Albert Finney's Own Thread

(mark s! hi hope you are well)

Such an unusually 'naturalistic' film; we are not encouraged, in any facile way, to make one simple reading of the events. It's that rare British film which allows you to make your own mind up; a Times article about Finney refers to his curious inability to do 'charm', and the way this film plays with that. To quite remarkable results, really; an antecedent of "Radio On" anyone? There's a comparable ethic to the car journey sequences; though of course, Finney's Bubbles proves rather less anonymous than RO's lead protagonist.

I ought to watch "The Dresser" again, as Peter Yates is something of a neglected film-maker; no major 'world-view' director, but versatile and with the knack of choosing good projects and executing them beautifully: "Breaking Away", "The Friends of Eddie Coyle".

Does anyone recall much about his performance in those final Dennis Potter series'?

He was the best thing about those late Potters.

(* - spooky footnote to this self-aggrandising tale: this little nugget of esteem-boosting came up in a late-night phone conversation with PB while I was lodging with a friend in Berkshire. I get off the phone and there on the window sill above the couch-that-is-my-bed is a photo of a young Albert Finney...)

BUMP.

under the volcano ftw

A good performance in an awful movie.

"how, unless you drink like i do, can you hope to understand the beauty of an old indian woman playing dominoes with a chicken"

oh yeah the movie takes some effort

http://img.snlarc.jt.org/caps/impressions/BiHa-Peter%20O
I have soiled myself, I have soiled my friends, and I have passed out cold in many unsavory lavatories -- for which I'm very proud. But I am not a pervert. I'm a drunk. I drink, I talk too loud, I knock stuff over...one time, when I was sensationally drunk, Albert Finney and I stole a train! That's the kind of fun we alcoholics like to have!

I recently picked up this Oscar trivia book that has breakdowns of the first sixty years of noms and ceremonies. I was surprised to read that the '63 awards were controversial because of the large number of BRITISH nominees. So not only did people (er, critics) object to all the sex stuff in Tom Jones, they were also mad that the Brits were responsible for it. I mean, really?

I saw 'Two for the Road' the other day. Godawful film. It matters not whether AF is any good acting-wise because the film is desperate for you to side with him. He's a complete dick. It's a kind of achievement I guess.

I would recommend this film, despite being unable to argue against what Miles says.

From the other thread: If you've never seen Finney opposite Diane Keaton in Shoot the Moon, you're missing one of the great portrayals of male white privilege.

Best on-screen Churchill imo, in 'The Gathering Storm'

A delight opposite Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich.

Lots of great stuff from the kitchen sink stuff to Erin to Under the Volcano, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead ... I forgot he was in The Duellists.

Best on-screen Churchill imo, in 'The Gathering Storm'

Fuck a Churchill portrayal tbh.

No mention of "Gumshoe" on this thread? Shame!

https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3744/12020396385_722d211c02_b.jpg

he figured it out:

He never won an Oscar, however, and made a point of not attending the glittering award ceremonies.

“It’s a very long evening and not exactly my idea of a good night out,” Mr. Falk quoted him as saying — “sat there for five fours in a nonsmoking, non-drinking environment.

I first saw him in Scrooge (my dad took me to the Radio City Music Hall Christmas show where it premiered), which is a misfire but provided me with an anthem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU6WXCvNGms

Saw him in Art with Tom Courtenay and Ken Stott 20 years ago. Didn't realise till I read the obituary that that was his final stage appearance.

I saw Art in NYC 1998 with Alan Alda and Alfred Molina.

my first Finney flick was Miller's Crossing, like many around my age I imagine. 1990 was the ultimate gangster film year: GoodFellas, Godfather 3, King of New York, The Krays, State of Grace, Men of Respect, I guess you could even throw in The Freshman if you want. Miller's Crossing was obv imo not better than GoodFellas, few films are. But it was a very crucial film in my self-education in movies of that time. And Albert Finney is so good, that role could have been extremely hammy in other hands but he's so good as a soft-hearted lug who's also very dangerous and instinctive, beyond all appearances. He's believable at both, and believable that both could be qualities the same guy could easily possess.

in a way, the love for Miller's Crossing is even more mind-boggling to me than Big Lebowski

(caveat: i haven't seen it in almost 30 years)

i mean, Cagney and those guys did it better

never saw Cagney pop a homie in his foot from under a bed and finish him with one to the dome, then slide down and off a roof, and spin around and catch the second guy unawares through the second floor window from ground level and make him do the red charleston with a tommy gun.

of course not saying i think MC is better than the Cagney films, it's its own thing.

the problem is i don't remember any of that MC stuff

Shoot the Moon seems hard to see now

DVD available on Netflix as of two hours ago.

"Fuck a Churchill portrayal tbh."

this one is just as bollox as you'd expect in its tone/writing as a bbc/hbo jobbie, but it has Ronnie Barker + Vanessa Redgrave in it as well!

oh yeah Reinhold from Berlin Alexanderplatz is in it as well.

I still agree with your original sentiment though, but enjoyed this one because of the cast.

