Born in Swampscott, Mass., Hollywood actor Walter Brennan was a talented, multipurpose actor.
He starred in films with legendary actors Humphrey Bogart and John Wayne, but in both "Red River" and "Rio Bravo", Brennan comes off as extremely annoying. So much so that this blogger anticipated his demise throughout both films previously mentioned.
Interesting enough, Brennan was born in Swampscott, Mass., the same state that this blogger hails from. Go figure.
Maybe Brennan isn't quite as annoying when you discover that he's a three-time Oscar winner for best supporting actor. Still, his whiney mannerisims and pathetic shtick in both "Red River" and "Rio Bravo" was just too much to handle and I sure wish he at least took a bullet in the leg in either feature.
Brennan wasn't as bothersome in "Red River" and who knows why the great Howard Hawks decided to turn him into a circus show freak in "Rio Bravo".
Also interesting is the scene in "Rio Bravo" where Wayne's charachter gives Brennan a kiss on top of his head and Brennan gives Duke a smack on his ass with a broom.
Well, if you've never seen either "Red River" or "Rio Bravo" add them to your Netflix cue. Both are classics and illustrate how great westerns were made during the late 1950s and early 1960s.
I'm off to watch Kirk Douglas in Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece, "Spartacus".
1 comment:
Now now. Walter Brennan had his shtick just like Chris Tucker does in the Rush Hour films. Granted he was extremely annoying in Rio Bravo, but I thought his character in the superior Red River was more tempered with emotional depth.
You have to remember that he was the archetype for such great characters as Walter Huston's character in treasure of the Sierra Madre and Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane in the Duke's of Hazzard.
It's hard for me to pick on a guy who was born in Swampscott where my dad's family originally hails from (in the US at least). Is it any coincidence that he and my grandfather had the same toothless grin? I may be the great grandnephew of Mr. Walter Brennan!
Side note: Speaking of Roscoe P. Coltrane... Rio Bravo also starred a young, svelter version of Sheriff Lobo!
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