FROM HERO TO VILLAIN - RED RIVER, SUSPICION, ROBERT MITCHUM, AND TRAINING DAY

Throughout most of RED RIVER, John Wayne doesn’t seem evil so much as crazy.  His violence towards the men he’s employed to help drive his cattle and his explosive resentment when his adopted son (played by Montgomery Clift) tries to protect them seems caused by some deep seated mental illness.  The kiss and make up ending where Wayne and Clift’s characters almost do exactly that seems unnatural considering Wayne spent much of the second half of the film talking about killing Clift when they meet again(In the original short story Wayne’s character is killed by someone else while trying to gun down Clift’s character).  This doesn’t take away from this excellent film which is probably Wayne’s best but illustrates how hard it used to be for studios to cast actors normally seen as heroes in the role of villains.

An even more blatant example is Alfred Hitchcock’s SUSPICION.  For almost the whole picture, we share Joan Fontaine’s suspicion that her husband Cary Grant is trying to kill her.  The revelation at the end that this is not the case feels tacked on and sudden and ruins the whole film for me.  It just doesn’t make sense.  Supposedly, the studio could not bring itself to have Cary Grant play a villain and changed the original script.

While both Wayne and Grant could have played passable villains by exploring sides of themselves visible to the moviegoer but kept in check usually , Wayne the loudmouthed bully, Grant the unctuous Casanova, having them do this for a whole film was seen as potential box office poison – The audience couldn’t or wouldn’t take it.

But when a leading man does embrace villainous roles sometimes they find that is their true calling.  Case in point – Robert Mitchum.  Mitchum made scores of forgettable cookie cutter dramas and action films but his best roles were when he either played villains (THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER-His greatest film, CAPE FEAR) or men in a gray area between villainy and expedience (OUT OF THE PAST, THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE).  With his heavy lidded eyes, slow deep delivery hinting at a greater intelligence, and muscular physique, Mitchum gave off unpredictability that wouldn’t him make so accessible if you met him on the street.  You might keep your distance from such a man.  At least watch him warily.

Mitchum was one of the first actors to easily slide from heroic leading man to villain and back again.  Nowadays, this is not such a big thing.  In fact, it seems that for many actors having one at least villainous role on their resume is their desire.

Denzel Washington won a Best Actor Oscar for his role in TRAINING DAY as a corrupt cop manipulating a new partner.  For much of the film you are not sure if he is genuinely evil or simply using off the book tactics to do his job.  The fact that Washington imbues his character with a nobility and a sympathy and an attention to duty (all of which prove to be facades) knowing all the while what reveal is coming tells us what a complete understanding of the role he has.  A truly well-thought out performance.

I would imagine playing villains is fun for actors.  They get all the good lines and often a flashy death scene.  Might be a nice break from playing the boring hero.