Top 5 Actors in a Film(ic) Role:
Which 5 males have captivated you at the cinema/on your television/in yr mind just by doing the 'theatrical' work that they do? Which 5 performances (by men*) never fail to electrify you?
For me, it's these:
5) Orson Welles, The Third Man
4) Michel Piccoli, Contempt
3) Roy Scheider, Jaws
2) Ben Gazarra, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
1) Elliot Gould, The Long Goodbye
Honorable Mentions include Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed, Robert Shaw as Quint, Jack Nicholson as the Chinatown guy, Jean-Pierre Leaud as Truffaut, etc. - every role Joe Spinnel ever played!
(* why 'by men'? because this way we can do the 'by women' topic separately, sometime soon.)
As long as we're all acknowledging the arbitrary nature of such a list. I reserve the right to have five different performances at a future time
ReplyDelete5. Edward James Olmos, Miami Vice
4. Neil Patrick Harris, Harlod and Kumar Go to White Castle
3. Sean Connery, From Russia with Love
2. Harrison Ford, Star Wars Trilogy
1. Ian McShane, Deadwood
Honorable mentions go to: Robert Shaw Jaws; Clive Owen, Croupier; Denzel Washington Devil in a Blue Dress; John Turturro, Do the Right Thing; Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda, and both Gerald McRaney and Keith Carradine for Deadwood.
First, I would like to point out that Dave stole the letters out of my typing when it came to Harrison Ford and John Turtorro! But otherwise, here it goes:
ReplyDelete5. Robert De Niro, The Deer Hunter
4.Edward Norton, American History X
3. Christopher Walken, Catch Me if you Can
2. John Cusack, High Fidelity
1.Morgan Freeman, Shawshank Redemp
tion
Ewan McGregor, Trainspotting
Completely Honorable Mentions:
Ewan McGregor, Trainspotting; Johnny Depp in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; Patrick Stewart for all of Star Trek; Forest Whitaker in Ghost Dog.
To me, "captured the imagination" means "couldn't stop thinking about the performances for a few days after seeing the movie;" please excuse the painful gender-normativity that follows...
ReplyDelete5. Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
4. Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
3. Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
2. Ewan McGregor, Moulin Rouge
1. Macauley Culkin, Home Alone
Honorable mentions: Gordon Pinsent, Away From Her; Rod Taylor, The Birds
i got:
ReplyDeleteFonda, Once Upon a Time in the West
Farmer, Dead Man
MacLachlan, Fire Walk with Me
O'Toole, What's New Pussycat?
Heston