Works every time

Happy first day of spring!

Sweet Cheeses O'Grady, I wasn't sure we were gonna make it for a while. But, oh yes, it is gorgeous out there today, as it should be. I even installed the Charlie Brown baseball screensaver this morning and suited up my desktop Schroeder for Spring Training.

In celebration, let's do three more inductions into the ACADEMY OF THE UNDERRATED (two of which are a little risky, but very much in the spirit of giving the underrated a fair hearing):

1. William Hurt. Boy, did I dislike him in The Big Chill. But then, I disliked everyody in The Big Chill, except maybe Jeff Goldblum. And Broadcast News aside, William Hurt in the 80s was the poster-boy for dull movies that deflected Oscar noms away from the more-deserving: Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Accidental Tourist, Children of a Lesser God, you get the idea. Hurt always struck me as a humorless, watered-down, wet-blanket version of Jeff Bridges.

Then came Dark City in 1998, where he made the subtle but effective switch from dull to dour, and I realized William Hurt was made-to-order for film noir (which he did way back in 1981 in Body Heat, but unfortunately in the wrong role). The more he got away from sympathetic leading roles and into characters who were quietly menacing, the more I appreciated him.

And then came his tiny payoff appearance at the end of A History of Violence, which earned him his fourth (?!) Oscar nomination. Was it an Oscar-worthy performance? Probably not. Was it good enough to elevate him to “underrated” status? Apparently so.

2. Kenneth More. Who? You know, the dependable British lead from the late 50s and early 60s. No? Come on, this guy. Still no? Well, you obviously need to see more British films — especially those involving sinking ships.

More survived the Titanic through cool-headed heroism in 1958, and methodically helped sink the Bismarck two years later. His specialty was the reliable-yet-affable British officer, always the professional, always the gentleman. He was a very popular star in Britain, yet remains largely forgotten in America.

The performance that puts More into the Academy is his brief appearance in the star-filled D-Day epic The Longest Day. In a 3-hour movie that features (deep breath) John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda, Richard Burton, Sean Connery, Rod Steiger, Eddie Albert, Robert Ryan, Red Buttons, Mel Ferrer, Roddy McDowell, Robert Wagner, Edmond O'Brien, Peter Lawford, George Segal, Gert Frobe, Jeffrey Hunter, Curd Jurgens, Christian Marquand, and Sal Mineo...

...it's Kenneth More who manages to steal the movie from the whole lot, as a colorful British officer who swaggers along the beach, dragging his unwilling, unhappy bulldog behind him all through the invasion. In an unflappable performance that almost predicts Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now, More remains unfazed by the explosions around him, and gleefully delivers lines like “As my grandmother used to say, anything mechanical, give it a good bash” and “The sooner we get off this beach, the sooner they'll stop this blasted shelling — it's very bad for the dog.”

3. Billy Dee Williams. The burden of proof weighs heavy here. Let's set aside the Colt 45 commericals and pretty much everything he's done since Batman (17 years ago — man am I getting old). Let's look at a charismatic up-and-coming leading man of the 70s, a fun actor to watch, and in spite his trademark smooove-ness, one of considerable range: Brian's Song, Lady Sings the Blues, The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings. As an African American actor, he should have come through the 1980s in step with fellow rising stars Morgan Freeman and James Earl Jones.

What set Billy Dee off course? It wasn't Star Wars — Williams not only broke the sci-fi color line in The Empire Strikes Back, he also introduced to the saga its first (and only) complex character, one with conflicted motives and questionable loyalties. And I'd argue that he's the only returning star who bothers to act at all in Return of the Jedi. (It's Lando who sells the precariousness of their battle against Jabba and their assault on the Death Star, while Luke, Han, and Leia just look depressed, bored, and drugged, respectively.)

Williams seemed on track for a meaty role when he was cast as D.A. Harvey Dent in Batman — a character destined to become the flamboyant and tortured villain Two-Face. Sadly, by the time they got around to developing that villain, the role had been disastrously shifted to Tommy Lee Jones, in the painfully flat Batman Forever. Whether or not Billy Dee dodged a bullet there, we'll never know.

But I do say that Williams remains a better actor than his resume and pop-culture status suggest, and given a shot at a good role, he may yet prove me right.

Sorry, no ice cream flavors in this Academy induction. But I do welcome nominations.