Sunday, January 31, 2010
“Ralph Macchio Talks about One of His Classic Roles”: AOL’s Deathless Contribution to American Civilization
By Nicholas Stix
Last night, my family and I watched The Best Years of Our Lives, about three veterans returning home from World War II, and the problems they and their loved ones have adjusting to postwar life. It starred Fredric March, Dana Andrews, and non-actor Harold Russell as the three vets, and Myrna Loy, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo and Cathy O’Donnell, as the women (and daughter) they left behind. BYOL is one of the five or ten greatest movies ever made.
And “Sgt. Al Stephenson,” which won him his second Best Actor Oscar, was one of Fredric March’s five or ten greatest roles, up there with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, “Norman Maine” in A Star is Born, “Willy Loman” in Death of a Salesman, “Matthew Harrison Brady” (William Jennings Bryan) in Inherit the Wind, and “Harry Hope” in The Iceman Cometh, among others.
I wonder if the folks who post stuff on the aol.com page have ever heard of March. A couple of hours ago, they posted a video entitled, “Ralph Macchio Talks about One of His Classic Roles.”
I didn't treat myself to the video, but you're welcome to.
The high point of Ralph Macchio’s movie career was in playing “the Karate Kid” in three movies, the last of which won him a Razzie award as “Worst Actor.” He never played a “classic role.”
But that’s AOL for you. The service has for years been waging war on taste and intelligence, though I’ve no doubt that its employees consider themselves clever and insightful.
George S. Schuyler had a word for the magazines inserted in Sunday newspapers, whose contemporary equivalent the AOL page is: “Moron fodder.”
