http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNRoeMvzMVo
Dad loved Marlon Brando, for as long as I can remember. He always said Brando spoke with such clarity, such eloquence and depth that you could not but be drawn into the world of which he spoke. And as Marc Antony in Julius Caesar he was sublime.
Maybe it was a summer ago that Dad got us to sit down to watch the film with him. All throughout Dad would recite the play alongside Brando, which he of course still remembered word for word. I remember thinking then that Dad wasn’t so bad himself. Maybe not exactly a Brando, but one was surely to sit up and listen to what he had to say. And most likely even be moved by it.
Caesar was an honorable man.
Yes Dad, and so were you.
January 28th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Fer, glad you obtained a copy of this. YouTube has got to be one of the greatest inventions around, along with cellphones and the Internet.
Anyway, this particular clip–hard to believe it’s just almost 10 minutes–reawakens a lot of memories. I remember being ecstatic way back in ‘98 when, for some reason, Bryn’s cable connection somehow got connected to the movie channels, and for 3-1/2 months I enjoyed seeing a lot of movies. ‘Julius Caesar’ was one of them. Excitedly, I taped the movie–in VHS then–and brought it home to Den, who watched it repeatedly. Uc would even recite the last line, “Whence comes such another”, to Den’s amusement.
The news yesterday carried the story of the death of Brando’s son at the early age of 49. I’m sure that Den, if he were alive, would be saddened at this. But he wouldn’t be surprised. One of the books he had me read in ‘89 was about the children of great men, and how they were unable to attain the greatness of their fathers. I guess, sadly, that’s one of the trade-offs of greatness, success and fame.