The first time I had any real knowledge of who Edward Woodward was was in the 1984 Hallmark Hall of Fame version of A Christmas Carol starring George C. Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge. In that version Woodward plays the Ghost of Christmas Present and in every version of A Christmas Carol I have ever seen (and I have damn near seen them all including several versions on stage) I stack up the actor playing that part against Woodward. They always come up short.
Edward Woodward was an actor of formidable ability. He enjoyed brief fame on television as the title character of The Equalizer, a show I enjoyed watching if only for him, but if one really wants to understand the depth of Edward Woodward the actor one need view only two films, The Wicker Man and Breaker Morant. He is brilliant in both.
I saw both films not upon their release but years later after seeing Woodward in A Christmas Carol and The Equalizer. In The Wicker Man Woodward plays the part of the self-righteous rigidly Christian policeman so well that I would have sworn that's who he was as a person had I not seen his other work that convinced me likewise in respect to their characters. When one thinks of the superb film that is The Wicker Man one has to wonder how effective the film would have been without the central character being utterly believable. In other words, I don't watch that film and see an actor playing a self-righteous man that the audience will lose sympathy for, no. I see a character filled with piety who believes in his principles and is trying in his heart and according to his religion to do the right thing and save an abducted girl. Woodward lets the rigid adherence to dogma show but never lets the audience off the hook by making his character despicable like a mad Christian zealot. The audience believes that his character would in fact abandon some of his beliefs if it meant saving that little girl and that's a hell of a feat on the part of Woodward.
And then there is Breaker Morant, a beautiful and fascinating film that is by all measure the final argument one needs in the case of Edward Woodward, underappreciated actor. As Harry "Breaker" Morant he blends the rugged militaristic rough edges of an Australian officer fighting in the Boer War with the soul of a poet. His performance is magnificent and the denial of an Oscar nomination underlined the lack of peer recognition this great actor would receive throughout his career.
Edward Woodward died on November 16 at the age of 79 from complications from various illnesses including pneumonia. He will be missed.
24 comments:
I think every young man of the theatre of a certain age was blown away by Breaker Morant because it had such great speeches in it - almost Shakespearean in their musicality. And not just Morant's stuff, but the defense attorney's summations, too. Woodward has a funny little scene as an expert on the occult in the awful Bloodsuckers with Peter Cushing and Patrick Macnee, where he sums up the totality of man's interest in the perverse with the phrase "It's a funny old world, isn't it?"
I stood on a very long line back in 1986 or 1987 to audition for The Equalizer. Never got in the audition room but I wound up in a Deep Purple video. Made 50 bucks.
Ewa Woowa's dead?! That's sad. He was great in Hot Fuzz too...
And here I didn't even know Deep Purple had any videos.
The dialogue in Breaker Morant is wonderful isn't it? It does have a musical cadence to it and aside from Woodward, you also get the great performances by Bryan Brown and Jack Thompson.
Never saw Bloodsuckers but I like the line. I saw Woodward in Hot Fuzz, a film I thought was unfairly overlooked. His irritation at the "Living Statue" was quite funny.
Igloo Keeper, our comments overlapped. As I mentioned to Richard, he's terrific in Hot Fuzz too.
I didn't even realize that was Edward Woodward in HOT FUZZ until I saw it a second time, and then I couldn't understand why I didn't know it was him.
I was going to write a bit about Woodward, but, Greg, you've said everything I wanted to say, focusing on the same films (and for the same reasons) that I was going to focus on. Well done. And he WILL be sorely missed.
Not just young men, RH. I thought Breaker Morant was brilliant and terribly poignant. I'm reluctant to see it again because I don't want to see him die again.
I don't remember him in Hot Fuzz. I don't remember much of that film, however. Not a great moment at the movies.
Marilyn, I didn't think much of Hot Fuzz either but Eddie Woody was instantly recognizable. Also, I know that women loved Breaker Morant, too, but the thought I was trying to convey is that a lot of that "love" came from "Hey, I can use this in class!" You know, actor love.
The dialogue in Breaker Morant is wonderful isn't it?
A lot of it was written for the stage, which explains its richness.
Bill, thanks. His part in Hot Fuzz is done so well, considering it's such a small throwaway part. But if you hadn't seen him in years I can understand not recognizing him immediately that's for sure.
Marilyn and Richard, I think Hot Fuzz is more unfortunately titled than anything else. Otherwise I think Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright did a fine job with it and especially considering the level of American garbage out there I found this British import better than any American cop comedy I've seen in a while. I rather liked the revelation of whimsical proper English villagers turning out to be militant violent oppressors. My fault with the film is its interminable third act where it stops being a parody of American Cop Movie Shoot 'Em Ups and becomes one. That was a big mistake and did mar what could have been a more charming outing.
Too much of Hot Fuzz was just hum-drum mystery stuff without enough satirical spin behind it. I loved the OTT violence but was bored with long stretches of it.
