Graham gives due credit and prominence to everything. I maybe would have liked more on the movies but recognise the book would have run for 500 plus pages (which actually would have been great, I enjoyed this so much) and what is here is very good. Murphy didn't become a movie star over night - it took a couple of years, including training paid for by the Cagney brothers, and a few bit parts before being given a fat juicy role in Bad Boy. Murphy owed his fame to his war service, but he also brought a lot to the party himself - those boyish good looks, short stature (Joe Dante said kids liked him and I think that had something to do with it), lightning temper, quick fire moves, old Texan politeness. There was no other movie star like him, he had genuine individuality: he was like a politer, younger Texan Jimmy Cagney, maybe.
The genre Murphy overwhelming specialised in was Westerns - he made these more than any others. In part this was because he was reluctant to make war movies (only three), in part because most male actors of the 50s did time in the saddle, but also because the public didn't seem to like him in other roles. And he did try, particularly after his massive success in To Hell and Back: he made a boxing movie, service comedy, biopic, thriller, rural comedy. But none of them particularly took so he went back to Westerns for the sixties instead of pushing himself. There were a couple of terrific sounding movies he tried to get up but was unable to get finance for. In the sixties his budgets got lower, his scripts worse, his acting less inspired (although he was still capable of rising to the occasion). It's a shame. It's also a shame like an idiot he gambled all his money away. He didn't drink but he had plenty of other flaws - womanising, hot temper, stupid business decisions.
What could he have done differently? Well, for starters he could have pushed himself more and worked with better talent. He was directed by John Huston, Don Siegel and Budd Boetticher - he needed to seek out people like these more than journeymen, who didn't push him enough. And he shouldn't have gambled. And he should have gone to therapy at least once a week. This is all hindsight, but they aren't bad lessons for every actor to learn. Or war veteran.
His war service was tough, ferocious, unglamorous, unrelenting: Sicily, Italy, southern France (which is known as the champagne campaign but sounds quite hard here). A man born to soldier - there's a great quote where he talks about the benefit of audacity in war. A good thing to know in life. It made him and destroyed him too. (NB What would have happened to a 4F Audie Murphy? Maybe a nice life as a small town clerk. Who knows).
If you want to read a Murphy bio this is the one to do. Well researched, footnoted, and written.
The genre Murphy overwhelming specialised in was Westerns - he made these more than any others. In part this was because he was reluctant to make war movies (only three), in part because most male actors of the 50s did time in the saddle, but also because the public didn't seem to like him in other roles. And he did try, particularly after his massive success in To Hell and Back: he made a boxing movie, service comedy, biopic, thriller, rural comedy. But none of them particularly took so he went back to Westerns for the sixties instead of pushing himself. There were a couple of terrific sounding movies he tried to get up but was unable to get finance for. In the sixties his budgets got lower, his scripts worse, his acting less inspired (although he was still capable of rising to the occasion). It's a shame. It's also a shame like an idiot he gambled all his money away. He didn't drink but he had plenty of other flaws - womanising, hot temper, stupid business decisions.
What could he have done differently? Well, for starters he could have pushed himself more and worked with better talent. He was directed by John Huston, Don Siegel and Budd Boetticher - he needed to seek out people like these more than journeymen, who didn't push him enough. And he shouldn't have gambled. And he should have gone to therapy at least once a week. This is all hindsight, but they aren't bad lessons for every actor to learn. Or war veteran.
His war service was tough, ferocious, unglamorous, unrelenting: Sicily, Italy, southern France (which is known as the champagne campaign but sounds quite hard here). A man born to soldier - there's a great quote where he talks about the benefit of audacity in war. A good thing to know in life. It made him and destroyed him too. (NB What would have happened to a 4F Audie Murphy? Maybe a nice life as a small town clerk. Who knows).
If you want to read a Murphy bio this is the one to do. Well researched, footnoted, and written.
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