Review #1377: The Men.Cast:
Marlon Brando (Ken Wilocek), Teresa Wright (Ellen), Everett Sloane (Dr. Brock), Jack Webb (Norm), Richard Erdman (Leo), Arthur Jurado (Angel), Virginia Farmer (Nurse Robbins), Dorothy Tree (Ellen's Mother), and Howard St. John (Ellen's Father) Directed by Fred Zinnemann.
Review:
"If you want something from an audience, you give blood to their fantasies. It's the ultimate hustle."
We all have our own challenges to face in life. If one rises to the occasion with courage or dedication, they may find themselves with success or at the very least something to be proud of. In the case of Marlon Brando, it was opportunity that fell onto him, as he had a knack for mimicking since he was a youth. He eventually set out to study acting, the one thing he enjoyed and felt accepted with. He credited the teachings of Stella Adler and Elia Kazan in acting, more specifically the Stanislavski system, where one is encouraged to look into what makes the character they are playing inside and out with realism. He found himself on Broadway in 1944, but his big break came with Kazan's direction of the Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) as Stanley Kowalski. He would later reprise the role for the film adaptation four years later, but his debut film came in this feature, where he accustomed himself to the role by remaining in a wheelchair on and off the set for filming. One should not be surprised to find Fred Zinnemann behind the director's chair for a film with stark realism that certainly seemed to take risks outside of the usual fare for dramas. He had grown up with ambitions of music before graduating with a law degree in his time in his native Austria, but he found himself interested in film and how they were produced, which is where he became a cameraman. One of his first films he worked on was People on Sunday (1930), but he soon moved to America, working a variety of film jobs such an extra or with Robert Flaherty, and his debut film came with Redes (The Wave) in 1936, a documentary-turned-drama about the plights of a small fishing community in Mexico. He eventually found films with darker reach such as The Seventh Cross (1944), which featured German refugees in some of the roles, and The Search (1948), which depicted the attempts at reuniting families separated by World War II. In a career that spanned over five decades, Zinnemann would make over 20 films, with two of them winning Best Picture (From Here to Eternity, A Man for All Seasons), while Zinnemann won a total of four Academy Awards (two for short subjects, two for directing).
One can always applaud the efforts to make a compelling social drama that strives for honesty, whether it involves adjustment back to society or adjusting romances, which both applies to this film, with paraplegic veterans trying to adjust back to society. The film was written by Carl Foreman, who had previously collaborated with producer Stanley Kramer with films such as Champion (1949). The film utilizes actual patients from the Birmingham General Hospital (located in the town of Van Nuys, California that closed down in 1950), which Brando lived for a month to study people there. He proves himself with a worthy debut, one that is tragic and absorbing, whenever dealing with his condition or with the world at large while having to act in either a bed or in a chair, which works to an actor like Brando. Wright makes for a fine show of professionalism and patience, reflected in the careful chemistry demonstrated with Brando that makes for a few quiet highlights. Sloane shines in a resounding patient role, while Webb (noted for creating and starring on Dragnet, which started on radio the previous year) shines with a mix of cynicism and humor, such as when he recites lines from Shakespeare. In any case, the film runs at a fair pace with 87 minutes, reaching most of the points it wants to make without seeming like an overreach when it comes to its message or seeming outdated. It is a film that approaches its subject with a sense of honesty and sensitivity, highlighted by a dynamic debut from a transcendent actor like Brando and capable directing from a maverick like Zinnemann to make a little gem of a film count now.
Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.
