I definitely agree with #6 for women. Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence is always the first performance that comes to my mind. I’m actually kind of surprised it’s on your list because most people haven’t heard of it.
I chose actors on older films, ‘cause those are the one’s I’m familiar with, and truly fond of.
TO NAME A VERY FEW, NOT IN ORDER:
Steve McQueen – The Sand Pebbles
Emil Jannings – F.W. Murnau’s Faust
Toshiro Mifune – Throne of Blood/ Yojimbo
Julie Christie – Darling
Spencer Tracy – Bad Day At Black Rock
Alain Delon – Purple Noon (Talented Mr. Ripley)
Charles Chaplin – all of his Silents
Burt Lancaster – Brute Force/ Seven Days in May
Sidney Poitier – In the Heat of the Night
Barbara Stanwick – Double Indemnity
Bogart – The African Queen
Fanny Ardant – The Woman Next Door
Cary Grant – Father Goose
Al Pacino – Scarface/ Panic in Needle Park
Kirk Douglas – The Big Carnival
Richard Harris – This Sporting Life
Catherine Deneuve – Mississippi Mermaid
Michael Caine – Get Carter
Yves Montadt – Le Cercle Rogue
Anthony Quinn – La Strada
Gene Hackman – The Conversation
Philippe Noiret – Coup De Torchon
Henry Fonda – Once Upon a Time in the West
Jeanne Moreau – Diary of a Chambermaid
Tatsuya Nakadai – Sword of Doom/ The Face of Another
Robert Mitchum – Night of the Hunter
Richard Burton – The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
Yaphet Kotto – Across the 110th Street
Klaus Kinski – Cobra Verde
Marlon Brando – The Chase
Lana Turner – The Postman Always Rings Twice
Jean Paul Belmondo – Breathless
Silvana Mangano – Bitter Rice
Marcello Mastroianni – La Dolce Vita/ La Grande Bouffe
Robert De Niro – Raging Bull/ Mean Streets
Jack Nicholson – The Last Detail
It’s virtually impossible to pick the greatest performances of all time but it is fun to try.
Here goes (in no order):
Walter Huston—Dodsworth
Bette Davis—Jezebel
Gerard Philipe and Edwige Feuillere—The Idiot
Kinuyo Tanaka—The Life Of Oharu
Pierre Brasseur—Children Of Paradise
Barbara Stanwyck—The Lady Eve
Marcello Mastroianni—Il Bell’ Antonio
Jeanne Moreau—Bay Of Angels
Laurence Olivier—Carrie
Raimu—The Baker’s Wife
Steve Cochran—Il Grido
Alida Valli—The Third Man
James Mason—A Star Is Born
Marlon Brando—A Streetcar Named Desire
Dan O’Herlihy—The Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe
Trevor Howard—Outcast Of The Islands
Humphrey Bogart—The Treasure Of Sierra Madre
Eva Dahlbeck—Smiles Of A Summer Night
Harriet Andersson—Summer With Monika
Max Von Sydow—The Seventh Seal
Toshiro Mifune—Yojimbo
Anna Magnani—The Golden Coach
James Cagney—Angels With Dirty Faces
Margaret Sullavan—Three Comrades
Katharine Hepburn—Alice Adams
Dame Edith Evans—The Last Days Of Dolwyn
Jean-Louis Barrault—The Puritan
Charles Laughton—Rembrandt
Peter Lorre—M
Greta Garbo—A Woman Of Affairs
Maria Falconetti-The Passion Of Joan Of Arc
Innokenty Smoktunovsky—Crime And Punishment
Anthony Quinn—A High Wind In Jamaica
Spencer Tracy and Loretta Young—A Man’s Castle
Burt Lancaster—Atlantic City
Soumitre Chatterjee—The World Of Apu
Jean Louis Trintingant—The Conformist
Jane Fonda—Klute
Juano Hernandez—Intruder In The Dust
Henry Fonda—Young Mr. Lincoln
Cary Grant—Bringing Up Baby
Jack Lemmon—Some Like It Hot
Tony Curtis—Sweet Smell Of Success
Judy Garland—Meet Me In St. Louis
John Barrymore—Twentieth Century
Gian Maria Volonte—Christ Stopped At Eboli
Yvonne De Bray—Les Parents Terribles
Nicole Stephane—Les Enfants Terribles
Maria Casares—Orphee
Gene Hackman—All Night Long
and on and on and on….
