Cinema Romantico
Searching for The Ecstatic Truth...
All Movie Reviews (A-Z)
Cinema Romantico's Friends
A Constant Visual Feast
All Eyes On Screen
Amiresque
And So it Begins...
Being Norma Jeane
cinematic corner.
Encore's World of Film & TV
Film Actually
The Audient
Blog Archive January 2022 (7) December 2021 (6) November 2021 (11) October 2021 (13) September 2021 (20) August 2021 (9) July 2021 (14) June 2021 (22) May 2021 (15) April 2021 (19) March 2021 (23) February 2021 (18) January 2021 (18) December 2020 (18) November 2020 (20) October 2020 (15) September 2020 (19) August 2020 (18) July 2020 (21) June 2020 (4) May 2020 (18) April 2020 (23) March 2020 (23) February 2020 (17) January 2020 (22) December 2019 (17) November 2019 (23) October 2019 (16) September 2019 (22) August 2019 (24) July 2019 (18) June 2019 (19) May 2019 (19) April 2019 (16) March 2019 (20) February 2019 (20) January 2019 (21) December 2018 (15) November 2018 (22) October 2018 (14) September 2018 (20) August 2018 (23) July 2018 (16) June 2018 (21) May 2018 (16) April 2018 (22) March 2018 (20) February 2018 (21) January 2018 (23) December 2017 (17) November 2017 (22) October 2017 (10) September 2017 (19) August 2017 (23) July 2017 (20) June 2017 (22) May 2017 (20) April 2017 (21) March 2017 (21) February 2017 (21) January 2017 (22) December 2016 (22) November 2016 (24) October 2016 (19) September 2016 (23) August 2016 (23) July 2016 (21) June 2016 (18) May 2016 (22) April 2016 (21) March 2016 (24) February 2016 (21) January 2016 (23) December 2015 (24) November 2015 (22) October 2015 (22) September 2015 (22) August 2015 (21) July 2015 (22) June 2015 (23) May 2015 (20) April 2015 (21) March 2015 (21) February 2015 (16) January 2015 (22) December 2014 (25) November 2014 (21) October 2014 (22) September 2014 (23) August 2014 (22) July 2014 (22) June 2014 (19) May 2014 (22) April 2014 (24) March 2014 (23) February 2014 (25) January 2014 (27) December 2013 (26) November 2013 (23) October 2013 (28) September 2013 (22) August 2013 (25) July 2013 (23) June 2013 (22) May 2013 (26) April 2013 (23) March 2013 (19) February 2013 (26) January 2013 (28) December 2012 (21) November 2012 (22) October 2012 (29) September 2012 (24) August 2012 (28) July 2012 (26) June 2012 (23) May 2012 (25) April 2012 (24) March 2012 (21) February 2012 (27) January 2012 (27) December 2011 (22) November 2011 (19) October 2011 (20) September 2011 (22) August 2011 (24) July 2011 (21) June 2011 (19) May 2011 (21) April 2011 (26) March 2011 (24) February 2011 (23) January 2011 (22) December 2010 (22) November 2010 (24) October 2010 (23) September 2010 (21) August 2010 (23) July 2010 (22) June 2010 (21) May 2010 (18) April 2010 (18) March 2010 (23) February 2010 (21) January 2010 (21) December 2009 (22) November 2009 (16) October 2009 (18) September 2009 (14) August 2009 (16) July 2009 (14) June 2009 (16) May 2009 (13) April 2009 (16) March 2009 (14) February 2009 (15) January 2009 (19) December 2008 (16) November 2008 (15) October 2008 (11) September 2008 (16) August 2008 (15) July 2008 (16) June 2008 (13) May 2008 (16) April 2008 (11) March 2008 (11) February 2008 (16) January 2008 (18) December 2007 (15) November 2007 (14) October 2007 (18) September 2007 (12) August 2007 (11) July 2007 (12) June 2007 (13) May 2007 (15) April 2007 (12) March 2007 (10) February 2007 (9) January 2007 (11) December 2006 (11) November 2006 (7) October 2006 (13) September 2006 (6) August 2006 (10) July 2006 (11) June 2006 (17) May 2006 (8) April 2006 (9) March 2006 (6) February 2006 (7) January 2006 (7) December 2005 (7) November 2005 (8) October 2005 (5)
1000th Post (1) 1500th Post (1) Best Of (54) Dissertations (98) Don't Ask (78) Drivel (58) Friday's Old Fashioned (382) Good Reviews (695) Great Reviews (124) I'd Like To Thank The Academy (46) Lists (261) Memorials (69) Middling Reviews (256) No Comment (28) Not Sure What (87) Oscars (74) Rants (279) Shout-Out to the Extra (22) Sundries (363) The Ten Commandments Experiment (1)
In Memoriam: Ned Beatty
I love Robert Altman's "Cookie's Fortune" (1999) so doggone much that most days I think my favorite performance of everyone in the cast, with the exception of Julianne Moore (for whom I have, like, seven favorite performances), is their performance in "Cookie's Fortune." That includes Ned Beatty, dead Sunday June 13, 2021 at the age of 83. The movie is theoretically a murder mystery in so much as the eponymous matriarch (Patricia Neal) dies as the movie opens. But she dies by taking her own life, a scene that isn't as sad as it sounds, oddly jubilant in its own way, an early signifier that Altman isn't playing by antiquated rules, only to have her suicide note literally eaten by her villainous niece Camille Dixon (Glenn Close) and the setting restaged to look like a murder, lest this act ruin their good family name. That we know it's a suicide, however, wonderfully takes the expected piss out of the mystery, transforming the movie into an evocation of faith, underlined in the Easter weekend setting, faith that all will be set right. That faith comes through most prominent in Beatty.
