A man who could make Last Tango in Paris and play The Godfather at the same time was no mere mortal. My favourite Brando film is The Godfather though A Streetcar Named Desire comes very close. Both characters were difficult and nuanced. Another Brando classic that has been left out is Viva Zapata! by Elia Kazan, a tale of a revolutionary played to perfection by Brando. A word on Kazan must be said. He gave us Brando, Montgomery Clift and Tennessee Williams. (Which is your favourite Marlon Brando film... April 6)
Partha Basu
My favourite Marlo Brando film is The Godfather. Vito Corleone. A great gangster. The leader of a mafia family. A mediator. A thinker who could stop a gang war. A clear strategic man with lots of ideas. Controlled his eldest son Sonny, a man with a violent temper. Brando did an excellent job of it.
Kousik Majumdar
The best film of Marlon Brando I remember is The Godfather. His portrayal of the mafia gangster Vito Corleone was impeccable with perfect dialogue delivery and restrained acting, while displaying perfect screen presence and personality. I must say that compared to him, Indian actors seem lacklustre, with under or over-acted expressions and even sluggishness.
Kalyan Ghosh
Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors of all time, Marlon Brando’s prolific filmography sums up his legacy as a singular titan of the silver screen, charming his admirers with his acting prowess and irresistible charisma. Out of a varied list, I would pick The Wild One (1953) as my favourite. Starring Brando as the dashing protagonist Johnny Strabler, this crime film explores the theme of American motorcycle gang violence and its influence on young men. Dressed in a perfectly-styled motorcycle jacket with a tilted cap, the suave and rebellious Johnny not only mumbled his way through the lines but also captured millions of hearts with his award-winning performance. The exhibit of his iconic Triumph Thunderbird 6T motorcycle at London’s Madame Tussauds speaks volumes about the popularity of this masterpiece which went on to achieve cult status in the 1950s.
As a leading exponent of method acting, Brando’s performance was like poetry in motion. He aced a variety of roles, particularly that of the angry young man, with his vast emotional range and riveting screen persona creating a strong impact on his audience’s minds. His splendid characters will remain etched in the hearts of every cinema connoisseur, as they continue to celebrate the scintillating contributions of this legend.
Aayman Anwar Ali
As an actor, Marlon Brando stands taller than most. But it is in The Godfather that he surpassed most bars of acting.
The Godfather was a multi-starrer, multi-action movie. However, there was no denying that Vito Corleone as the mafia boss was the central hub. The mafia reign in the US was brought to life simply by the performance (voice, body language and facial expressions) of the actor.
I often do not agree about the film being the greatest to be ever made. There have been epic movies made, from David Lean to Steven Spielberg. But by sheer force of acting, this film has become a cult film and will remain so.
Learners of movie acting should watch Marlon Brando in a range of emotions in The Godfather to understand to what levels acting can rise.
Samir Kumar Saha
Known as one of the greatest actors ever, Marlon Brando elevated every role he took, making for a fantastic filmography.
Mutiny on the Bounty is a seafaring drama based on a classic novel that is also based on an actual historical event. Brando plays Fletcher Christian, a First Lieutenant who initiates a mutiny against the ship’s cruel captain William Bligh. It’s a thrilling period drama. Brando does excellent work as Christian, posturing in the manner of a gentleman and speaking with an upper-crust British accent that is entirely credible. Indeed, when he reaches the mutinous moment in a rage of uncontrolled anger, he is at the top of his acting form.
Marlon Brando is considered among the actors who massively changed Hollywood, essentially setting the gold standard for modern film acting.
Nili Ghosh
To me, unarguably, Marlon Brando’s The Godfather is his best film. Playing the role of a multi-generational gangster is definitely challenging. The great movie maker Francis Ford Coppola had left to Brando’s discretion almost all the details of portraying such a dangerous and controversial mafia gang lord. Brando obliged the director with an extraordinary show of his natural acting skills.
As a leader of a century-old gang of criminals, Brando had to remain cool, yet strong. With his atypical slurred, mumbling delivery of dialogue, he showed who is the boss. And he showed through his demeanour that he had the final say in any operation he planned.
Watching The Godfather was not an ordinary event. The movie kept the audience glued to their seats. You simply felt astounded to see how the leader of a gang controlled its members in a bullet-for-a-bullet situation. And Marlon Brando left no stone unturned to show himself as a man you would hate to respect.
Bhola Nath Das
To pick out one or a few of the films starring Marlon Brando is quite a task as anything he did was beyond exceptional. However, for the sake of argument and writing a comprehensive little piece for the paper, I would mention his portrayal of Vito Corleone in The Godfather by Francis Ford Coppola.
Essaying the role of a mafia lord and a grief-stricken father, he delved into the character in look, feel and essence. He went the extra mile to look the part by putting on weight and stuffing his cheeks with cotton balls, altering his voice to a weak, sickly mumble and shed his natural charisma. He did all that had to be done and more to bring Vito Corleone to life. His portrayal of Vito Corleone was a major reason behind The Godfather being not just a massive blockbuster but also a cultural phenomenon of the 20th century, an inspiration for many in the following years and an embodiment of honest, natural acting. The fact that he was a champion of method acting and a method actor himself was shown in his portrayal of the patriarch who had pride, hatred, conviction, grief and despair all packed in his heart.
It goes without saying that any role that has been essayed by Marlon Brando could not have been done better by anybody else. Though Brando has rendered his best to all the characters he has played, The Godfather, a seminal work by Coppola, remains a favourite of millions even after five decades, largely because of the iconic actor and his enigmatic screen presence.
Ishika Mitra
A Streetcar Named Desire: Brando portrays Stanley Kowalski, an intensely masculine, brutish man, a role that has influenced decades of screen performance. He truly detonates his sexuality and rage, radiating a smouldering animality never before seen on screen till that time. Even after disliking Stanley in the film, it was impossible to dislike Brando who with his acting masterclass and a steamroll of sexuality and charisma, portrayed the character to perfection.
The Godfather: From the moment he appears on screen in the crime epic, his quietly alluring presence takes the viewers into his world. In appearance, voice and composure he transforms into the mafia lord Don Vito Corleone with one of the most captivating screen performances ever. All of his mannerisms, the faintly adenoidal speaking voice, the muscular assertion, the almost ethereally inarticulate expression of pain, propelled him to movie immortality.
Julius Caesar: Mark Antony was a part that Brando was born to play... he portrayed the role with absolute assurance and his extraordinary mastery over the Shakespearean tone made his performance one of the best among Shakespeare’s adaptations. His extraordinary stature and acting, along with a blend of rage, agony, intelligence and fierceness in his speech: “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him”, make it unforgettable in movie history.
Ramyani Sanyal
My favourite film of Marlon Brando is his 1951 movie A Streetcar Named Desire. In the film which is adapted from Tennessee Williams’s famous drama of the same name, Brando played the character of Stanley Kowalski. I just loved the fantastic way Brando portrayed the sullen and moody Stanley’s role. He delivered a breakthrough performance in the movie which also gained him the first of his eight Academy Award nominations. According to me, Brando did one of the very best works of his six decade-long career in this Elia Kazan-directed film. I watched this iconic film several times and one of the reasons for this is obviously to rewatch Brando’s stellar act.
Sourish Misra