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The Monday Morning Question: Great Actors You Hate
Monday, September 8, 2008
When I started this blog one of my goals was to find more people here on the Intertubes who loved movies. I'm starved for good film conversation; this is a small town and, if I mention that I like movies, the response I invariably get is, "I love Harry Potter, too!" People may know who Bette Davis or Vincent Price are, but Peter Lorre? Ida Lupino? El Brendel? Never. And don't even ask what happens when I mention silent movies.
In an effort to get a little conversation going (and add a little easy content to the blog -- ssh! don't tell anyone!) I thought I'd start posting a movie question every Monday morning. It's not a quiz and there are no wrong answers, it's just opinions, and all opinions are welcome.
Well... almost all opinions. I do ask that people keep it civil, both in regards to commenters' opinions and my own. There's no room for flaming here. Someone eventually is bound to love 
someone you loathe or hate a movie you adore. It's not personal, and you can disagree without being a jerk about it.
So, today's question: are there any actors that are universally (or nationally) considered great that you dislike? Or, dare I say it, even hate?
There are a few actors I don't care for, some I'm conflicted about, and two I actively despise. It was a toss-up between Spencer Tracy and Henry Fonda. As you already figured out from the photos, I went with Henry Fonda.
Maybe it all started with "On Golden Pond". When I was about 10 years old my parents started on a movie kick for no explicable reason -- they were homebodies who sat in the living room reading books while "The Rockford Files" was on TV -- so for a few years we went to see all the big movies. One of the first films we watched during this brief period of social activity was "On Golden Pond". Being so young I didn't completely understand what "On Golden Pond" was about, and I didn't know it starred two aging Hollywood legends. All I knew is that he was a big jerk to his daughter, that it was his real daughter playing his movie daughter and as far as I knew they were playing themselves; whether fictional or not, I saw a cranky, angry, unreasonable man who doled out a few crumbs of humanity to a daughter starving for affection. Maybe I just never got over my 10-year-old mind conflating reality with fiction. (For your information, my mind is at least 14 years old now.)
I don't think that initial impression is the only reason I don't like Fonda. Since then I've seen many more films with Henry Fonda, at least 20, and even if the films are good I usually don't care for his performances. In "Jezebel" his character of Preston needs a gentler touch than Fonda can provide. We as the audience looking back on antebellum America with 20/20 hindsight, and we need to see the forward-thinking Preston as intelligent, sympathetic and conflicted. Instead Fonda imbues Preston with self-righteous smugness that makes one wonder why he bothered with Jezebel at all. He never seems to genuinely like Jezebel, he is rude and snotty to his friends, and always looked down the nose of Southern society. The problem here is not what Preston says so much as how Fonda delivers the lines. The Southerners who are engaging in social machinations that an audience would find almost barbaric come across as much more human and approachable than Preston, and it throws the film off balance.
I don't find Fonda funny in "You Belong to Me", I find him boorish and incapable of pulling off the humor of a befuddled man. He gives a conservative anti-youth speech at the end of "Yours Mine and Ours" that sets my teeth on edge. He's flat and lifeless in "The Ox-Bow Incident", managing nothing but a bit of that smugness that irritated me so much in "Jezebel". And because I don't want to dwell on The Smug, I won't even talk about "12 Angry Men".
Yet I did enjoy his performance in "Fail-Safe". Where the ensemble cast didn't balance Fonda out in "12 Angry Men", it worked wonderfully in "Fail-Safe" and his performance is a real highlight of the movie. While I have trouble making it through "Once Upon a Time in the West", I do love to watch that early scene where Frank arrives at Brett's.
Still, there's something about the attitude, that brief whiny quality that appears in his voice when he becomes angry, the deer-in-the-headlight eyes that don't always smile when he does... okay, I fully admit these sound like silly reasons. Maybe I can't solidly explain why I don't like Henry Fonda.
So now that I've upset all of my readers, it's your turn to get revenge: what actor do you hate?
FURTHER READING:
Henry Fonda Fan Club
Classic Movies Tribute to Henry Fonda
Find-a-Death Page on Henry Fonda
Posted by Stacia at 12:10 AM 31 comments
Labels: actors, the monday morning question
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31 comments:
Interesting question. In my case, I usually find myself disliking individual performances of a given actor, typically when working with a certain director.
