When I read about the death
of Albert Finney, at age 82, I realized how many of his later roles I’ve seen. He
was the gamekeeper in on the action in Skyfall
(2012), the sinister father in Before
The Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007), and the whimsical yarn-spinning dad in Big Fish (2003). His last of five Oscar
nominations came from playing Julia Roberts’ attorney/boss in Erin Brockovich. Whatever the film, he
was convincing in a variety of moods and with a variety of accents. But I was
always surprised, in those later films, to see what a solid, sturdy man he was.
That’s because, when I think of Albert Finney, I can’t help remembering him as
a lithe young rogue in the title role of Tom
Jones.
The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling will be recalled by English majors as a classic
British novel, written by Henry Fielding back in 1749. It’s the picaresque tale
of a roguish young lad who goes out in the world to seek his fortune, as well
as his parentage. One of my great achievements in college was reading the
entire novel (some 700 pages long) in a single week, because I couldn’t bear to
have the ending spoiled when I walked into my class on the 18th
century novel. I’m not sure who got the bright idea that Ton Jones would make a good movie, but the 1963 film written by playwright
John Osborne (of Look Back in Anger fame)
and directed by Tony Richardson was a triumph. In an era when we were all
starting to go bonkers for anything British (like miniskirts, Angry Young Men,
and the Beatles), Tom Jones proved to
be cheeky, sexy, and above all stylish fun. None of us would soon forget how
the droll voiceovers, the Keystone Kops pacing of some of the action, Tom’s
winking asides to the audience, and the most suggestive of dining scenes turned
the stodginess of most costume dramas upside down. (I wonder, in fact, if the
makers of 2018’s The Favourite,
looked to Tom Jones for comic
inspiration.)
In the title role, Finney (a
screen newcomer to most of us back then) was a charmingly boyish
mischief-maker. And that roguish glint in his eye continued to serve him
throughout his career. The film I personally cherish is from that magic movie
year, 1967. That’s when Stanley Donen directed Finney and Audrey Hepburn in a
before-its-time movie about love and marriage, Two for the Road. Frederic Raphael (an Oscar winner for Darling) wrote a provocative
out-of-sequence script featuring a very young English couple who meet and then
proceed to fall in and out of love during a series of road trips through the
French countryside. Two for the Road is
notable for its candor about sex, fidelity, and the tarnished promise of happily-ever-after. The
scrambled time scheme requires us to bounce back and forth between the fun of
first attraction, the joy of commitment, the challenges of child-bearing, and
the mixed blessings of financial success. Throughout it all, the two leads
remain stunningly attractive, even while their hairstyles change and their
modes of transportation become increasingly posh. I don’t think Hepburn has
ever looked more winsome, and Finney is fully the perfect match. So perfect, in
fact, that rumors abound that their real-life affair on the set of this film is
what ended her marriage to actor Mel Ferrer.
Finney turned down a
knighthood, and steadily refused to attend Oscar shindigs, even when nominated.
Vanity wasn’t part of his nature, but variety certainly was.
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