top 5 greatest performances
 

first of all: the subject should read "top 8 greatest performances." apparently, i can't type.

so anyway, i came across this, and thought it might be interesting to post on here and see what the rest of you answer:

"in your opinion, what are the top 8 performances in the history of film?"
(not sure why it was 8, but that was the question)

after much deliberation, i came up with (in no order, really):

1. taxi driver- robert deniro as travis bickle
2. metropolis- brigitte helm as robot maria
3. evil dead 2- bruce campbell as ash
4. the good, the bad, and the ugly- clint eastwood as blondie
5. repulsion- cantherine deneuve as carole ledoux
6. american psycho- christian bale as patrick bateman
7. straw dogs- dustin hoffman as david sumner
8. vertigo- jimmy stewart as john "scottie" ferguson

blondie .............. a classic hero and villain,,

In no particular order:

1- Casablanca- Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine
2- Taxi Driver- Robert DeNiro as Travis Bickle
3- Citizen Kane- Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane
4- Forrest Gump- Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump
5- The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly- Clint Eastwood as Blondie
6- It's a Wonderful Life- James Stewart as George Bailey
7- The Shining- Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrence
8- Radio- Cuba Gooding, Jr. as Radio

sorry , i had too much whiskey ..best villian ...wrong spelling .....

1- Anthony Perkins- Psycho
2- Humphery Bogart- Casablanca
3- Uma Thurman- Kill Bill
4- Rose Mcgowan- Planet Terror (she was born for that role)
5- Christian Bale- American Psycho
6- Clive Owen- Sin City


Edit- These are my favorites, not all the *greatest*

Shoot, I can't think of eight.. I thought Daniel Day-Lewis was outstanding in Gangs of New York

Out of all the movies I ve seen over the years, one performance stands out as the absolute best - Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird. Harper Lee's heroic creation was perfected in flesh and blood and still makes my hairs stand even today.

Hmm...in no particular order, the rest of my choices would be -

Peter Lorre in M,

Samuel L Jackson in Pulp Fiction,

Willem Dafoe in Platoon,

Toshiro Mifune in Yojimbo,

Charlie Chaplin in City Lights,

Eli Wallach in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,

and

Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy.



btw, good thread.

1. Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront
2. James Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life
3. James Stewart in Vertigo
4. Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca
5. Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy
6. Robert De Niro in Raging Bull
7. Clark Gable in Gone With the Wind
8. Peter Lorre in M

Seriously??

Yep, I completely agree.

Others....

James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause
Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Bette Davis in All About Eve
Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver
James Stewart in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Bruce Campbell in Evil Dead 2
Anthony Perkins in Psycho

But hard to say GREATEST....these came to my mind, but there are so many performances that are great in different ways.

Spenser Tracy in Inherit the Wind
Lee Marvin in The Iceman Cometh
Karloff in Targets
Bill Hickey Jr. in Happy Birthday Wanda June
Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire
Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon
Kathryn Hepburn in A Delicate Balance
Bogart in Casablanca

Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver
Charlize Theron as Aileen Wuornos in Monster
Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront
Anthony Perkins as Josef K. in The Trial
Toshiro Mifune as Sanjuro Kuwabatake in Yojimbo
Humphry Bogart as Dixon Steele in In a Lonely Place
Orson Welles as Harry Lime in The Third Man
Jack Nicholson as Bobby Dupea in Five Easy Pieces

Marlon Brando in Godfather
Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver
Al Pacino in Scarface
Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man
Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump
Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the lambs
Christian Bale in American Psycho
Edward Norton In Fight Club

Really not in the mood for the criticize thing today. If you don't like it, then don't.

Fair enough.

I edited it though. It's more or less a mix of what i think are the best 3, and my favorite 3. I'm pretty sure you can figure out the difference.

And it looks like he'll be just as good in There Will Be Blood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EiYfv03Hi0

that's exactly what i'm thinking.

i can't wait for that movie.

*shameless bump*

Anthony Hopkins - The Silence of the Lambs

Morgan Freeman - Seven

Robert De Niro - The Untouchables

Bill Paxton - Aliens

Bruce Willis - Die Hard

Honorable mention:

Bruce Campbell as Elvis in Bubba Ho-tep.