Vanessa Redgrave

Is she better than Gary Oldman or Bob Hoskins?

she plays his wife, but yes in every sense!

https://youtu.be/kDfvxJUxL10

roundup

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/6193-albert-finney-the-reluctant-star

Finney was a unique actor, although it was his fate to be compared, wonderingly, to other people. Ken Tynan famously reeled away from Finney’s Rada graduation show calling the teenager a new Spencer Tracy. Later in his theatrical career, he was dubbed a new Olivier. I would say that he was Britain’s Jean Gabin. But none of that is quite right. He was a brilliant and utterly distinctive actor, deeply rooted in a theatrical tradition but capable of naturalistic performances, a product of Britain’s vital new “kitchen-sink” cinema. And as a producer, Finney gave early breaks to Tony Scott and Stephen Frears, helped get Lindsay Anderson’s If… off the ground, and was a driving force behind Mike Leigh’s first feature, Bleak Moments.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/feb/08/albert-finney-an-almighty-physical-screen-presence

That's about right: part of what made him underrated was the inability to fit him into any acting school of the last sixty years.

Dan Callahan praised the scene in Shoot the Moon I mentioned in the obit thread. Lovely conclusion:

There is the feeling at his death that we should have had more of him, somehow, more films like “Two for the Road” and “Shoot the Moon,” but those two movies about marriage will define his legacy as one of the finest, most upsetting, and most beguiling actors of his time. His charm was sometimes his harsh lack of charm, or withholding of charm and easy answers. Finney could have had a lucrative Hollywood career after “Tom Jones,” but he chose life and the rigors of the theater instead, most of the time. He loved horses, beautiful women, and a good drink or three. His youthful smile brought Audrey Hepburn to new life, and his doubts deepened the testing dramatic parts that he took on screen in the 1980s. Thinking about his work, I keep fastening on the moment when Finney looks at Hepburn on the beach in “Two for the Road” and says, “Too late, they cried, too late!” before giving her an enveloping kiss as Henry Mancini’s theme music swells on the soundtrack. Albert Finney. Too late, they cried, too late!

My own obit.

This thread doesn't seem to even mention Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, which I believe was his breakout performance, unless there is a broken image upthread.

But of course Alfred mentions it right away.

And says Tom Jones was the breakthrough.

In America it was. SNASM's British impact, of course, we know.

Of course

watched Gumshoe tonight: had not known that Frears had made any features before the '80s, and then it turned out that was his only one for another 13 years!

the film doesn't have the tonal confidence of Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid or Brick, but it's better than the former, probably.

A DJ on WFMU semi-joked recently, before playing The Cure's "Boys Don't Cry," that "As with 98% of bands, their first song was their best song." So say Finney to me, and I think of SN&SM.

So among the British '60s guys, only Caine, Courtenay and Connery left?

First thing I thought of was the last line of the opening scene of that, which I posted on the Rolling Obit thread, although I forgot the first word as is often the case:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJAeb0wiQjA

Terence Stamp is still here

yes, right

the women, it's Julie Christie (the other Julie was in a different realm). The other key women were Rachel Roberts and Rita Tushingham.

yeah, Charlotte Rampling was a bit younger than them and Glenda Jackson was older but didn't break out in film till Women in Love

yes, Mirren and Dench didn't really get going til the '70s.

Can't forget Rachel Roberts being on The Tony Randall Show. Her bio is pretty sad. Sometimes confuse her with Wendy Craig.

Never "got" Rita Tushingham.

Weren't Caine and Finney roommates at one point? I know they were at least drinking buddies.

A DJ on WFMU semi-joked recently, before playing The Cure's "Boys Don't Cry," that "As with 98% of bands, their first song was their best song." So say Finney to me, and I think of SN&SM.

Boys Don’t Cry was their third song, so I’m afraid you must switch your allegiance to Tom Jones

first hit?

Lol Tolhurst book seems really good

Caine and Stamp were roommates/ buddies, not Caine and Finney.

... they might have been drinking buddies though.

it's hard to say who wasn't a drinking buddy of Caine's.

Albert looked like he was partial to a tipple.

not on the O'Toole level, reportedly (who could be?)

malcolm macdowell is still active (tho he didn't really get started till 68: his scenes in poor cow ended on the cutting room floor)

dench was BIG on-stage in the 60s (RSC in particular) but not on-screen yet

I was kinda zeroing in on the Angry Young Men (or Brit new wave, to the extent there was one... McDowell emerged a decade after that started).

and obviously cinema more than the theatre

really had forgotten about or didn't know the Finney connections with Anderson and Leigh.

never forget:
https://www.britishclassiccomedy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/1143-3.jpg

first hit?

Reached #99 in Australia, did not chart in the UK or US.

Caine and Stamp were roommates/ buddies, not Caine and Finney.

Shoot the Moon, what an extraordinary movie. Astonishing performances across the board. Such emotional intensity without ever becoming maudlin or ridiculous. Ordinary People is a joke compared to this movie. I kept thinking of Bergman throughout - the water, the clouds, the piano refrain, the emphasis on faces, but mostly how it sustains such a high emotional pitch without ever veering into pretension or sentimentality. It's unlike any other American domestic drama of its time I can think of.

and the kids!

I watched Shoot the Moon again last night recovering from a 24-hour stomach bug. Really, I almost threw up again.