Alternate Best Actor 1950: John Garfield in The Breaking Point

John Garfield did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Harry Morgan in The Breaking Point.

The Breaking Point is another effective adaptation of To Have and Have Not, which follows a charter boat captain being forced into the black market after becoming financially strapped.

This adaptation being closer to the original novel as the nature of the man's situation is not during wartime changing the dynamics a bit of our lead character. John Garfield is an actor I'll admit to having struggled with a bit. Someone who I can sense the talent of more than I often see it, someone I've been waiting for his great performance. Well...this may be what I was waiting for. Garfield's style perhaps came too early, as he was a predecessor of the method actors that became the rage of the 50's. This style though perhaps less fitting to some of the parts found in the studio system. Here though we get a role that is ideal for that approach, and we also seem to have Garfield most within his element. This as we get a sense of the guy's financial difficulties just from the outset in Garfield's performance. This as he speaks with exasperation towards his wife about his woes as a fisherman and his inability seemingly to do anything else. Garfield's work has a quiet quality within the intensity here that is remarkable. This as he grants a sense of the man's years of a failure at this point as he speaks about it. Garfield granting it as much with a feeling of an acceptance of defeat in life more than anything. Although he carefully does create the stakes of likability just in the earnest warmth he brings in his interactions with his wife (Phyllis Thaxter), emphasizing just an honest love essential to where his character goes from this point.

We see though as Harry plies his trade and Garfield here is terrific in creating the sense of desperation in the immediacy of his action and suspicion. This with a sardonic quality he brings towards every word and a bit of suspicion towards his clients. Garfield finding a man whose suffered one defeat after another and is almost expecting just another one around the corner. This to the point of even interacting with the sultry costumer Leona (Patricia Neal), the idea of flirtation Garfield initially puts forth is almost an aggressive dismissive quality. This though is quite articulately performed though in the way Garfield so bluntly speaks Harry's words about how much he likes his wife, the intensity of that suggests so well the undercurrent of interest he does have in the woman. Another misfortune, by the way of a trip to Mexico where a costumer runs from the bill, leads Harry to take a job with a black market dealer, in order to just get out of Mexico. The job though, initially seeming an easy job of transporting illegal immigrants, quickly results in self-defense killing when the lead man tries to kill Harry. Garfield is great in these silent moments here as his eyes instantly capture this killer instinct of a man who formerly had combat experience. It with desperation though still in the moment of the fight, bringing a real visceral quality to the moment, something that typically rare in films from the time. Garfield though here finds the real darkness of the story by presenting within the struggle a real fight for one's life, and not just a typical hero stopping a bad guy.

When coming back from that job though Harry begins to be pulled between multiple forces in life. This including the two women in his life and again Garfield is excellent here in striking up two unique chemistries with Thaxter and Neal separately. This with Thaxter there is just a straight forward sense of affection and even vulnerability in Garfield's performance. This as he speaks of killing the man there's no sardonic edge, just a man revealing his personal sensitivity with an intimate poignancy. This against the moments with Neal where he carries that blunt shield of casual dismay though again within that, particularly in the way he looks at her, a palatable lust even if he barely falls upon it. Garfield's work though excels here leaning on that edge of the work and creates the sense of the way the two worlds seem to be pulling on him. This more overtly found though as his wife, and his partner (Juano Hernandez) pulling him away from more black market jobs, while his desperation and something else pulling him towards it. I think the later is important, and perhaps codes didn't allow the film to completely get it into it, however it is alluded to effectively within Garfield's performance. This being that same lust towards Neal, Garfield portrays a glint of thrill when negotiating and preparing for a job of taking some bank robbers after a robbery. Garfield's performance suggesting the lure of the darkness without being overt about it, yet creating a palatable sense of the urge towards the criminal world. This falling apart within the climax where the robbers truly hijack his boat and murder his partner in the process. Garfield is outstanding in this largely silent work from him, this in being absolutely captivating in building the tension of each moment of the sequence. This in building the man's discontent internally while bringing this incisiveness within his eyes of the man waiting to make his move against the men. This is the best work I've seen from Garfield. This as the role not only seems cued within his presence, but Garfield's work brings to life the distinct darkness within his portrait of a man more willing to commit to the criminal world than he admits. It is the sort of performance of an actor truly coming into his own, even if sadly it was one of his last.