Come my fellow Romans, come and watch Richard Harris and Oliver Reed talk of GLADIATOR!!!
Published at: May 2, 2000, 12:05 a.m. CST by staff
Hey folks, Harry here. Boy, let me tell ya what. Ol Cosmico has been digitizing his rear off working to capture all this footage for me and you, and he's really done a bang up job. But man, let me tell you. I don't know if you are the fan of OLIVER REED that I am. I'm not sure many are.
The very first TRIVIA I ever learned to answer, when I was my parents' trained monkey was: "Who was THE WOLFMAN?" "Lon Chaney" "Who Was THE WEREWOLF OF LONDON?" "Henry Hull." and lastly "Who was THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF?" "OLIVER REED!" After that I went on to cowboy horses' names, incantations to magic lamps, lycanthropy rhymes, etc... But as early as thought goes back, I knew the name of Oliver Reed.
When the man passed away, I was grief struck. My father and I instantly went out, bought an original one-sheet of CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF, and hung it in our living room. It's been there ever since. The first film I ever recorded was Oliver Reed's THE THREE MUSKETEERS. My parents had to go do something, and left me home alone. The VCR was a brand new toy at the time, and video tapes... blank video tapes were $25 a piece. I knew my father wanted the film on tape badly, and I knew he hated commercials, so... I figured out how to work the contraption, attached the wire for the remote control, so I could edit out commercials, and recorded the film. I still remember the astonishment on Dad and Mom's face when they came home that night to see a nearly perfect (edited for television) print of THE THREE MUSKETEERS on tape.
Be it in SITTING TARGET, where Oliver Reed serves as a bit of the prototype for General Zod's THE LIMEY. Or in WOMEN IN LOVE during the brilliant nude bearskin rug firelit wrestling match... Oliver Reed was just a film acting god. One of those bigger than life sorts of guys. The type you hear legends about. Like the alleged, semen through his hair conversation with Renny Harlin when he was cast in CUTTHROAT ISLAND, and when Harlin said "NO", Oliver was willing to fight over his desire to rub semen in his hair on camera.
This was Oliver Reed, an intense, animalistic presence on camera, a brooding icon off. And right here, you can download what must surely be the last interview that Oliver Reed ever gave as part of the EPK (Electronic Press Kit) from Dreamworks.
One more thing to add about Oliver Reed in GLADIATOR, the man is in top form in the film. This isn't no... end of the career, barely lucid... dying on camera performance. This is a man filled with life. Hungry for more, lusting for the bloody days of yore when the crowd cheered his name. He is... a god in this film.
Yeah, I know... I've gone on and on about Oliver Reed, but you have to understand, I believed that Oliver Reed had most likely died before doing any interviews regarding GLADIATOR, and I was so happy and ecstatic to see this footage that, well... I just went nuts. However, in addition to Oliver Reed's interview, we also have Richard Harris.
Now Richard Harris is every bit the gigantic personality that Oliver Reed was. A great actor and classic story teller... If you ever get a chance to hear him speak... be it on radio, television, film or in person... by all means, tune in. His stories about him and Peter O'Toole are classics. And usually when he's on Letterman, you can just see Dave geeking out... as if he's just stunned that he is somehow in the presence of this man.
The first time I became aware of Richard Harris it was while watching THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, and we are with our heroes as they are watching a debriefing of a bunch of British bombers that are detailing the horror story of trying to bomb the GUNS from the air. That passionate young pilot... that was Richard Harris, and even in that briefest of moments... he came to life and outshone everyone in the room including Gregory Peck. However, till the day I die, I will know Richard Harris as THE MAN CALLED HORSE. I used to have a video tape that had JERIMIAH JOHNSON and THE MAN CALLED HORSE double featured and I watched that tape like it was my LION KING or ALADDIN. I was horrified and transfixed by Harris' tortured screams... his hanging body, his "I'm not an animal, I'm a human being!" well before it was in... every film since. heh. He's been KING ARTHUR and KING RICHARD THE LION HEARTED. For me, his last great role before this one, was as ENGLISH BOB in UNFORGIVEN. His scenes with Gene Hackman... powerful stuff.
His Emperor in GLADIATOR is a marvel. All at once, regal, noble and godly... as well as tired, depressed and weary. He is a man at his last days on earth. There are things he must do, the final pieces of the jigsaw of his life that he must put in place for it all to have meaning. Harris is fantastic in the movie.
Both of these men give GLADIATOR the sense of grandeur that the film needed. They are the link to the epics of old, to the period of time when films in the style and scale of GLADIATOR were not... uncommon. Of course... rarely, if ever did any look as good, or move you as passionately as this film does. This is a wonderful movie, and god I wish it had a score by Miklos Rosza! Enjoy the interviews!
