My Favorite Jason Robards Performances

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[Melvin and Howard] Yup, it's a good film, Gloria Grahame has a small part, but Mary Steenburgen has a real plumb role. Good story too.
I saw it when it came out, but I've since forgotten that Gloria was in it. Might have to re-watch...
I re-watched it last night after 40+ years. Robards was good as Hughes, but he hadn't much screen time. Probably a day's work for him. I was disappointed that they reportedly cut most of Grahame's part. In the version I saw she was only glimpsed a few times, and had no lines. At first I thought Paul Le Mat was wrong for the role of Melvin, but he really grows on the viewer. Steenburgen was of course a cute doll: ditsy, but sharp.

But what impressed me most about the film was its good-naturedness-- a quality that has all but disappeared in contemporary films. Looking back I guess 1980 was in the midst of an idyllic era, certainly in comparison to today's misery, grief, angst and contentiousness. Makes one wonder if society will ever return to pleastantness.



I re-watched it last night after 40+ years. Robards was good as Hughes, but he hadn't much screen time. Probably a day's work for him. I was disappointed that they reportedly cut most of Grahame's part. In the version I saw she was only glimpsed a few times, and had no lines. At first I thought Paul Le Mat was wrong for the role of Melvin, but he really grows on the viewer. Steenburgen was of course a cute doll: ditsy, but sharp.

But what impressed me most about the film was its good-naturedness-- a quality that has all but disappeared in contemporary films. Looking back I guess 1980 was in the midst of an idyllic era, certainly in comparison to today's misery, grief, angst and contentiousness. Makes one wonder if society will ever return to pleastantness.
Gotta agree with all of what you wrote...Gloria Grahame's movie career basically ended in 1959. I've watched many of her 1970s films and she'll usually have only a few lines...And that's how I found Howard and Melvin by systemically going through her filmography. I discovered a lot of neat films that way. The film does have a lighter good-naturedness as you say and you're right contemporary films just don't have that quality anymore. It seems the reality tv show craze has made today's movies more focused on seedy personal exposes.



I dated a girl in High School whose nickname was Doctor Dick-Diver.

Turned out to be a misnomer. More like Dr. I-Don't-Do-That-Anymore.
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I've only seen him in Once Upon a Time in the West, Johnny Got His Gun, All the President's Men, and Magnolia. From what I've seen of him though, I really love his screen presence. He's a fabulous actor who is rather underpraised, imo.
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Gotta agree with all of what you wrote...Gloria Grahame's movie career basically ended in 1959. I've watched many of her 1970s films and she'll usually have only a few lines...And that's how I found Howard and Melvin by systemically going through her filmography. I discovered a lot of neat films that way. The film does have a lighter good-naturedness as you say and you're right contemporary films just don't have that quality anymore. It seems the reality tv show craze has made today's movies more focused on seedy personal exposes.

What I loved about Melvin and Howard is its slice of Americana atmosphere...wrapped around a small knit community where everyone knows everyone, including the hapless everyman Melvin Dummar. This movie could have worked without the appearance of the Howard Hughes character as far as I'm concerned.



I saw it when it came out, but I've since forgotten that Gloria was in it. Might have to re-watch...

Citizen is our local Gloria Grahame expert...any questions about the actress and career should be referred to him.



23.

Henry Drummond, Inherit the Wind (1988)



Robards plays Henry Drummond, a fictionalized Clarence Darrow in this 1988 remake of the 1960 classic playing an attorney in a mock up of the famous Scopes Monkey Trial. Kirk Douglas played the fictionalized William Jennings Bryan, who is renamed Matthew Harrison Brady. Robards also played a character named Henry Drummond in 1966's A Big Hand for the Little Lady, which has nothing to do with this film.



22.

Dr. Russell Oakes, The Day After



Robards heads an all-star cast in this legendary TV movie playing a doctor who finds himself in the middle of nuclear holocaust in a small Kansas town.



23.

Henry Drummond, Inherit the Wind (1988)



Robards plays Henry Drummond, a fictionalized Clarence Darrow in this 1988 remake of the 1960 classic playing an attorney in a mock up of the famous Scopes Monkey Trial. Kirk Douglas played the fictionalized William Jennings Bryan, who is renamed Matthew Harrison Brady. Robards also played a character named Henry Drummond in 1966's A Big Hand for the Little Lady, which has nothing to do with this film.
Never seen this one (and didn't know about it).
I've seen the version with George C. Scott and the original, of course, with Tracy & March (the original still can't be beat)!



22.Dr. Russell Oakes, The Day After

Robards heads an all-star cast in this legendary TV movie playing a doctor who finds himself in the middle of nuclear holocaust in a small Kansas town.
This is a damn good movie about the effects on a small town USA after a nuclear strike and how the people try to function with all social services gone. It's one of the best post nuclear attack films I've seen. Good choice Gideon!



Never seen this one (and didn't know about it).
I've seen the version with George C. Scott and the original, of course, with Tracy & March (the original still can't be beat)!
I agree. With electric performances by Spencer Tracy and Frederic March, directed by Stanley Kramer.... what a way to start the '60s!!



I agree. With electric performances by Spencer Tracy and Frederic March, directed by Stanley Kramer.... what a way to start the '60s!!
And it also had Gene Kelly, Dick York, Claude Akins, and Harry Morgan in the cast!



21.

Earl Partridge, Magnolia



Robards delivered a thunderous performance in Paul Thomas Anderson's all star masterpiece playing a dying millionaire dealing with a cheating wife, an estranged son, and a tightly wound male nurse.



20.

President Richard Monckton, Washington: Behind Closed Doors



Robards once again commanded the small screen in this ABC mini-series playing a fictional President of the United States.



19.

Stephen Kozlenko, The War Between Men and Women



Robards made the most of a thankless role in this comedy based on the drawings of cartoonist James Thurber playing the insecure husband of a woman (Barbra Harris) who is drifting into an affair with a cartoonist who can't deal with commitment (Jack Lemmon). Robards and the criminally underrated Harris make this one worth checking out.



21.

Earl Partridge, Magnolia



Robards delivered a thunderous performance in Paul Thomas Anderson's all star masterpiece playing a dying millionaire dealing with a cheating wife, an estranged son, and a tightly wound male nurse.
His regrets monologue is one of the best acted scenes I've ever come across in film.



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18.

Dr. Rank, A Doll's House




There have been numerous film versions of this play, but this 1959 TV movie featured Robards in a small but pivotal role in this TV adaptation of, arguably, Henrik Ibsen's most
famous play.



17.

George S. Kaufman, Act One



Robards' slightly hammy performance is the best thing about this fictionalized biopic of Kaufman's writing partner, Moss Hart (George Hamilton). It goes without saying that Robards acted Hamilton off the screen here.