>> welcome to our program, the 112th congress was convened today in washington and the gavel was passed to the new speaker of the house of representative, john boehner, we will have a perspective on what he said from democratic congressman chris van hollen, bloomberg's al hunt and david brooks of "the new york times". it is one thing to talk about budget comuts the abstract and just going slash the budget, it is different when you are cutting early education or cutting college grants or when you are cutting research at the nih to find cures and treatments to cancer. so these are the real world consequences of some of these budget cuts and i think that is what they are grappling with now. >> i think john boehner struck a great note, he was authentic and full of cliches and not very inspirational but if you are in a bar in saint joseph or at the

vfw hall you said hey, i like this guy and seemed real and i think that is effective, the republicans on the other hand are off to a bit of a rocky start. >> generalizing about the freshman more impressive than one would think, there are experienced business people, experienced legislators and they are serious people, but they are seriously committed, they believe they were sent here to get government under control and they mean to do it and they don't have long-term ambitions here right now. >> rose: and conclude this evening with a seminar on acting with the legendary actor, robert duvall. >> i try to be truthful when i act and try to keep it down to what we are doing now. bobby duvall and charlie rose just talking and listening, and somebody said well we saw you in a movie and just made your receive, yeah, well try it. try it and see how easy it is. just easy, you know, talk and, you just talk, it is not that easy always. >> rose: a new congress, and

an acting legend when we continue. funding for charlie rose was provided by the following.

captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> rose: the 112 ement congress convened today, republicans took control of the house of representatives for the fit time in four years, all cries were on john boehner, the congressman from ohio, he was formally elected as the 61st speaker of the house of representatives with a vote of 241 to 173. in her last act as speaker, nancy pelosi from california handed bainer the gavel and wished him well. >> i now pass this gavel and the sacred trust that goes with it to the new speaker. god mess you, speaker boehner.

god bless you, speaker boehner. >> rose: with ten of his 11 siblings watching him speaker boehner addressed the new congress, emphasizing humility, and accountability. >> the american people have humbled us, they have refreshed our memories to just how temporary the privilege of serving is. they remind us that everything here is on loan from them. that includes this gavel, which i accept cheerfully and great any, knowing that i am but its caretaker, after all, this is the people's house. and to my friends in the minority, i offer a commitment, openness. once a tradition of this institution, an increasingly scarce and in recent decades is the new standard, there are no rules in the house in the last congress. in this one, there will be many. and once we restore this comes a

restored responsibility, you will not have the right to willfully disrupt the proceedings of the people's house. but you will always have the right to a robust debate in an open process that allows you to represent your constituents to make your case, offer alternatives, and be heard. >> rose: he acknowledged partisanship scars but mentioned the common good. >> there is a great deal of scar tissue that has been built up on both sides of the aisle. we can't ignore that, nor should we. my belief has always been we can disagree without being disagreeable. that is why it is critical this institution operate in a manner that permits a free exchange of ideas and resolves our on nest differences through a fair debate and vote. we may have differences, sometimes very different ideas about how to go about achieving the common good.

it is why we serve. let us now move forward, humble in our demeanor, steady in our principles, dedicated to proving worthy of the trust and confidence that has been placed in each of us. >> rose: 87 new republican house members were sworn in, the majority of them endorsed by tea party groups and have committed to reversing major parts of president obama's legislative agenda, joining me from washington, chris van hollen, democratic representative, a ranking democratic on the house budget and former chair of the congressional campaign committee and the al hunt the executive editor of bloomberg news, i am pleased to have them here, i begin with this question, congressman, you were there, you saw the transfer of power, give me your impression of the new speaker today. >> well, i thought john boehner the new speaker struck the right to be the his regards, tone, he wanted to look for ways to work together on a bipartisan basis so everything he said i think was promising.

as you all know, the real test comes in not so much what people say but what they actually do. whether we really will govern the house in a bipartisan manner and i do have to say i was somewhat disappointed in one of the very first votes that came up that had to do with the rules of the road governing the house, which is a lot more than a housekeeping affair, it actually lays the guidelines for how we are going to deal with big issues like budget issues and tax and spending and on that front they immediately opened a loophole that can create larger deficits and more debt in the years ahead. so an anyway, it is the start oa new year, i think we are all excited about the prospects of trying to find common ground but where we can't, i think the minority has a responsibility to clearly articulate our differences so that people can choose. >> rose: the speaker also said i want to bring al in on this because he has covered the congress in early at times, for a long time, he is smiling as i

