The “probably OK” 1970 movie that still inspired Michael Keaton’s career: “What a job that would be!”

David Lean’s 1970 film *Ryan’s Daughter* drew harsh reviews, but it helped shape Michael Keaton’s ideas about the roles he wanted to play. At 19, he was struck by John Mills’s portrayal of Michael, a village mute with a bad leg, and saw the appeal of performing as an unusual, richly drawn character rather than a conventional handsome lead.

Mills won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role, which the article says he played with pathos rather than making Michael a comic spectacle. The film followed Lean’s celebrated epics and ran for three hours and 18 minutes; despite its critical reception, its influence can be traced in Keaton’s tendency to bring a character actor’s sensibility to leading roles such as Batman.