MovieChat Forums > James Stewart Discussion > So often mean to women in films

So often mean to women in films

posted 7 years ago by linnet (121)
22 replies | jump to latest

I have not seen very many of his movies, but he always seems so mean to the woman, yelling, insulting.

In Rear Window he's verbally abusive to Grace Kelly.

In It's a Wonderful Life, he's very mean to Donna Reed before they're married, and before his troubles.

In The Rare Breed, he's mean to Maureen O'Hara

In Bell, Book and Candle mean to Kim Novak.

And I saw a very old one, with Claudette Colbert where he was horrible to her. It was suppose to be a romantic comedy.

I just don't get the appeal of this charmless man.

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

How is he different from any other actor of that generation?

[–] linnet (121) 7 years ago

I just find him more unlikeable and humorless doing it. Maybe because Cary Grant, Clark Gable didn't seem as hateful. I'm not talking about the criminal types like Cagney etc.

[–] Culburn (3638) 7 years ago

In Rear Window he's verbally abusive to Grace Kelly.

Especially there. It's stunningly cruel.

[–] MIchiganJFrogg (-35) 7 years ago

[deleted]

[–] linnet (121) 7 years ago

Oh, definitely the characters he played in those films. Or rather the way he played the characters. Maybe he was miscast. I saw these for a film class and have no desire to seek out any of his movies. I've seen him on old Tonight show where he seemed very nice.

[–] MIchiganJFrogg (-35) 7 years ago

[deleted]

[–] linnet (121) 7 years ago

[deleted]

[–] GlenEllyn (21577) 7 years ago

I think it's more his frustration and disappointment at seeing his dreams slip away; of going to college, traveling, building things, getting out of his home town to see some of the world.

[–] godewey (16472) 7 years ago

Maybe he's playing these characters exactly how the director intended.

Rear Window he's stuck in wheelchair in an apartment
It's a Wonderful Life- a young man who wants to leave to start is life and can't
Rare Breed - This was often done in westerns of that time
BBC- She was a witch who put a spell on him and changed his life
If you're talking about It's a Wonderful World he was wrongly arrested and escaped and only had
a short time to prove his innocence.

There are other examples. Sounds like he was acting as the script and director dictated.

[–] linnet (121) 7 years ago

No, I never heard if It's a Wonderful World.

So he has a broken leg. The things he says to her are inexcusable.

In a Wonderful Life, that scene happens when he is able to go away, and is planning the trip. He's not stuck at all. He just unexpectedly falls in love and stupidly blames her for existing in that scene. Nope, he's a jerk.

I guess what I'm saying is that he really didn't have a leading man personality.

But people seem to love him, so guess I'm the oddball, who's off to bed.

[–] GlenEllyn (21577) 7 years ago

I think you're confusing the actor with the movie character. Jimmy Stewart was a good guy.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Was going to say the same thing. Acting is not the same as being yourself.

[–] godewey (16472) 7 years ago

I wouldn't say oddball. You're entitled to your opinion.
If you don't like him you don't like him.

5 of the best directors in history have named him the best actor they have ever worked with.
There was something or he wouldn't have had such an illustrious career.

[–] Culburn (3638) 7 years ago

So he has a broken leg. The things he says to her are inexcusable.

He's purposely trying to drive her away, out of his life. The reason, or, reasons are really of no import when you get down to brass tacks. That's the sad part, there is no remedy here. She's in love. That's why she subjugates herself to him. He is not in love with her.

Solving the case is nothing but a temporary reprieve.

[–] Stratego (30574) 6 years ago

I'm so surprised people complain about him being cruel in Rear Window. No, he said some unkind things, but he was feeling very insecure about his relationship with Grace Kelly. I felt he was trying to sabotage it with his bluntness. I think his concerns were not totally unjust, she was actually a bit naive about the differences between them.

[–] Techto (1316) 6 months ago

I felt he was callous to her for the first two-thirds of the film and that some of his comments were deliberately cruel.

[–] GlenEllyn (21577) 6 years ago

Sounds like you're confusing the person with the character.

[–] linnet (121) 5 years ago

Sounds like you didn't read all of my posts. I clearly said that he seemed like a nice person on talk shows. I was referring to the way he plays the roles.

[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

I suspect he was hired for those roles because he was someone the audience could forgive for being mean. He'd played so many nice guys in so many films that a contemporary audiences assumed that he was a nice guy underneath and gave him more slack than they'd give someone who seemed thuggish or sexy. IMHO he was paid good money to make characters who were written as unsympathetic seem sympathetic. (Films like "Vertigo" must have been a shock to his fans, they wouldn't have expected him to turn out not to be nice in the end.)

I've seen the same thing with Sandra Bullock. Everyone on Earth likes her, so she's been hired to play a few characters who aren't written as all that nice or sympathetic, apparently the filmmakers think she can convince the audiences to like them anyway.

[–] kuku (3510) 5 years ago

And back then, actors liked roles that were contradictory, imperfect. They allowed them to give their best. Best role John Wayne ever had was the one in The Searchers. The first time you watch that movie you probably sympathize with the main character because of Wayne's charisma, but once you rewatch it, you realize how the main character was a son of a b*tch.

[–] snepts (11123) 5 years ago

Good call. Watching a very likable person be prickly with someone who cares is a fascinating insight into real human behavior. I wish I was a saint to all my past GFs and they acted the same to me. Most of us are very nice people to the rest of the public but for some reason, closeness brings out the worst in us. And Rear Window exploits that. It's supposed to make us think about it, on some level.

[–] TheAdlerian (2092) 5 years ago

You don't understand.

He did a lot of what I call the Han Solo and Princess Leia syndrome.

That's where one or both get all worked up like they hate each other but really they are annoyed and scared because they met the person that will change their life. That was very clear in It's a Wonderful Life. He wanted to travel and be an adventurer, but he fell in love with her immediately and knew he'd have to stay in town for her, so he was mad.

It is cute, not mean.