No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

As you’ve probably learned, Marlon Brando has passed away. Brando for me was something I “got” only after accumulating the experiences of watching him on screen. In any one role, it’s like “okay, it’s Brando. And?” It’s the transparency of greatness that’s telling. For me, watching a great actor is like looking at glass. When it’s perfect, with no smudges or streaks, you can’t tell there’s anything there. With Brando, it was as if you couldn’t tell he was acting. You just have to compare his role in, say The Godfather with his role in (a favorite of mine) Don Juan Demarco to really see he’s working. His psychiatrist treating Johnny Depp’s character, and fighting the order to medicate him in Demarco has so little to do with Vito Corleone, it’s almost impossible to imagine that the same guy’s playing both roles.

There is only one other actor that I’ve seen that greatness in, but saying so will mark me as more of a Godfather fan than I am, but it’s Al Pacino. Think of the detective in Heat. Okay, now think of Michael Corleone. Now, think of Donnie Brasco. See what I mean? And, strangely enough, I just realized the Johnny Depp connection in my argument - Depp co-starred with Pacino in Brasco. Hmm. I’ll have to think about that one.

As much as I love the work of Robert De Niro, I can’t really say the same about him. But then, maybe it’s because he hasn’t worked with Johnny Depp (to my knowledge).

A good friend of mine’s best friend knew Brando as “Uncle Bud.” He grew up with her father. My friend and her friend spent 10 months on Brando’s island near Tahiti going native (though she only talked to the man once, via shortwave radio). By all accounts with regard to this personal relationship, he was, despite the eccentricities the world saw in him, a wonderful, caring man. He was without doubt, an amazing actor.