Crawdaddy,
Great to see another big fan of Garfield. It seems a lot of people were turned on to him by an older relative. Someone called him the actor the "baby boomers never knew" and I think that's the main reason for his obscurity among the general public, even among film aficionados. He was just hitting his stride and needed to make a few more solid films, into the mid-late fifties, as Bogart did. A color film also probably would have helped, as we know many people have an unfortunate prejudice about how their films should look.
I also can't help but think that the Blacklist had something to do with his being buried and forgotten.
He's a pre-cursor to the Brandos, Clifts, and Deans and, as such, is an enormous influence on the Hoffmans, De Niros, Pacinos, and Penns. He should be more readily acknowledged for the important figure he was and remains in the world of cinema.
Refreshingly, Mark Wahlberg has come out in several interviews professing his great admiration of John Garfield, calling him his favorite actor and recalling how "real" he was in all his performances. Never thought about it before, but there are definitely some similarities in appearance and Wahlberg seems to have taken on some of the Garfield swagger and spirit. Biopic?
