An appreciation by Noah Mallin
Richard Widmark was the paradoxical nice guy offscreen who played bigots (No Way Out, with Sidney Poitier), right-wing nutjobs (The Bedford Incident as a submarine commander on the brink of starting World War III) and a chilling giggling psychopath (in his breakthrough role in Kiss of Death.)
Kiss of Death was his first film, and for many the impression it left was indelible. Like Javier Bardem this year in No Country For Old Men the depiction of implacable malevolence onscreen led to an Academy award nomination for Supporting Actor. The same role netted him an apt Most Promising Newcomer Golden Globe for 1948.
In 1950 he starred in Jules Dassin's ultra-gritty noir Night and The City, as dark and ambiguous a film as American cinema would create pre- 1970s. Widmark is outstanding as a man trapped by his own relentless scheming -- both grotesque and sympathetic.
The same year also found him starring in Elia Kazan's groundbreaking Panic in The Streets, one of the new breed of postwar Hollywood films shot entirely on location, in this case New Orleans. Widmark slots in to Kazan's vaunted realist style here as the driven scientist rushing to protect a major city from a potential plague.
Widmark joined Director Sam Fuller for the noir classic Pickup on South Street in 1953. Widmark is punchy as an amoral pickpocket who finds himself in possession of government secrets. An apolitical man surrounded by ruthless communist agents and capitalist both ruthless and non, he threads the needle of Fuller's tight suspenseful masterpiece.
In 1966 Widmark helped instigate the theme of John Ford's last western Cheyenne Autumn, an unusual film for Ford that turned the tables on the plight of Native Americans in the 1880s. Widmark starred as the conflicted military man sent to battle peaceful tribes.
Two years later he starred as the title character with Henry Fonda in Madigan, a top notch police procedural that spawned a TV series in the early 70s also starring Widmark.
In 1974 he starred along with a stellar cast in Sidney Lumet's version of Murder on The Orient Express. Widmark played Ratchett, the man whose murder sets the central mystery of the film.
His last film was 1991's True Colors playing a patriarchal Senator alongside James Spader and John Cusack.
Widmark was 93.
Clips (as always hit refresh in your browser if they show as unavailable):
Widmark on 50's guessing-gameshow What's My Line:
The trailer for Night and The City:
Here's a bit of his freaky-deaky nominated perf from Kiss of Death:
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1 comment:
HE WAS ONE OF TRULY GIFTED ACTORS,OF ANY GENERATION.I AM A 60YR OLD BLACK MAN.THAT REALLY APREACIATE WHAT HE DID IN HOLLYWOOD WITH SIDNEY P. THEY MADE 3 FILMS TOGEATER. WITH NO HYPE,AND NO FANFARE. NO WAY OUT,THE LONG SHIPS,AND FUNNY AS IT WERE ,HANKY PANKY, WITH GENE WILDER AND GILDA RADNER. I HAVE SEEN AT 98% OF HIS WORK.AND I ALWAYS LOVED HIM FOR THE ALL MAN HE WAS ALWAYS! HE WAS THE REASON I JOINED THE U.S.NAVY TO BE A FROGMAN! HE WAS REALLY GREAT WITH LENA HORNE ! JUST THE FACTS! I THANK GOD FOR MEN LIKE MR. RICHARD WIDMARK!.HE BLESSED US ALL! DAVID R. DORSEY( drdorsey3@comcast.net)
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