say that, but it is true. >> henry clay. >> rose: henry clay. >> how was it to cover henry clay? a good or for, wasn't he? >> he was great, charlie, he was our kind of guy, he was a great orator. >> rose: so the question is, when is speaker talks about a different kind of leadership in comparison with your speaker nancy pelosi and in comparison with former colleague newt gingrich, what do you make of that? >> well, again, charlie, i think only time will tell, all i know is this. one week from today, they plan on taking a vote to totally repeal the healthcare reform bill. they are not going to have any hearings, they are not going to hear from people, who would get the benefit from some of the provisions that have already gone into effect, for example families with kids with preexisting conditions who no longer can be denied coverage because they have diabetes or asthma, they are not going to

listen to anybody before they proceed one week from today to vote for repeal of that, so again, the words were great. the actions are troubling, and we will have to see how we move forward here. >> rose: al? >> i should say, i should say, you know, i served on the education committee for a period overtime when john boehner was the republican chairman and i do think that he is a fair minded person. he of course has to deal with a huge new group of republican members, many of whom were supported by the tea party express, and he is going to have to deal with them and that may limit his freedom of an action and ability to compromise. >> rose: al? >> congressman, two years ago, when republicans complained to president, the new president obama about he has got to compromise more and work together, he said we won the election, and elections have consequences, can't republicans in the house turn to you today and say, hey, we won, elections have consequences.

that is why we are going to repeal healthcare and that's why we are going to cut the budget. what is wrong with that? >> rose: well, al, they can and they did, so clearly, our complaint is not that we lost the election as much as we would have liked to have won the election, we recognize the realities on the ground, but at the same time, when these republican candidates were out on the ground campaigning around the country, they made certain pledges, for example, they said they were serious about reducing the deficit and reducing the debt, and yet within a very short period of time, in fact, just minutes ago, they voted for a rule that says you can use the whole budget reconciliation process which is supposed to impose budget discipline you can use it even though it the blows a hole in the deficit. i don't think that is the kind of change people were expecting when they voted for a them but you are absolutely right, al, they are the majority and the one silver lining for some of us democrats is they finally have

some responsibility to share in governing this currently, along with the president and the senate. >> well, the opening salvos are going to come from the budget process, you are the ranking democrat on the budget committee, based on what you have said today, and what you just said now, i gather you and paul ryan, for whatever mutual respect you have for each other are off to a little bit of a rocky start substantively. >> well let's see there are going to be areas where we clearly disagree and it is going to be our responsibility will to spell out our differences clearly but there may be room for common ground. for example, in the previous congress, both paul ryan and john spratt, the former democratic chairman proposed different approaches to what is known as expedited rescission, that is, obviously, a complicated word for -- the meaning is pretty simple, which is that it allows another opportunity to scrub the budget,

it allows the president, or whoever the executive branch may be -- whoever the president is, whether it is barack obama or somebody else to look at some of the measures passed by congress and say, hey, maybe you guys didn't really intend to do this, and eliminate what may be considered excessive spending. now, congress would then have an opportunity to come back and override that, but that may be one example of where we may get some agreement. now, the devil is in the details and that's what we will have to see. >> i was just going to ask about the republican commitment to cut $100 billion from the domestic discretionary spending and scale that bac back to 50 billion, ist achievable, is 50 billion achievable? >> well we will have to see because as you well know, when they were pressed during the campaign to describe exactly what they planned to cut to achieve what had been $100 billion goal, they didn't do it, and so we are now going

to have to see what they propose with respect to 50 billion. i think what we are seeing here, though, is reality catching up with some of the pledges they have made, because it is one thing to talk about budget cuts in the abstract, and we are just going to slash the budget. it is another thing altogether when you are talking about cutting early education, or when you are cutting college grants or when you are cutting research at the nih to find cures and treatments to cancer. so these are the real world consequences of some of these budget cuts and i think that is what they are grappling with now. >> rose: congressman, there is much talk about divisions within republicans in the house tea party and others, what are the divisions within the democrats in the house? >> well, we have always been a raucous and rowdy caucus, charlie, as you know we have a great diversity of opinion within the caucus, we have different groups, we have the blue dogs and the new dems, the progressive caucus, but we have

been able to unite encore issues of jobs and the economy and i expect that that will continue in the days ahead. >> rose: and the relationship with the white house? >> relations with the white house has been very strong over the last two years, and i expect that will continue. obviously, like us, the white house is going to have to deal with the fact that you now have a republican majority in the house and i am sure that like the democrats in the house, they will look for those opportunities where they can find common ground, but they are also going to be very clear about pursuing their principles and their priorities, so, look, i think we are all in for a very interesting period overtime. >> rose: some democrats who have read the election results not only as a repudiation of healthcare or vote against healthcare and a vote against a number of other issues that they saw as they -- as a perception of the real estate but also as a vote against speaker pelosi.

