Why Montgomery Clift?

Meaning: Why do I like him? Why should you read about him? Why is he so special that I should devote part of my site to him rather than, say, one of today's actors? I'll tell you why. Ready? Got a good strong grip on your socks, pally? Because Montgomery Clift was more human than the rest of us. Yup, there you have it--he was more human. He was flawed, he had lots and lots of problems, personal and otherwise (which I won't go into here). You can tell, from every movie of his that I've seen at least, that here is a man who could feel, who knew all about suffering. And he can make you understand the pain and emotional torment his characters are enduring.

A scan of a picture I have of Montgomery Clift (I think it might be from the movie Wild River, but don't quote me on that)

What's more, he makes us understand more about being human. Here's a few examples of what I mean: In From Here To Eternity, he plays your average career soldier, or rather the character would have been average had anyone else been playing him. With Monty, the transition, from sensitive bugler who refuses to box anymore because he doesn't want to hurt anyone else to the sort of man who could knife a fellow soldier to death in an alley out of vengeance, is believable. Not only believable, but understandable. Subtlety is the name of the game. Though we're never sure quite what he's thinking, we can tell what he's feeling, and he doesn't need to overact to get even the slightest nuance of emotion across.

A picture of Monty and Elizabeth Taylor from the movie Raintree County

In Red River, just watch his reactions to what John Wayne does. As the movie and the cattle drive progress, and especially the scene where he takes over the drive, and for the rest of the movie after that--I can't describe it. Just watch it, you'll understand.

Another picture of Monty, scanned in from Life Magazine, Aug 16, 1948 (the article's about the movie Red River)

And in Indiscretion of an American Wife, he is simply amazing. The range of emotions, the passion of his performance... absolutely perfect. Just look at him--he says more with a single glance than any of today's actors could with two straight hours of monologue. I'll save the rest of my opinions about that for the review...

I'll have more to say about Monty later, as I get more of my site done. I hope you come back soon...it'll be more coherent, I promise, and of course there are those movie reviews in the future...

Movies that I have and will be reviewing, once I get to them: The Search-- 1948 Red River-- 1948 Indiscretion of an American Wife-- 1953 I Confess-- 1953 From Here To Eternity-- 1953 Raintree County-- 1957 The Young Lions-- 1958 Suddenly, Last Summer-- 1959 Wild River-- 1960 The Misfits-- 1961 Judgment at Nuremberg-- 1961 The Defector-- 1966

Two pictures from the cover of the soundtrack album from Raintree County

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