The Films of John Garfield

It's not fair to blame Thomas Pynchon and Inherent Vice but ever since discovering how Pynchon's P.I. Doc imagined himself as John Garfield, I've been on a bit of nostalgic Garfield trip that's led me into the fascinating world of theatre in New York in the years between the world wars. A Garfield biography led me to Howard Clurman's The Fervent Years. From there I found Cheryl Crawford's memoir, and onto A Life on the Stage by Jacob Adler, and a few other books about the fascinating world of theatre in New York from the late 19th century up to the early 1950's. Some of these I've written about on this blog, others I've just recommended to friends and family but maybe I'll make a few notes eventually.


Back to the subject at hand -- Howard Gelman's The Films of John Garfield (Seacaucus, NJ : Citadel Press, c.1975) is worth tracking down just for the superlative photos of Garfield that it contains. It starts off with a 3-page introduction by Abraham Polonsky in which Polonsky explains how he met Garfield and his partner, Bob Roberts, at their independent film company, Enterprise Productions, and convinces them to produce Body and Soul, scripted by Polonsky. The resultant film, directed by Robert Rossen is considered one of Garfield's finest.


Don't be misled by the title. Yes, each film receives 1 or more pages of still photographs and production details, background information on the film, a 1970's assessment of its effectiveness, a plot synopsis and excerpts from period review(s) of the film focusing on Garfield's performance). In addition, though, there's a 27-page chapter of biographical information, a chapter on Garfield's major theatrical performances, and one on the HUAC investigation with excerpts from John Garfield's testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee.


Back to Pynchon and Doc -- why would a youngish man of Italian (?) ancestry born in California identify so closely with John Garfield? How often does a person get to don a raincoat in sunny, Southern California? Is there something about being outsiders? Pynchon doesn't describe Doc's appearance so as I read the book, it was his attitude and p.o.v. that called to mind several people but none of these friends looked remotely like John Garfied.



Arguably, John Garfield was one of the first "ethnic" types to achieve leading man status in Hollywood motion pictures as well as a forerunner of those famous rebellious youthful heroes of the 1950's and 60's -- from James Dean through that trio of easy riders. He was an ambitious, self-driven young man who removed himself from the poverty of the Bronx, plunged headlong into the theatre (after dreams of a professional boxing career faded) and landed in The Group (the brainchild of Clurman, Crawford and Lee Strasberg). Eventually he got himself out to Hollywood, reportedly because Clurman gave the lead in Clifford Odets' Golden Boy to Luther Adler, rather than Jules Garfield, for whom Odet had written the part.



Becoming John Garfield and starring in a series of gritty Warner Brothers' films designed to appeal to the Everyman (and woman), JG had a meteoric career. Eventually, frustration with Warners typecasting, less-than-reasonable loans to other studios and a number of suspensions led Garfield to go the independent route. Sadly, the blacklisting badly hurt his studio as well as his opportunities to get important roles and JG returned to NY, the theatre, the HUAC appearances and a life that had spiraled out of control. His May 1952 funeral in NYC was reportedly the biggest celebrity-funeral since that of Rudolf Valentino's in 1926 (http://themave.com/Garfield/artc/nytimes.htm).

Being a bit literal-minded and because I'd seen Garfield wearing lots of trench coats in noir-ish settings over my movie-watching years, I read Inherent Vice thinking John Garfield had played at least one P.I. for Doc to want to channel. Mr. Gelman's book provided a good way to determine if John Garfield ever portrayed a private investigator. So, for the record, here are the occupations of the characters portrayed by John Garfield in each of his films (minus a few appearances as himself):

Footlight Parade (1933) - sailor, U.S. Navy
Four Daughters (1938) - pianist and drifter
Made Me a Criminal (1939) - boxer and ranch hand
Blackwell's Island (1939) - investigative journalist
Juarez (1939) - general fighting to overthrow Mexico's foreign rule
Daughters Courageous (1939) - con man and vagabond
Dust Be My Destiny (1939) - fugitive from the law
Saturday's Children (1940) - an inventor
Castle on the Hudson (1940) - gangster
Flowing Gold (1940) - oil-field worker on the run from the law
East of the River (1940) - small-time hoodlum
The Sea Wolf (1941) - seaman on a fishing vessel
Out of the Fog (1941) - gangster
Dangerously They Live (1941) - intern at a NY hospital who runs afoul of Nazi spies
Tortilla Flat (1942) - workingman in a small fishing village in Mexico
Air Force (1943) - Army Air Corps sergeant aboard a fighter bomber
Destination Tokyo (1943) - sailor aboard U.S. Navy submarine attacking Tokyo
The Fallen Sparrow (1943) - Spanish Civil War veteran
Between Two Worlds (1944) - Newspaper reporter
Pride of the Marines (1945) - WW2 U.S. Marine Corps machine gunner blinded in action
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) - drifter
Nobody Lives Forever (1946) -WW2 veteran and con man
Humoresque (1946) - violinist
Body and Soul (1947) - prizefighter
Gentleman's Agreement (1947) WW2 veteran experiencing anti-Semitism
Force of Evil (1948) - lawyer working for the mob
We Were Strangers (1949) - revolutionary and leader of a guerilla band in Cuba
Under My Skin (1950) -jockey barred from horse-racing
The Breaking Point (1950) -owner/captain of a sport-fishing boat
He Ran All the Way (1951) - small-time thief and murderer

Quite a range of occupations, quite a few films for such a short career, but nary a P.I. in the lot. But, thanks to The Films of John Garfield, I've a better handle on the film titles and characters so it's time to reread Inherent Vice.