Noel Danseco, I totally agree with Kirk Douglas in “The Big Carnival” -better known as “Ace in the Hole” (original title and title of Criterion’s excellent DVD).
Henri Fonda in “Once Upon a Time in the West” is a very good choice too: how those deep blue eyes become so unforgettably evil is a great moment of cinema.
No one mentioned Joseph Cotten in “Shadow of a Doubt”…
Or Montgomery Clift…
Or Gloria Swanson in “Boulevard”…
Some names/films that have not been mentioned yet:
Laura Dern – INLAND EMPIRE
Klaus Kinski – Aguirre
James Taylor/Dennis Wilson/Warren Oates – Two-Lane Blacktop (I cannot picture anyone else playing these roles without turning the film into a complete bore)
Naomi Watts – Mulholland Dr.
Bjork – Dancer In the Dark
Joe Pesci – Goodfellas
Malcolm McDowell – A Clockwork Orange
Jeremy Irons – Dead Ringers
Orson Welles – Touch of Evil
Ed Norton – American History X
Cate Blanchette – I’m Not There
Robert Blake – In Cold Blood
Ben Gazzara – The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Robert DeNiro – The King of Comedy (and Raging Bull)
Peter Sellers – Dr. Stangelove
Frank Sinatra – The Manchurian Candidate
Marlon Brando – On The Waterfront (and A Streetcar Named Desire)
Isabelle Huppert – The Piano Teacher (and others)
James Stewart/Farley Granger – Rope
Gary Oldman – JFK (as Lee Harvey Oswald)
Many of my other favorites have already been mentioned.
Susan Tyrell in “Fat City”.
WonderMan (or Girl), you’re quite right about Susan Tyrell, and Gloria Swanson! We could be here all day…
and “Ace in the Hole” on dvd? Thanks very much for the info.
I second (or third) Huppert in “Piano Teacher” and want to add Streep in “Sophie’s Choice”.
Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot as well as There Will Be Blood
Ellen Page in Juno
Al Pacino in Godfather Part I & II
Marlon Brando in Godfather as well as Apocalypse Now
Tim Roth in Reservoir Dogs
Nicholas Cage in Adaptation
Orson Welles in Citizen Kane
Perhaps Kinski’s Collaborations with Herzog
Gene Hackman in The Conversation
Naomi Watts in Mulholland Dr.
Halle Berry in Monster’s Ball
Charlize Theron in Monster
Brando in Waterfront
De Niro in Raging Bull
Day Lewis in My Left Foot
Fonda in Grapes Of Wrath
Peter O’Toole in Lawrence Of Arabia
Adam — agree with Cage in Adaptation, thought he was excellent in that role. But Halle Berry in Monster’s Ball? Sorry to disagree, but I thought her performance was stilted — she played the worst drunk scene I’ve even seen on film. No way she deserved the Oscar for that lame role. Still, I like the rest of your picks.
I will compile alist later but for now I wanted to say
Javier Bardem in No country for old men
Bjork in Dancer in the Dark
Noel Danseco, if you don’t have Criterion “Ace in the Hole”, stop whatever you’re doing right now and get it. It’s fantastic.
More great performances:
-Lawrence Olivier in “Henry IV”, “Richard III”, “Hamlet”,“Othello” (though this last one’s a TV film, he is simply awesome).
-Marilyn Monroe in “Some Like It Hot”, “The Misfits”.
while I can think of a few right off the top of my head and may come back soon to post them, I would have to say that Maria Falconetti-The Passion Of Joan Of Arc is prolly hands down the most soulful performance I have ever had the pleasure of watching. you can’t help but feel vicariously through her.
Anthony Perkins in “Psycho”
Brando in “Apocalypse Now”
Dirk Bogarde in “The Servant”
Klaus Kinsky in “Aguirre” and “Fitzcarraldo”
Gloria Swanson in “Sunset Boulevard”
John Hurt in “Midnight Express” and in “The Elephant Man”
David Bennent in “The Tin Drum”
Roman Polanski in “The Tenant”
John Gielgud in “Providence”
Jack Lemmon in “Save The Tiger”
Antonia San Juan in “All About My Mother”
Gary Oldman in “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”
Anna Magnani in “Mamma Roma”
William Hurt in “Kiss Of The Spider Woman”
Glenda Jackson in “The Music Lovers”
Ruth Gordon in “Harold And Maude”
Anjelica Huston in “The Grifters”
Peter Lorre in “Mad Love”
Katharine Hepburn in “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”
Vincent Price in “Theatre Of Blood”
Peter Sellers in “Dr. Strangelove”
Dianne Wiest in “Bullets Over Broadway”
John Turturro in “The Big Lebowski”
Julianne Moore in “Safe”
Martin Landau in “Ed Wood”
Toshiro Mifune in “Yojimbo”
Fernanda Montenegro in “Central Station”
Divine in “Pink Flamingos”
Yeah, Lexie. It’s a shame more people aren’t familiar with that role.
