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Post by Martin Stett on Mar 15, 2020 12:38:33 GMT
I've never seen him mentioned among the great actors of the 1970s (possibly because he never worked with Scorsese or Coppola), but this man really killed it in everything I've seen him in. Oscar worthy in All That Jazz, Jaws, The Sting. Excellent in The French Connection, Naked Lunch. I haven't seen Klute, Mishima, Sorcerer. I'm no scholar of great acting, but what are you thoughts on this guy?  |
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 15, 2020 12:54:18 GMT
I'm a fan but he is not a great actor in the way that is normally used - and unfortunately for him he comes from the generation of the 4 best post-Brando actors (DePac, Hoffman, Nicholson) so he gets overshadowed even more because of them and of course that happens to a lot of other guys too (Hackman, Walken, etc.)
All That Jazz is the performance of his life and he was good a lot of times too, and I love him in his series TV guest spot on Law & Order Criminal Intent where he really gets to show off.
In the greatest actors across all 3 mediums thread I listed him as a guy who botched his own career by getting a big American version of a British play in '80 (Betrayal) opposite Blythe Danner and Raul Julia which didn't get him the actor heat he was looking for and stopped his All That Jazz momentum. He also took a 3 year movie break following All The Jazz and when he came back .......his moment had sort of passed in a way.
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Post by jimmalone on Mar 15, 2020 14:04:30 GMT
Oscar worthy in The Sting. Not sure which movie you are referring to?
To be honest for me he has rarely been great. The only two times I'd give his performance that rating are All that Jazz, where he's alright brilliant though, and Jaws. Other than that he is mostly solid, but often I find myself thinking that other actors could have done much more with his role.
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Post by TerryMontana on Mar 15, 2020 14:27:41 GMT
He didn't have the glamour to be considered one of the greatest actors of his era but the talent was there.
Iirc I haven't seen him in many films (All That Jazz, Jaws, Jaws 2, The Sting, The French Connection, Naked Lunch, Klute, Marathon Man, The Punisher, Romeo is Bleeding, The Rain Maker) but he was very solid in all of these films.
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Post by Martin Stett on Mar 15, 2020 16:43:07 GMT
Oscar worthy in The Sting. Not sure which movie you are referring to?
To be honest for me he has rarely been great. The only two times I'd give his performance that rating are All that Jazz, where he's alright brilliant though, and Jaws. Other than that he is mostly solid, but often I find myself thinking that other actors could have done much more with his role.
LOL, I got him mixed up with his Jaws cohort for a moment. I typed that up in a hurry and wasn't thinking. |
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Post by pupdurcs on Mar 15, 2020 17:11:21 GMT
He didn't have the glamour to be considered one of the greatest actors of his era but the talent was there. If there was any era where a lack of "glamour" could have you percieved as one of the greatest actors of your era, it was the 70's. The likes of Hackman, Hoffman and Duvall would probably not have become as significant as they did in any other era. Schieder himself got leading man opportunities because in that era people wanted to see more "real" looking characters in major roles, not just traditionally good looking guys. My take is that he's a very solid, above average character actor (though he got to play leads as well). He had an outstanding performance in All That Jazz, but honestly, there weren't many roles he did where I said to myself, "wow, only Roy Schieder could have pulled that off". Even The French Connection where he got a supporting actor Oscar nod, I feel like Hackman totally overshadowed him. A admirable professional, but rarely remarkable. If anything, I feel he was fortunate to be in the era he was in. He got himself in quite a few seminal movies of the period without being one of the seminal stars or talents of the period. |
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Post by TerryMontana on Mar 15, 2020 21:00:04 GMT
He didn't have the glamour to be considered one of the greatest actors of his era but the talent was there. If there was any era where a lack of "glamour" could have you percieved as one of the greatest actors of your era, it was the 70's. The likes of Hackman, Hoffman and Duvall would probably not have become as significant as they did in any other era. Schieder himself got leading man opportunities because in that era people wanted to see more "real" looking characters in major roles, not just traditionally good looking guys. Overall I agree but when I said glamour, I didn't mean "good looking guys". I meant "star quality". Hackman, Hoffman and Duvall probably didn't have that but for example, Nicholson did. Redford did... It was a plus for guys like Scheider making such a career without having this movie star appeal. |
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Post by therealcomicman117 on Mar 15, 2020 21:51:07 GMT
He didn't have the glamour to be considered one of the greatest actors of his era but the talent was there. If there was any era where a lack of "glamour" could have you percieved as one of the greatest actors of your era, it was the 70's. The likes of Hackman, Hoffman and Duvall would probably not have become as significant as they did in any other era. Schieder himself got leading man opportunities because in that era people wanted to see more "real" looking characters in major roles, not just traditionally good looking guys. My take is that he's a very solid, above average character actor (though he got to play leads as well). He had an outstanding performance in All That Jazz, but honestly, there weren't many roles he did where I said to myself, "wow, only Roy Schieder could have pulled that off". Even The French Connection where he got a supporting actor Oscar nod, I feel like Hackman totally overshadowed him. A admirable professional, but rarely remarkable. If anything, I feel he was fortunate to be in the era he was in. He got himself in quite a few seminal movies of the period without being one of the seminal stars or talents of the period. That's a good description of him. Scheider was a great character actor, but I'm not sure he was ever the greatest leading man. He worked for the era he was in, but it felt like he never really broke out as a big star, the way Hollywood wanted him to. To be fair, he sorta did have the leading man title hoisted on him by accident, since he happened to get the signature lead role in the biggest film ever up to that point ( Jaws). I think he worked best in roles like Marathon Man or Klute (his film debut), where he played a pimp. He gave a great daring performance in All The Jazz, but I think that worked in part because the material suited him so well, and it played to his sensibilities. I'm honestly not surprised that his career sorta fell apart by the late 80s even with success like Blue Thunder and 2010, and he retreated back to character actor mode. This didn't lead to completely trash though, his turn in Naked Lunch for example is legit excellent, and probably his last noteworthy role in his career. |
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Mar 15, 2020 23:23:31 GMT
He's consistently solid with everyman roles but rarely a standout for me. Not in love with his nominated perfs for French Connection (where he had little to do) and All that Jazz. Sorcerer is an interesting case because it's a pretty thankless role where Schneider's character is a kind of blank slate like an Alain Delon gangster. He doesn't do much emoting or have any "big acting scenes". What I remember isn't his performance so much as how Friedkin took that character and used it in service of his unforgiving pessimistic vision. Bruno Cremer is the only one with an arc and memorable emotional scenes but first and foremost it's a showcase for Friedkin's directing (and a damn good one).
Have more to see obviously but I guess for now my favorite Schneider performance is Marathon Man. I think it played well to his abilities and he really brought out that character's conflicted motivations well. I wish he had had more screentime. He's fine in Jaws too. Don't even remember him in Klute or Naked Lunch and I loved those films.
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