yet democrats chose to re-elect her as their leader. >> well, i think, charlie, that it has been pretty clear from a lot of the exit polls that were done in the election that the overriding issue was the fact that people are frustrated and impatient with the lack of progress on the economy, that even though the president and i think with help from the congress was successful at stopping the agree fall in the economy, when i wrote have got nine and a half percent unemployment, when you have got so many americans who either have been out of work or know somebody close to them who has been out of work that that uncertainty led to the results. >> rose: highly respected democrat told me over the holidays that the house and the democratic party failed to appreciate that the election of 2010 was a national election, that you made it an election of individual congress people, and that was a mistake. >> well, charlie, i think we

recognize that this was going to be a national election. what we struggled to try and do was turn that national election from a referendum on the folks who were in charge into a choice, and we tried to spell out very clearly the differences between what republicans stand for and what democrats stand for. we tried to explain that, you know, the economy was in a hell of a bad shape the day the president was sworn in and the new congress was sworn in, and we tried to point out and argue that their policies were not going to get us out of this mess. but, look, understandably people were less interested in how we got into the mess, and they also seemed to be less focused on some of our policy prescriptions for getting out of this mess. they were registering their dissatisfaction with the status quo, the immediate moment and that is understandable and that is, you know, what house elections are, it is putting your, taking the temperature of

the country at a particular moment in time and we were the guys -- we were the guys in charge and now it is our responsibility to try and work with the republicans where possible but make clear our differences when -- where they exist. >> congressman picking up on charlie's question about president obama, what are you looking for the president to say in the state of the union on the 25th of january? specifically, how bold do you think he will be on things like the deficit? do you think he will embrace simpson bowls? what do you anticipate? .. >> well, again, as you know that is one of the most closely held secrets in washington exactly what is president is going to say, even those of us from the house who have had the pleasure of working with the president are not privy to those details, but here is what i hope, al. i do hope he will lay out a pretty clear and bold vision about where we need to go to get the economy back in full gear, get americans back to work, and put our country on a fiscal i

will sustainable footing going forward so i hope that he will use the boll simpson commission, the president, his own debt and deficit reduction commission, as an example of how we can put a lot of ideas on the table that need to be considered in an open and fair manner, that we should come to the table, open-minded about a lot of these ideas and not immediately say, well, that is a sacred you so we are, sacred cow so we are not going to touch it, that said i sure hope he will remain true to the principles he first ran on two years ago, and, you know, a big part of that was .. making sure we invest as we need to do in a clean energy strategy, that we invest in education and we have, you know, the reauthorization of no child left behind up, and that needs some changes. and that we are going to protect the integrity of france that provide people with economic and health security, like medicare,

like social security and now the new healthcare reform law that is going into effect. >> rose: congressman alcohol, van hollen, thanks so much. >> happy the t to be sure. happy birthday. >> rose: thank you very much al, we will be right back. stay with us. al and i continue with david brooks of the new york times. as you watched this, david, today, what was your sense of it? >> well, john boehner struck the pose he has been striking the last couple of months, mod city, no big promises, not the a i am the rival of the president and i am the leader of the free world and newt gingrich the tone, he struck the right toe and the republicans are a little nervous about the members, they have pot some debt ceiling raising, they have got a budget process that is about to go through, and a number of them have said i will

not vote to raise the debt ceiling and that, if they vote that way, will create chaos. and so they are trying to get some realistic expectations and to me over the next four months the key person to watch is actually glenn beck, because a lot of these members are going to be asked very carefully and i think very authoritatively by real conservatives in the republican party we have to make some compromise and we are really going to cut spending but you have to make some compromises and i think a lot will be inclined to go along because the authority will be there. but if glenn beck and rush limbaugh, sarah palin and other people say no it is a rotten deal that will make their life miserable so men beck is more powerful over the next four or five months than he has been even up to now. >> but you can imagine them not voting to raise the debt ceiling? >> it is an interesting group of people. they are -- generalizing about the freshmen, they are more impressive than one would think. they are experienced business people, experienced legislators

and they are serious people, but they are seriously committed, they believe they were sent here to get government under control and they mean to do it, and they really don't have long-term ambitions here, at least right now. i spoke to an economy list who was giving the freshmen the orientation session and they said we are going to cut government by, you know, x, an he said well let me show you the things you probably don't want to touch, medicare, medicaid, social security and they were startled a little and they said, okay let's go to work. let's do it. and he said are you really going to cut this, this, an this and they said yes, we are going to do it and maybe that's only brave talk right now but i think they are a more committed group than even the class of '94, '95. >> rose: and the operative philosophy they have is government is is too big and they have t to cut it down to size? >> that's as simple as that. government is out of control, we want to cut it down to size. if you fly into reagan airport in dc there is banner where you pick up your luggage, government is out of control, you promised

