Has John Garfield Faded Away?

[Phillyrich]

I am on a John Garfield binge lately, purchasing "Force of Evil," "Four Daughters," "Humoresque," "The Postman Always Rings Twice," "Body and Soul," and from WB Archive--two rare titles-- "The Breaking Point" and "Pride of the Marines." I think "Air Force" will be my next purchase.

Garfield seems to be a bridge between the old school Bogart, and the newer more "method" actors like Brando. I prefer Garfield to anyone today.

Yet I was able to buy most of the above dvds, very cheap, used at amazon. Garfield seems to have faded from public consciousness. Many young people seem to never have heard of him--they first think of garfield the cat. Yet to me, Garfield seems to age well, his edgy, urban street-wise style and the shady, ambiguous roles he often played, would seem to fit in pretty well today. Force of Evil to me, remains fresh.

Funny how some actors, like Errol Flynn and Cary Grant, stay in the imagination, while others like the great Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable seem to have lost their audience.

There was suposed to be a Garfield box a few years ago--I don't know what happened to that. But the WB Archive is featuring some of his films. I have no idea of the sales totals.

Who else out there likes Garfield? Do you think he is forgotten? What's the best bio or appreciation of his work?

[greta de groat]

I like John Garfield too, though it's been a while since i've seen any of his pictures.

I remember there was a television bio on him a few years back, though i don't remember if it was PBS or TCM. Someone told an amusing story about him running into a woman from his childhood neighborhood. They had a nice chat, and then she asked: "So, Julie, what have you been doing?"

greta

[Michael O'Regan]

I'm a Garfield fan.

In fact, a season of JG films on RTE television back in the early 70's began my love of classic-era movies. I can remember Body and Soul, Postman.. in particular from that series. I recently rewatched Humoresque which I love for both JG's and Crawford's performance.

I'll have to start looking for some more of his stuff, now that you guys mention him.

[didi-5]

I'm a Garfield fan - Tracy and Gable too. Some actors are pushed above others but if you like someone's work you need to make the effort to seek titles out and keep them in other people's minds through forums like this.

[bobfells]

Back when Michael Keaton was a stand-up comedian, he did a very good impression of Garfield. You had to see it but he really had Garfield's speech mannerisms down pat. Basically, Keaton said you could always tell when Garfield was lying. A cop would ask him, "Where were you on the night of October 10th?" Garfield would stall and say, "I was, uh, I was ...at the movies, yeah, yeah, that's it, sure. I was at the movies." You could tell he was lying!

[Mike Gebert]

I think if Garfield had lived longer he would have found a place in the grittier "A" movies of the 1950s and 1960s— you can easily imagine him in roles similar to Burt Lancaster or Kirk Douglas, say, who also both sort of graduated from noir. (Where if one of them had died in the early 50s, would we remember them all that much for The Killers or Martha Ivers alone?) As it is he's sort of a noir-ghetto figure except for things no one sees now (Four Daughters), but I agree, he seems more modern than many actors of his time.

Robert DeNiro is one who obviously identified with Garfield to some degree and patterns his persona after him a little bit, especially in the movie he made about the blacklist, Guilty By Suspicion.

[Michael O'Regan]

Back when Michael Keaton was a stand-up comedian, he did a very good impression of Garfield. You had to see it but he really had Garfield's speech mannerisms down pat. Basically, Keaton said you could always tell when Garfield was lying. A cop would ask him, "Where were you on the night of October 10th?" Garfield would stall and say, "I was, uh, I was ...at the movies, yeah, yeah, that's it, sure. I was at the movies." You could tell he was lying!

Keaton as Garfield:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPZxhk56O_M" target="_blank

[Frederica]

I think if Garfield had lived longer he would have found a place in the grittier "A" movies of the 1950s and 1960s— you can easily imagine him in roles similar to Burt Lancaster or Kirk Douglas, say, who also both sort of graduated from noir. (Where if one of them had died in the early 50s, would we remember them all that much for The Killers or Martha Ivers alone?) As it is he's sort of a noir-ghetto figure except for things no one sees now (Four Daughters), but I agree, he seems more modern than many actors of his time.

I class him with people like Robert Ryan or Van Heflin, actors who are not at all glossy but who always turn in intelligent performances. Died way too young, quelle shame.

[Mike Gebert]

I'm just amazed that someone could do a John Garfield imitation in standup in the 80s. That's getting awfully close to Bob & Ray's George Brent impersonator.

[Harlett O'Dowd]

I think if Garfield had lived longer he would have found a place in the grittier "A" movies of the 1950s and 1960s—

Wasn't he blacklisted? Would he have worked much more while he was in his prime had he lived?

[Mike Gebert]

Who knows? Garfield was the biggest star to be blacklisted, and that could have had some effect on the blacklist itself.

Or, he'd have made some badass crime movies in England with Joseph Losey and Jules Dassin.

Who wouldn't want to see a Losey-directed crime thriller set in London with John Garfield and Stanley Baker?

[Ray Faiola]

The first Garfield picture I saw was OUT OF THE FOG. I was hooked instantly. He was a fine, internal actor. I think his work in FOUR DAUGHTERS is simply outstanding. Then, ten years later BODY AND SOUL. Wow. And with Lilli Palmer yet!

[Turpinutz]

John Garfield is one of my favorites, too, Rich.
Noticing you're also in Philly, have you been to the neighborhood where they filmed "Pride of the Marines"?
My old neighbor lived right there back in the day and he's even in the films background, on his bicycle near the beginning.
Favorite Garfield's: They Made Me A Criminal, The Sea Wolf, Postman Always Rings Twice, etc!

SteveR

[gjohnson]

I'm just amazed that someone could do a John Garfield imitation in standup in the 80s. That's getting awfully close to Bob & Ray's George Brent impersonator.

Maybe on the surface of it doing imitations of old actors seemed to belong to the more old school Vegas-nightclub stand-ups of the Sixties, but that type of schtick continued for most stage comedians long into the Eighties. Which tells you how mainstream and relevant classic movies still were at the time. If comics weren't doing straight imitations of stars from the Thirties, their films were being parodied on TV during Carol Burnett's show or SNL or SCTV.

When Michael Keaton mentions Cagney and Garfield during his set no one in the audience gasps and mutters "who is that?" But if any stage comic of today did a routine imitating former stars, that would be the joke.

Some joke....

[Mike Gebert]

For a long time I thought stars you could recognize through imitation had vanished. I mean, no one ever did a Robert Redford imitation, and they don't do Kevin Costner or Brad Pitt either. They were no Cagney or Bogie, impression-wise.

But then people started doing Christopher Walken, and you could believe that we had at least a few stars you could "get" instantly. This is a funny clip with Kevin Pollak, who not only does the best Shatner ever (starting at about 1:45), but manages to include 80s actors you'd never think of anybody doing, like Christopher Lloyd, but who are unmistakable. (There's also this great NSFW clip with Pollak doing Albert Brooks trying to tell the Aristocrats joke but tearing it apart as he does it.)

I guess, if you think about it, who ever did Spencer Tracy? Or Burt Lancaster or Paul Newman? Some can be imitated, some can't, I guess.

[Mark Mayerson]

Gorshin doing Lancaster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEtDidm0pRE" target="_blank