Ben Carruthers makes awkwardness worth watching. We value the restraint and uncertainty he brings to Shadows, a performance that makes people interesting without making them easy to understand, even when the film itself loses momentum.
Fi1m perspective
In Shadows (1960), Ben Carruthers allows Ben to look unsure without explaining every feeling. He plays a moody musician, but does not turn the moodiness into a demand for our attention. His restraint makes room for humour as well as discomfort, and gives us time to become interested in someone who is not especially easy company. It is a persuasive performance in a good film that sometimes wanders long enough to test the patience.
That central role for John Cassavetes was his breakthrough, and the independent work continued with Jonas Mekas's Guns of the Trees (1961) and Philip Kaufman's Goldstein (1964). Then came supporting parts in larger productions: Alexander Mackendrick's A High Wind in Jamaica (1965) and Robert Aldrich's The Dirty Dozen (1967). The latter made use of his brooding physical presence within an ensemble. His career after Shadows was chiefly in supporting and character parts, so that early leading role remains unusually important when considering his work.
In Shadows, Carruthers has useful company in Lelia Goldoni as Lelia and Hugh Hurd as Hugh. All three allow uncertainty to remain in an exchange without stopping to point it out, and the humour is better for that lack of insistence. We were touched by their willingness to seem awkward, because it leaves room for feelings the characters cannot yet explain. Cassavetes gets something valuable from Carruthers here: we can watch Ben struggle to express himself without the performance supplying a neat explanation on his behalf.
There are limits to this approach, and uneven delivery can shade into stiffness. We would not defend every rough edge simply because it belongs to an independent film, nor mistake the wandering pace of Shadows for a virtue. Still, Carruthers and his fellow actors give us enough to stay interested when the story stalls. Start there, and allow the people a little more time than the plot seems to deserve.
Biography
Ben Carruthers, also credited as Benito F. Carruthers, was an American actor. He was born on 14 August 1936 in Illinois and died on 27 September 1983 in Los Angeles, California.
Carruthers is known for his role as Ben in John Cassavetes' Shadows (1959). His other film appearances include The Dirty Dozen (1967) as Glenn Gilpin, A High Wind in Jamaica (1965) as Alberto, The Lost Continent (1968) as Ricaldi, and Man in the Wilderness (1971) as Longbow. He was married to actress Lelia Goldoni, his co-star in Shadows.