to cut it down, i don't know who put it up but -- >> you talk about it is the role of government but on the other hand government can be big and academy or small and bad. >> yes. this is me talking, not them. >> rose: i understand that. but -- >> yes. for them, the argument really is, big government, government is bad, government is overly in through receive let's cut it back. and my argument would be it depends what government does, a big government can be good, big government can be bad and the question is not the size so much as the quality. does it really contribute to an aspiring country with a lot of social mobility or does it innervate the country? and the interesting thing when you talk to them i think this is true of paul ryan by the way who is one of the smartest people this congress is that the rhetoric is very black and white, where barack obama is taking us off to sweden, we have got to just get government out of our lives, but once you press and you say, do you really want to get rid of infrastructure spending and really get rid of early childhood education spending then they immediately say, naah

i am not a libertarian so i think there is a gap between what they really believe, program by program, and what some of the rhetoric is and i think once the budget process gets rolling with a serious guy liked ryan he will make choices based on values, i was seriously struck getting to the $50 billion was not going to be hard. the poll, ryan's it is a serious cutting budget and i think when barack obama gives us his state of the union there will be a surprising number of cuts in that too. >> rose: what else to you expect from the state of the union, i mean, van hollen said it is a closely held secret, on the other hand, i hear themes that are coming out of it. whether it is a growth -- an emphasis on growth in the economy or whether it is an emphasis on competition for the future or whether it is an emphasis on how to make government work. >> right, well i do think growth, when he now speaks, people in the administration you ask them about the deficits and the debt they say, you know, we

can grow our way out of a lot of it but that is not what the of initial line was a couple of years ago. and so i do think that emphasis on growth is there. the question is whether they launch major initiatives, like tax reform, and there i think they are in the early days even still that they -- the president is attracted to the idea of tax reform but i am not sure a lot of the real grunt work has been done, remember how much turmoil there is with so many people changing jobs in the administration. so the question will be how much new initiatives are launched, and then finally i do think as i said, there will be a lot more spending constraints over there, than one would expect from a democratic administration, i think they feel that they cut really some surprising and painful cuts is the price of admission to the debate which is going to ensue, they will make those cuts, the country will say, okay, they are serious about controlling the deficit and now we can have a conversation. >> rose: al, when is the first big test? i asked you this before that you expect this congress to see? and in which

all of the things that david has been talking about will come into fore? >> is it the debt is. >> budget, yes, the debt ceiling and the budget. i think david lays out a very plausible scenario with one important caveat, if he is right, if he is right about glenn beck, then we are dead. i mean i'm sorry, glen beck says the world will not cut them any slack nor will sarah palin and if they don't cut them any slack and really affects those tea party republicans that is going to make john boehner's job absolutely impossible because i think probably boehner would associate himself with an awful lot of what you are talking about. let's come up with sensible compromise and move the country more to the center, the budget more to the center, to the right, but knot have litmus test on this, but i thought today, i agree with what david said, i thought john boehner really struck a plate moat/note today. he was authentic, he was real. he was full of cliches, not very inspirational but if you in a bar out there in st. joseph or a

vfw hall you said i like this guy, he really seems real and i thought that was very effective, the republicans on the other hand are off zero a bit of a rocky start, they promised to cut 100 billion and now think say 50, 50 won't be easy, paul ryan notwithstanding that will be very tough, they say they are going to have open rules and transparency which sounds very good but then you bring up a healthcare repeal and you don't allow my amendments those are more than inside the beltway, they said the lobbying crowd is out and they have a huge fund raiser at the trendy w hotel for the freshmen, i think all of those things may be necessary, but you can't say one thing and say we are different different, we are for change, remember we were there two years ago, and then not practice it. >> rose: hey, getting republicans into trendy hotel is change. . and they may want to stay there for a while. >> what are these little bottles in the minibar. it is pretty good. so. >> rose: go ahead.

>> the one thing i think will come to a point for them is that they have actually very little leverage in the early part of the budget debate, because as cantor told me the must be two house republican and other people, they are not going to shut down the government. and so if you don't have that quiver in your -- or that arrow in your quiver, how much leverage do you actually have? so i think they actually have relatively little leverage and as a result will have to compromise with the democrats or with obama. >> rose: david, thank you i promised i would let you out on time and i thank you for stopping in today to look at this, what is historic day, the beginning of 112th congress and the change of power in the house of representatives and i guess now we wait for the state of the union. thank you very much. >> it is the buy annual promise of transparency. .. >> rose: albert thank you very much for joining us here today. >> and happy birthday to you, charles. >> rose: thank you. we will be back. stay with us.

