Word: brandos
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...imagine a film suffering from too much talent. But there is an obvious incompatability between the writing talents of Bergman (proven in the past by his works Blazing Saddles and Fletch) featured in this taut, very funny script, and the monolithic acting abilities of two-time Academy Award winner Brando. Matters are complicated further by the fact that The Freshman is largely a parody of the mob ethos engendered by The Godfather and its central character, Don Corleone, immortalized by Brando...
...heart and soul of both The Godfather and The Freshman, their essense, if you will, simply is Marlon Brando. Brando, arguably, is bigger than the films themselves, bigger than their scripts. His performance in The Godfather is so powerful that Don Corleone has come to typify the under-world kingpin, not only in Hollywood, but in the American consciousness as well. Brando's riveting presence is an asset in The Godfather, given the somber ambience carefully crafted by Francis Ford Coppola, and the balance provided to the work by the equally riveting performances of Al Paccino, Robert Duvall, and James...
...Freshman's lighter setting, however, Brando's tremendous ability becomes a bull in a china shop. The movie calls for deft direction to avoid trampling the film's fragile comedic atmosphere. Reigning in Brando under such stringent tolerances would be a challenge for even the most accomplished director, a task clearly beyond the abilities of Bergman. He might be comforted by the knowledge that he practically doomed himself to failure right from the outset. Bergman made the already difficult task of executing an intelligent farce of The Godfather even more trying by casting in The Freshman's piviotal role...
...order for an audience to appreciate a parody, they need to be familiar with the subject being ridiculed; in the case of The Freshman this is a doubled-edged sword. No one who has seen The Godfather will, without great difficulty, be able to successfully separate Brando's characterization of Don Corleone from his characterization of Carmine Sabatini. In the viewer's mind Brando's various incarnations of the mob boss blur, and along with the confusion goes The Freshman's hopes for a separate successful identity...
Bergman has assembled a talented if not superstar ensemble around Brando, and it is certainly not on their account that Brando overpowers the film. Broderick possesse a natural comic timing, and is perfect in his role as the naive New Englander. Kirby, too, is excellent in his role, extremely convincing as Sabatini's slightly slimy go-fernephew. Miller slips in and out of her horribly affected Queens accent but is well suited to her character, effectively portraying the spoiled self-consciousness one might expect from the mafia princess. And Academy Award-winning actor Schell is strangely engaging as the quirky...