MovieChat Forums > Moby Dick (1956) Discussion > Peck was Unbelievable in This!!!

Peck was Unbelievable in This!!!

posted 17 years ago by movienut710
55 replies | jump to latest

Friends, I just got this movie on DVD for free from the library for 2 weeks. Today is about the 5th time in 3 days I've let it play, sometimes just in the background, and I must say rarely has an acting performance blown me away as much as Peck's portrayal of Ahab. Maybe it was just the big build-up to his introduction, but I for one fell for it. For fun, I like to imagine having to act very serious, or very insane roles to see if I even THINK I could. Peck's Ahab, I can tell you immediately, would require weeks of study and preperation. If anyone agrees about the magnitude of his performance, Cheers to you.

[–] MADDOXRJM 17 years ago

I could not agree more. Peck always does a fine job, but his performance in Moby Dick was nothing short of spectacular.

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[–] yotaxi 17 years ago

I know! I can't believe he didn't win an Oscar for this! I though he'd for sure be nominated.

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[–] Bob_Rohrer 17 years ago

A great performance in an excellent film, Movienut710. First-rate work by all hands, and hats off to Philip Sainton's score.

"That wasn't very sporting, using real bullets."

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[–] vasman132 16 years ago

to be honest, i didn't think he did his typical great performance. it was a good performance, but nothing great. maybe i just don't see him being a sea captain. his diction is too good.

"for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?"

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[–] ccmiller1492 16 years ago

I agree...but it was very atypical of his usual roles. The film itself is a masterpiece all around. I had a great struggle to read the book and it took me several years to digest it and appreciate it. Having that experience, I could not imagine it as a film, but I have to admit Huston did the impossible....it's almost a religious experience, very stirring and portrays the microcosm of the bygone 19th century whaling industry just as Meliville did. The unholy Promethian madness of Ahab challenging God and nature is profound.
"Moby Dick" and "Huckelberry Finn" to my; mind are the quintessentially American contributions to woeld literature. Huston's film does justice to the former, but theh latter has not yet been truly captured.

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[–] B_Movie_Blues 15 years ago

Absolutely 100% agree. He looks and acts like Abraham Lincoln with syphillatic brain disease.

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[–] Bob_Rohrer 16 years ago

Have you taken my advice?

"Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"

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[–] LionHearted99 16 years ago

Peck did a remarkable job of "inhabiting" the role of Ahab. He is Ahab...he leaves no doubt in your mind about that. Peck nails just the right combo of being quite mad, but lucid and sane enough to track down the white whale.

[–] Axeyard 16 years ago

I beg to disagree. I thought that his performance, while good in patches, was very uneven. He didn't seem to 'feel it' much of the time and resorted to forced grimaces and posing. The only actor who really looked comfortable was Orson Welles, and his 'sermon' is the only part of the film that holds up for me.

[–] JuanMacready 16 years ago

The movie was too slow but Peck was just AWFUL.

Very bad miscasting.

[–] Bob_Rohrer 16 years ago

Peck's Ahab appears to be your personal white whale. 'Oh! Ahab,' cried Starbuck, 'not too late is it, even now, the third day, to desist. See! Moby Dick seeks thee not. It is thou, thou, that madly seekest him!'

"I'd punch you in the nose if I wasn't afraid you'd break my jaw."

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[–] Conspirator_Slash 15 years ago

I think it was not really his type. He was always great, but his best roles were honest (and normal) gentlemen. Madness is not his business. (Although much later he made a fantastic Dr Mengele.)

If a Melville character would fit him, it would be Captain Vere.

[–] tramky 15 years ago

This is one of the greatest adventure stories of all time, with an amazing atmosphere and even psychology involved in this classic tale of men, the sea, and the whale that binds them together.

As for Gregory Peck's performance, the more times I see this film--and I can never tire of it--the more I appreciate his Ahab. Even Peck eventually bought into the criticisms of his performance that were written at the time of the original release--I think he described it as 'wooden'. But they were ALL wrong, including Peck, for his Ahab was a brilliant conjuring of the troubled, obsessed whaling captain.

But much credit goes to the brilliant script and gritty direction of John Huston. Supposedly Ray Bradbury and Huston worked on the script, and they came up with some piece of wonderful work, translating a somewhat difficult novel into this gripping & deep adventure.

[–] wrfarley 15 years ago

Ray Bradbury's original script is now available to purchase on-line. I highly recommend it. Evidently, John Huston's contributions were added after Bradbury handed it over, so it's instructive to see how some of the scenes were changed during the shooting. I'd say about 75% of Bradbury's work remains on screen.

I think most of the discrediting of Peck's performance is based on the critics from 1956, and have gained a life of their own over the years. I don't think I've read a contemporary review that pans Peck's performance. Today's reviewers simply mention it was considered a bad performance; with the contemporary critic often refuting the charge.

[–] knightwind88 13 years ago

Peck's portrayal of Ahab has been panned from the very beginning, even by Peck himself, but the critics have been wrong. Ahab is NOT mad, merely driven and vengeful and suffering from an incredible amount of pain. Looking at it from that perspective it takes on a difference significance. The "wooden" accusations of Peck's performance avoid the obvious. Ahab is constantly struggling with both physical and emotional pain. This creates a detached stiffness that anyone in pain exhibits and I think Peck subconsciously nailed it.

Peck deserves a "We're sorry we've been wrong about your performance all these years" award.

[–] richard-III 15 years ago

Thanks for that!

I have always loved Peck's (sometimes soft-spoken) performance as captain Ahab, even though Peck got a lot of critique (in 1956 as well as now). But I saw MOBY DICK again this year and still found his version of the Ahab character compelling and electrifying. It is like watching still water when you sense a storm is building up. To me, Peck perfectly matches John Huston's atmospheric directing.

Edit: Makes it even a problem for me to watch other Ahabs. I saw Patrick Stewart and he wasn't Ahab for me. But I could watch Gregory Peck with Lincoln-beard anytime.

"The Beamer Xperience: 9 feet wide home cinema bliss."

[–] wrfarley 15 years ago

There's an interesting story that's reported in John Huston's biography, "The Hustons," by Lawrence Grobel. Both script supervisor, Angela Allen and cinematographer, Ossie Morris, claim that often on the set Huston himself would perform the scenes as Ahab for Peck and the crew (Huston wanted his father to play the part, then lobbied to play it himself after his dad died in 1950). Morris contends that no actor could've matched the director's intensity, and Peck following Huston's rehearsal supposedly left the actor at a disadvantage. Ms. Allen is quoted as saying "It was like eating suet pudding after a souffle," While another quote by I don't remember whom says, "John tried to make Peck into Walter Huston, but Walter was dead and Peck didn't have that ability in him."

However, John Huston always defended Peck's performance and claimed no actor could've delivered the "It's a mild, mild day" speech with the subtlety of Peck.
Huston's admiration was so high that he intended to adapt another Melville novel, "Typee," with Peck in the leading role. Unfortunately, Huston and Peck had a falling out in 1957 and they never resolved their differences or spoke to each other again.