Nominate- Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?- Tony Randall (genius)
12 Angry Men- Henry Fonda
Ill Met By Moonlight- Marius Goring (supporting)
Seconded; Wild Strawberries - Victor Sjostrom
The Bridge on the River Kwai - Sessue Hayakawa
& Kwai may the weakest of Holden's big roles but it's still Bill Holden.
The film really suffers for me when he's , and I blame him for that as much as the script. Well, pending a highly anticipated rewatch, anyway.
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For me,
Kwai manages to fascinate even though only two roles, are fleshed out, at all. Everyone outside of Nicholson and the camp commander are cypher roles, everyone playing their assigned part without a lot of character development. In Sefton, sorry, Holden's character's case, can you imagine giving him space to develope before he escapes? The movie's already long enough. One of Lean's talents was taking epic scale casts and doing enough to keep monumental plots rolling without feeling that you don't know the characters. Compare that with modern "epics" where the cast are like cardboard cut-outs (
Inception is the example that comes to mind, most readily), as they are swept along by the plot.
My dispute would be calling Holden a lead actor. The lack of character development is, surely, the clearest indicator that it is a supporting role, however much screen time he gets. If he is in the movie simply to deliver the line;"Kill Him!" with Jack Hawkins that's enough for me. Sends a chill down my spine.