If you only ever watch one movie directed by Marlon Brando, watch this one.
Why? Because Wikipedia tells us he’s only directed this one. Oh, and he took over from Stanley Kubrick. Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction.
Yes, that 1961 classic, “One Eyed Jacks” directed by and starring (come on, you knew this was coming) Marlon Brando.
Marlon Brando plays a tortured, dark, ‘bad-boy’ hero who is torn between the woman he loves and his burning need for revenge. At least… I think he does.
I’d know for sure if he didn’t mumble his lines all the time.
The plot for this one is solid, but I’d hesitate to call it original. Strangely enough, there’s another film on my old timey movie review list dating from 1961 with another tortured, dark ‘bad-boy’ hero who is torn between the woman he loves and his burning need for revenge: “The Deadly Companions”, starring Brian Keith.
Strangely enough, “The Deadly Companions” was directed by Sam Peckinpah, who worked on the screenplay for “One Eyed Jacks” before Stanley Kubrick fired him.
What a small world we live in.
There’s not a whole lot to set this film apart from your average tortured-dark-badboy-hero film. I’ve no complaints about the acting, and the script-writing holds its own. There’s even one or two lines I’d quote for cheesy cliche value. Overall, “One Eyed Jacks” is quite enjoyable to watch, although I’d hesitate to say I was captivated.
There’s a reasonable amount of intrigue, a reasonable attempt at romance, and a reasonable dose of gun-slinging. As with most old timey films, you’ve seen all this before, but it’s somehow different. The roles and lines are the same, but they’re not so pat as the ones you remember. They’re missing 45 years of polish.
Looking at old stuff with young eyes is fun. In some ways, the new stuff is genuinely better (stage-fighting, special effects, scenery). In some ways, the new stuff is tired and the old stuff is fresh.
If Hollywood remade this film for 2009, it would star a good looking piece of meat who couldn’t act as the lead. The sex would be explicit, the blood would flow more freely and there would be explosions. I suspect the 2009 “One Eyed Jacks” would be similar in feel and quality to “The Italian Job” – a run of the mill action/adventure film with some star power but nothing to raise it above the ordinary.
Hmm… Better stick with Brando. He might mumble a bit, but that’s not always a bad thing.