I have to disagree about Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glenross. He was powerful and arrogant, to be sure. But what about the performance of Jack Lemmon? He was heartbreaking to watch and I think it’s one of the great cinema performances.
I would also add…
Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire
Al Pacino in The Godfather – Part II
Catinca Untaru in The Fall!
Yeah, kids always steal the scene, but she was beyond good.
…
Warren Beatty: Bugsy, Bulworth, Dick Tracy, All Fall Down
Werner Herzog: julien donkey boy
Rodney Dangerfield: Caddyshack, My 5 Wives, Back to School
Jimmy Durante: Too many to name
These are undeniable actors
What others performance can we come up with?
Hopper in Apocalypse Now
i think these were scene stealing performances; didn’t take over the film, but added something quite memorable…
http://mubi.com/lists/11543
Mira Sorvino in Mighty Aphrodite
I’d have to add Heath Ledger’s Joker to the mix here. He’s the only reason to watch the film.
Claude Rains, in just about anything, but especially his Dr. Jaquith in NOW VOYAGER and his Prince John in ROBIN HOOD, to say nothing of his Alex Sebastian in NOTORIOUS.
I pity the fool who dares attempt share the screen with Groucho or Harpo Marx. Only Margaret Dumont and Thelma Todd could get near Groucho, and well, what mere mortal could approach Harpo?
Brad Pitt – Burn After Reading
Chris Cooper – Adaptation
Danny Aiello – Do the Right Thing
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Jean-Pierre Leaude – The 400 Blows
Ken Foree – Dawn of the Dead
Kevin Spacey – American Beauty
Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder
Samuel L. Jackson – Pulp Fiction
Vin Diesel – Find Me Guilty
And The Marx Brothers, Willam Defoe, Jackie Chan, Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Jet Li, Orson Welles, Anna Karina, James Stewart, George Clooney, Dennis Hopper, John Malcovich, Nathan Fillion, Alan Rickman, Steven Fry, Klaus Kinski, and Al Pachino could go for this in any movie their in.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman – THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY
Russell Crowe – Gladiator. He carries the entire film.
The many dance scenes of Christopher Walken! ;-)
Rickman – Prince of Thieves
Bette Davis in nearly every film she ever made.
whereas my list has performances that simply took over a film, many of them just wouldn’t be the same without these characters and the way they were performed…
http://mubi.com/lists/11543
sorry… hadn’t realized i’d responded before.
Russel Crowe in LA confidential.
The Chief(Will Sampson) in one Flew over the Cuckoos nest.
Bogart in Petrified Forest.
Sean Connery in Highlander
Anthony Quinn in Viva Zapata, Lawerence Of Arabia
Nicol williamson in Excalibur
I picked Supporting Actors who basically stole the movie, some like the Chief at the very end but his prescense was always there throughout the movie.
James Woods in Cop
Alfred Molina in Boogie Nights
Klaus Kinski in The Great Silence
A more recent one would be Christian McKay in Me and Orson Welles.
these performances really amazed me
Malcolm McDowall in A Clockwork Orange
…and for that matter Michael Bates as the prison guard, for the few scenes he was in he owned all of them
Tom Courtenay in The Dresser
Anne Bancroft in The Pumpkin Eater
Richard Attenborough in Loot
Peter Cook in Bedazzled
Jennifer Jones in Portrait Of Jennie
Ingrid Thulin in Cries And Whispers
John Cazale in Dog Day Afternoon
Brando in Mutiny on the Bounty; the definition of a hijacking performance.
Another is Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard. The proximity to reality makes her time on screen all the more painful to watch.
Jack Nicholson as The Joker in Tim Burton’s BATMAN.
I’ll chime in on the suggestion that Daniel Day-Lewis takes over any film that he performs in…
@ Mike …. Haaaa
… and Luis Guzmán. Lol.
Ben Kingsley Sexy Beast
Burt Lancaster in almost anything
Gena Rowlands AWUTI
James Dean Rebel Without a Cause
Ralph Fiennes Schindlers List (IMO anyway)
Emily Watson Breaking the Waves
Hopper Blue Velvet
Javier Bardem in the stupid and completely inconsistent “Before night falls” by the trivial and now celebrated Julian Schnabel.
Will Smit
Warren Oates as ‘GTO’ in Two Lane Black-Top
Robert De Niro as Johnny Boy in Mean Streets