
I cannot imagine Charlton Heston or Sterling Hayden or someone else in the same age category doing the role as well.
I think his performance may have influenced Robert Shaw's Quint.
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Post by politicidal on Apr 17, 2019 16:46:11 GMT
I read that he didn't like his performance.
I think he was good in the part--having a leading man type for it made sense to me-he's a tragic figure--but so was Achilles, yet he was a heroic persona--a leader of men. Walter Huston--supposedly John Huston's preferred choice...I just don't think he would have been appropriate for it.
I agree with a Peck comment that he was too young but I don't think it harmed the role most of the time. The only scene I find jarring is his very first dialogue shot--where he summons Starbuck. Felt kind of weird, muted.
But the rest of the time, I think he carried the role fine (even more so after reading he got no direction from Huston).
Most importantly he had the voice for it. He was kind of like a scarred Abe Lincoln!
I cannot imagine Charlton Heston or Sterling Hayden or someone else in the same age category doing the role as well.
I think his performance may have influenced Robert Shaw's Quint.
He was alright I guess. It’s been a while since I’ve watched it. I remember being a fan of the 1990s TV movie with Patrick Stewart. |
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Post by Prime etc. on Apr 18, 2019 2:17:53 GMT
I especially like the way he said the line
"He rises!"
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Post by telegonus on Apr 19, 2019 8:06:38 GMT
I've come to like Gregory Peck's playing of Ahab in Moby Dick. The makeup wasn't so good, and he didn't seem quite right for the film, by which I mean as directed by John Huston. I don't think those two were a "good fit", director/actor-wise, and that this hurt the film generally. Some fine work from the supporting players lifts the film in quality, yet the movie as a whole feels somehow uninspired to me. It needed bravura, and might have been better had it been made a bit earlier, as produced by David Selznick, larger than life style, with more epic sweep and a rousing musical score courtesy of Tiomkin or Rozsa. As to other actors who might have been good Ahabs: earlier, another Lincoln-esque player, Raymond Massey (seriously). I think that Massey would have been up to it throughout the Thirties, Forties, maybe beyond (by the time of Huston's version, no). I can't see Charlton Heston ever being quite right for Ahab (good actor, with almost too much dignity as well as, alas, ego). For a Val Lewton B horror riff on the Meville novel I can see Boris Karloff making a grand, terrifying Ahab, with the usual Lewton suspects working nicely in the smaller roles. A new title would be needed, of course; maybe I Walked With A Great White Whale.  |
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Post by london777 on Apr 19, 2019 13:24:32 GMT
I think his performance may have influenced Robert Shaw's Quint.
Not really. Ahab already had a bigger boat.
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Post by teleadm on Apr 19, 2019 16:23:58 GMT
Whatever Peck disliked about his role once has over the years eased and eavend out.
John Huston have made boring movies, awfull movies, tired movies, and really great movies, but he has never made any uninteresting movies.
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