... Peter's notices for his role in BYT have been very good:

baltimoresun.com (2.5 stars)
"Save for a welcome appearance by Peter O'Toole as a daft grandfather who proves that obtuseness can span generations, it's a movie that steadfastly refuses to offer audiences a compelling reason to watch."

tribnet.com (positive)
"...a dotty old member of the gentry played with brusque peculiarity by a moth-eaten Peter O'Toole."

charlotte.com (positive)
"the abrasively eccentric Col. Blount (Peter O'Toole) ... Blount is one of several funny characters."

---

As well - O'Toole attended the Emmy awards earlier this week-
"Even the legendary Peter O'Toole accessorized, wearing a John Kerry for President pin on his lapel. "It's still a free country," he said."[dailynews.com]

August 2nd was Peter O'Toole's 72nd Birthday!

Apologies for not getting this on yesterday- Monday was a holiday in Ontario so I wasn't in town to make the update...

O'Toole has contributed the hallmark performance of the film - hailed as an epic, but with lightweight actors in the lead roles. Brad Pitt, lovely as he is in edgy, intelligent roles requiring intensity and determination, is a fine action hero but it would seem the script falls short of delivering Homer's oral drama. Enter O'Toole as King Priam - and his emotional scene with Pitt, which in literature is one of the finest encounters ever written, carries the dramatic weight the scene deserves. Here are some excerpts from early reviews:

ucsdguardian
"Peter O'Toole is tremendous in his limited role of Priam, Hector's and Paris' father; he delivers the greatest scene of the film, truly touching."

duluthsuperior.com
"The best scene in the movie has Peter O'Toole creating an island of drama and emotion in the middle of all that plodding dialogue. He plays old King Priam of Troy, who at night ventures outside his walls and into the enemy camp, surprising Achilles in his tent. Achilles has defeated Priam's son Hector in hand-to-hand combat before the walls of Troy, and dragged his body back to camp behind his chariot. Now Priam asks that the body be returned for proper preparation and burial. This scene is given the time and attention it needs to build its mood, and we believe it when Achilles tells Priam, "You're a far better king than the one who leads this army." O'Toole's presence is a reminder of "Lawrence of Arabia," which I saw again two weeks ago, and which proved that patience with dialogue and character is more important than action in making war movies work."

smh.com
"The only great scene belongs to Peter O'Toole as the old Trojan king, Priam, who makes a secret visit to Achilles' tent in the hope of appealing to his better nature. O'Toole is gaunt now, with wispy white hair and staring blue eyes, but the voice retains the velvety sincerity of his Lawrence of Arabia days. It also combines gravitas and intimacy in a way that instantly lifts the film into a classier realm.

 After listening to him, Brad begs a moment to go outside and think. He then has a good cry, which looks eerily genuine - as if he's just realised what real talent is and knows, alas, that it doesn't reside in him."

theithacajournal.com
""Troy" offers more than a few memorable moments, including great, bloody, large-scale battles; well-staged, one-on-one conflicts; and at least one astonishing, beautifully acted scene between O'Toole's Priam and Pitt's Achilles.

Old pro O'Toole has made enough great epics -- from "Lawrence of Arabia" to "Becket" --to know that small, painfully honest moments between two men breathe more life into a film than any clash between armies."

Bradenton Herald
"Pitt does away with any notion of his own input in the film, instead focusing on the final product. But even there he thinks there's room to grow, as is evident when he talks about his favorite scene from "Troy," in which he interacts with screen legend Peter O'Toole.

"O'Toole, to me, he's just above and beyond. Talk about different eras - there's an elegance and a grace and command and power that Peter possesses . . . Me, I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Just groping my way through it.""

troyrecord.com
" And yet a quiet moment in which Priam visits Achilles and begs for the body of his slain son, Hector - whom Achilles defeated in a mano-a-mano showdown before dragging his corpse behind a chariot - is more powerful than the film's huge battle sequences.

 O'Toole, once the dashing young "Lawrence of Arabia" star, now has a mature grace and nobility. He brings out the best in Pitt, who plays Achilles as the big man on campus who's a relative mystery beneath his muscular shell, and it's the kind of scene moviegoers probably won't expect from a banging, clanging summer spectacle."