Elia Kazan – My Favorite Westerns

Marlon Brando’s (reworked) Westerns

Thom Hickey over at The Immortal Jukebox (https://theimmortaljukebox.com/) just posted a LIKE on a post I did back in 2013 called Brando’s Western Trilogy. (Thanks Thom!)

However, that post needs some very serious editing. I blatantly omitted Viva Zapata (1952). This movie starred Brando, Jean Peters, and Anthony Quinn – and was Directed by Elia Kazan with a screenplay written by John Steinbeck. If you ever wonder if there really was something special about Brando just consider this: his second movie A Streetcar named Desire was also directed by Elia Kazan and the screenplay was written by Tennessee Williams. Viva Zapata was his third film – again Directed by Kazan – with the screenplay written by Steinbeck. That’s pretty amazing really.

Viva Zapata Jean Peters — **Jean Peters**

Viva Zapata Anthony Quinn — **Anthony Quinn**

Viva Zapata Henry Silva — **Henry Silva** has a small part

Kazan

From Internet Movie Database (IMDB): Kazan Directed 21 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: James Dunn, Celeste Holm, Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, Anne Revere, Jeanne Crain, Ethel Barrymore, Ethel Waters, Karl Malden, Vivien Leigh, Kim Hunter, Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Jo Van Fleet, James Dean, Carroll Baker, Mildred Dunnock and Natalie Wood. Dunn, Holm, Malden, Leigh, Hunter, Quinn, Brando, Saint and Van Fleet all won Oscars for their performances in Kazan films.

Kazan Quotes on Brando (IMDB):

“To my way of thinking, his performance in On the Waterfront (1954) is the best male performance I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“He was deeply rebellious against the bourgeois spirit, the over-ordering of life.”

“Every word seemed not something memorized but the spontaneous expression of an inner experience – which is the level of work all actors strive to reach.”

Steinbeck

Viva Zapata Academy Awards

Anthony Quinn won the 1952 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

The film was also nominated for:

Best Actor in a Leading Role – Marlon Brando
Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – John Steinbeck
Best Art Direction – Set Decoration, Black-and-White – Lyle R. Wheeler, Leland Fuller, Thomas Little, Claude E. Carpenter
Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture – Alex North

BAFTA Awards

Marlon Brando won the 1953 BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor. The film was also nominated for Best Film from any Source.

Cannes Film Festival

At the 1952 Cannes Film Festival, Brando won for Best Actor, while Elia Kazan was nominated for the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film.