Gable vs. Bogart

[Stanley Doble]

The two actors aren't really comparable, as actors. It's not as if they could switch roles. Imagine Gable as Duke Mantee in "Petrified Forest," or Bogart as Fletcher Christian! Nope!

In 1935 it would be easier to see Gable as a gangester and Bogart as Christian. Bogart was originally cast as Boze Hertzlinger the football player in Petrified Forest. That role was more in line with what he had played previously. They originally wanted Edward G. Robinson for Duke Mantee but he turned it down, fearing that he was becoming type cast in gangester roles.

Playing Duke was a lucky break for Bogart and led to his first starring roles in the movies.

Today it seems so inevitable.

 

[TimeWarpWife]

Definintely Bogart. I haven't liked one movie Gable did, including Gone With The Wind. IMO, some of the worst overacting I've ever seen went on in that movie.

 

[Blackthorn]

I see where the AFI recognized the 50 greatest American film legends, 25 men and 25 women. Bogart was number one, and Gable...number seven. I think they are right. I'd agree on the top three, definitely.

http://www.afi.com/100years/stars.aspx

 

[Benzadmiral]

Yep.......

Okay, I had to dig for it, but apparently Verita's club, "Bogie and Me," was in the Kelsto Club building, at 720 St. Louis (http://www.southerner.net/v3n1_2002/genniferflowers.html). That'd be just a few steps off of Bourbon Street; prime real estate.

 

[Edward]

I see where the AFI recognized the 50 greatest American film legends, 25 men and 25 women. Bogart was number one, and Gable...number seven. I think they are right. I'd agree on the top three, definitely.

http://www.afi.com/100years/stars.aspx

Meh. I'd rate Brando well over Grant, possibly over Jimmy Stewart too. Dean should be much farther up the list. As for John Wayne, well, he has little business being called an actor let alone appearing on such a list.

 

[Tomasso]

As for John Wayne, well, he has little business being called an actor let alone appearing on such a list.

I think you are confusing star power with acting prowess.

 

[ratpack66]

Bogie with out a doubt.I like Gable too,but That god awful Gone With the Wind.makes me puke.I must say though I prefer Cary Grant and Robert Montgomery a little more though

 

[FedoraFan112390]

Gable

 

[Bird Lives]

Definitely Cary Grant...for biggest star....Bogie for the best friend a fedora ever had....Gable was a huge star no question and wore a fedora nicely but as previously noted many of his most popular roles were period pieces where as bogie had to be the Fedora-Trench Coat Hero... and seemed to have infinite ways to personalize those 2 fashion accessories for different characters...

We are talking star power here...The Hollywood larger than life Star...in most cases this meant someone who brought a certain character; voice, facial mannerisms, body english, etc..to many different roles...The most versatile Hollywood Stars could customize this 'character to play a wide scope and range of characters.....For instance, Cary Grant was always Cary Grant but his characters were convincingly different....Later this Hollywood Star image was lost and the emphasis was more on true acting ability. This mind set had previously been saved for 'character actors'...This would be the generation of De Niro, Pacino, Anthony Hopkins, Charlize Theron, etc. where a leading man would lose or gain 60 lbs during the making of the movie, and be unrecognizable in their roles....

For this Classic Star Power, I think the above list of 25 man and female actors prior to 1950 is right on....although to nit-pick I would put Cary at #1... But for a list signed off on by the Fedora Lounge...Bogie would have to reign at #1 with Jimmy Stewart not far behind....shoot...wheres Dana Andrews...? He could put a number on personalizing Fedora wearing to a character...

 

[FedoraFan112390]

Definitely Cary Grant...for biggest star....Bogie for the best friend a fedora ever had....Gable was a huge star no question and wore a fedora nicely but as previously noted many of his most popular roles were period pieces where as bogie had to be the Fedora-Trench Coat Hero... and seemed to have infinite ways to personalize those 2 fashion accessories for different characters...