He is Lester Boyle, lieutenant to the chief of police (Danny Darst), and Altman does not so much establish their easygoing rapport as just pick up in the middle of it as-is, their conversation drifting out the windows of their police cruiser. They are not hapless, not at all, professionals, if laid-back professionals, their demeanors in-tune with the southern heat, though still forced to deal with the inexperienced, overeager newbie on the small-town force, Jason (Chris O'Donnell). When the latter storms into the crime scene, which already has yellow tape and investigators everywhere, with his gun drawn, Beatty's exasperation is palpable and hysterical, like a parent dealing with a kid, sort of trying to order O'Donnell's character to do three different things at once, but knowing none of them will take, and finally settling on a stern, if desperate, "just be careful."
Beatty's character is tasked with talking Willis (Charles Dutton), the movie's main character and the emergent suspect in her "murder", through his initial grief after he returns home to find Cookie dead. The scene is a perfect duet between two men still trying to process what has occurred. "It's a tough one" Lester says of Cookie's death, a line that sounds so inadequate typed out, so simple and small, but which belies the extraordinary depth that Beatty gives it. Like, you can imagine Lester declaring Ole Miss's loss to Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl as "a tough one", but in a totally different way than he does here, a modulation of a folksy, all-purpose phrase that meets the moment.
Lester maintains Willis's innocence, which is a conflict of interest, I suppose, opening Willis's cell door and playing scrabble with him over Dr. Peppers, but the generosity of the movie's tone makes this work nonetheless, a police lieutenant indebted to the law, yes, but also to the law of his fellow man – or, more accurately, the law of fishing. When he's asked how he's so sure Willis is innocent, the camera suddenly zooms in on Lester's face. "Because," Beatty giving the line a matter-of-fact ring, "I fished with him." Fishing often yields spiritual metaphors but in Beatty's hands this line doesn't need its spirituality explained; you hear it, clear as day.
Another spiritual Beatty performance, of sorts, was his monumental one scene walk-off in "Network" (1976), playing "the corporate communications overlord who comes in to read the riot act to Howard Beale (Peter Finch), the mad prophet of the airwaves," as Owen Gleiberman wrote for Variety. "In the mesmerizing monologue that follows, Beatty proceeds to explain The Way Things Are," Gleiberman continues. "He sounds like a Pentecostal preacher (he has said that he drew the performance, in part, from his youthful memories of church), a lawyer for God, and, at several points, God himself. He's lecturing Howard Beale, but he's really speaking to all of us. ... Spewing out language so fulsome the words seem to be dancing, Beatty explains that there are no nations, no peoples, no America, no democracy, no Third World; these are all illusions. 'There is only one holistic system of systems,' he says, still roaring, but now he's feeling the music of it. 'There is only IBM, and ITT, and AT&T, and Dupont…Those are the nations of the world today.' He's bringing the news of the corporate takeover of our political and spiritual lives, and he delivers it with a sense of mission, in full fulminating cry. But then, at moments, as he reverts to a normal voice, we realize that his whole raging rant has been a performance. That's what the voices of corporations do. They act. They create their own illusion."
Gleiberman goes on: "It's an ecstatic piece of over-the-top acting in which Beatty seems to be making up what he's saying on the spot, because that's how much he means it. It pours out of him. He has seen the truth — the dark truth, the one television is designed to cover up — and he wants to share it. As Beatty acts, you don't just listen; you see the new world he's talking about. He makes the darkness visible."
In "Network", Beatty showed us the darkness. But in "Cookie's Fortune", he showed us the light.
Posted by Nick Prigge at 6:00 AM
Labels: Memorials, Ned Beatty