BFI | Sight & Sound | Burt Lancaster Charmer Chameleon:
 |
| image via BFI |
Through all Lancaster's best roles - and through his own personality - there runs this element of ambiguity. Lindsay Anderson spotted it early on, noting 'this odd mixture of violence and decency, this goodwill that has not quite found a satisfactory channel of expression.' Put certain descriptions of the actor side by side and it's hard to believe they're referring to the same person. Andrew Collins recently summed up the dominant features of Lancaster's face as 'the jutting jaw and the pleading, kind eyes'. Norman Mailer wrote of 'the coldest eyes I've ever looked into.'
I imagine Burt Lancaster is most famous to guys of my generation as Doc "Moonlight" Graham, but to me he'll always be the eccentric oil billionaire Happer from
Local Hero, hence the title quote. Of course, he was a huge star long before either of those movies. Devastatingly handsome with a voice that, and I say this of an actor who appeared alongside James Earl Jones where the contrast could be immediately analysed, is the most captivating of any film actor, ever. Even in old age, he owned the screen in every shot. Don't let the twinkle of ol' Doc Graham's eyes blind you, a fierce temper and barely controlled rage seem to ready to be summoned instantly. The stories in the linked article hint at the violence, or at least the threat of violence, of which he was capable of delivering with a look, a set of the jaw, his very posture.
 |
| Late Lancaster, from Local Hero |
