Directors What Actor Gave The Best Perfomance of All Time? (1 Viewer)

[Rain]

Jason, I think you posted in the wrong thread accidentally.

Actually, given his list, it seems more likely that Jason has misused the word "wince."
wince - n. start or involuntary shrinking movement of the face, showing pain or distress.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.

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[Steve Christou]

George C.Scott as PATTON, absolutely brilliant.
Al Pacino as Michael Corleone.
Robert De Niro as Jake La Motta.
Arnie Schwarzenegger as Conan the Barbarian...
"Crush your enemies, see them driven before you and to hear the lamentations of the women", a superb performance, why wasn't he nominated? To hell with you!
(Actually Arnie was good as the barbaric Conan, maybe not quite on a par with De Niro's Raging Bull, but in his own 'bloodthirsty hacking people to pieces' way he was quite effective)

 

[Matthew Chmiel]

Another vote for George C. Scott in Patton.
Runner-ups include:
- Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull
- Al Pacino in the first two Godfather films
- Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream
- Orson Welles as Unicron in the cinematic classic that is Transformers: The Movie (Citzen Kane has no thunder against the pure genius that is Transformers: The Movie).

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[Edited last by Matthew Chmiel on October 18, 2001 at 08:05 PM]

 

[george kaplan]

Actually, given his list, it seems more likely that Jason has misused the word "wince."

Well first of all I should have included a smiley in my post (I'm going to go back and add one), and it does seem odd to trash Jack Lemmon, Marlon Brando, Peter Sellers and George C. Scott, but we're all entitled to our opinion, and these may indeed be considered bad actors by some.
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[Tom J. Davis]

Mel Gibson in Braveheart
Tom Hanks in Apollo 13

 

[Aurel Savin]

Gary:
I second that Leonardo diCaprio in What's Eating Gilbert Grape as well as add:
DiCaprio in THIS BOYS LIFE

 

[Jason Whyte]

Re: Previous post. I was thinking of a different word. I didn't have my half pack of sugar rocks this morning, hence the confusion.
So, now they make me "happy."

Jay-Embarassed
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[Armando H]

Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull
Edward Norton in American History X
Leonardo DiCaprio in Basketball Diaries
Giovanni Ribisi in The Gift
Val Kilmer in The Doors
Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump
Al Pacino in Scarface

 

[Rob Tomlin]

Glad to see that Ellen Burstyn's performance in Requiem for a Dream has been mentioned. Perhaps a different poll should be done for What Actress Gave the Best Performance of All Time?!
[Edited last by Rob Tomlin on October 19, 2001 at 10:39 PM]

 

[Kevin Potts]

Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump
Russell Crowe, The Insider
Dustin Hoffman, Rainman
Sir Anthony Hopkins, Silence of the Lambs
Ed Norton, American History X
George C. Scott, Patton
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[Edited last by Kevin Potts on October 20, 2001 at 12:58 AM]

 

[Eric Scott]

but in his own 'bloodthirsty hacking people to pieces' way he was quite effective)

You have a lot of support here in (Bellevue) lockdown from the guys muzzled in straitjackets. When they heard that, their eyes popped wide open for first time in weeks and they gave Arnie a tremendous bellowing of Ummm! Ummm! Ummm Ummm!! (They were immediately administered a double dose of Thorazine.)
I agree with Patton, but when I mentioned George C. Scott to them their eyes slid side to side, as if they were puzzled!
"...Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."
[Edited last by Eric Scott on October 20, 2001 at 11:12 PM]

 

[Steve Christou]

Eric, Arnie is extremely underrated, have you seen 'Batman & Robin'? He was brilliant as Mr.Freeze, the oneliners and the way he delivers them, "cool it", "be cool", "a freeze is coming", "ice to see you", "icecream! get your tootsie frootsie icecream!" and so on, pure genius!
I'm sure some country awarded him 'best actor' for that movie, maybe Iceland gave him something.
Ok gotta stop typing, my legs are getting cramp....

[Edited last by Steve Christou on October 20, 2001 at 05:42 PM]

 

[Eric Scott]

some country awarded him 'best actor' for that movie, maybe Iceland

Austria, they give him an award every year! I’ll have to see Batman again to refresh my memory.

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In my view a great performance is when an actor makes the character more believable than probably any other actor could. In the movie of Patton Scott may have been more convincing as Patton than Patton himself was in WWII. Of course, credit goes to a great fact based script, direction and the stature of the real life crusader. For example, can you see Robert Redford as Patton? Had Redford been able perform as memorably (doubtful) then Redford’s performance would be considered even greater than Scott’s.
Schwarzenegger’s great talent lies in his ability to entertain, (beginning with showing audiences his muscles) then transforming his stage persona to movies. Like Scott could never be Conan, Arnold could never be Patton. Hand Schwarzenegger some good oneliners, a weapon and some bad guys and he knows how to get the job done, but I think there is an ingredient a fine actor has that Arnold does not.
[Edited last by Eric Scott on October 20, 2001 at 09:00 PM]

 

[David Dennison]

Dustin Hoffman in Rainman always seems to make it to the top of my list.
I love Frances McDormand in Fargo.
Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Since I just got finished watching Godfather I and II, I'll vote for Brando and Deniro. I love Pacino, but I think he is the runner up in both films.
Those are just a few that come to mind.

 

[Gilbert Galindo]

What about Pesci in Goodfellas?
Jackson in Pulp Fiction?
Stallone in Stop or my mom will shoot!

 

[Scott A.]

For me it always comes back to John Hustons portrayal of Noah Cross in Chinatown. You just wont see many performances that convincing.
S.

 

[Dick]

Had Jack Lemmon never turned in a good performance before or after THE CHINA SYNDROME, I'd consider him a great actor. I think one must judge performances based upon how much a viewer is moved by them. Lemmon as the nuclear power plant supervisor with a conscience just did remarkably well portraying an everyman in the face of tremendous danger. His monumental, one-man effort to warn the public on camera at the climax while suffering from fear, exhaustion and mortal determination had me to the point of tears, and the suspense derived from these fifteen minutes is almost unbearable.

 

[Grant B]

Not to diminish Scott's role in Patton, but his 'they might be giants' performance was incredible.....
Malcom McDowell as Alex in a Clockwork Orange
Slim Pickens as Major Kong in Dr StrangeLove
Peter Sellers as Chauncy Gardener
John Clesse as Mr Fawlty
John Astin as Gomez Addams
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[Chris Richard]

There are so many great performances over the years - it's hard to narrow down.
I was glad to see two references to Leonardo DiCaprio in What's Eating Gilbert Grape? It's the best acting I've ever seen by a teenager.
Gilbert Grape comes to DVD on 11/27.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

George C. Scott did everything right about Patton except for one thing: his voice. As documentaries and interviews would point out, Patton had an extremely high-pitched battle command voice that sent shivers down your spine. George C. Scott came off sounding like a gruff Eric Cartmen. Not to say that's a bad thing, I'm just saying that George C. Scott's voice wasn't close to the real thing. It's a sad thing that the original tapes and the reanactment of the famous speech to the Third Army are both gone.
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