Most people will probably remember him for his (vastly overrated) Citizen Kane, his portrayal of Harry Lime in The Third Man or his classic Touch of Evil. The last movie he worked on was another fairly well-known one: Transformers - The Movie where he did the voice of the planet-eating baddie "Unicron". Starring in an quasi-Japanese crap movie for kids - what a sad way to end his career!

Hey, I happen to like that film, albeit in a purely subjective manner. I can see why you think it's sad though; like it would be sad if Sean Connery did a voice-over for Pokémon. But from my point of view, it's more uh... "kinda cool" that Orson Welles showed up in Transformers.

Of the three movies you mention besides Transformers, I've only seen Citizen Kane (of course...), and although it's far from being a bad movie, I agree it's way overrated... I remember watching it twice to make sure I hadn't missed whatever it is that supposedly makes this movie so 'brilliant'. It played an important part in my decision to refuse to see movies only because they are 'classics' and thus 'must-see'...

You actually like that movie? Wow! I always thought the whole premise of the Transformers to be incredibly silly (walking and talking giant robots inhabiting the earth...), and this movie isn't any better. Even though the toys were pretty cool (as long as you played with them without using any of the 'official' story elements...). Anyway, the whole movie has a really impressive cast: Orson Welles, Leonard Nimoy and Eric Idle to name but a few. Still, I can't take it seriously.

To be honest, I found Citizen Kane quite boring. It's all believable and technically well done, but the subject simply failed to catch my interest. Touch of Evil is a lot better there, but unfortunately, it has Charlton Heston, All-American Hero #1, playing a Mexican - argh The Third Man is really good - funny, thrilling and exciting! It's not an 'Orson Welles movie' though, he simply plays the (really likable) baddie in it. And as you said - compared to all of these, the Transformers are... third or fourth league at best, no matter how good you like it. It's almost as bad as Bela Lugosi ending his career with Plan 9 From Outer Space....

That is a wise decision, but on the other hand, some so-called 'classics' are actually good

Edited by Mr Creosote at 17:28 on April, 13th 2003