April 3 . . .

Marlon Brando was born this day in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1924, the son of a father who was a traveling salesman and a mother who acted in community theater. There was a method to Marlon’s mumbling, and he grew up to become the single most influential film actor of his age.

Audiences had never seen anything like him. Positively primal, grunting and scratching himself whenever and wherever he happened to itch, Brando was compulsively watchable, projecting a raw sexuality that leaped off the screen. Think of the width and breadth of his range – ‘The Wild One’, ‘On The Waterfront’, ‘Viva Zapata!’, ‘Julius Caesar’, ‘Guys and Dolls’, ‘Teahouse of the August Moon’. He fell into slack performances throughout the 60s, but then had one of the great comebacks in film history as Don Vito Corleone in ‘The Godfather’ (1972), followed by the grieving middle-aged American in Bertolucci’s controversial ‘Last Tango In Paris’ (1972). They’re all monumental performances. You’ve probably seen most of them.

Every film buff is familiar with Brando’s much-touted acting acumen, but have you ever seen Brando’s sole effort as director? For a special change of pace, celebrate Brando’s birthday with the only film he ever directed and starred in, ‘One Eyed Jacks’ (1961). A fictionalized take on both Billy the Kid and the theme of betrayal, set in the Old West, it was originally slated to be directed by up-and-coming Stanley Kubrick, but Brando took the reins at the last minute; apparently, some of Kubrick’s footage survives in the final cut.

Brando plays bank robber Rio, who is double-crossed by his partner and surrogate father, Dad Longstreet (Karl Malden). Released from a Mexican prison after 5 years, Rio tracks down his old partner, now the sheriff of a small coastal town in California. Rio plots revenge and begins an affair with Longstreet’s daughter (Pina Pillicer).

‘One Eyed Jacks’ is a muddled psychological study but a fascinating cinematic Rorschach test into Brando’s bizarre psyche. (Naturally, he includes a mandatory whipping scene; Brando often took a sadomasochistic beating at the box office.) He had the inspiration to film his movie on the beautiful Monterey Peninsula, giving the picture a sand-swept, bleached-out ocean-spray ambience that his unusual in a Western. Gorgeously shot, uniformly fine acting (except for the miscast Pillicer), and far from your average shoot-em-up oater. A great supporting cast includes Ben Johnson, Slim Pickens, Elisha Cook, Jr. and the always interesting Tim Carey.

Click here for a taste of 'One Eyed Jacks' . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2x_Xhjofww