Word: heroic
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...used the same ideas, the same flashback techniques, and even the same evil Prometheus as his protagonist. But these methods could not make the the story of a pathetic border sheriff in Touch of Evil as interesting as the life of Charles Foster Kane. Mr. Arkadin has a more heroic figure than the sheriff, but Welles' personal triumph in the title role cannot compensate for the weak ending and even weaker acting of the co-principals...
From the first note of the Esultate that introduces Otello, McCracken was in perfect control. His powerful portrayal of Otello's fatal jealousy had just the right measure of Moorish grief to provide motive enough for murder, and agony enough for a whole flight of heroic high notes. His voice sailed easily over the orchestra even when the musicians were at excessively symphonic pitch-the one element of real excitement in an otherwise hushed performance...
...stumbled off in all directions. Then flying squads of German soldiers burst into the Vomero, the city's principal slum, and gun-butted the male population into labor battalions. In a fury the Neapolitan canaglia, known for a thousand years as the scum of the earth, rose in heroic rebellion against allies they had always loathed. Out of manholes, cellars, caves and sewers crammed with smuggled guns and ammo they came storming, and in four historic days of blood and glory rang a tocsin that awoke the Underground from Naples to the Alps...
...undesirables and the misfits do not inhabit the fringe of society, Hoffer argues; they are the mainspring of change. The fact that they are failures in everyday life makes them jump at the chance to do the heroic. The U.S. itself, writes Hoffer, is the "handiwork of Europe's undesirables dumped on a virgin continent." California's present-day "fruit tramps and Okies" are the counterparts of the noble pioneers who settled the West...
According to Miss Gish the lack of heroic luster of the modern star system is due to type casting. Versatility is no longer appreciated, either by public or industry. "Clark Gable and Gary Cooper are two examples of type actors, who played the same part throughout their acting careers. The greatness of Alec Guinness, in her opinion the finest modern actor, lies in his ability to completely assume the role he is playing, and not expand the part to fit his own personality. Miss Gish thinks that such acting lightweights as Sandra Dee and Tuesday Weld are a group...