We are talking star power here...The Hollywood larger than life Star...in most cases this meant someone who brought a certain character; voice, facial mannerisms, body english, etc..to many different roles...The most versatile Hollywood Stars could customize this 'character to play a wide scope and range of characters.....For instance, Cary Grant was always Cary Grant but his characters were convincingly different....Later this Hollywood Star image was lost and the emphasis was more on true acting ability. This mind set had previously been saved for 'character actors'...This would be the generation of De Niro, Pacino, Anthony Hopkins, Charlize Theron, etc. where a leading man would lose or gain 60 lbs during the making of the movie, and be unrecognizable in their roles....

For this Classic Star Power, I think the above list of 25 man and female actors prior to 1950 is right on....although to nit-pick I would put Cary at #1... But for a list signed off on by the Fedora Lounge...Bogie would have to reign at #1 with Jimmy Stewart not far behind....shoot...wheres Dana Andrews...? He could put a number on personalizing Fedora wearing to a character...

Thing is, Bogie is one note player...Bogart, for me, is Bogart in every role. He never blends in to any role really. He's kind of wooden and I think overrated because he played tough guys. He's not a very dynamic actor. Whereas Gable was, he played a lot of different roles. He could be the dark Noir-ish tough, or a playbboy, or a rogue, or a caddish sort of fool. Gable's movies (outside of GWTW, It Happened One Night, Manhattan Melodrama, Mutiny on the Bounty, Moambo and The Misfits) for some reason aren't as well known.

And Gable made plenty of films where he wore a fedora...Comrade X is an example.

I'd like if Grant and others could be left out of this, it's about Gable v. Bogart....Not Golden Era movie stars in general.

 

[Aristaeus]

Meh. I'd rate Brando well over Grant, possibly over Jimmy Stewart too. Dean should be much farther up the list. As for John Wayne, well, he has little business being called an actor let alone appearing on such a list.

Nothing wrong with John Wayne, a very good actor, as for Bogart or Gable I have to go with Bogart.

 

[tridentine]

Mr Bogart, as far as acting goes.

 

[Guttersnipe]

I've always thought that Bogart turned in much more nuanced performances than Gable, and while it's true that Gable is known for taking on more diverse roles (comedies, dramas, action pictures, etc.), but to say Bogart wasn't as versatile isn't really fair. Early in his career on the New York stage, Bogart played supporting comedic rolls a lot, which he hated, calling such part "White Pants Willie" rolls (whatever that means), but he was considered good at these.

To see Bogart do something drastically different, I recommend The Petrified Forest (1936) and Black Legion (1937). In both those pictures he plays characters totally different than the iconic Bogart anti-hero cynic. In The Petrified Forest, he plays an especially creepy bad guy . . .

. . . as an interesting aside, in the biography of Robert Mitchum, Baby I Don't Care, Michum is quoted as saying something along the lines of "Gable was so stupid, if you asked him 'how are you doing?' he had to stop and think about it."

 

[LizzieMaine]

Early in his career, on the New York stage, Bogart played supporting comedic rolls a lot - which he hated - calling such part "White Pants Willie" rolls (whatever that means).

Imagine the stereotypical musical-comedy juvenile -- a callow young man in white flannels, bounding energetically into the room with "Tennis anyone?" That's White Pants Willie. "Those parts made me feel silly and girlish," Bogart insisted. "The g. d. director would have me come out modeling the latest pinch-back sports coat with pansy neck cloths and a swishy new hairdo."

Oh my.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Imagine the stereotypical musical-comedy juvenile -- a callow young man in white flannels, bounding energetically into the room with "Tennis anyone?" That's White Pants Willie. "Those parts made me feel silly and girlish," Bogart insisted. "The g. d. director would have me come out modeling the latest pinch-back sports coat with pansy neck cloths and a swishy new hairdo."

Oh my.

Oh my indeed. Spoken like a true navy man . . .