An actor I consistently dislike from the "classic era" is a choice that I'm sure no one else will share: Cary Grant. I don't even dislike the films that Grant appeared in (I'm a huge fan of "The Awful Truth", "Gunga Din", and "North by Northwest" even though he stars in each). Come to think of it, I don't even mind him in darker roles ("Penny Serenade","None but the Lonely Heart", "Notorious"), I just don't care for that kind of eyeball-popping, manic comic mugging that he so frequently did. The worst example I can think of is "Arsenic and Old Lace", and a film which I absolutely loathe, "Bringing Up Baby". When it comes to light comedy, I find William Powell far more subtle and even clever in his performances.
Regarding your choice of Fonda, I think the "self righteous" nature of a lot of the characters he played is a problem. He was well-suited to films like "The Ox-Bow Incident", or "12 Angry Men", or "Fail Safe", but he was all wrong in stuff like "Jezebel". I just saw him in "The Lady Eve" at a local art house screening this past weekend, and I have to say he handled comedy quite well, at least under Sturges' direction. One person once pointed out the best Henry Fonda role that he never played-Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird". That's an interesting idea.
For the record, I like Henry Fonda (and Spencer Tracy), but even though we try to rationalize our opinions about things like this, it's important to remember that there's simply no accounting for taste. My choice of Most-Hated-Actor is a perfect example of this: Joel McCrea.
I first noticed my dislike for him in the 1934 movie "Gambling Lady". Every time he was on screen, I wanted some stage lights to fall on him. Seriously. With every line of dialogue, he came across as a smug, meatheaded idiot. When Barbara Stanwyck went to divorce him at the end of the movie, I actually cheered ... but then she ran back to him, and that was that.
I still can't explain what exactly repulsed me about him, but I should also point out that I've seen some of his later westerns and he was actually pretty good in a few of them. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to erase his status for me as My Most Hated Greatest Actor.
You know, I agree with you about McCrea, although I have to say he was well-cast in Hitchcock's "Foreign Correspondent", where the qualities you mention were an essential part of his character. Sometimes certain directors could find a way to bring out certain qualities (good or bad) in an actor and make them work very well in a specific role. Billy Wilder managed to do this with Ray Milland in "The Lost Weekend".
Don't hate me, but I can't stand Bette Davis. Also Spencer Tracy gets a big eh from me. I adore Katharine Hepburn but don't really like any of her films with Tracy. I just don't get the appeal. I think she's at her best with Cary Grant (sorry Matt)
Matt, you'll be happy to know my parents almost disowned me (again!) for lending them "Arsenic and Old Lace". I love Halloween so I have a bit of affection for the film, but they hated it. I don't like "Bringing Up Baby", either, and thought I was the only one on the planet who felt that way. *clings*
I don't know what I feel about Joel McCrea. A few months ago I mentioned that I loved everything he was in, but recently realized that I've really only seen about 6 of his films. If I see more, I may end up not liking him at all.
mystery robin, you'd be surprised how many people don't like Bette Davis! Every film forum I've been to has a significant number of posters who really just dislike Bette. I love her personally, but a lot of people agree with you.
I never much cared for Gene Hackman. Don't know why.
And how can anyone not LOVE "Arsenic and Old Lace?"
Secret confession time: I think Gene Hackman in "Young Frankenstein" is irritating. He looks like he's going to laugh at his own jokes through the whole scene.
I never liked Katherine Hepburn particularly; her voice grates on me, too. Most actors have their bad & good for me, but I consciously avoid Hepburn films now, after being told to watch 'em many times by others over the years. Yeah, I manage to see more than a few, which is more than I care to remember, but I won't add any more, thank you.
I hesitate to criticize others' favorite hates, as I recognize that grating sound they hear and the flailing onscreen they see is a relative hatred - I used to loath Frank Sinatra's work, but now I don't at all, and even enjoy it on occasion - one day while watching "The Manchurian Candidate" he just clicked, and a mental barrier went down. The other bugaboo - I still have trouble with John Wayne, except for "The Searchers", "Stagecoach", "Red River", "The Big Trail", "Trouble Along the Way", (don't ask me why on that one, I couldn't even tell you myself) and one or two others, the rest you could shitcan in a heartbeat. I guess I just like him as a bit of a bastard, surrounded by better players I relate to more.
