TCM's 31 Days of Oscar is always a tiring time for my DVR. Movies I have never seen, some never heard of get recorded and hopefully eventually watched. This year, some of my favorites were from the 70's and 80's. This weekend, I watched the 1981 and 1982 double punch (and Oscar nominated) Absence Of Malice and The Verdict both starring Paul Newman. Although Newman, and co-star Sally Field were both top notch in Absence, the movie was bit unfocused and not nearly as enjoyable, and interesting as The Verdict.
Newman would have been close to 60 during filming of The Verdict, and was still incredibly sexy and fascinating to watch. It was interesting to read Robert Redford left the project due to the characters unlikability. Redford missed that this was exactly what made the movie work. When Newman punches the equally sexy Charlotte Rampling I was both disgusted yet understanding given the story. I have to also check out more of Rampling's work, she is an intriguing actress I had only seen previously in Orca. I have yet to get the 90's or 2000's as I am still enjoying the darker scenes and classic story and character driven dramas of the TCM eighties films.
