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Cautious Comment - Intended or Not
By
Bob Orrick
26 August 2003
It has been written, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." To that apt aphorism can be added, "Hell has no fury like a Canadian scorned."
Not long ago, American actor Robert [Bobby to his friends, of which I am not one] Duvall opened his mouth and spewed invective when he opined about Canada, making films in Canada and the lack of talent in Canadian actors. According to a story out of Calgary picked up by several Canadian media, Duvall was critical of this country and its lack of Canadian actors of talent.
In a story by Chris Gerritsen of the Calgary Sun, Duvall said some rather "less than flattering things" about Canadian actors. Duvall's comments failed to impress.
"Calgary actor Bradford Walker is opening his mouth about Robert Duvall's time on the set of Open Range. Walker was both stand-in and photo double for Duvall during the entire Alberta shoot of the Kevin Costner movie.
" 'I saw very few moments of greatness even while we were filming. He did what Richard Harris did when he brought Camelot to the Jubilee Auditorium in his later years. He simply walked through a role he was much too familiar with.'
"Walker says Duvall was friendly enough to everyone during the shoot, but you could almost tell he would rather have been someplace else.
" 'His comments these days about Calgary actors shows he's just a cranky, tired, grouchy old man, which is sad, because he couldn't have been nicer to us on the set. I think the big problem was that he had that accident in which he broke some ribs just before he arrived and you could sense he was really hurting some days.'"
In an interview Kevin Costner gave to Abraham Thomas in Dallas, Texas, he said, in referring to Open Range, "Open Range was shot in the vast open pastures of Montana. In the high mountains." If that is so, what was Robert Duvall doing filming the movie just outside of Calgary, Alberta, Canada? Was Duvall experiencing a hallucination or was Costner being untruthful to his American audience? Perhaps the Dallas reporter misquoted Costner or perhaps Costner meant to say that the movie's setting was Montana. Question: If the setting is Montana, why not film it in that state? No matter, the movie opened on Friday, 15 August 2003 with a wide distribution. From what this scribe has been able to research on the movie, it will be one to rank up there with the best Westerns of all time, High Noon, Shane, Dancing with wolves, The Magnificent Seven, The Oxbow Incident, Stagecoach.
Perhaps Robert Duvall was suffering from injured ribs, perhaps not. His recent comments were not his first shot at Canada and its actors. Perhaps Robert Duvall has been living in a cocoon for most of his 72 years. Perhaps not; however, he should know that Canada has produced some rather wonderful actors/actresses. The list is lengthy but a few of the more notable ones demand to be mentioned.
First off, what about the Toronto-born Mary Pickford [nee Gladys Louise Smith] who became known as "American's Sweetheart." She prominently showed her Canadian heritage by having a Maple Leaf insignia displayed on her bedroom at Pickfair. Of course, we all know that she won an Academy Award for her role in the 1929 production, Coquette. Incidentally, it was only the second time that the award had been given to a woman.
From Miss Pickford we turn to two other Canadian actresses who won Academy Awards. First, Norma Shearer [Westmount, Quebec] won for her role in The Divorcee. That was in 1930, one year after Mary Pickford and one year before Marie Dressler, born in Cobourg, Ontario, won the award. At the time, Miss Dressler was 61-years old. That made three Canadians in a row who won the coveted Academy Award for best actress; and, to boot, all were women. Put that in your American pipe and smoke it, Robert Duvall!
Moving from the gentle side to the less gentle side, Hollywood was blessed to have Mack Sennett [Eastern Townships, Quebec]. Sennett took Hollywood by storm and introduced the movie industry to his 'Keystone Kops.' Sennett got his big break through Marie Dressler; she introduced him to New York producer David Belasco. From there Canadian Sennett, in time, went west and broke into films. How many of us have not laughed at the silly antics of the Keystone Kops? Today, I suppose, they would be seen as just plain silly; I suspect today's audiences are jaded, far too serious and fail to see humour in simple fast-moving, tightly-co-ordinated, well-acted action. Who needed special effects when you had Mack Sennett and the Keystone Kops? Of course, special effects are from George Lucas' time and tend to create illusions rather than portray simplicity. To each his own, I guess.
