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Richard Widmark 1914-2008

Posted by HenryJames on April 2nd, 2008 under Uncategorized

The actor Richard Widmark passed away last Wednesday. You might remember him as the guy who played Jim Bowie in ‘The Alamo.’ But if you don’t know who he was, you’re the reason that Dane Cook gets movie roles. And the reason Austin High grads watch ‘Love Actually.’

Like all actors he had an up and down career so I’m going to focus on his early career when he was one of the best actors around. He did his seminal work in the film noir movies of the late 1940s and early 1950s. These black and white movies were full of morally ambiguous characters trying to survive in their bleak surroundings. Great dialogue with interesting camera angles. And shadows. Always shadows. Still my favorite genre.

So I’ll take a look at four of Widmark’s movies.

Kiss of Death (1947) – Directed by Henry Hathaway

This was Widmark’s first movie and his only Oscar nomination. It was later remade with David Caruso and Nicholas Cage and sucked as only a David Caruso and Nicholas Cage movie can. Widmark plays sociopath Tommy Udo in what is one of the most memorable screen debuts in cinema.

The most shocking scene (below) was Widmark’s character tying an old woman into her wheel chair and then pushing her down the stairs. While he giggled. Still hardcore shit now. You can imagine what it was like seeing this in 1947.

Night and The City (1950) – Directed by Jules Dassin

The movie’s dark portrayal of postwar London and its seedy underworld is maybe the best on film. Widmark plays con artist Harry Fabian, who comes up with a scheme to finally make the big time. When his scheme begins to unravel, the desperation that Fabian feels is palpable. This was also remade later with Robert DeNiro, but it’s memorable only for Freddy Mercury’s cover of ‘The Great Pretender.’ DeNiro had none of Widmark’s urgency.

The original trailer is below including much of the frenzied final scene.

No Way Out (1950) – Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Featured the movie debuts of both Sidney Poitier and Ossie Davis. Takes a look at both white and black racism. Widmark’s character says stuff so vile that Widmark would actually apologize to Poitier after the scenes. Imagine micing Scipio the next time he drives into Oakland. You get the idea.

Pickup on South Street (1953) – Directed by Sam Fuller

The great Sam Fuller deserves his own post so go watch the documentary ‘The Typewriter, The Rifle and The Movie Camera.’ Widmark is the ultimate anti-hero in the film. He plays a pickpocket who gets caught between the police and communist spies, playing both sides against each other.

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22 Responses

  1. Huckleberry said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 8:22 am

    Austin High grads watch Love Actually because, unlike Devine grads, we occasionally involve ourselves in relationships with actual females.

    Being able to appreciate the nuanced intricacies of such a fine work of art is gravy.

  2. Woody Bombay said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 8:24 am

    The actress in the wheel chair was my wife’s great aunt.

    I’ve never had a chance to see “Night and the City,” will definitely have to look for it now. Thanks for the tip.

  3. kevwun said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 8:41 am

    Thanks for the suggestions. Keep them coming. I finally got around to watching Murderball and Street Fight after reading your post about them. I shouldn’t have waited so long to see them. The first time I heard about The Lives of Others was in that same post. It was a great film. You’ll have to read subtitles because it’s in German, but I highly recommend it. Get it on blu ray if you can. It’s a good looking film, even though the setting is East Berlin.

  4. Ice Cube said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 8:46 am

    Scipio uses the term “mooncricket” indiscriminately.

  5. Scipio Tex said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 9:03 am

    Get into one shootout at a Black Separatist bakery in Oakland and you’re branded for life, I suppose.

    kevwun:

    Those recs were from me. Glad you liked ‘em.

    Widmark is great. He’s probably the actor I most identify with film noir.

  6. Oakland PD said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 9:16 am

    Why were you in blackface, though?

  7. Princeton Horn said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 9:33 am

    Widmark was excellent in “The Bedford Incident” as well.

  8. Black Scholes said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 9:47 am

    Well done. He was perfect for the Noir genre, but I also liked his work a lot in Westerns (particularly Cheyenne Autumn and smaller roles in How The West Was Won and The Alamo). I also really enjoyed Secret Ways, but in part because I was a big Alistair MacLean devotee as a kid.

    RIP to one of the greats.

  9. Woody Bombay said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 10:19 am

    Can anyone save me eight seconds of googling and recommend any noirs that starred Widmark and Robert Mitchum?

  10. HenryJames said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 10:35 am

    Don’t think they did any together. Mitchum starred in ‘Out of the Past’ though, and when it was remade as ‘Against All Odds’ in the ’80s Widmark was in it. As close as you’re going to get.

  11. Woody Bombay said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 11:25 am

    Back in the ’80s a girl used her boobs to trick me into watching “Against All Odds.”

  12. Facebook User said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 11:34 am

    Was that girl Rachel Ward?

    AAO had football, Rachel Ward, sex in Aztec Pyramids with Rachel Ward, Alex Karras, Jimmy Woods, and most importantly, Richard Fucking Widmark!

  13. Nordberg said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 11:34 am

    Thanks a pantload for getting that Phil Collins song stuck in my head. Assholes.

  14. HenryJames said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 11:55 am

    Yeah, but it got that Rick Astley song out.

  15. Nordberg said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 11:56 am

    Do I know you? I had been singing Never Gonna Give You Up all day. Creepy.

  16. uterra said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 12:05 pm

    Ever see Alvarez Kelly? Widmark was in the twilight of his career and had second billing. Yet he outshined the star, William Holden. Widmark was a great one

  17. HenryJames said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 1:13 pm

    Jules Dassin, the director of ‘Night and the City’ and the equally good ‘The Naked City,’ died on Monday.

    Michael Bay still walks among us.

  18. booray said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 1:18 pm

    Widmark co-starred with Robert Taylor in a western, The Law and Jake Wade, that certainly deserves honorable mention. Angie Dickinson may have been in it as well.

  19. Facebook User said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 1:18 pm

    Michael Bay possesses the Allspark.

  20. Parlin Hall said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 5:30 pm

    Then there’s the “Lucy” episode.

    She has the biggest star she knows autograph a California grapefruit and cherishes it until it shrivels; as she reads it then:

    “Wihchid Widmah . . .”

    (Rest in Peace, guy.)

  21. srr50 said:

    April 2nd, 2008 at 7:09 pm

    “Murder on the Orient Express.”

    Richard Widmark got to play his character from “Kiss of Death” thirty years later. He was terrific at playing an unremitting and unrepentant asshole.

  22. J Williams said:

    April 9th, 2008 at 10:53 am

    “the Law and Jake Wade” One of my favorite Richard Widmark movies.

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