Portrait of an Actor

Portrait of an Actor (1971)

*** (out of 4)

This MGM featurette runs a little under 10-minutes but is a pretty decent look at actor George C. Scott. The film is highlighting the studio's THE LAST RUN and features interviews with Scott, Richard Fleischer, Trish Van Devere, Carter DeHaven and even Scott's father. This is a pretty short but interesting bio as it quickly features Scott talking about why he started acting and then he mentions a few of the films that he appeared in. From here his co-stars talk about his reputation and why they respect him so much for the hard choices he makes. One person even mentions how great he's able to look while smoking a cigarette. The most interesting moment happens towards the end when Scott talks about why he turned down the Oscar for PATTON, which he had just done the year before. The actor talks about all the gimmicks that comes along with the awards and why he didn't want any part of it. This featurette certainly isn't ground breaking but it's fun getting to see Scott talk about his career.

OKAY NOW, WE take our film interest as seriously as anyone. Finding even some seemingly insignificant tidbit of info concerning a film, actor/star or any behind the scenes personality is what we live for. But we always must attempt to keep things in perspective. All too often, success and the spotlight on center stage conspire to convince a showbiz celebrity of an alternate hallucinatory world; where he/she/it is a giant in all fields.

THIS LITTLE QUICKIE made short at once finds itself in a dichotomy of moods and goals. It is up to us (the viewers) to recognize this. Once that is accomplished, and we are operating with all of our cylinders of gray matter firing in well timed patterns of ultimate synchronization, we can both successfully analyze and understand this film.

FIRST OF ALL, as you may have already concluded, our feeling about PORTRAIT OF AN ACTOR lead us to recognize the sort of high-brow and pseudo-intellectual approach to the actor in question. And we certainly must say that Mr. George C. Scott does an Academy Award level of filling the bill as a "serious" actor. Fresh from his tour-de-force portrayal of General George S. Patton in PATTON (20th Century-Fox, 1970). Topping his performance, he so famously refused to accept the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor. (He even publicly stated his intent months before-but still the gave it to him as one in the win column.)

SO THIS MEANT that there'd be a great amount of very esoteric question & answer interview with so many people. They didn't let us down, even up to the point of including the great actor's father, one George D. Scott. Mostly the folks chosen were culled from the cast of Mr. Scott's then current vehicle, THE LAST RUN (MGM, 1971), a caper movie; directed by Richard Fleischer.

WELL, WITH ALL of that included in the way that it was, all of the pretentious, film-class art talk was then relegated to the back burner; as the true purpose of the short became crystal clear. It was done and distributed by MGM in order to promote their new crime drama.

AND WE REALLY find no fault in that. Right on, Leo (the Lion).