In other words, Hot Fuzz spends more time honoring the very mystery cliches it seems to be out to spoof than turning them on their heads, as a proper satire should. I felt the same way about the Scream films, which had a lot of attitude about their subject but not much in the way of fresh ideas.
I get tired of seeming hypercritical but I grew up with Dr. Strangelove, which is sewn through with blistering satire at every stitch... so I just can't accept the watered down satire of this age which is so eager to show you how smart it is and so often comes up short (for me, anyway) of the kind of things they were doing 40 years ago.
I went into not knowing what it was supposed to be outside of a movie about a cop. I found the village a nice place to be for ninety plus minutes with a good collection of British actors to help me along. I like the indecipherable dialect of the farmer, the missing goose, the local youth at the pub and anything and everything having to do with Jim Broadbent one of my favorite actors going. Unlike you I would have preferred more of the opposite. Less over the top violence and more quirky "Local Hero" type village interaction. Still, I thought it was a nice enough blend as it was until the last twenty minutes.
Outside of that I didn't expect it to be a blistering satire of cop movies as you apparently did but rather a fish out of water tale. It's parody and satire didn't bother me in that it was mild. I thought it worked fine that way.
There's a lot to like about HOT FUZZ, but I agree it's a bit long, and the ending drags a tiny bit. I liked all the things you liked, while also thinking that Pegg and Frost gave really good performances. It's no SHAUN OF THE DEAD, but it's a good time.
I also loved the two Andys.
Shaun of the Dead is a very well-observed parody of a genre while Hot Fuzz is to my mind, as I said to Richard, more of a 'fish out of water' tale, less a parody. I mean, they show scenes from Point Blank but it could hardly be called a parody of that. It's more a parody of what rural folk, like Nick Frost here, perceive as the reality those types of movies present where Pegg is saying, "No, it's not like that in the real world."
And since it's not dealing with a specific point of reference, like Shaun of the Dead, it's harder to find an audience. But like I said, I think it works just fine.
Hot Fuzz is to my mind... more of a 'fish out of water' tale, less a parody.
Okay, so it fails for me for an entirely different reason. Ha ha!
He was one of those unique actors that you instantly had respect for..Theres just not enough like him around anymore...I watched Breaker Morant over and over back when it first appeared on Cable in the early 1980s..Its almost time for one of my other favorite Woodward performances,that of The Ghost of Christmas Present in the George C. Scott tv movie version of Christmas Carol
It is so wrong really how such a fine, modest person such as edward woodward can be almost overlooked for so many years while so much hot air is devoted to the nomarks of today. I really, really hope that his adaptation of Christmas Carol is shown this year, i have checked listings for over 10 years without seeing this version mentioned, always the average Richard E Grant film. Edwards part steals the show in my opinion and other versions are poor seconds. RIP.
Holiday-viewing-wise, I never leave it up to networks or TV stations to tell me what I'll see. Stock your own titles. I think that version of A Christmas Carol is still readily available, isn't it?
Christopher, leebo and Arbo - Yes, it is available, or at least it was because I own both the VHS and the DVD of it and eventually I'll probably upload a digital copy as well online. It's my favorite version with the Alastair Sim version a close second. I own both and my wife and I alternate the two from year to year. This year we're watching the George C. Scott version again.
The casting in that one is simply incredible: Scott as Scrooge, David Warner as Cratchit and Woodward as Christmas Present make for a hell of a combo. No Christmas Present mocks Scrooge using his own words quite like Woodward's does.
tdraicer:
>It's my favorite version with the Alastair Sim version a close second
The Sim version is my favorite, with the Scott version second, and the musical Scrooge (a distant) third.
Woodward did quite a bit of British tv as well as The Equalizer. He also has a nice small part in Young Winston. Sorry to lose another real talent.
td, the Sim version is my wife's favorite too.
I read a lot today about his show Callan but never saw it so I couldn't really bring it up myself. It's good to know reading different posts today that he was appreciated.
same here..THe Alister Sim Scrooge is my top fave and the George C . Scott,sometimes knocks it out of top spot..I remember seeing it when it aired back in '84 and it was an instant classic..and what a cast,in addition to Wooward and Warner..Susannah York,Roger Rees,Frank Finlay,Michael Gough,Nigel Davenport..Yeah.its an easy find on DVD all the stores carry it ...I think its one of the few Christmas films where they finally brought the price down on!
"...in every version of A Christmas Carol I have ever seen (and I have damn near seen them all including several versions on stage) I stack up the actor playing that part against Woodward. They always come up short."
With all do respect I find it hard to disagree more. I don't much care to the Scott version (or many others for that matter) and I think Woodward's performance is one of the worst things about it. His clipped, offhand delivery takes all the richness out of the character and compared to Francis De Wolf in the Sim version seems, at best, half-hearted. Oh well.
bpiper - Well, we all have our own favorites. I absolutely think Woodward nails exactly what you say he doesn't but I am with you, overall, on the 1951 version. I think it's the best. I wrote it up for TCM here. Alistair Sim is a wonderful Scrooge.
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