Bad Boy Drive

Ahh, great, a book to match Brando Unzipped, in its trashiness and sycophancy. But this time it's not only Brando under the spotlight, but Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper, poor fellows. Based on the premise that these Hollywood "bad boys" all lived on or near Mulholland Drive, Bad Boy Drive is an exhaustive history of their sexual adventures.

Where do these books come from? Who pops them out of the woodwork? MFB feel sorry for the people who actually pay twenty dollars to read this trash.

For a well-deserved review of Sellers' book, go to the Sunday Times website at http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article6326543.ece

YouTube's got BRANDO!

Although MFB have been a Brando fan for years now, we have often thought how lucky we are to have the internet, particularly sites like YouTube, that allow us to watch archive footage of the actor from throughout the years. Marlon's films are wonderful by themselves, but we're always interested in the man behind the dozens of characters he has played, and by golly, has YouTube got the pick of some of Marlon's best interviews!

So let us interest you in some of our favorites:

1) Marlon and.....the Dick Cavett Show (1973). An hour-long treat, these selection of six clips show Marlon and the famous talkshow host talking about topics such as Native American Indian rights and Marlon's own stance towards acting. Despite Cavett's best attempts to try to get Brando to talk about his movies and acting career, particularly of his then-latest release Last Tango In Paris, Marlon stays true to the cause of the American Indians by bringing attention to the events of Wounded Knee and the government's false promises in passing bills in parliament concerning their struggle. Entertaining and endearing to watch, Marlon shines in this 70s classic.

2) Marlon and....."Meet Marlon Brando" (1965). This short documentary, directed by the Maysles brothers, was originally aired on the BBC in the 60s in relation to Marlon's press junket for Morituri. In it he gives a rare auto-pilot performance being interviewed by one T.V. reporter after another. As the narrator sums up: "the reporters ask many predictable questions, Mr. Brando gives few predictable answers".

MFB's favorite moment in the footage comes at the very start when a female reporter gushes about Marlon's performance in Morituri:

Reporter: It's a wonderful show, I've talked to people who've previewed it and they tell me-

Marlon: I don't think we should believe what we hear, even if it's a good report, and even if it's a bad report, we have to make up our own minds about it, I think that's essential. You shouldn't make up your mind about the picture until you've seen it.

Reporter: Now this is, sort of, your whole personality in a capsule; not to believe that-

Marlon: How do you know what my personality is?

Reporter: Because I have met you and you radiate your personality.

Marlon: Really?

Reporter: Uh-huh.

Enough said.

3) Marlon and......Larry King Live (1996). Probably Marlon's most famous interview, it takes place at the actor's Beverly Hills home. Having always been reluctant to talk about his movies and acting career, here Brando is surprisingly candid about his life on screen, talking about Streetcar, Waterfront and The Godfather movies among others.

4) Marlon and.....Saturday Night with Connie Chung (1991). In our opinion, an unsung hero of the few Brando interviews. Appearing after Brando's ten-year self-imposed hiatus from Hollywood in the 80s, the interview is an excellent watch if you want to see a laid-back Brando with impressions, anecdotes, face-pulling, and general horse-play.

5) Marlon and.....the Ed Sullivan Show (1955). A chance to see a fresh-faced Brando, newly crowned with the Oscar he won for On the Waterfront. The interview takes place at his home in the Hollywood hills. In it he plays the bongos and shows the audience a charming portrait of his late mother hanging above his fireplace. His father, Marlon Brando Snr. is also invited to talk.

What are your favorites??

Civil Rights Roundtable with Marlon and others

The DocChannel on YouTube have finally decided to release all the footage from the 1963 Civil Rights Roundtable with Marlon and other notable figures including Charlton Heston, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, James Baldwin and Julius Caesar and Guys and Dolls director Joseph L. Mankiewicz. We had already seen snippets of the footage, but it is great to finally see the whole thing!

Enjoy it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MruG888gH50&playnext_from=TL&videos=O0hRkGjOmAo

marlonbrando.com is here!