BTW, my late uncle talked just like Henry Fonda, and it was quite a shock to hear Fonda say "Ma!" in "The Grapes of Wrath" - almost wanted to wave; so I never had that impression of smugness or unreality. Joel McCrea always seemed like pleasant nothing to me, but that's my indifference to him - never know, tho, it might become more actively negative.
Too many modern actors make this list for me.
Fun question.
I personally love both Henry Fonda and Spencer Tracy, though I guess I could kind of see your point re: Fonda given some of the particular films you mention, particularly "Jezebel" where his character is really no fun at all. You do, however, seem to like the best of the performances you mention ("Fail Safe" and "Once Upon a Time in the West" -- definitely in my all time top ten of movie villainy), so perhaps the problem is more the particular ones you've seen so far. My personal favorite of his earlier, good guy performances is "My Darling Clementine."
On the other hand, avoid John Ford's "The Fugitive". Just a shockingly dull movie (though beautiful) and Fonda has a real hard time playing the character whose supposed to be a Christ-like sinner.
As for my own guilty displeasure (I wouldn't say "hate"), I'd have to go with one that will really shock some people -- Marlon Brando. He was very, very good in "Streetcar" but there's a heaviness about most of his work that I find a little irritating and showy, going as far back as "On the Waterfront." I actually preferred Alec Baldwin's more comic Stanley Kowalski in an early nineties TV production (though Jessica Lange's Blanche couldn't hold a candle to Vivien Leigh, IMO).
For early fifties method actors, I'll take Montgomery Clift and even James Dean over Brando any day. He was, however, very funny in "The Freshman." I guess he was also very good in "The Godfather" -- but I'd much rather talk about just about everyone else in that movie than him.
BTW - You're doing pretty good for a new blogger. Every time I try asking a question like this (though I haven't in a while), I get crickets...crickets I tell you!
I try very hard not to dislike any performer (one reason I champion El Brendel, I guess), but I honestly can't abide Katherine Hepburn 99% of the time. Maybe STAGE DOOR is tolerable (she's among so many other actresses anyway), but otherwise she bugs the hell out of me. I also find Greta Garbo incredibly boring, but I don't dislike her.
Woops...I must confess that the one film I >do< find Hepburn truly tolerable is HOLIDAY (1938).
But that's it. >:D
Mickey Rooney. I hate myself for hating him, because he's so earnest and so adorable and so talented -- but I do.
Vivien Leigh & James Dean. I think only Freud would be able to explain why.
Henry Fonda is interesting. When I think of him I get a totally neutral feeling - kinda blah-like.
Hmmm...well, I must say that I'm not a fan of Jimmy Stewart. I can't take him seriously. Now, don't get me wrong, he's great in "It's a Wonderful Life" , but I can't get past that particular character. Maybe watching that movie first ruined the rest of his movies for me.
To add my two cents to this I'd have to pick on Humphrey Bogart.
With the exception of "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" and a few moments in "The Maltese Falcon" I never really found his acting to be much more than him just acting like himself. He relied too much on his unmistakable look and screen presence and was never able to really transform himself like, say, Alan Arkin or John Turturro.
I originally thought about naming Clark Gable—who I haven’t ever liked in anything—but since that would mean my giving him points for acting I went with Van Johnson instead. I have no idea why Johnson fills me with such enmity, but apart from Brigadoon and State of the Union I’d rather chew off my own foot than watch him in a film.
I used to hate Robert Taylor until just the other day! Then I saw ROGUE COP. This is all explained in amazingly dull detail on my "blog." Hey, you ought to watch ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST. Henry Fonda kills a kid right at the beginning! He's the most evil villain in movie history, maybe. Then again I am given to hyperbole. Well, it's a great performance against type, that's all, if you'd like to witness such a thing.
No, Stacia! Don't let these people fool you about Joel McCrea! Watch THE PALM BEACH STORY again and you'll feel right in the head and all these awful comments about great actors will seem like a terrible dream.