robert does central is here. he is as you know a unique actor famous more the masterful and subdued performances, it is wrote this actor has gone nearly 50 years in movies virtually without a false note. he began his career in new york theatre before making his hollywood debut, as bo bradley in to kill a mockingbird, it would be another ten years before his breakout role as tom hagin the or leone family, in the first two god father films. nominated six times for an academy award he won first portrayal of the washed up country singer mac fledge in tender mercies here is a look at his work over 50 years. .. ♪

>> hey, boo. >> i never busted a not much under anyone under 16 but i will do what i have to do. >> i am mattie ross and my family has property and i don't know why i am being treated like this. >> well, it is must have that you know how that i will do what i have to do. >> i will make so much trouble for you -- >> i am not threatened. >> i know every fake lawyer in new york. who the hell are you? >> i have a special practice. i handle one client. you have my number. always feel free to call. by the way, i admire your pictures very much. >> you know that gasoline smell, it smells like victory.

>> rose: i don't know why i wandered to this part of texas drunk and helped m me and got me straightened out. and marry me. why? is there a reason that happened? and somebody's dad died in a war. my daughter killed in an automobile accident. why? you see, i don't trust happiness. i never did. i never will. >> and you are still pretty, claire. you have, you are still the man you have always been, gus. >> with your permission, i would

like a kiss. >> come on. now stop it. >> when i saw that boy, i thought i died. he was an angel. i had a boy one time. of my own. >> rose: his latest film get low was released this summer inspired by a true story, that tells a tale of a recluse who throws himself a funeral party while he is still alive. here is the trailer forget low. for get low. >> i am after a funeral. >> boy are you in luck.

>> steel handles, whatever you want. party. >> what? >> i want a funeral party. >> and i want to be there. >> you will be, i guarantee it. >> i want to be there now. >> alive? you want to have a funeral party while you are alive so you can go? >> yes or no? >> yes. >> i want everybody to come who has got a story to tell about me. >> i heard a lot of things about him as a kid. >> how do you get people to come and tell stories about you and i am guessing that height get them, you know, shot? is it just me or is he extremely articulate when he wants to be? >> we have a plan. you are going to run an ad in the paper about the party. >> you want me to look like this? >> yes. a crazy old nut draws more. >> oh, for heaven's sake. >> 1,000 years ago he was the most interesting man i ever met. >> i wondered if you were still under that beard. >> i didn't know where else to go. >> from caleb county, how are

you today, sir? >> 40 years we shut it off like that. >> why would you do that? >> comes a funeral, maybe you will find out. >> he has a way of making people do what he wants. the truth is, nobody knows what he is capable of, maybe he doesn't know. >> what are you going to do now? >> i have done a lot of things in my life but i have never done this. many of you have heard stories about mr. bush, but today i am told we are going to hear another kind of story, his. >> about time for me to get low. >> rose: get low means? >> oh, everybody asks this, it is kind of a subjective, get low means to get down, for religious people to get down for jesus or the lord, in the south but get low, get humility, before that day comes, the day of reckoning, it is like you know it is

approaching so you have to get low? >> yeah. yeah. exactly. >> rose: so who is felix bush? >> well, he is a man that chooses. >> rose: is living in the woods. >> he arbitrarily chooses to live a hermetic life deep in the woods, not a dumb guy, he could have been a lawyer, he could have been a doctor, he could have been a world traveller and been many things but he chose to be a hermit because of this. >> incident? >> this guilt and it is based on a true story but in the fictionalizing of the project it has its own identity, really. >> rose: so you craft this character, tell us how you do it. >> well, this character the writing was so good i just let it lead me, and i thought about it, you know, you wake up in the middle of the night and you daydream in the middle of the night, you know, you think in the middle of the night, so you daydream in the middle of the day as well, and i just followed the writing and i let -- we went to argentina at christmas to visit his people and sat in a

hoe fell and looked out of those ande mountains, the beautiful, magnificent mountains, studying the part which gave me a sense of solitude, privacy, loneliness, being alone, being kind of hermetic. >> rose: are you looking for something when you do that? >> you are looking for something but you don't necessarily know what you are looking for so you just, let it go, you know and eventually when they say action and cut you throw it awful out the which window. >> rose: right. exactly. why does he want to have this funeral party? >> he wants to hear what people say but what it ends up that he. >> rose: wants to say? >> tells what he wants to tell. >> rose: so it is about him getting something off his chest. >> something big offer his chest that he has held there for a long time. >> rose: and what role does sissy spacek play? >> she plays the part of a potential lover, potential, but never really fulfilled many years agoness and when she thought she was in her heyday with me i come into the yard one day and see her sister and i say

to her, i didn't know i had a heart until it stopped right then. >> when you saw her sister? >> yeah. and that was it. and she said, well how long has this been going on because the sister is since deceased. >> rose: right. >> she says how long has this been going on? i said it is still going on. 40 years later. >> rose: stopped your heart for 40 years? >> yeah. yeah. and part of in my guilt is connected with her sister. >> rose: is that sort of what happened to you and luciana? >> no, i don't know we just met on the street, really, is what it was. >> no, no, back then she learned establish but back then she would say, bobby, let's take a snap and we will take a nap and now she is -- do simultaneous translation. so -- >> rose: but it is going well, right? >> yes, very well. >> rose: she lives in virgin ja and there with the dogs and the horses. >> yeah when you play a role like this as felix bush and you being abl 80.

