Remembering Ollie

No, not Ollie Dragon, as in Kukla, Fran, and..., but Oliver Reed. He made a lot of crappy movies, but along the way made two of my favorites. One was Ken Russell's Women in Love, in which he played Gerald Crich, the son of a colliery owner. Physically, he was all wrong for the part, but by the power of his acting, made it his own. His wrestling scene with Alan Bates is remarkable (and shook up the Grundies at the time).

The other role was that of a more minor literary character, but one that has grown on me: that of Athos in Richard Lester's The Three (+) Four Musketeers (I'll call it that, because it was shot as one film and released as two, without telling any of the cast members). Here's the first big sword fight of the heroes, as D'Artagnan (played by Michael York) meets Athos to fight a duel. The other two muskeeters (Frank Finlay as Porthos, and Richard Chamberlain--whose epicene qualities work for him here--as Aramis). Lester stages the fights with a bravura physicality, a style that suits none of his actors more than Reed, whose hoarse whisperings of line readings, with his lidded eyes, make him seem like some basking lion. (The video quality is good, but there's a severe sound synch problem.)



In the latest DVD of this movie, Christopher Lee complains that he has never been recognized for his superior sword-fighting skills, and implies that even the great Errol Flynn seemed so good at swashbuckling because Flynn's duels were slightly undercranked when shot.

Here's Ollie at the beginning of his career--if you can recognize him.



With music by John Barry before James Bond. Nice to see that the Brits had teensploitation movies too.

And a pic of Ollie at the end of his career:



On the island of Malta as the gladiator owner/trainer in Gladiator. "At 50, everyone has the face he deserves," Orwell wrote. Rest in peace, Ollie.