Hi! I'm an idiot! You mention ONCE UPON A TIME in your post, and not only that, you mention the very scene I thought you would like! So I've got that going for me. I should never comment on blogs. No one should! I just want to conclude by saying that I love every dead actor. They worked hard to entertain us and then they died and now just look at us. A bunch of no good ingrates, that's what we are. We should be ashamed!
Jack, you know me - how could I not love a scene where someone shoots an innocent child in cold blood?
So many good examples here, and yet no one has wigged out and declared Internet War on someone else... although we got close with the "Arsenic and Old Lace" brouhaha. Honestly, it's a movie about Cary Grant acting like a chicken. Not like a coward, I mean like a literal barnyard chicken. You either love it or hate it. B'gok!
No war because we have managed to avoid certain people and subjects, which is amazing enough on a film topic like this one - I was waiting in dread for hand grenades and trench knives, myself.
In "Ride the High Country" I seem to remember McCrea wanted the part Randolph Scott played - the heel. Good thing they ended up as they did, it was some of their best work.
The funny thing about Fonda in OUATITW, if you close your eyes just before he whacks the kid, right after he explains to his pistolero why he has to, I swear he could've continue uninterrupted right into the "I'll be all around in the dark..." speech from "Grapes of Wrath". No one has ever explained so plain & simply, so earnestly, so convincingly, why a little boy has to have his brains blown out.
Which subjects or people do you think would have caused strife? We've got many of the biggies listed, so I'm kind of curious. I need to know how to incite a blog riot in the future I MEAN I need to know for a research project.
Just like a dame, jeesh, usin' her femi-nine wiles to pump a poor joe dry. So you've made me the fall guy, huh? I gotta spill my guts like a cryin' frail after the prom, then the hard boys'll come after me while you skipoutski with the jake and without a scratch. Gaw'head'n hang me out to dry - I feel as naked as ten Whit Bissells in "He Walked By Night". Serves me right, ah guess - I fell your deadly charms - where's that stained-glass windah anyway? I gotta kick it out now...bad.
Don't spread it around the streets and B&Ts, but a soitin very quiet 'bo with a cane and and bowler's got some very loyal...uh...followers, if ya get my meanin'. And he ain't exactly popular with some'a the pilgrims out there. Gotta drift now, this soldier don't wanna hang out under a streetlight too long, and I only got so many iron men in a roscoe. Wish me luck, honey, I might need it.
Ooh. I remember some flame wars on AMS about that particular actor. I guess by "some flame wars" I mean "threats of physical violence". That's a good one, thanks for reminding me.
I used to hate ALL John Wayne movies, including the so-called classic westerns, like "Red River," "The Searchers," "The Shootist," and found "True Grit" entertaining only because even Hollywood couldn't kill the fun of Charles Portis.
And then I grew old, and suddenly Rooster Cogburn, reins in his teeth, guns firing, charging straight at a bunch of gol-durned whippersnappers seemed real, and the Right Thing to Do. Going back over Wayne's later films, I noticed him using his age and infirmities to enhance his performance, especially in "The Shootist," a film tailor-made for that.
As for actresses, Elizabeth Taylor is as one-note as Bette Davis, and a good reason to hve a TV guide for TCM and AMC, lest you belatedly discover it's Liz Taylor Week.
Hey, thanks for the reminder--I find Elizabeth Taylor less than enthralling. Her voice is no asset. Other than WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOLF I don't find her that interesting a personality. Joan Collins, originally cast as Cleopatra, seemed a way better choice!
Why, Ms. Taylor is utterly charming in IVANHOE starring Robert Taylor, the guy I used to hate (see above). Love, people. Love!
It is a toss up between K. Hepburn and Bette Davis. Both are so over the top it is distracting.
Someone mentioned hating Mickey Rooney and I agree, at least for the 10 minutes he's in "Breakfast at Tiffany's".
Gig Young makes my flesh creep.
Gig Young is creepy to me because of the whole murder-suicide thing. But I have to say his performances in "They Shoot Horses Don't They" and in really horrible z-grade movies like "Game of Death" would have made me think he was freaky anyway, even without the extra added crazy.
Judy Garland is a star I just can't watch. I've tried to see her greatness but I think she's a terrible actor and an average singer.
I won't go out of my way to watch Spencer Tracy and will absolutely avoid his movies with Hepburn.
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