A couple of weeks ago I did a post on supporting performances that stand out, a topic that could easily encompass most of movie history as the character actors, as they're so often known, so regularly outshine the stars in so many movies. I think the reason for that may well be that they're not the star and so, perhaps, they feel freer and looser in their portrayals, knowing they don't have to carry the movie. Whatever the reason, I decided whenever I watched or rewatched a movie or a scene of a supporting player making the most of their allotted screen time, I'd write it up to keep a running tally of such performances. While I'm keeping the official banner headline, The Short List, obviously it won't be very short at all if I keep doing this for the next ten years. And, whenever possible, I'd like to keep my choices to performances not already showered in awards and kudos, but instead choose performances overlooked, usually due to the film in which they appear not having the proper pedigree for the awards show mindset. All this is to say that the other night I was once again reminded how talented Charles Grodin is when watching the 1976 remake of King Kong. Most people would point to Heaven Can Wait or Midnight Run, and they wouldn't be wrong for doing so, but, for me, Grodin was never better at scene stealing than he was in Kong.
Grodin plays Fred Wilson, a Petrox Oil Company suit who thinks he's on to the biggest discovery in untapped petroleum in the modern age only to discover it's all just a bunch of worthless goop. But, there is this big gorilla on the island...
We all know the story, or at least the basics of which this version is a mild variation. What's brilliant about the creation of Fred Wilson is that, unlike the Carl Denham of the 1933 and 2005 versions, he has no artistic veneer to cover up his pure, unadulterated grab for the cash. But there's more to it than just that: Grodin infuses him with an overwhelming sense of insecurity hiding inside a smug blowhard. Watching Grodin's scenes from this movie are always a pleasure because he let's Fred Wilson look so vulnerable. Seriously, his Fred Wilson gets more pies in the face than a society matron at a Three Stooges dessert buffet.
Here's the thing: Fred Wilson is proven wrong, a lot, but every time he thinks he's right he's still, despite all past experience, as giddy as a tweener at a Justin Bieber concert. And then someone shoots him down and he doesn't even attempt to hide the look of utter confusion and defeat until it's already obvious to everyone.
He'd bet everything there's oil on the island! Jack tells him no. Huh? Whaa?
There is oil, and it's going to be great! Nope, it's worthless. Huh? Whaa?
Don't worry folks, his feet are still chained! Squish.
Really, this guy fails at everything which makes him probably the most sympathetic villain a movie has ever had. Not that Fred Wilson is the villain of the movie but he's as close as it gets and Grodin pulls off the feat of playing him smug, insecure, arrogant and needy all at once. For that, Grodin makes the short list.
10 comments:
As much as I do think that version of Kong is a giant stinking monkey turd, I do have to admit to having always gotten a kick out of Grodin's performance in it. His characterisation seems...I don't know how to put it, a bit like a Norman Lear character somehow stumbled into a blockbuster, trying his best to be mean but constantly showing up his own schmuck-dom. Plus that hat he wears in that photo is more entertaining than the whole of Inception.
a bit like a Norman Lear character somehow stumbled into a blockbuster...
That's a perfect description!
And, it's one of the few performances where a mustache actually added something to the character. Without the 'stache he wouldn't have been nearly as schmucky.
It's been so long since I saw "King Kong" (not since its initial release, I believe) - but I do love Charles Grodin in about everything I've seen him in. He's just about brilliant in "The Heartbreak Kid."
Pat, it's true that you could really just close your eyes and point to a movie title with Grodin in it and he'd be good, but, unfortunately, some of the movies he's been in have little else of interest other than him.
I love the original version of The Heartbreak Kid, by the way. He's just perfect in it.
"Here's to the big one."
Just reading through Fred Wilson's lines on the imdb quotes page for this movie is hilarious because you can remember/imagine Grodin saying them. And right at the top?
"Lights! Camera! Kong!"
Wilson is such a schmuck.
The first movie I ever saw Grodin in was THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER (I was eight). I've seen it many times since, and damned if he isn't fantastic in an intentionally ridiculous part. He somehow winks at the audience (as he seduces Miss Piggy) while remaining completely in character. I've loved him ever since.
Brian, he's good in everything. Even the really bad stuff he's good in. Like Beethoven. He's good in that, at least from the five or so minutes I've seen of it.
The Heartbreak Kid...yes. He's such an unforgettable dick in that role! Almost all other cads pale by comparison. And his slimy turn as Dyan Cannon's greedy oily lover in Heaven Can Wait...note-perfect.
My favorite moment in Heaven Can Wait is when Warren Beatty comes into Dyan Cannon's bedroom to tell her he wants a divorce. Then asks Charles Grodin a question even though you can't see him anywhere in the room. After a pause, you hear Grodin answer from behind the curtain. It's the perfect pause and the perfect vocal inflection. Even out of sight, he steals the scene.
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