A FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT THE CAREER OF BURT LANCASTER

Saw BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ the other day.  Far from being the usual by the numbers biographical picture, it’s a quirky narrative with the messy feel of real life.  The key is Burt Lancaster an actor who made an astonishingly good number of films.

                                                 

I say “astonishingly” because when I’m making a list of my favorite actors, Lancaster doesn’t automatically pop up in my mind.  He has a lot of passion but there is a coldness and a glibness that can be off putting.  He isn’t an actor I would normally rush to see a film based on his appearance in it. 

But at a certain point in his career, Lancaster switched from the studio system to independently made productions often produced or co-produced by himself.  After that he made one great movie after another rivaling any other great actor for a hot streak.   

ELMER GANTRY, THE SWIMMER, THE LEOPARD, and his best film THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS among many others show expert film selection by Lancaster.  What these classic, great films have in common is the main character is dead center.  His reaction to his environment, how he changes or doesn’t change is the primary focus despite all the other aspects of the movie – great writing, great cinematography, other excellent actors in roles.  His later films TWILIGHT’S LAST GLEAMING, GO TELL THE SPARTANS, and ATLANTIC CITY continued this.  Often the characters are very gray - fully fleshed out not uniformly good (or bad either) but containing combinations of the traits we find negative when in too much of abundance in humans - Selfishness for example being a big one    

A good actor once he gets control of his career and establishes himself as an audience draw needs to pick the right projects to keep his career alive.  Some pick the same formula which might account for good box office but nothing that is artistic and challenging.  Others like Lancaster pick challenging roles in well written films or even better producing them, shepherding them from beginning to end.

In conclusion, THE SWIMMER is a film I’d like to highly recommend.  Based on John Cheever’s short story, the saga of a once successful adman swimming across his neighbors’ pools as the dark truth comes out is just a brilliant film. Very powerful with Lancaster at his best especially at the end.