Forget all the controversy, all the self-destructive weirdness, says Ty Burr. “It’s this simple: Marlon Brando is the most important actor in the history of the movies. He broke the art of screen performance in two. Before Brando, films starred people whose work was rooted in the theater, and whose plummy diction or rat-a-tat toughness was all a marvelous put-on… That’s why Brando freaked people out at first. He crossed some inarticulate border of self-presentation that felt private, taboo.”