Joey Magidson
Earlier this week, we lost Robert Duvall. At 95 years old, he had led a full life, winning just about all the accolades one could get in Hollywood. He’ll go down as a legend, from To Kill a Mockingbird even up to his near cameo turn in Hustle. In between, Duvall became known as one of the industry’s best, able to go big, small, or anything in between. He directed, too, because of course he did. So, to honor the man, a special Awards Radar Community Question is here today. Simply put, what is your favorite Robert Duvall performance?
Duvall was nominated seven times for an Academy Award (three times in Best Actor and four times in Best Supporting Actor), winning for Tender Mercies. If you want to choose one of those films, you do not lack for choices there. There’s his work in The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, which has become iconic. So too has his performance in Apocalypse Now. No matter where you opt to go, you’re going to land on incredible work. He was just that good.
For my money, these would be his ten best performances, plus a few honorable mentions. Take a look:
Honorable Mention: Deep Impact, Get Low, The Judge, Lonesome Dove, THX 1138, and To Kill a Mockingbird
10. M*A*S*H*
9. Rambling Rose
8. The Godfather Part II
7. Network
6. The Apostle
5. A Civil Action
4. The Godfather
3. Apocalypse Now
2. The Great Santini
1. Tender Mercies
Now, the choice is yours. What are your favorite Robert Duvall performances? Is there a particular film of his that you remember most fondly? Honor the man however you see fit. He was one of our great actors, so regardless of the movie or performance, there’s no wrong answer…
RIP Robert Duvall
When people recall Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now, the first thing they think of is the iconic line, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” And look, I get it. That line is iconic for a reason. But what he does immediately after that line is what always affected me the most about his performance.
Because then he starts musing on the smell, still holding his hoarse but still commanding voice, describing how impressed he is by the swathe of destruction it leaves in its wake, and then hesitates a bit in bringing his rant to a close, as if he’s struggling to find just the right word to land on before pulling a kind of nonchalant sturgeon face and saying matter-of-factly, “… Victory.” Then he looks off wistfully in the distance for a second, then back at Willard and says, “Someday this war’s gonna end…” and he looks like he’s going to say something else… but then just walks off. Because we all know the end of that sentence, without Kilgore having to say it out loud, was, “… so you better enjoy all this carnage and death we’re causing while it lasts.”
It’s such an unsettling moment in the movie, lingering long after Kilgore leaves the picture, and it’s due in no small part to the very smart choices Duvall made in how he chose to portray such an on-the-page ridiculous character.
100%. It’s the entirety of his work there, not just the one, admittedly iconic, line. Totally agree.