Sydney Greenstreet is THE MAN ! Honestly, I can't remember any movies I saw him in (I did not see all, but many), where he did not dominate at least all the scenes where he was in, effortlessly in fact ! Even in "The Maltese Falcon" Bogart paled when Greenstreet was on-screen.
In many movies he even dominated all the other scenes as well, where he was not on-screen.
The guy made a little over 20 movies, according to the IMDb, in less than a decade, from 1941 to 49 to be precise, and FLAMINGO ROAD was his penultimate (he was even in RUTHLESS, one of the most underrated masterpieces of the 40ies !!!).
Just take the intro: it's less than 5 minutes into the movie, that you see a car parking, a guy leaving it. You just see his back. What a back! You don't even have to see the guy up front, to know who he is. Massive.
But what would YOU expect ?!!! Michael Curtiz, one of THE directors of that time (if not THE director of them all - look at his list of achievements) was at it. This director clearly knew not only how to get the best out of the whole cast, but also how to put them on screen the best way possible, how to introduce them properly. Greenstreet was sort-of-a-legend as character actor then already, and this was the best way to introduce him, just to show his huge back.
Up he walks a veranda and gets his massive figure into an armchair, intending to put is southern hat at the table besides the armchair, but ... no table there. Not in a loud voice, just casual, he calls the (then usually black and fittingly) servant to tell him that nearly would it have happened that (again!) his hat might have fallen onto the ground and HE (= Greenstreet) would have had to pick it up, like it had "once" (!) happened in the past. He says it casual and without anger, but it is easy to see that this must have been a major disappointment to him - regardless how many years ago this happened, could have been a decade as well -, which he still remembers like the day it happened, like the day when he had his hat fallen in the dust and had to pick it up.
Needless to say the servant had the table aside the armchair just seconds later.
Enters Zachary Scott, a competent actor as well (also in RUTHLESS, by the way!), the deputy-sheriff, and asked by Greenstreet what he'd done the whole day, replies "been fishing". He'd actually do something for his money, says Scott, if it would lead to anything (clearly implying it would not), but hinting he'd even be sorry for doing nothing. Says Greenstreet he should not (!) worry 'bout that, there would be many other people in - whatever the name of the town was - who would get/earn a lot more money for doing a lot less than he's doing (= fishing the day, smile).
Come on, ain't that a scene ?!!! Ever seen something like this in a recent movie, where a guy says not to worry about being lazy ?? Nope, that's against common sense today (poor times we're living in, aren't we?!).
All that is delivered almost casually, without any effort, completely easy, just amazing !! This alone is worth watching the (whole) movie, but there are many more great Greenstreet-scenes coming, more than I can recite here. Watch it !! This movie gets a 10 out of 10 for having such a fantastic role for Greenstreet, but the movie itself is also pretty good (would rate it 7 or 8). All the other cast is VERY competent, the story holds interest throughout, the ending is a little by-the-numbers but satisfying, all in all a great achievement and NOT a minor in anybodys career.
As I said, watch it, you won't be disappointed (at least if you love good decent movies and can watch a black-and-white one, smile).
In many movies he even dominated all the other scenes as well, where he was not on-screen.
The guy made a little over 20 movies, according to the IMDb, in less than a decade, from 1941 to 49 to be precise, and FLAMINGO ROAD was his penultimate (he was even in RUTHLESS, one of the most underrated masterpieces of the 40ies !!!).
Just take the intro: it's less than 5 minutes into the movie, that you see a car parking, a guy leaving it. You just see his back. What a back! You don't even have to see the guy up front, to know who he is. Massive.
But what would YOU expect ?!!! Michael Curtiz, one of THE directors of that time (if not THE director of them all - look at his list of achievements) was at it. This director clearly knew not only how to get the best out of the whole cast, but also how to put them on screen the best way possible, how to introduce them properly. Greenstreet was sort-of-a-legend as character actor then already, and this was the best way to introduce him, just to show his huge back.
Up he walks a veranda and gets his massive figure into an armchair, intending to put is southern hat at the table besides the armchair, but ... no table there. Not in a loud voice, just casual, he calls the (then usually black and fittingly) servant to tell him that nearly would it have happened that (again!) his hat might have fallen onto the ground and HE (= Greenstreet) would have had to pick it up, like it had "once" (!) happened in the past. He says it casual and without anger, but it is easy to see that this must have been a major disappointment to him - regardless how many years ago this happened, could have been a decade as well -, which he still remembers like the day it happened, like the day when he had his hat fallen in the dust and had to pick it up.
Needless to say the servant had the table aside the armchair just seconds later.
Enters Zachary Scott, a competent actor as well (also in RUTHLESS, by the way!), the deputy-sheriff, and asked by Greenstreet what he'd done the whole day, replies "been fishing". He'd actually do something for his money, says Scott, if it would lead to anything (clearly implying it would not), but hinting he'd even be sorry for doing nothing. Says Greenstreet he should not (!) worry 'bout that, there would be many other people in - whatever the name of the town was - who would get/earn a lot more money for doing a lot less than he's doing (= fishing the day, smile).
Come on, ain't that a scene ?!!! Ever seen something like this in a recent movie, where a guy says not to worry about being lazy ?? Nope, that's against common sense today (poor times we're living in, aren't we?!).
All that is delivered almost casually, without any effort, completely easy, just amazing !! This alone is worth watching the (whole) movie, but there are many more great Greenstreet-scenes coming, more than I can recite here. Watch it !! This movie gets a 10 out of 10 for having such a fantastic role for Greenstreet, but the movie itself is also pretty good (would rate it 7 or 8). All the other cast is VERY competent, the story holds interest throughout, the ending is a little by-the-numbers but satisfying, all in all a great achievement and NOT a minor in anybodys career.
As I said, watch it, you won't be disappointed (at least if you love good decent movies and can watch a black-and-white one, smile).