There are some really great performances listed here.
NOEL- Very glad to see Mitchum in “Night of the Hunter” on there. Super chilling in that film!
Well there is one other similar post that I started earlier, but could not resist posting here … again….
Al Pacino – The Godfather 1 & 2 and DogDayAfternoon
Edward Norton & Brad Pitt – Fight Club
Casey Affleck – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Robert Downey Jr. – Natural Born Killers
Benicio Del Toro in Traffic
Daniel Day Lewis in There will be Blood
Eli Wallach – The good, the Bad and the Ugly
Samuel L.Jackson – Pulp Fiction
Tony Leung – In the Mood for Love
JP Belmondo – Pierrot Le Fou
Anna Kariena – Pierrot Le Fou
Bridgette Bardot – Contempt
Kate Winslet – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Ruth Gordon – Rosemary’s Baby
Marisa Tomei – My Cousin Vinny
Frances McDormand – Fargo
Penélope Cruz – Volver
Giulietta Masina – Nights of Cabiria
Chunnibala Devi – Pather Panchali (Apu Trilogy)
Lily Tomlin, Ronee Blakley – Nashville
Martin Short in Clifford. Seriously.
Charlize Theron – “Monster”
Haley Joel Osment – “The Sixth Sense”
Ellen Page – “Hard Candy”
Anthony Perkins – “Psycho”
Ellen Burstyn – “The Exorcist”
Linda Blair – “The Exorcist”
Uma Thurman – “Kill Bill”
Marilyn Burns – “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre”
Janet Leigh – “Psycho”
Bette Davis/Joan Crawford – “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?”
Ruth Gordon/Sidney Blackmer – “Rosemary’s Baby”
Gloria Swanson – “Sunset Boulevard”
Anthony Perkins – “Psycho”
I was also incredibly impressed with Lisa Kudrow’s performance in “Wonderland” (2003). She plays John Holmes’ estranged wife, and I thought her performance was awesome!
I also have to agree with Shotzi! I, too, loved Martin Short in “Clifford”!
ACTRESSES
Louise Brooks in Pandora’s Box
Zhang Ziyi in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Emilie Dequenne in Rosetta
Kinuyo Tanaka in The Life of Oharu
Naomi Watts in Mulholland Dr
Ana Torrent in Spirit of the Beehive
Mieko Harada in Ran
Meryl Streep in Sophie’s Choice
Kyoko Kagawa in Sansho the Bailiff
Liv Ullmann and Bibi Andersson in Persona
Jane Fonda in Klute
Nina Pens Rode in Gertrud
Anne Bancroft in The Graduate
Yella Rottlander in Alice in the Cities
Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs
Leonor Silveira in Abraham Valley
ACTORS
Robert de Niro in Raging Bull
Fred Astaire in Top Hat
Chishu Ryu in Tokyo Story
Al Pacino in The Godfather 2
Alec Guinness in Kind Hearts and Coronets
James Stewart in Vertigo
Buster Keaton in The General
Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca
Gene Kelly in Singin in the Rain
Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs
Max Schreck in Nosferatu
Ben Kingsley in Gandhi
Chishu Ryu – There Was a Father
Toshiro Mifune – The Lower Depths
Marlon Brando – On the Waterfront
Ingrid Thulin – Winter Light
Renee Jean Falconetti – The Passion of Joan of Arc
Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood
Orson Welles – The Third Man (the only film, I’ve seen, that he really showed off his acting talents)
Giulietta Masina – La Strada
Ana Torrent, Geraldine Chaplin – Cria Cuervos…
Tokkankozo, Hideo Sugawara – I Was Born, But… (better children in film I’ve not seen, except maybe the aforementioned Ana Torrent)
Robert DeNiro – Mean Streets (I found him much more interesting here than in his other work with Scorsese, not to say it was bad, though)
Al Pacino – Dog Day Afternoon
… among others.