>> yeah, i will be. >> rose: you will be at some point. >> soon. >> rose: soon. you will be way after me, but soon. what do you -- do you reach into that idea? i mean does this make you think about mortality? >> i am sure it does. you mean doing -- >> rose: to remind you that, you know -- >> i am sure it does. i told this story to many people before. i always told horton foot he should see this movie. he was 93 and still writing. well, what happened was, i wanted him to see this movie because to remind him of his writing. the first day i was giving this speech on to the crowd, from -- for their benefit. >> rose: yes. >> the mule comes along with a koff in for when i really die, the casket. >> rose: right. >> and the phone rings off camera, while the camera is rolling, my wife gets the message that horton foot just died. >> rose: my gosh. >> it was like full circle from to kill a mockingbird. it was like erie, like he was there. it was kind of beautiful but strange and sad at the -- it was

very poignant. >> he was a great american voice for you. >> 11 of the greats of everybody and he is getting realized more and more and more. i have met young actors very good stage acts tordz who have never heard of horton foot, how have you not heard of him in. >> he is one of our great writers. more and more he will be more and more recognized. >> rose: boo rad difficult, did he come out of the script or -- >> boo? i went to do the movie in the last part of the shoot and the character comes in the last part of the book. >> rose: yes. >> and when i left my apartment in new york, i got a telegram from the author, and they said hey, there, boo, like a congratulations to do the part so i went to congratulations, california and i went on the set and treated by everyone, it was the end of the movie, the last ten days, the end of the book, the last character so i came on and i just, gregory peck was a wonderful gentleman, very gracious man with a lot of grace, horton foot was there as he always is in these movies and i felt very welcomed, and i just, once pen, followed my

instincts for this part, it was just a lovely part. >> rose:. >> you don't think of that. the only thing i thought of then was when i did that part as i did it, i got goose pimples, so i said if i am a goose pimple actor i know i am on the right track, at that time. not that i always get goose but i did then. >> rose: this actor has gone nearly 50 years in movies virtually without a false note, as i said in my opening. now, as self-serving as it might be tell me why that has been possible for you. >> well, i am sure this guy gave me a bad review once, all of these pies do. i don't read them, believe me i don't read them. >> rose: good or bad. >> i don't read them, no, the best reviews are american buffalo on broadway and lonesome dove and they were good reviews and really exceptional and i didn't read them. i will hear about them sometimes and hear, but i don't go after them to read them because i just

-- you know -- >> rose: why? why? why? >> i try to be truthful when i act. i try to keep it down to what we are doing now. bob but duvall and charlie rose just talking and listening and somebody said well we saw you in a movie and you just made yourself, and i said yeah, well try it, try it and see how easy it is. just easy, you know, talk, listen, talk, it is not that easy always. >> rose: it has everything about it making it sounds like you just had the thought, it has a sense of -- >> yeah. >> listening so it flows naturally from where the conversation was. >> yes. >> it has to do with stripping away everything except the moment. >> exactly the moment and i think that there are bad stills but the directors today, the good. >> the good ones are better than the old ones in that area when i looked at true grit it is not one of my favorite performances. when i did -- the director said to one of the actors when i say action, tense up, goddamn it.

>> rose: that's not how you do it. >> you say that to joe montana in the super bowl, you don't do that. there is a difference between intensity and tenseness and a good director would say give me less, don't do anything and i think, you know, if you can be relaxed enough, i think that you can start from zero and possibly end with zero, you see, without letting the process take you to the result rather than playing the result. just see where it goes. in the old days they wanted something, something, something something, something, energy, energy, energy and that movie, true grit, if you looked at the ground the guy would say cut, what are you looking at, it had to be like a proceeding, some of those directors then i am not saying they didn't make good movies then, they did but i think from the godfather on down i think the movies have been -- are better today, i think. maybe the stories aren't better, i am not saying the actors are any less interesting, but i think the directors in those days were authoritative and they

