Gods... I Like Gods...

Raise a tall glass, wherever you are, to the memory of Jack Palance, issue of Ukrainian-Pennsylvanian coal mining folk, former prize fighter, American film star. As distinctive as his face (sharp, flat, angular, cubistalmost) was his voice (also sharp, flat, angular, probably not cubist though). While his looks made him a movie heavy, his voice, velvety smooth and sharp and cruel made him an actor that transcended the lot of your usual 1950s badguys like Jack Elam, Lee Van Cleef and Neville Brand (although I'm very fond of those guys as well). While his face scored some very memorable moments in film (like his his scarifying death grimace at the end of Aldrich's Attack, a spectacular film!), it was his voice that created exquisite moments of cinema for me.He didn't write the lines he spoke, but by all rights, we should claim ownership. Here are a couple.

"Pick up the gun..." from Shane, as appropriated by Bill Hicks...

"Gods. I like gods. I like them very much. I know exactly how they feel. Exactly." Godard cast Palance as the vulgar American movie producer Jeremy Prokosch for his Contempt. Palance was reportedly very miserable while making the film as Godard refused to listen to any of his ideas for the role, giving him the most menial physical instructions: walk three steps, hit the mark, look to the left and smile... They squabbled throughout the shoot and Palance phoned his agent everyday to get him off the production. Afterwards, Palance referred to Contempt, a film one critic called the "greatest work of art produced in post-war Europe", as a picture he made with "some French director". The tensions made for great cinema, though, and Palance's bestial performance is crucial to the film.

But Palance had little regard for most of his film work. "Most of the stuff I do is garbage," he said. He also had nothing but disdain for his directors, "Most of them shouldn't even be directing traffic."

One of those directors he disdained was probably that Spanish iconoclast, the visionary/hack (or hack/visionary) Jesus Franco, who directed him in Justine, an adaptation of a Marquis de Sade piece, where Palance chews the scenery like Matter Eater Lad (on acid!). Don't believe me? See highlights of his performance here.

You wouldn't want to hear Palance upset either! But if you do, listen here (mp3).

Also, he recorded an album in the late 60s, a Lee Hazelwood influenced country-ish effort. Here's a song he wrote and sang, "The Meanest Man Who Ever Lived".