Hooray! We have the updated official Brando site! Having been under construction over the last few months, MFB are happy to see the final site up and away at last! The homepage greets us with the words: "Rebel Lover Legend"....historically, words often used to describe the actor.

It doesn't really tell us anything new about Marlon, but it's always nice to have an official site out there dedicated to the memory of Marlon!

You can see the site at www.marlonbrando.com. Enjoy!

Get your "Sttteeellllaaaaa!" on!

When we saw this at MFB, we chuckled, impressed at the same time! In 2010 the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival staged its own "Stelllaaa!" shouting contest. The clip from the festival's website shows men, women, and children alike battling it out to stage the now infamous scene from A Streetcar Named Desire.

Surrounded by hundreds of onlookers, they literally pour their hearts out, with some falling to their knees with ripped emotion. One female participant even shouts "Stanley!" (who wouldn't with Marlon in mind?!)

New Orleans certainly have something to shout about! So make like Ned Flanders people, and get your "Stella!" on!

Your chance to be Marlon! Well, sort of....

Ever wanted to be like Marlon Brando? (We all know Russell Crowe certainly does!) Well, here's your chance!

faceinhole.com is giving people the chance to put their face in Marlon Brando's hole. It may sound like a scene from Last Tango, but if you're interested, you can paste a photo of your face onto the absent hole over Marlon's face in one of a photos taken of the actor in the early 50s holding a pair of bongos.

Check it out!

Brando: The Biopic....who is worthy?

Having discussed the Brando biopic in our previous post, a dilemma presented itself - who is worthy to play Brando in a biopic if it were made?? Who could handle such a task?? Who could capture the essence that is Brando? Like everyone, here at MFB we have a list of our favorite modern-day actors....Ed Norton, Daniel Day Lewis, Tom Hanks...but are they actors that we could see portraying Brando on the big screen? Not really!

We think the key to any biopic is getting the appearance right. James Franco looked exactly like James Dean, it was almost freaky! Joaquin Phoenix looked and sounded shockingly similar to the country giant Johnny Cash, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers looked really like Elvis, albeit without the trademark voice (he was dubbed throughout the movie with Elvis' real voice). But when it comes to Marlon, who could not only play him, but look like him too?

MFB can't even recall any actors who even look remotely like Brando. Those piercing eyes, that Adonis-like body, those sensuous lips....okay, we're getting ahead of myself, but, you know what we mean! Granted, an actor could go through a massive Method-style transformation to achieve the Brando look; Hollywood could even get special effects involved, Avatar style!

What do you think, bloggers? Who do you want to see play Brando in his on-screen biopic? Or would you even want a 21st century actor making their stake on Brando's life? You decide!

Brando Unauthorized

First we had Darwin Porter's Brando Unzipped, a self-proclaimed "no holds barred" book that seemed to concentrate more on Marlon's supposed sexual exploits than his actual career. Now we have Brando Unauthorized, a film directed by and starring Damian Chapa. Like Unzipped, the film will touch lightly on Brando's career, but will examine more closely his childhood and his relationship with his son Christian.

This project seems a little suspicious to MFB, to say the least. We admit, we haven't seen the movie yet, but judging from the movie's tagline, "Genius actor, Controversial Man, A Parent With Turmoil", something tells us the film won't be looking at his films.

MFB would love a project to come along that appreciates Brando for what he was and is: an icon of the 20th century, instead of focussing on the troubles he had off screen. We would also love an actor and director, respectively, to come along worthy of the project! Look at the facts: James Dean got James Franco in the self-titled T.V. biopic James Dean (2001), Johnny Cash got Joaquin Phoenix in the Oscar-nominated Walk the Line (2004), Elvis Presley got Jonathan Rhys-Meyers in Elvis (2005)...you get the picture!

In our opinion, only TCM's documentary Brando (2007) has come remotely close to fairly and accurately representing the legend that was Brando, with excerpts from the people who knew him best. You would have thought, of all the actors ever to grace Hollywood, Brando would be the prime target of directors falling over themselves to do a biopic on the silver screen. Well, you thought wrong!