wanted certain things, gene hackman once said they asked henry ford to come on the set to direct one scene, with a bunch of soldiers he went down. >> john ford. >> up, up, everybody had to be up in those days like energy, energy, and, you know, it is not about that, really. that is a secondary thing, energy and energy could come from a person rather than just an arbitrary outside force. >> rose: as we were watching that, and godfather scene came on and that composite. >> yes. >> you say that's the best. >> well, for that kind of story telling, cop low is masterful, i was fortunate enough in the last of the consequentth century to be in one of the biggest episodes, godfather 1 an 1 and d lonesome done and godfather was better directed and i walked on lonesome dove and i said boys, we are making the godfather of westerns but that was my favorite part. >> rose: that was the favorite part. >> that was my favorite. >> because? >> interesting guy, just a guy

that, you know, he said why do we kill all of the people in this country that were interesting to begin with and went after indians but he was a texas ranger and loved women, he didn't care if they were whores i said let the english play hamlet and king lera and i will play in lonesome dove. lonesome done, it is a great american novel and we tried to come up to equal it, whether we did or not, i don't know. but godfather, the novel was okay, and the movie surpassed it. >> rose: tell me about marlow. >> ah, marlow. >> rose: yeah. >> interesting guy, when i first met him, he won the chase. we talked. >> rose: robert redford. >> we talked and did this and that, and he knew that, you know, he wants everybody to come, people want to come to him, talk and boys it is going to be great, like eight weeks he would never say hello and walk right by you. right by you, like, okay.

you know, and knowing that you wanted something. but -- and i learned something from him on the chase, i noticed he would be sitting over here, they would say, okay, it is your time and be talking, la, la and go action, la, la, cut, back to talking. it was all the say. there was no beginning. i said, boy this is interesting acting. no beginning. >> rose: it is a continuum. >> yes. it is him, you know, continuing. >> rose: role play a scene from get low. >> what do you think? >> i wouldn't know you, sir. maybe the devil won't either. where are the shoes? >> normally people don't wear shoes in a casket. are you about 10 d? that is going to be $13 and .19 and the

shoes another $6.50. that will be 19dollars 69. how do you fix the underwear? >> i don't wear none. >> one question too many. >> he is wonderful, wonderful to work with and lucas too, lucas,. >> rose: right. >> lucas just did another movie with lucas, he is a scratch golfer this guy, i don't know if the movie is any good but -- >> rose: a great golfer. >> a legitimate golf movie. >> rose: what is the movie called. >> seven days of utopia. >> is it about golf? >> yes, about golf, yes. >> and he is the lead character? >> yes. >> and what local do you play? >> i play a mentor but i only have to swing once. >> rose: you have said that hollywood tends to patronize southern characters in films, particularly if they are religious, do you think so? >> give me an example and i will tell you if i agree. >> i know it was presented as a musical in a way but that brother where art thou i thought the people very like

hillbillies, the music was great. >> rose: absolutely great. >> yes. but i mean, other things too, you know. like i think that -- i think i may have mentioned to you this before one time, there was a car, a guy had a car service he said when he was in the army in the south, all of those guys in the hills and valleys and rivers, way in the deep south, constantly outscored the new yorkers on the aptitude tests so you cannot gas over these people, you can't. i defend lucas plat by a director who once put him down that said he was like a corn pone hillbilly. >> what did you do. >> i not the dwi's face. not really,. >> rose: what did you do? >> i said what are you talking about? i said you don't know what you are talking about. >> in that manner. >> i god a little hot with the guy. he was a well money director. >> dial that up for me. >> and offered me a part in the movie and turned it down. jesse james movie they did up in canada, but lucas just because he has a very thick -- he tries hard maybe not to get rid of it,

the thick, thick alabama accent but a very talented young actor and a bright, bright young -- he married a woman with a young woman a prosecuting attorney from missouri, interesting. >> rose: there you go. you married a crowning woman from argentina. >> she could have been a prosecuting attorney. >> rose: now do you still dance? >> socially, we socially. >> last time i met you, not last time i met you but saw you in argentina, in buenos aires. >> we had a wonderful time down there, yes, it was nice, and i get a little inhibited down there because no matter how good they are down there they criticize each other, like crazy. >> rose: yeah. >> there was one die that he is built like this, this big, what a dancer he got second in the world competition, he setback stage i bet my sister against your sister. and the older people usually give the young people encouragement, the older people said to him, why are you here? you are a terrible dancer get out of here. i mean, so it is a very

strangely competitive small world the tango world in buenos aires,. >> rose: you made that because that was something you wanted to do. >> yes, very much so, yes, francis -- >> rose: did you direct that yourself? >> yes i directed it and wrote it and luciano stole the show, she was good. >> rose: she was good. she was terrific. this is what you said about the becoming a character. you become the character but it is really you turning yourself in a certain way as if you have become the character but you cannot lose sight of who and what you are. you have one set of emotions, one psyche, one soul, and you can't, you don't become another thing. >> absolutely. i stand by that. because it is acting in the back of your head, he said i don't know much about him but in the back of your head there is something that approves, not in a negative way it approves of what you are doing so it is acting. >> rose: it is not becoming -- >> you do and you tonight. not really.

