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Old 11-24-2006, 07:50 AM
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Kasept Kasept is offline
Steve Byk
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Greenwich, NY
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There's about a dozen that have yet to gain so much as a notation here, and I'll put my own list together.. But at the top is the most versatile and gifted actor the screen has known over its' first 100 years..

A career that spanned 6 decades, 100 films, and includes some of the greatest films in American cinema..

BURT LANCASTER (1913-1994)



The Killers (his first film and a first rate thriller.. with Ava Gardner);

From Here to Eternity (endures as one of the best WWII films; his 1st Oscar nom.. with Deborah Kerr in one of the most famous scenes ever shot);

The Rose Tattoo (from Tennessee Williams' stage play.. with Anna Magnani);

The Rainmaker (as 'Starbuck'; with Kate Hepburn);

Sweet Smell of Success (one of the least seen classics in American film; searing script by Ernest Lehman and Cliff Odets; the movie that made Barry Levinson go into film; incredible performances from Lancaster and Tony Curtis);

Gunfight at the OK Corral (one of the quintessential American Westerns, with his long-time best friend and frequent co-star Kirk Douglas);

Elmer Gantry (as fine a film as you'll ever see and the one that earned him his
Oscar; from the Sinclair Lewis novel with a wonderful turn by the brilliant Jean Simmons);

Birdman of Alcatraz (a quiet, introspective performance for his 3rd Best Actor nom);

The Train (a highly under-appreciated Frankenheimer-helmed thriller with Burt as a stationmaster single-handedly plotting to blow up a Nazi transport);

The Swimmer (from the Cheever story, one of the most stunning, disturbing and devastating portrayals of suburban alienation and emptiness EVER put on film. A logical companion to "The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit" and "A Letter to Three Wives" featuring a performance by Lancaster that will haunt viewers);

Go Tell the Spartans (before 'Apocolypse Now' and 'Full Metal Jacket' came this honest portrait of early US involvemwent in Vietnam);

Atlantic City (Burt's 4th Best Actor nod and another feather in his cap as 'Lou', the aging 'has-been/never was' gangster in Louis Malle's bittersweet tale)

Local Hero (a late career role as quirky Knox Oil chief 'Happer' in Bill Forsyth's warm, funny and utterly wonderful 'little' film... Also features a terrific Peter Riegert [Boone in Animal House] in the 'title' role... RUSH to rent if you've never seen it)

Rocket Gibraltar (a bit of a cult favorite, you can hear tributes from Patricia Clarkson, Bill Pullman and Kevin Spacey when they talk about their experience making this family ensemble drama-comedy with screen icon Lancaster)

Field of Dreams (in his last 'big' role, Lancaster steals the show as Moonlight Graham as he introduces himself to a whole new generation of American filmgoers)
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Last edited by Kasept : 11-24-2006 at 08:01 AM.
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