On Monday, August 9, 2021 at 6:48:43 PM UTC-4,
jazee...@gmail.com wrote:
> > The truth is ugly. The truth is frightening. The truth is in your face. Thank God for Tom and Jack in their outstanding performances in that movie. Only James Dean could have done better.
> Dean could have done this, Dean could have done that. I'm sick of it. Sure, Dean was good - one of the best, no doubt - but plenty of great actors have come down the pike since Dean and even before. Could he have been the best ever had he lived longer? No doubt this question is hard to answer yet easy to understand. Dean cannot be ignored at any time when the conversation turns to 'who is the best?'............. Yet let's look at how many guys came after Dean. Too many to name. Hanks and Keanu for one. The list goes on and on. But it's senseless to argue. Let's just say Dean was great and will always be missed and will always be remembered - thank God for those 3 films he made - but to say for sure who is the best with the loaded field we've got today - man, I'd hate to be tasked with answering that question. So many great ones, so little time to see them all. You are right though. In the "Few Good Men" role Dean could have played both characters - Cruise and Nicholson both. Of course Dean would also be involved in the editing process. All scenes in which he is made up to look like his own version of the Nicholson character are filmed at once, the process of putting on the makeup every day too much to ask of any actor. Same with the Cruise character. Dean plays them both. If you look closely you can see James beneath the characters - his greatness shining through - but he never overtakes the character, he only adds to it, enhances it, ignites it. You are right, he was the greatest actor of all time. But the times they are a-changing and the answer to the question "Who is the greatest actor who ever lived?", will be answered with the names of greats we have never heard before, guys who grew up in the shadow of Dean, guys who grew up out of the sound ground that Dean came from, guys born with the grit, the dirt, the blood, the sweat of Dean, like seeds of greatness all coming out of the same small patch of ground that is blessed with the gift.
In the original Jack Nickleson did not say you cant handle the truth. The line was "You're tearing me apart..." but Jack kept blowing it so they changed it.