Acquired Taste

Burt Lancaster - now there's a thespian who tends to divide folks; critics and the public, alike. People either seem to think that he's fabulous (not just a movie-star, mind you, but an extraordinarily gifted craftsman as well) or that he basically stinks/can't act at all. I don't know, folks, I guess he's kind of like scotch (Canadian beer if you don't drink the hard stuff) in that respect - nobody seeming to be neutral regarding the guy....................................................As for my opinion, while I tend to not like joining "camps", my tendency is clearly to agree with the formers. This, I'm saying, in that, while, yes, I do understand one's reservations; the predictable cadence of his voice (the Bill Shatner syndrome, I call it), the fact that he sometimes "phoned it in" ("Trapeze", "The Rainmaker"), there was in fact magic at times.....................................................I site, specifically, his performances in "Sweet Smell of Success" (an almost dead-pan portrait of evil), "Birdman of Alcatraz" (as a hardened criminal who accidentally finds humanity), "From Here to Eternity" (more than just a roll in the surf), "Elmer Gantry" (the charming but bogus bible preacher, flawlessly portrayed), and, especially, his last great part in "Atlantic City". Who can ever forget his reaction to his finally notching a kill-shot?, "I did it! I really did it! Ha ha ha!!!"?.......................................................And even in some of his more bizarre choices for films, he was nothing if he wasn't fascinating. Just take a look at some of those scenes from "The Swimmer"; the way that he "freaked-out" after Janice Rule rebuffed him - splashing the water and yelling, "she loved it, she always loved it!!", his final tepid plunge into insanity, the public swimming pool, etc.. I don't know, folks, but I just can't imagine another actor of that era pulling it off - not off the top of my head, anyway.