Sidelines

I got so cross with all the talking heads and the mediocre actors who the 'voting public' decided deserved inclusion in the list. (Did any of you vote? How did you know about it? I don't know anyone who cast a vote.) After all, why did it matter that they left out Spencer Tracey and Gregory Peck and included Brad Pitt? Or included Michael Douglas, but left out his dad, a far better actor. Or that they eulogised about Bette Davies, who was limited in the roles she played. All it means is that we live in the world of celebrity and special effects. I kept telling myself it didn't matter; I'm still telling myself it doesn't matter. After all, I have a high regard for Al Pacino's acting... and he came top of the list, didn't he?

Nevertheless, anyone who really cares about acting should watch Spencer Tracey. He always seemed real in the roles he played (or should I say underplayed). I often wonder why we make such a fuss about actors and films. We know the actors are reading lines written by someone else... we know they're just pretending. Why do we knight them and pay them large salaries for pretending to be someone else? Well, Spencer Tracey's my antidote to such thought: when you watch him, you forget he's an actor. His presence in a film was sufficient; he didn't need special effects to move his audience. He deserves not to be forgotten.