Rest in Peace Eli Wallach (1915-2014)

Rest in Peace Eli Wallach

1915-2014

Today the world of cinema lost one of its best character and method actors, Eli Wallach. I was first exposed to Mr. Wallach when I saw him as Calvera, the Bandit Leader, in one of my favorite films of all time, 1960's The Magnificent Seven. In his first scene he comes with his men and just starts casually talking to the village's leader as if they were old friends, and that he and his men aren't doing anything wrong. He is so sure of himself and he just steals every scene. Even in a scene where he first meets the seven and showing resistance, but by the end you get the idea that he isn't used to this sort of thing. Every line he delivers adds so much to the character. 

But of course, I'm sure most of you know him for his role as Tuco Benedicto Pacífico Juan María Ramírez aka "The Ugly" in Sergio Leone's masterpiece, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. This was another performance in which he stole every scene. The way he dives into the role of this manipulative, two-faced, yet engaging bandit, truly does highlight how great an actor he was. Leone is best known for having the camera stay on the actor's face and letting their expressions speak for them, and Wallach was perfect in every scene. One of the best scenes in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is when Wallach's character is cornered while taking a bath by an opponent he faced early on in the film. The adversary goes on and on about how he's going to kill him, and Wallach just goes and shoots him, and delivers one of the best lines in any films, "When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't Talk." Even before that, the expression of Wallach's face says so much about what his character is thinking. It is amazing. 

Mr. Wallach career expanded decades and has worked with some of the best minds in the film business. He earned a Golden Globe nomination for his breakthrough film performance in Baby Doll (1956, Dir. Elia Kazan), he was one of hundreds in the Western epic How the West Was Won (1962, Dir. John Ford, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall), he was in romantic comedy The Holiday (2006, Dir. Nancy Meyers), and was in Mr. Freeze at one point on the 60's Batman series. I'll end this post with the video of Mr. Wallach's speech when he received his Honorary Oscar in 2010. Rest in peace, Mr. Wallach. We'll never forget you, and your movies. 

Rest in Peace