Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with some late night thoughts on the passing of another film legend, Mr. Farley Granger.
Like most of you, I know Granger mostly from his Hitchcock work. Famously he played the good guy Guy Gaines in one of Hitch’s beset films: Strangers on a Train. Granger is out of this world great in this flick. Everybody is firing on all cylinders here, including Robert Walker as the man with the murderous plan Bruno Antony. Raymond Chandler and Czenzi Ormonde’s script is great, but Granger provided the heart of the film and gave the audience a crucial entrance to the material.
As great as Strangers on a Train is, Granger kicked ass in another Hitchcock film called Rope. It took me a little while to get to it, but when I did I found myself quite surprised. It had been thrown out there as “lesser Hitchcock,” a movie purely about a gimmick, but I didn’t find that at all.
In Rope Granger plays a young man who has committed a murder with his buddy, played by John Dall. So convinced they’ve committed the perfect crime (and to help make their alibi air tight) they have a party while the body is still in the apartment. Of the two men, Granger shows the most regret and becomes more and more jittery as the party goes on. It’s a portrayal of a man unraveling bit by bit until he’s got nothing left.
Granger’s scenes with Jimmy Stewart are fascinating, especially when they’re shown so play-like with Hitchcock shooting the film in 10 minute long takes, hiding the cuts to give the illusion of one long continuous shot.
I’d also like to highlight some of Granger’s Noir work in films like They Live By Night and Side Street, both available in Warner’s 4th Noir box set.
Both are directed by legends of the time (They Live By Night by Nicholas Ray and Side Street by Anthony Mann) and both allowing Granger to quite confidently and successfully play the leading man.
I’m not too familiar with his later work, but I’ve seen some of the genre stuff he did, including the gory Tom Savini showcaser The Prowler (1981). Granger also appeared in two of my favorite childhood genre shows: Monsters and Tales From The Dark Side. He also popped up in one of Terence Hill’s Trinity flicks (My Name Is Trinity).
If Granger had only worked from 1949-1955 that would have been enough to label him a cinema legend. Hell, he could have only appeared in Strangers On A Train and he would have done what 99% of film actors can never accomplish. He became a screen icon in a film that will be studied and enjoyed for centuries.
Like most in his generation Granger served his country during WWII and had a successful turn on Broadway. In the brief research into his personal life I’ve done… well, let’s just say that it was more colorful than I expected and I’ve already ordered his 2007 autobiography INCLUDE ME OUT: MY LIFE FROM GOLDWYN TO BROADWAY.
My thoughts will be with Mr. Granger’s friends, family and fans.
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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