Good Bye Heros and Heroines

When I watch a classic movie it is a rarity I am ever disappointed with the actors, actresses, or plot. Rare. Heck, even what some called “b” movies when first released, I consider brilliant. Are your favorite classic movie stars remembered more for their acting ability, or beauty and sex appeal? I have to say their acting ability.

Unlike today’s movies where youth, beauty, and sex appeal trump acting ability, the movies of yesteryear were just the opposite. Jason Kettinger wrote an article regarding just this on ofb.biz. I gather from the article that classic movies are new to him and especially Katharine Hepburn. He states that today’s actresses are “so chained to her sex appeal that she is not allowed to act.” The actresses of old had something more. I don’t think it really mattered about the sex appeal thing as much. It was more about showing off their acting ability. It was about making a character in a movie “bigger than life,” so much so that many didn’t take notice of the actresses’ beauty and sex appeal until much later, if ever. Being sexy and beautiful came in due time, but the great acting is what perhaps made us see the beauty and sex appeal, even in those that were not considered so back in the day. I think we fall in love with the characters played than we do with the star.

Kettinger goes on to say that he didn’t think it an “overstatement or moralism to say that sex appeal is now the only criterion.” I agree. Just take a look at what Hollywood calls stars today. Back in the day, the actor or actress became one with the character they played, so much so that you “forgot the actor’s name,” but remembered the role very well. Today all you have are famous people, famous names, fluff, but no substance. It’s no wonder one can remember a contemporary actor’s name, but not their achievements.

Katharine Hepburn in a two hour interview in 1973 stated that “sexual self-absorption” had ended the era of true acting. She believed, in 1973 mind you, that “we had begun to turn inward so much that people lacked the skills to either act or live the great hero and heroine stories of her earlier decades.” What would she think today?

Somehow I feel a sense of dread about it all. In my mind, Katharine wasn’t only speaking about the movies, but also about her generation, or the last great generation. They too are gone. Those which were willing to “live the great hero and heroine stories.”