I'm not talking about Lee Marvin, relax. But Sharon Acker (Lynne, Marvin's character wife) did one of the worst acting I ever saw on a movie. She read her lines like a recording machine. Well, sorry, it was just my impression.
shareIt didn't work, no matter what she was supposed to be on. Also much of the movie's dialogue is for screenwriters to enjoy, instead of the general public - it's funny, people don't talk like that, but the actors try to make it seem as if they do.
shareAsgard-5, the fact that it doesn't work for you means just that & NOT a thing more...
It didn't work for you.
It was Lee Marvin's choice to omit his lines in a take, forcing Acker to improvise carrying both ends of the conversation... Boorman thought the result made the scene stand out.
Most people who admire the film seem to agree with Boorman. That doesn't make you wrong, exactly, but it doesn't suggest to me that you have any exclusive on what works.
I actually believe that her delivery of those lines contributed greatly to what she was narrating. Her description was matter-of-factly and yet it possessed a certain inherent sadness in its reminiscence of a time and past long gone.
Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.
If there´s something I don´t quite like in that portion of the film, it has to do with those flashbacks to good ol´ times when Acker, Marvin and Vernon used to roam together - some of Marvin´s behaviour looked so goofy that it conjured up fantasies of Leslie Nielsen playing the part...
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
I think that some people who think that the acting is poor aren't getting it .
Its not the sort of movie where everything is spelled out, that's its genius.
You have to use the imagery to get the drift, otherwise its like explaining a joke.
If you do that people understand the joke, but its not funny .
Sheer genius from beginning to end.
I initially thought the same thing--really poor acting. But I think at least some of that had to do with the fact that she's having a conversation with herself, responding to lines we aren't hearing. It makes the performance feel more awkward than it actually is.
Regardless, she wasn't going to earn any Oscar nominations here, to be sure.