So, Hollywood, our plea to you is to start writing such a project! Please! Millions of Brando fans like us would be very grateful!

Hutch Dano is Marlon's biggest fan!

The up-and-coming actor Hutch Dano, star of films such as Disney's Zeke and Luther, is apparently a huge fan of Marlon Brando! In an interview with Teen Vogue, he cites watching Brando's films as a major hobby of his. Well, we can't fault his taste!

Here are his top favorite Brando movies:

1. On the Waterfront

2. A Streetcar Named Desire

3. The Men

4. The Godfather

5. Guys and Dolls

This finding begs the question: bloggers, what are your top 5 Brando movies???

Is it Marlon Crowe or Russell Brando?

Every actor has yearned to be like Marlon Brando in one way or another. There's a reason why he's considered the most influential actor in American film history! But after reading this story, you can add Gladiator star Russell Crowe to that ever-growing list! Crowe has told a source how his most treasured possession is not his best actor Oscar, but a book of poetry once owned by his idol, Brando.

A friend of Brando's passed on James Kavanaugh's book of poetry "There Are Men Too Gentle To Live Among Wolves" to Crowe in 2004 after the actor passed away. The book had been given to Brando by Jack Nicholson. Crowe has cited Brando as his "favorite actor" and had watched all his films, also saying that "a while after Marlon died, one of his closest friends got in touch with me. And she said that I was his favorite actor and that she and he used to watch my films together. She said that on his deathbed he had given her this book to give to me."

Well, our perception that Johnny Depp was Brando's favorite actor has been blown out of the window!

Crowe added: “People say I’m crazy, but I don’t know. I just want to be like Marlon Brando.” Doesn't everybody, Russell?

Tales from Tetiaroa

We all know Brando felt truly at peace on his Tahitian atoll of Tetiaroa. But of all the stories MFB have heard about his exploits on the island, mostly from his autobiography Songs My Mother Taught Me, this strikes us as the cutest! The story recounts a visit to Tahiti by a girl and her mother in the 1980s and their subsequent meeting with the "round-chested" Brando:

"dressed in white: a gauzy, white shirt and white, Bermuda shorts and leather sandals. He wore a choker-necklace of white shells that stood out amidst the dark, curling hairs inside his shirt. I did not think that he could be an actor; but I liked his smile, and his deep, soft, whispery voice. His brown eyes smiled warmly when he looked at me, and he was enchanted by my mother. He sat with us for some time, laughing with Jack and making a reef around my mother, with one arm on the back of her chair and one arm on the table. This Marlon Brando bought me a Shirley Temple and stayed for dessert."

Classic Brando.

"Stop the development!" Petition signed: M. Brando!

MFB came across this story on the BBC's website. It describes an English village's struggle to stop industrial development in their area. Yeah, it may sound like some storyline from some British B-movie, but with one outstanding difference: Marlon Brando as its star! Turns out Brando vacationed in the area during his later years, eventually staying for nearly six months! Wow, how lucky would you be to have such a legend in your own back yard? Very lucky!

Caroline Barrett, Brando's assistant at the time, claims Marlon would have been appalled by these plans to taint this "idyllic" part of the English countryside. We can agree with that, developers would be wrong to go ahead and build a big old warehouse right in the middle of this beautiful part of England. Who wants a parking lot right next to their Tudor house?

At any rate, we would have loved to see the developer's faces if they had received a petition against the development signed: Marlon Brando. Nothing says a slap in the face with a wet fish than that!

Check out the BBC's site for more information on the matter.

$140 for Brando on your shirt?!

For a long time MFB have been looking for a t-shirt with Brando's beautiful face on it. We looked everywhere for such a gem, but all the shirts we came across were from The Godfather era. Don't get us wrong, we loved Brando and his performance in The Godfather, but we yearned for a t-shirt that captured the Adonis that was Marlon circa 1950/60s.

Fear not! Dolce and Gabanna have the answer, albeit all $140 of it!

Marlon on your t-shirt? Priceless!