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The Other Hawkeye
My mother, my brother and I all shared the “M*A*S*H” TV show as a common bond. We’d watch together, quote lines and even played the show’s trivia game. The razor-sharp writing, the mixture of laughs and pathos, and the anti-authority slant always resonated with me. The ensemble cast all shined, but chief among them was Alan Alda as Hawkeye, the talented, compassionate, sardonic, weary and funny surgeon. In one episode, a psychiatrist describes Hawkeye as “anger turned sideways,” which was exactly how Alda played it. Hawkeye raged against the Korean War’s destruction and cruelty. He did the same with military bureaucracy. As a child I thought Alda was always Hawkeye, until I learned that “M*A*S*H” was a movie before it was a show (of course it was a novel first). And that was my introduction to Donald Sutherland. His Hawkeye was also cynical, rebellious and hilarious, but he didn’t have Alda’s anger. Sutherland played Hawkeye as amused more than anything. He saw the whole war as ridiculous, and while he was dedicated to saving lives, he didn’t take anything else seriously. For this Hawkeye, Sutherland fit perfectly. Sutherland’s dry run for Hawkeye was his scene stealing supporting role in The Dirty Dozen. As one of the titular misfits, Sutherland’s Private Pinkley has to impersonate a General and enjoys every minute of it. We do too, as he makes a mockery of a troop inspection. Sutherland has a gleam in his eyes and a sly smile that makes us instantly pull for him. A recent Decider article called Sutherland the “Quintessential Actor of the ‘70s.” Sutherland did not have Robert Redford’s looks. Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, and Dustin Hoffman had a harder edge and a fierier flair. Sutherland may have never garnered their acclaim, but he combined an everyman appeal with an understated, cerebral quality. He excelled at playing men who were concealing something or fighting to keep their emotions down. In Klute, he’s trying to fight his attraction to a prostitute he’s vowed to protect. As a man who recently lost his daughter in Don’t Look Now, he's struggling not to let his grief overwhelm him. He topped it off with Invasion of the Body Snatchers, where he must keep his very humanity a secret. Just as The Dirty Dozen foreshadowed M*A*S*H, seven years after Don’t Look Now Sutherland again was heartbreaking as a grieving parent in Ordinary People. Timothy Hutton, who won an Oscar, and Mary Tyler Moore, who was nominated, had the showier parts. But Sutherland held the film together, just as his character Calvin Jarrett tries to hold the family together. Sutherland’s performance is so subtle for most of the film. When Calvin finally understands that he can’t fix what’s plaguing the family, Sutherland gives an acting master class, letting Calvin’s guard down just enough to make it such a devastating scene. How fitting that an actor so exceptional at concealment followed up Ordinary People with a bravura turn as a Nazi spy in the underrated gem Eye of the Needle. Unlike many cinematic secret agents, Sutherland depicts Henry Faber as a man who does not call attention to himself. He gives brief glimpses as to Faber’s pain and insecurity without trying to justify him or make him more evil than he is. Sutherland found Faber’s humanity, making him as much a tragic figure as a villain. As he worked well into the 80s, 90s and the recent decades, Sutherland’s movies were not always satisfying, although his performances in them usually were. Like many of the stars from the 70s, he gradually moved from playing the rebels to authority figures as he grew older. He was dependable, especially with the rich, deep authoritative voice. Sutherand became a popular narrator, Canada’s answer to Morgan Freeman. We knew we were in good hands when we heard that voice. With the right role, Sutherland could still sparkle. In JFK, he fit perfectly as “X,” the man who knows the dirt of the Kennedy assassination. Sutherland only had one scene, but that was all he needed. He brought instant credibility after so many years of playing men who keep secrets. Many years later, he again made the most of limited screen time playing Mr. Bennett, the heroine’s father in Pride and Prejudice. Once again, he keeps his feelings hidden through much of the film. But when Mr. Bennett finally tells Elizabeth to follow her heart, the connection between Sutherland and star Keira Knightley becomes so palpable that the rest of the film seems to flow from that moment. Younger viewers probably associate Sutherland primarily with the conniving President Snow in The Hunger Games films. Sutherland wisely played Snow with a quiet malevolence. He kept a certain mystery throughout the series. We get the sense that Snow doesn’t really believe in the Hunger Games or anything really. He’s so used to power that he has to maintain it. Sutherland’s best scene comes with Snow’s imminent execution. Katniss makes a startling choice, and even though Snow has only seconds more to live, Sutherland plays up his amusement at what's happening. He wins his death scene. After an 88-year life that was still too short, Sutherland ends a career that was all too often overlooked. Somehow not only did he never win a competitive Oscar, but he was not even nominated. The Academy finally awarded him an honorary Oscar in 2018, but to ignore his career beforehand remains a massive oversight. Understandable perhaps, since his performances rarely drew attention to themselves, but an oversight nonetheless. I go back to an interview he gave to Bob Costas many years ago. Costas brought up M*A*S*H, and asked Sutherland’s thoughts about the TV show. Sutherland responded that he had never met Alan Alda until one evening when they were both at a private function. Alda came up to Sutherland and said, “Thank you for my life.” The TV show had made Alda a star, and he graciously acknowledged what made it possible. While M*A*S*H, like many Robert Altman works, was an ensemble film, Sutherland, along with Elliot Gould were the ostensible leads. If Sutherland had not been as good as he was, the film may not have been as successful critically or commercially. If it had not been successful, no one would have bothered to turn it into a TV show. And then my mother, my brother and I would not have had that thing in our lives to bring us laughter and insight. So I’ll simply close with two words that Sutherland may not have heard often enough: Thank you. Adam Spector July 1, 2024 Contact us: |
