He was just 47 when the movie came out, but by the time of The Godfather Brando had exhausted many careers: the bright lights of Broadway in the 1940s, the man whose probing style and galvanic sexuality changed movie acting in the ’50s, the wanderer through eccentric film challenges in the ’60s. In the 1972 Francis Ford Coppola film, Vito Corleone was a supporting part, and a bit of a stunt (the cotton in his mouth), but it again showed that Brando could will himself to do anything he tried. He won the Best Actor Oscar, famously sending a faux-Native American to accept the statuette, then immediately topped that role with the brazen vulnerability of his ex-pat romancer in Last Tango in Paris — another Oscar nomination.
For Travolta, comebacks almost seem integral to his career plan, so often has he gone away and reappeared. Saturday Night Fever and Grease, then the leaden flop of Moment to Moment; in with Urban Cowboy, out with Perfect — and we’re still in the first decade of his filmography. After more surges and ebbs (the talking-baby movie, Look Who’s Talking was actually one of the high points), he took on Vincent Vega, the sweet doofus of a professional killer. Under Quentin Tarantino’s direction he got to dance with Uma Thurman and philosophize about French cheeseburgers. That role triggered Travolta’s longest winning-streak: Get Shorty, Broken Arrow, Michael, Face/Off and Primary Colors. After that, to maintain career consistency, he was almost required to make an expensive fiasco, and obliged with the Sci(entology)-fi Battlefield Earth. Then another recovery with Wild Hogs and Hairspray. Travolta’s yo-yo trajectory continues…
As we prepare for the Game of Thrones finale, we recognize Joffrey and nine other baddies who showed us that terrible, horrible things can come in small packages