I can’t disagree with any of the choices above. Some that stand out for me:
Lina Leandersson in Let the Right One In
Max Schreck in Nosferatu
Warren Oates in Bring Me the head of Alfredo Garcia
Boris Karloff in Bride of Frankenstein
Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde
Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men
Bruno Ganz in Downfall
Val Kilmer in Tombstone
Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird
Jeffrey Combs in Re-Animator
Ellen Page in Hard Candy
I could spend all night coming up with more..
Oh you have to be fucking kidding me on #1? just cause he ate an octopuss? go to col max’s list for a through example of what most examples of great acting are…sorry to be a hardass, it’s only a man’s opinion.
1) James Dean in Giant
2) Toshiro Mifune in Red Beard
3) Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend
4) Gena Rowlands in Woman Under the Influence
5) Elizabeth Taylor in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe
6) Peter Finch in Network
7) Heatrh Ledger in Brokeback Mountain
8) Sean Penn in Dead Man Walking
9) Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver
10) Deniro in Raging Bull
11) Meryl Streep in Sophies Choice
Man, I can keep going.
Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver (a perfect haunting, disturbing role. played insane but not over the top)
Al Pacino in The Godfather (his transition from sweet kid to gangland Mafia Don is seamless, and blows away his performance in part II)
Maria Falconetti in Passion of Joan of Arc (‘nuff said)
Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire (i have a man-crush on him in this movie…wow that sounded gay)
Robert Forester in Jackie Brown (i mean, wow. understated and so realistic…who won the Oscar? Robin what?)
Daniel Day Lewis in Gangs of New York (one of the meanest & most sympathetic characters in film this decade)
Oksana Akinshina in Lilya 4-Ever (i’m still crying…)
Sigourney Weaver in Alien (‘tuff, yet believably afraid)
Denzel Washington in Malcolm X (…what? i like Spike Lee! best film Bio ever, as far as i’m concerned)
Giancarlo Esposito in Fresh (i dunno…i just kinda thought it was BADASS!)
Giancarlo Esposito in Do The Right Thing (damn…can a brother get an Oscar nom?)
Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (and i used to think Jack Nicholson was good…psh)
Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth (didn’t see the sequal. don’t care to, either, she did enough in this one.)
Burt Lancaster AND Tony Curtis in Sweet Smell of Success (and normally I don’t like either one of them very much. just shows how good that movie was)
mhm…. some I remember
anna karina in vivre sa vie and bande a part
hanna shygulla in the marriage of maria braun
gunter lamprecht in berlin alexanderplatz
maria falconetti in passion de jeanne d’arc
juliette binoche in bleu, code inconnu
laura dern in inland empire
bruno ganz in eternity and a day
Marlon Brando in Last Tango in Paris
Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast
Jordan H
So, I’m sure there’s another post covering this topic on here already, but I can’t say I have the time to dig through all of these threads. So I’ll start another.
Simple: What are your favorite film performances of all time?
You can post however many you like, in whatever format you like.
Like so:
In no order
Top 10 male performances:
1. Min-sik Choi as Dae-su Oh, Oldboy (2003)
2. John Candy as Buck Russell, Uncle Buck (1989)
3. Bruce Campbell as Ashley “Ash” Williams, Evil Dead 2 (1987)
4. Robert DeNiro as Travis Bickle, Taxi Driver (1976)
5. Toshiro Milfune as Sanjuro Kuwabatake, Yojimbo (1961)
6. Charles Chaplin as Tramp, City Lights (1931)
7. Dennis Hopper as Frank Booth, Blue Velvet (1986)
8. Max Schreck as Graf Orlock, Nosferatu (1922)
9. Bill Murray as Steve Zissou, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
10. Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview, There Will Be Blood (2007)
Top 10 female performances:
1. Isabelle Huppert as Erika Kohut, La Pianiste (The Piano Teacher) (2001)
2. Ingrid Thulin as Ester, Tystnaden (The Silence) (1963)
3. Maria Falconetti as Joan of Arc, La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc (The Passion of Joan of Arc) (1928)
4. Brigitte Helm as Maria/Robot Maria, Metropolis (1927)
5. Ana Torrent as Ana, El Espíritu de la colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive)
6. Gena Rowlands as Mabel Longhetti, A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
7. Bette Davis as “Baby” Jane Hudson, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
8. Catherine Deneuve as Carole Ledoux, Repulsion (1965)
9. Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis Dietrichson, Double Indemnity (1944)
10. Irène Jacob as Veronique/Weronika, La Double vie de Véronique (The Double Life of Veronique) (1991)