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A Filmmaker's Guide to: Marlon Brando

Film Studies (Pt.134)

By Annie KapurPublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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In this chapter of ‘the filmmaker’s guide’ we’re actually going to be learning about literature and film together. I understand that many of you are sitting in university during difficult times and finding it increasingly hard to study and I understand that many of you who are not at university or not planning on it are possibly stuck of what to do, need a break or even need to catch up on learning film before you get to the next level. This guide will be brief but will also contain: new vocabulary, concepts and theories, films to watch and we will be exploring something taboo until now in the ‘filmmaker’s guide’ - academia (abyss opens). Each article will explore a different concept of film, philosophy, literature or bibliography/filmography etc. in order to give you something new to learn each time we see each other. You can use some of the words amongst family and friends to sound clever or you can get back to me (email in bio) and tell me how you’re doing. So, strap in and prepare for the filmmaker’s guide to film studies because it is going to be one wild ride.

Marlon Brando

Who was he?

The fact that I need to explain this is bothering me.

Anyways, Marlon Brando was born on April 3rd, 1924 in Nebraska, USA. His mother, being an unconventional woman of the time, liked to smoke, drive cars and wear trousers. His father was an intelligent man who worked with chemicals. When he was young, he attended the theatre and fell in love with it.

Marlon Brando travelled to New York in order to get acting experience and was known best for his interest in perfecting the Stanislavski Method - also known as 'method acting' - which became the interest and study of men like Al Pacino and Sir Daniel Day-Lewis later on.

Marlon Brando is usually credited with being one of the greatest actors to ever live and this was because he tried to bring realism to the movies. He went for a more natural approach to cinema and delivered the dialogue as if it were being said as a part of a normal conversation. This made it unpredictable and often brilliantly delivered. Critics felt that he was purposefully being difficult whereas, after speaking to the actors and others on set, they found out that it was all part of the technique used to make his acting better.

Let us now cover some of his greatest roles - and when I tell you that this was difficult to choose - I cannot possibly express that difficulty in words. Just know it was difficult.

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

One of his most famous roles in portraying the character Stanley. Marlon Brando's second film appearance and he is already nominated for multiple awards. This character was possibly the one that went down in history because is started a cultural phenomenon around Brando and his acting skill. The character is practically falling apart and all of it seems too real. I remember when I saw this film for the first time as a teenager in school and I was haunted by this performance. It is brilliant.

On the Waterfront (1954)

This film is definitely in my top thirty films of all time and I can honestly say that there are many, many scenes that stand out. The part where he goes into the woman's room by trying to break down the door, the scene where he is sitting in the car with his brother telling him that he could have 'been somebody' (and to this day, it is one of the most famous movie scenes in all of cinematic history) and finally, the scene where he is limping back to the factory from the docks as a revolutionary hero. This film is one of the greatest movies in all of history and if you have not seen it then I feel sorry for you. Marlon Brando's acting made the film what it was and would have been nowhere near had they chose someone else.

The Godfather: Part One (1972)

My favourite part of this trilogy has always been part one and that is mostly because of Marlon Brando's brilliant acting and Al Pacino's incredible chemistry with the story arc. I found that Marlon Brando really did try to carry this film and created a character that, when I first watched it when I was a young girl (less than 12 years' old) - I ended up believing that Marlon Brando was Italian until I was about twenty. Thanks, Brando. Nice to know that you're that good at acting that you can make me believe you are of Italian descent when you're actually of German/Dutch descent. Yes, that's how good he was.

Conclusion

Marlon Brando died in 2004. I actually remember when he died, but unfortunately at that time I was not fully aware of who he was. I knew he was an actor but that was about it. His films and his legacy live on as some of the most notorious times of Golden Age cinema. From "Julius Caesar" in which he portrayed Marc Anthony all the way to "Apocalypse Now" where he played the cultish Kurtz - as an understatement to his unbelievable talent, Marlon Brando was a force of nature.

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About the Creator

Annie Kapur

190K+ Reads on Vocal.

English Lecturer

🎓Literature & Writing (B.A)

🎓Film & Writing (M.A)

🎓Secondary English Education (PgDipEd)

📍Birmingham, UK

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