 

[Old Rogue]

No question for me, it's Bogart all the way.

 

[this one guy]

Oh boy these are the choices?....:eusa_doh:

Can I opt for the sartorially resplendent Gary Cooper?lol

If not it is Clark Gable all the way!

Here's how I rank them:

Gary Cooper :first:

Bogart :second:

Gable :third:

 

[vitanola]

Robert Mitchum: was picked up for vagrancy and sent to join a chain gang in the Savannah swamplands, then certainly during the Depression era when he lived the hobo life, riding the rails across country from coast to coast with the aristocracy of the road.

Mitchum worked the punch-press at a Toledo factory in 1936 and he'd toked when shaping steel for Lockheed. Tough guy..:eusa_clap http://www.ukcia.org/potculture/49/mitchum.html

Don Knotts: Veteran of the Second World War who was awarded the World War II Victory Medal, Philippine Liberation Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (with 4 bronze service stars), Army Good Conduct Medal, Marksman Badge (with Carbine Bar) and Honorable Service Lapel Pin.

Served in the Army of the United States, under the service number 35 756 363, from June 21, 1943 to January 6, 1946. Discharged in the rank of Technician Grade 5, which was the equivalent of a Corporal. Toughest of em all...:eusa_clap :eusa_clap

If you care to speak of war records, what of John Boles? He didn't serve at the front in France, rather behind the lines in Germany, Bulgaria and Turkey, as a spy for our government, where he was subject to the ultimate penalty if caught. He then took up singing and acting, and became more than competent. He was a headliner on Broadway in the 'Twenties and a star of the early "talkies", reprising his role in the Zigfield horse opera "Rio Rita" for the films and helping to put over "The King Of Jazz" by providing a decidedly jazz-free contrast to a very young Bing Crosby.

Here is a clip of Boles in action in KOJ:

[video=youtube_share;2V7TCXTGXaM]http://youtu.be/2V7TCXTGXaM[/video]

and another of Boles in "Rio Rita"

[video=youtube_share;KMElw2vWiHQ]http://youtu.be/KMElw2vWiHQ[/video]

Boles suffered, perhaps, from a too-strict adherence to his operatic training. He studied with, among others, Emilio de Gorgorza, a great singer and recording executive whose career was firmly grounded in the first decade of the century.

 

[vitanola]

Definitely Cary Grant...for biggest star....Bogie for the best friend a fedora ever had....Gable was a huge star no question and wore a fedora nicely but as previously noted many of his most popular roles were period pieces where as bogie had to be the Fedora-Trench Coat Hero... and seemed to have infinite ways to personalize those 2 fashion accessories for different characters...

We are talking star power here...The Hollywood larger than life Star...in most cases this meant someone who brought a certain character; voice, facial mannerisms, body english, etc..to many different roles...The most versatile Hollywood Stars could customize this 'character to play a wide scope and range of characters.....For instance, Cary Grant was always Cary Grant but his characters were convincingly different....Later this Hollywood Star image was lost and the emphasis was more on true acting ability. This mind set had previously been saved for 'character actors'...This would be the generation of De Niro, Pacino, Anthony Hopkins, Charlize Theron, etc. where a leading man would lose or gain 60 lbs during the making of the movie, and be unrecognizable in their roles....

For this Classic Star Power, I think the above list of 25 man and female actors prior to 1950 is right on....although to nit-pick I would put Cary at #1... But for a list signed off on by the Fedora Lounge...Bogie would have to reign at #1 with Jimmy Stewart not far behind....shoot...wheres Dana Andrews...? He could put a number on personalizing Fedora wearing to a character...

What of Richard Barthelmess, Sessuie Hayakawa, Wallace Beery, Gibson Gowland or Jean Hersholt, all of whom were actors, rather than personalities, and could act rings around many, if not most, of the "stars"?

 

[Stormy]

Bogart for me, but I know that Gable is looking down at me from above right now and saying, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!"