Word: rotters
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Back in 2000, Steve Martin was talking about the hack writer's trick of getting sympathy for one character by making another one a total rotter. "I think that's the cheap and ugly way out," he said. "What I hate in movies - I mean action movies - is, 'We need the audience to really hate the bad guy. So let's have him kill two 6-year-olds...
...minutes south, on Broadway near Columbia University, Campo - "gathering place" in Italian - is living up to its name (www.camponyc.com). New York foodies congregate inside the rust-and-gold dining room (accented by exposed brick and pressed tin on the ceiling) to indulge in chef David Rotter's fresh takes on Italy's greatest hits, including fried risotto balls, monkfish milanese and chicken alla diavolo cooked under a brick...
...most actors, though, including the most distinguished, playing a rotter offers a holiday from more serious fare; a nice paycheck after all those worthy little independent films; a chance to retune the actor's instrument and play it in a darker, bolder key; or just the fun of being in a movie everyone will see. We heard from a dozen of them and squirreled out the secrets of their craft: the Seven Rules of Movie Villainy...
...buried under two plot questions: Will Danny find Solomon's diamond? And will he locate a furtive decency under all that artful scheming? Neither holds much suspense, since 1) this is an action movie and 2) DiCaprio takes lots of risks as an actor, but playing a total rotter isn't one of them...
Good example: Cape Fear, with Peck as the head of a family menaced by all-time cunning sicko Robert Mitchum. At the climax, Peck trains a gun on the villain. Shoot 'im, Greg! But no. This time the good guy is not going to kill the bad guy; the rotter will be tried, convicted and imprisoned. A less confident actor might have let this verdict sound like weakness, but Peck sells the notion that life in jail is as unpleasant as a bullet...