i mean, you know, you can say i became that character and you could be doing false acting. you know what i am saying? but you have to start from yourself. >> rose: what is the best lesson you ever learned about act something? >> the best lesson? >> yes. >> well, i guess as good as what i said about brando, you know before the take, during the take and after the take there was the sameness, you know,. >> rose: what about those people that stay in character? on a set? >> god, almighty it must wear them out. when i did get low the most important -- the most important thing on the set is the chair for me. if yo-yo have my bed in the dressing room so the second, first day of get low there was a darkroom where i put my chair so i could sit down between takes, everybody thought i was in there keeping in character, i just wanted a place to sit down and rest. until the next take, not that i was staying in character.

>> there was also, you improvise in that scene, i mean in the movie with -- >> yeah, yeah, yeah. vigo, i never worked with a better guy than viggo. >> rose: so there was a scene. >> yeah, in which you said to him, as i hear the story, i got something. >> hold on i am going to try something. >> yeah and i figured it needed something. so i am not going to ask direction, ask permission from the director because he may say no. especially some of these australian guys, i mean, so i said, i am going to try something, so it wasn't in the script or the book, beautiful novel by mccarthy. i gave my character a son that he was looking for on the road that he couldn't find and wondered where he was, he was looking for his son. and i improvised that, that scene as the camera rolled talking about my son and it gave me something very emotional, and a great inner thing which worked

and everybody seemed to -- >> rose: but you said so viggo i am going to do this. >> i said hold on i am going to do something here. i didn't quite know -- >> and when they looked at it they liked it. >> they liked it a lot and i guess mccarthy liked it open okay because they didn't take it out, i thought now i gave them a son i should have given him a grandson. >> mccarthy must have loved you you never had a conversation with him? >> i met him -- i met him way back here is a guy that writes about, like in argentina he writes about strients, a middle class guy, great dark scenes and i met him in some of these backyards playing croquette. >> rose: croquette? >> unbelievable. and the only time i met him way back. >> rose: did he say anything? >> no this was a long time ago. he was a nice man. very -- something about him. >> rose: did he come on -- when you were making the movie. >> no, i wanted to meet him he never came on when i was there. he came on other scenes at other times of the shoot. >> rose: on lonesome done

dove? >> no, the road. >> rose: you think lonesome dove is the best thing -- >> for me it was my favorite part. yeah, i haven't seen it in a while, you know, i took out a part i did recently i hadn't seen in years and i felt okay about it when i played stalin. i felt okay. the final scene with my daughter, i don't think i could do any better, you know, i did certain things in it, and, you know, we were very unorganized with hbo over there, nikita, the father of nikita was still living and was stalin's poet eight-time he wrote for him. and i never knew -- they never introduced me to him for my research. but when he saw the movie, he really liked it. he liked what i did so that could be the best review i ever got. because he liked what i did as stalin. >> rose: that' theme was as good, that scene was as good as you ever were? >> well, maybe. it is right up there, i think.

you know, i don't see my hovers that often, i don't go back. >> rose: you don't see the reviews or the movies. you are a moving on man. >> i like to maybe go back, but i felt i really connected with something there. you know. >> the court:. >esthat you have done in 50 yeas that -- >> three scenes. >> well one scene i said what would you say and i give credit to simon win search the director of lonesome over the you want to do one more take when we were hanging jake spoon when i go down and each one we hang and hit the horse, hit the horse and then he spurs his own horse and hangs himself. and the take he asked he to do, it was okay before that, it was like i had an emotional moment, there is something caught, something caught that i can't explain where it came from.

>> and when i saw the first time they cut it out, i said if you don't put this back in -- so they put it back in because i had read there was a texas ranger with all of his men along the border and when he -- the leader of the texas rangers he got shot in front of them, the men in mass went at that moment, so these kinds of guys can have emotions that can happen like that, so that moment that i had when we hung jake spoon is a good moment. and then i mean there are other scenes i would have to think about. >> rose: well, think about it. >> yeah. >> rose: just give me one more. >> maybe when i died in colors. >> rose: really?

>> or i died in geronimo. >> 20 years. geronimo. or when i died in lonesome dove. that final scene with tommy lee jones, that final scene that says life has been a great party and that's my demise. >> it has been quite a party. >> yes, sir. >> i think that was a pretty good scene. >> rose: it is an honor to have you here. >> great to be here again. muchas gracias. >> rose: bobby duvall, one of the greats. captioning sponsored by rose communications captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org