Viva Zapata!

"Viva Zapata!" is the story of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, played by Marlon Brando, who led a rebellion against the corrupt, oppressive dictatorship of president Porfirio Diaz in the early 20th century.

Throughout the 1940s, various studios were interested in making a Zapata biopic, but the Production Code Authority frowned on the idea, worried that a film about the revolutionary leader might be perceived as pro-Communist, that Zapata had an antagonistic relationship with Catholic Church leaders in Mexico, and that any inaccuracies in the film might damage U.S. relations with Mexico.

A Zapata biopic finally became a reality when "Grapes of Wrath" author Steinbeck, who'd been researching Zapata for years, teamed up with A-list director Kazan. Both men were former Communists who had become disenchanted with Communism as practiced by the tyrannical government of Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union. Their take on Zapata was a cautionary tale about how revolutionary movements tend to become as corrupt and oppressive as the established orders they overthrow. To them, Zapata was unique for gaining power via rebellion and then walking away from it.

Streetcar Named Desire

Stanley Kowalski lives in the working class Faubourg Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans with his wife, Stella (née Dubois), and is employed as a factory parts salesman. He was an Army engineer in WWII, having served as a Master Sergeant. He has a vicious temper, and fights often with his wife, leading to instances of domestic violence.

Stanley's life becomes more complicated when Stella's sister Blanche shows up at their door for a seemingly indefinite "visit." The two despise each other almost on sight; the spoiled, aristocratic Blanche openly looks down upon Stanley, whom she derides as an "ape", and she often calls him a Polack, while Stanley is enraged at what he sees as a constant reminder that he is not good enough for Stella. His resentment grows almost unbearable when Blanche starts dating his friend, Mitch, and lets Stella briefly take refuge with her after an argument in which he hits her.

Stanley starts asking questions of a street merchant who knew Blanche in her old life, and finds out that Blanche is staying with the Kowalskis because she is homeless; her family's ancestral mansion, Belle Reve, has been mortgaged. He also learns that she was paid to leave Mississippi to quell gossip about her many affairs, which she began after her husband, a closeted homosexual, committed suicide. Overjoyed to have the upper hand, Stanley tells Mitch about Blanche's secret past, which scares Mitch into ending the relationship.

The night that Stella gives birth to their son, Stanley goes out and gets drunk in celebration, and finds a similarly drunk Blanche, lost in fantasies of better times, when he returns home. He makes a crude, drunken pass at her, which she rebuffs, disgusted. Enraged, Stanley overpowers and rapes her. This final assault on what she had left of her dignity sends Blanche over the edge into a nervous breakdown. Weeks later, Stella has Blanche committed to a mental institution at Stanley's insistence. Although in the movie Stella later decides to leave Stanley in fear of her child's life, in the play, she stays with Stanley.

Marlon Brando was nominated for an Oscar but lost to Humphrey Bogart who won for his role in The African Queen.

Marlon Brando Nazi

No, just kidding.  Marlon Brando played a German soldier in the 1958 film "The Young Lions".

Brando plays the congas

Marlon Brando loved playing the congas

Sacheen Littlefeather

Marlon Brando became involved with the American Indian Movement (AIM) in the early 1970s. In 1973, he decided to make a statement about the Wounded Knee incident and contacted AIM about providing a person to accept the Oscar in which he was nominated for his portrayal as Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather.

Sacheen Littlefeather was the person chosen to accept Brando’s Oscar as a means of protesting the ongoing siege at Wounded Knee and Hollywood's and television's misrepresentation of American Indians. Brando had written a 15-page speech for Littlefeather to give at the ceremony, but when the producer met her backstage he threatened to physically remove her or have her arrested if she spoke on stage for more than 60 seconds.  Her on-stage comments were therefore improvised. She then went backstage and read the entire speech to the press.

Native American activist

 Marlon Brando with Native American activist and leader of the American Indian Movement, Dennis Banks, ca.1982.

The Men

Marlon Brando made his on-screen acting debut in the 1950 movie, "The Men", directed by Fred Zinnemann, telling the story of a World War II lieutenant, Ken Wilcheck, who is seriously injured in combat and the struggles he faces trying to re-enter society as a paraplegic confined to a wheel chair.

During the filming, Marlon would frequent the company and hang out with real paraplegic men in order to better understand the role he was playing, sometimes even going out to a bar for drinks with his new-found friends, oftentimes doing so in his wheel chair.  On one occasion, an apparent Christian woman, thinking he was really paralyzed, said a healing prayer over Marlon, who then promptly rose to his feet and ran around the bar, yelling, "it's a miracle!"  The women was purportedly shocked at the 'miracle' she thought she had performed.