{"id":162307,"date":"2025-11-05T08:00:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T13:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=162307"},"modified":"2025-11-03T13:18:42","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T18:18:42","slug":"joel-mcrea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=162307","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;People say I&#8217;m a one-note actor, but the way I figure it, those other guys are just looking for that one right note.&#8221; &#8212; Joel McCrea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/RaggedMiserableDunlin-size_restricted.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-162839\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\nIt&#8217;s his birthday today. Joel McCrea had a long career, with many different phases. He did it all, although he is primarily associated with Westerns. It was what you might call a &#8220;classy&#8221; career. Steady, successful, no scandals, and he seemingly had a very practical and healthy relationship to acting, to being a star. He was great in <i>Sullivan&#8217;s Travels<\/i> &#8211; he and Veronica Lake make a great pair.<\/p>\n<p>\n<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/tumblr_mrr7jkaADA1qbm5l6o1_500.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"347\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-162844\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\nMy favorite of his is <i>The More the Merrier<\/i>, with Jean Arthur and Charles Coburn (who won an Oscar for his performance). This film is one of the sexiest films ever made. The kiss Arthur and McCrea share on the steps is more erotic than any sex scene featuring totally nude bodies. Her shoulder-less dress, his handsiness &#8211; he&#8217;s literally an octopus &#8211; but he knows she wants it &#8211; and then there&#8217;s the moment where she takes control, grabs his face, and SHE kisses HIM. Here&#8217;s the scene and take note of the long long LONG take, with all that talking, and all that dialogue, and all that fiery-hot subtext &#8230; <\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_jBnKZjxAMY\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\nJoel McCrea is so good in this: laconic, flat-affect, non-dramatic (as compared to Jean Arthur&#8217;s overt sadness and freaked-out-ness) &#8230; so that when he admits his love for her, and calls her &#8220;dear&#8221; in the quiet scene where they&#8217;re both lying in their single beds, in separate rooms, and talking to each other through the wall &#8230; it takes your breath away. <\/p>\n<p>Please read <a href=\"https:\/\/brightlightsfilm.com\/golden-boy-sexy-ways-joel-mccrea\/#.YNsegSOZNmA\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dan Callahan&#8217;s insightful piece on McCrea<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I wrote about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.filmcomment.com\/blog\/tcm-diary-the-chemistry-set-jean-arthur-joel-mccrea-william-powell-myrna-loy-george-stevens\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">McCrea and Arthur&#8217;s sizzling chemistry<\/a> for <i>Film Comment<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s his birthday today. Joel McCrea had a long career, with many different phases. He did it all, although he is primarily associated with Westerns. It was what you might call a &#8220;classy&#8221; career. Steady, successful, no scandals, and he &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=162307\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,4,39],"tags":[493,306,2164],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162307"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=162307"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189635,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162307\/revisions\/189635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=162307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=162307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=162307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}