I Want to Hear You Blog Like a Pig

Friday is the 70th birthday of Ned Beatty, who broke into film when Crazy Mountain Man broke into his bottom. Sure enough, his career could only go up from there, no doubt making him squeal with joy. I bet you can imagine how that sounds. Rarely the lead, Beatty has been the sound bottom of the bill for many fine films ("Nashville") and some I'm sure he wished he left behind ("1941"). But somehow that first appearance in "Deliverance" has colored all his films--like a bad Burt Reynolds toupee, it's hard to stop thinking about it. Except for his magnificent turn as Arthur Jensen in "Network," when he gets to be god, who is a salesman of course (we are made in his image, after all).