I\u2019m sure there are movie critics who have their own takes on this question.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never thought much about who the \u201creal\u201d movie stars were because what I was interested in was which were the good movies.\u00a0 But recently I\u2019ve been watching some old movies that were not in the top 100 movies of all time.\u00a0 In fact, some of them were pretty bad.\u00a0 The plots were hackneyed and the scripts were poorly written and some of the actors and actresses were pretty awful.<\/p>\n
You might ask why I would do this.\u00a0 It\u2019s a combination of things.\u00a0 Firstly, they were on Turner Classic Movies and I get that channel on my cable television subscription.\u00a0 But the other reason is that I\u2019ve just seen the good movies so often I need a break.\u00a0 Even a great movie can be worn out by too frequent viewing.\u00a0 So, I\u2019ve been watching some stinkers.<\/p>\n
I recorded a couple of movies with William Powell that I\u2019d never heard of.\u00a0 One was called \u201cLawyer Man\u201d that also starred Joan Blondell.\u00a0 It\u2019s an early film from 1932 and the plot includes all kinds of stereotypical plot elements, dialog and characters that fairly scream \u201cB\u201d movie.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t recommend this movie highly although it was amusing because of the leads.<\/p>\n
But what was obvious to me was that William Powell was a movie star.\u00a0 And what that means is that regardless of the role or movie William Powell is in, he\u2019s William Powell.\u00a0 Whether he\u2019s a lawyer or a private detective or a doctor or a stockbroker or a down on his luck everyman, he\u2019s, unmistakably, the same person.\u00a0 The persona that Powell had created is what the producers and directors wanted from him in all his films.\u00a0 In one film he might be a hobo, in another a rich nobleman but in both cases, these were just the vicissitudes of life and they didn\u2019t change his character.<\/p>\n
This differs from a real actor like Lawrence Olivier.\u00a0 When he plays Henry V, he\u2019s a gallant hero.\u00a0 When he plays Richard III, he\u2019s a heartless monster.\u00a0 And when he\u2019s Hamlet he\u2019s a lost soul.\u00a0 Olivier becomes what the part requires.\u00a0 But when we\u2019re looking to spend an hour with a witty, pleasant, intelligent man we\u2019d rather have William Powell.\u00a0 He\u2019ll work his way through the plot and whenever he\u2019s on the screen we\u2019ll be pleased.\u00a0 The character William Powell plays is the man you\u2019d wish was sitting next to you on a long train ride.\u00a0 He\u2019ll have stories to tell and probably has a deck of cards in his coat pocket and when his wife or girlfriend shows up, she\u2019ll be a smart cute funny dame.\u00a0 And if an armed robber shows up in the railway car Powell will manage to knock him out and tie him up with no apparent effort.<\/p>\n
The movie stars I can think of were all of the sort that produced a character.\u00a0 Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant always played the same part with slight differences to align with the plot and character details.\u00a0 But they almost never were cast against type.\u00a0 Of course, these were the pictures they made once they had reached star status.\u00a0 As journeymen they had to take whatever roles they were given.\u00a0 You can see this transition in someone like Humphrey Bogart.\u00a0 When he started out, he had to play a lot of vicious gangsters and there was very little nuance in these roles.\u00a0 But once he had done the Maltese Falcon, he was allowed to find his \u201ctype.\u201d\u00a0 He became the tough guy with a brain.\u00a0 And at that point audiences knew what to expect from Bogey.<\/p>\n
As I said, I generally am looking for a movie with a good plot and decent acting.\u00a0 But there is something to be said for trying to match a movie to a mood.\u00a0 If I need to relax and enjoy a reuben sandwich and a cold drink I\u2019ll probably want a Western with John Wayne or Gary Cooper.\u00a0 And If I need my spirits lifted, I\u2019ll watch a Jimmy Stewart film or a W.C. Fields farce.\u00a0 But if I\u2019m ever homesick for the New York City that used to exist, I\u2019ll look for a William Powell movie.\u00a0 And maybe it never really existed but with William Powell to walk you through it will feel like home.\u00a0 At least to me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019m sure there are movie critics who have their own takes on this question.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never thought much about who the \u201creal\u201d movie stars were<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239,238,237],"tags":[716,204,3219,1562,1228,2100,3218,890,43,3220,38,1355,3217],"class_list":["post-15498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-classic-movie-reviews","category-reviews","tag-cary-grant","tag-clark-gable","tag-gary-cooper","tag-humphrey-bogart","tag-jimmy-stewart","tag-joan-blondell","tag-john-wayne","tag-laurence-olivier","tag-movie-review","tag-movie-star","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-william-powell"],"yoast_head":"\n