R.I.P. TERRY AND STANLEY AND VITO AND KURTZ AND ... (Out of Focus)

I was unable to write about Marlon Brando this weekend. The last time I logged on to a computer was when I read the news about his passing. It's sad that in recent years, Brando had become more of a caricature due to his physicality and reported eccentricities. For years it has been easier for people to mock Brando than to celebrate him. And even with all the obits and appreciations written about him everywhere this weekend, the cry of "Stella," or the nasally "I coulda been a contenda" will remain permanent fodder for stand-up comics.

Everyone has said this already, but I'm just throwing in my vote as well. Whether or not Brando was the best actor of the 20th century, he was absolutely the most important. His performance as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire is the perfect combination of material and performance. That cry of "Stella" has become iconic not because of how funny he sounded but because of Brando's ability to use one word in one moment to express the entire range of an incredibly complex character. Sure we have to thank possibly the greatest American playwright of the 20th Century for creating the world and characters of Streetcar, but Brando's performance created something that every actor who has attempted Stanley since can only hope to emulate. Before Streetcar and Brando, tough guys did not emote. They were heroes or villains. They were determined, angry, always on-guard. They were rarely animalistic and brutish, yet somehow sensitive. And they were most certainly not utterly dependent on their women for things other than cooking and cleaning. Jimmy Stewart and Spencer Tracy were brilliant actors, everymen who could play almost every man ... but they were not Brando, and they did not have the influence on every actor who has since stepped onto a stage or in front of a camera -- whether they buy into "the Method" or not -- that Brando has had.

My favorite Brando performance and movie, just barely nudging ahead of Streetcar, is Terry Molloy in On the Waterfront (and shame on you Karen for never having seen this movie -- screw Netflix, head to Blockbuster, or better yet, TCM will show the movie this coming Saturday at 8 PM). No, that's not some obscure title or character -- everyone mentions it as one of the greats. But there's a reason. The highlighted "User Comment" on the IMDb page starts with "Not the most compelling film ever...." Bullshit. On the Waterfront is absolutely one of the most interesting and gripping movies I've ever seen from start-to-finish. Brando alone is enough to make the film watchable. Karl Malden, Eva Marie Saint and especially Lee J. Cobb add performances that turn this film into a master's class in film acting. It's not a complex story, yet it's filled with complexities. And Elia Kazan's direction is spot-on perfect. Quite simply, On the Waterfront is one of the best American movies ever made that manages to be a timeless story even though it is very much rooted in its specific era.

Few actors have as many iconic characters as Brando. Even those that may not be remembered with the reverence of a Stanley, Terry, Don Vito Corleone from The Godfather or Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now are memorable and important. For better or worse, no one would or could play Marc Antony in Julius Caesar or Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls like Brando. His portrayal of Val in Sidney Lumet's The Fugitive Kind opposite a very young Joanne Woodward and the great Anna Magnani approaching the twilight of her career is one of the few magnificent elements in this unfortunate adaptation of one of Tennessee Williams more underrated plays, Orpheus Descending. Even as Jor-El in Superman or satirizing himself as Carmine in The Freshman, Brando brought an honesty to every character that few actors since have been able to accomplish.

Brando will be missed, even though he hasn't been that prolific in recent years and the mystery of his personality and reclusiveness became bigger news than his abilities. Thankfully, we will always have his films to watch and rewatch; we will always have the gift he gave us to take a peek into some of the darkest places of the human soul and see that part that may be inside all of us which we hope to never let out.

As usual, it took Turner Classic Movies all of about 15 minutes on Friday to revamp a day of their schedule to honor Brando. Unfortunately, it looks as if TCM must be missing the majority of great Brando films from its library, otherwise, I'm not 100% sure why they selected the five films they have. Nevertheless, as I mentioned earlier, TCM will broadcast On the Waterfront this Saturday 7/10 at 8 PM (Eastern) to kick off its tribute. The schedule that follows includes another major Brando performance in The Wild One, Superman: The Movie, The Teahouse of August Moon, and Julius Caesar.