One of Canada's greatest actors -stage, film and television - is Christopher Plummer. A list of his work in all three mediums is rather lengthy, however, one stands out: The Sound of Music. In an interview Plummer gave a few years ago, he said that that movie was not his favourite. There were times and scenes, he said, when he was unhappy with what he had to do. One example was his carrying one of the children as they escaped the Nazis. Plummer said the child was 'fat' and difficult to carry. Also, there were times when he and his co-star, Julie Andrews, did not see eye to eye. No matter, the movie was completed, distributed, became a hit, and for that we should all be thankful.
Montreal-born Captain James Tiberius Kirk [William Shatner to non-Star Trek fans] needs no introduction. Trekkies worldwide know the exploits of Captain Kirk but how many know that he appeared in Brothers Karamazov, his first, The Intruder, Judgement at Nuremberg and The Explosive Generation.
Others are: Michael J. Fox, John Candy, Dan Ackroyd, Paul Anka [more a singer/song writer than actor], Raymond Burr, Conrad Bain, Kim Cattrall, Robert Clothier, Jim Carrey, Hume Cronyn, Yvonne De Carlo, Deanna Durbin, Megan Follows, Don Francks, Chief Dan George, Lorne Greene, Graham Greene, Paul Gross, Frances Hyland, Arthur Hill, Scott Hylands, John Ireland, Robert Ito, Victor Jory, Margot Kidder, Eugene Levy, Rich Little, Nick Mancuso, Howie Mandel, Larry Mann, Rick Moranis, Barry Morse, Mike Myers, Kate Nelligan, Leslie Nielsen, Jason Priestly, Gordon Pinsent, Walter Pidgeon, Lee Patterson, Keanu Reeves, Donnelly Rhodes, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Sonja Smits, Mort Sahl, Michael Sarrazin, Martin Short, Jay Silverheels [Tonto to The Lone Ranger], Donald Sutherland, Kiefer Sutherland, Meg Tilly, Alan Thicke, John Vernon, Fay Wray [although born a Canadian, she went to the USA at a young age and did not consider herself a Canadian], and Alan Young. There are many more but space limits their inclusion.
Some of the above listed became American citizens for whatever reason. One supposes that their decision might have been influenced by the American laws or perhaps because they married an American and lived for years in the States. When a Canadian gives up his/her Canadian citizenship in favour of American citizenship, they claim to hold dual citizenship. I fail to understand how a person can swear allegiance to two countries simultaneously. One cannot be both male and female at the same time [well, upon reflection, perhaps some do these days], it is, for the most part and for most of us, either one or the other.
In his comments, Duvall wondered why American actors were needed to play minor roles in the film Open Range. Perhaps it was because Americans do not speak English like Canadians do. That said, I suppose Costner's desire to be authentic is why Irish-born Sir Michael Gambon [think Georges Simenon's Commissaire Maigret on television] was hired to play the part of an Irish Montana rancher. Or, could it have been that no American was capable of playing the part?
Robert Duvall shot off his mouth and got somebody else's foot in it. He has been called to order by many Canadians who took umbrage at his oral offering. It might be a good thing for Duvall to do a bit of research into Canada and its actors/actresses before he spouts off about this country's alleged lack of actors; or, as some letter writers suggest, stay in the United States and out of Canada.
All that aside, I am on my way to the cinema to view Open Range, Duvall be damned.
Bob Orrick is a private tutor of English grammar, literature, poetry and Canadian history to off-shore youngsters. His pupils hail from such places as Taiwan, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Venezuela. He was previously in international marketing, was a ministerial assistant to a provincial cabinet minister, spent a few years as a reporter then editor of a community newspaper and enjoyed a career in the Royal Canadian Navy.
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