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Post by sostie on Jan 19, 2018 11:58:34 GMT
Never really considered him one of the greats (or even one of the especially goods) but his turn in After The Fox is brilliant (very underrated film)
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spiderwort
Junior Member
@spiderwort
Posts: 2,544
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Post by spiderwort on Jan 19, 2018 12:02:48 GMT
Really liked him in My Darling Clementine, Kiss of Death, and I Wake Up Screaming. Not the world's best actor, by any means, but in the right role he could be quite effective, even touching, as telegonus said.
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Post by telegonus on Jan 19, 2018 12:13:16 GMT
Thanks, Spiderwort. I neglected to mention I Wake Up Screaming, very good early Noir. Laird Cregar owns it but Mature's okay in the lead, and it doesn't seem to bother him in the least that the character he's playing is more than a bit of a jerk. Betty Grable and Carole Landis are surprisingly good, and the latter in particular is eye candy.
As you mentioned, Mature is surprisingly effective in Kiss Of Death, made six years later. If you watched them back to back it would feel more like sixteen. Such a different New York, post-world war. No less a critic than James Agee praised Mature's work in the film, and he was at his best with the children, and the way he stood up to Widmark's psycho was impressive.
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Post by vegalyra on Jan 19, 2018 22:37:38 GMT
Really enjoy his epic films that he did.
The already mentioned:
Samson & Delilah The Robe Demetrius and the Gladiators
Would also add:
The Egyptian Hannibal
I also recently picked up the Twilight Time release of Violent Saturday and it was a great film. Mature was wonderful in that one.
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Post by taylorfirst1 on Jan 19, 2018 22:45:25 GMT
I usually liked his work but I know plenty of people that didn't. My father always called him "a big lunkhead".
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Post by telegonus on Jan 20, 2018 4:31:32 GMT
A lot of people I've known have not liked Victor Mature. He appears to have few fans/admirers from the generation that was old enough to go to see his pictures in the theater. I saw just one, and that was circa 1962 The Tartars, which I enjoyed, his last "straight" film before he began to parody himself or only do cameos.
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Post by teleadm on Jan 20, 2018 17:34:46 GMT
He even did George Bernard Shaw's Androcles and the Lion 1952
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Post by BATouttaheck on Jan 20, 2018 17:41:45 GMT
I think it was partly that whole suffering, torture thing.
I did finally watch Kiss of Death and he was "ok" in that one. Maybe even "OK+" bordering on "not bad".
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Post by mattgarth on Jan 20, 2018 17:47:10 GMT
A couple of guilty Mature pleasures (both seen in theater): _____________________________________________________________
DANGEROUS MISSION -- filmed at Glacier National Park in Montana. With Piper Laurie (beautiful), Vincent Price, William Bendix.
VIOLENT SATURDAY -- with Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine (as an Amish farmer!)
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Post by gunshotwound on Jan 21, 2018 0:49:42 GMT
Classic Groucho Marx quote about Mature and his "fabulous beef-cake physique". Marx was asked how he liked SAMSON AND DELILAH. He said that he did not care for movies where the leading man had bigger tits than the leading lady.
All I can say is that if people of Mature's time considered him the epitome of male physical beauty, folks back then were idiots and had no idea what a fit male body looked like.
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Post by wmcclain on Jan 21, 2018 1:04:40 GMT
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Post by taylorfirst1 on Jan 21, 2018 20:17:50 GMT
Classic Groucho Marx quote about Mature and his "fabulous beef-cake physique". Marx was asked how he liked SAMSON AND DELILAH. He said that he did not care for movies where the leading man had bigger tits than the leading lady.
All I can say is that if people of Mature's time considered him the epitome of male physical beauty, folks back then were idiots and had no idea what a fit male body looked like. Well we have come a long way in regards to the male physique. Unfortunately Hollywood is still often quite ignorant as to what a fit female body looks like.
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