The most authentic scene in cinema history, according to Robert Duvall: “As real as it got”
He may well not be quite as recognisable to later generations of movie-goers in times gone by, but there is no doubt that Robert Duvall stands up there as one of the finest actors of all time. His list of movies is absolutely incredible, stacking up against even the likes of pantheon greats Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Marlon Brando.
Don’t believe me? Check this out: The Godfather and The Godfather II, Apocalypse Now, To Kill A Mockingbird, Bullitt, The Conversation, Network, Falling Down, The Road, Crazy Heart.
And that’s aside from years of television work in the likes of the original Twilight Zone. It is a body of work that has netted Duvall an Oscar, a Bafta, four Golden Globes, two Emmys and a Screen Actors Guild award. The guy has chops on a level that barely anyone else can match.
Now well into his 90s, Duvall has quite understandably slowed down a touch and hasn’t been seen in a movie since 2022’s The Pale Blue Eye alongside Christian Bale. But he has spoken about the films that he believes are among the finest examples he’s seen during his seven decades in the industry.
Chief among those is Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan—a movie many feel is one of history’s best examples of a director depicting the horrors of war as effectively as possible. Duvall, of course, was in one of the others, namely Apocalypse Now, the sprawling Francis Ford Coppola epic that ran wildly over budget and almost killed lead actor Martin Sheen.
Regarding Spielberg’s film, Duvall had this to say: “The opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan was as real as it got in the history of movie making. I was amazed he could be that good, Spielberg! You tend to romanticise something that’s pretty brutal. The Civil War, as I understand it, was the most brutal war we’ve ever fought because it was family against family at times. More people died in that war than all the other wars put together in our history. So it may appear romantic when you see battle scenes, but underneath, it’s pretty brutal.”
There are some similarities between the two war movies. While they are based on two different conflicts, each study the US Army and the psychological effects of conflict on the soldiers involved. Neither shies away from the violence or grim reality of war, often showing graphic injury. And both have an underlying moral ambiguity as to whether or not any of it is worth it.
The San Diego-born also went on to star in another war epic, 2003’s Gods and Generals, which focused on the American Civil War. That one didn’t go down quite as well, however, with critics concerned by the movie’s Confederate slant and lengthy running time.
Duvall’s mother was actually a descendent of the famed General Robert E Lee, who he played in the movie, and the young man was expected by his father to enrol in the US Navy, something the actor managed to ignore as he followed an different dream all the way to theatre school in New York, where he found himself alongside iconic classmates, including Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, and future Godfather co-star James Caan.
While Gods and Generals might have allowed Duvall to act out the battles of his forefathers, he was most impressed by the hundreds of professional historical re-enactors who worked on the film, noting, “You cannot make these kinds of movies without the re-enactors. They are the heart and soul of these movies. They live and breathe it, and it’s an intense, lifetime hobby.”