I have problems with this because there are so many small nuances to a performance. I might love one for the comedic factor, but then another for the drama. They don't really lend themselves to listing out in my skull. : /

But here's a few I thoroughly enjoyed.

Robin Williams in Patch Adams

Tim Robbins in The Shawshank Redemption

Chris Tucker in The 5th Element (Because it is damned hard to play a metrosexual diva in the 25th century...)

Sigourney Weaver in Gorillas in the Mist

Michael Clark Duncan in The Green Mile (I loved the books and the movie makes me cry ever...single...time.)

And...sadly...I can't really come up with too much else. I'm going to blame that on the fact I just woke up. Heh. :D

Bette Davis - What ever happened to Baby Jane
Joan Crawford - What ever happened to Baby Jane
James Stewart - Vertigo
Tom Hanks - Forestt Gump
De Niro - Taxi Cab
Anthony Perkins - Pyscho
Charlie Chaplain - The Immigrant
Tim Robbins - The Shawshank Redemption

Isabelle Adjani is Posession
Sam Neil in Posession
Anthony Perkins - Psycho
Tim Robbins - The Shawshank Redemption
Brad Pitt in 12 monkeys
Jack Nicholson The Shining
Leo Bill - The Living and the Dead
Robert Deniro in taxi driver

Lon Chaney - "Phroso" West of Zanzibar
Warren Oates - "Bennie" Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Daniel Day Lewis - "Bill the Butcher" Gangs of New York
Cary Grant - "C.K. Dexter Haven" The Philadelphia Story
Katharine Hepburn - "Rose Sayer" The African Queen
Gena Rowlands - "Mabel Longhetti" A Woman Under the Influence
Alain Delon - "Costello" Le Samourai
Toshiro Mifune - "Murakami" Stray Dog

i have a ton, agree with alot of you on some of these...

kevin spacey- american beauty
denzel washington- training day
jack nicholson- the shining
tom hanks- forrest gump
samual l jackson- pulp fiction/unbreakable
anthony perkins- psycho
anthony hopkins- silence of the lambs
jeff bridges- the big lebowski:)
al pacino- godfather movies/ scarface
dustin hoffman- rain man
johnny depp- blow
harrison ford- the fugutive


there are so many others i cant think of off the top of my head

almost forgot nick cage in bringing out the dead

1. Robert Deniro - Raging Bull
2. Jack Nicholson - One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
3. Robert Deniro - Cape Fear
4. Robert Mitchum - Night Of The Hunter
5. Al Pacino - Scarface
6. Joe Pesci - Casino
7. Lee Van Cleef - Good, Bad, Ugly
8. Clint Eastwood - good, bad, ugly

honorable mention
Javier Bardem - No Country For Old Men

tell me about it. i can't wait to see more from him.

yep. dude plays one mean baddie.

Have you seen Dance With the Devil (Perdita Durango)? It's a great, cheesy exploitation movie and he's AWESOME in it.

no, but i am definitely going to. i checked it out, and it looks really awesome.
thanks for the suggestion.

edit: and i just read that screamin' jay hawkins is in it! holy crap!

Boris Karloff in Frankenstein
Gary Oldman in Bram Stoker's Dracula
Simon Pegg in Shaun of the Dead
Max Shrek in Nosferatu
Fredric March in Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde

I missed this one on the first go around...deserving of up bump for sure.

Here's my list, no order:

1. Boris Karloff - The Body Snatcher
2. Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
3. Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
4. Vincent Price - TIE: The Song of Bernadette, Masque of the Red Death, House on Haunted Hill
5. Dwight Frye - Dracula (1931)
6. Micheal C. Hall - Dexter
7. Jack Nicholson - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
8. Humphrey Bogart - Casablanca

Damn it was hard to narrow that to 8....I could come up with a top 30 in a heartbeat.

Joe Spinell in Maniac
Bill Mosely in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2
Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club
Michael Beck in The Warriors
Emilo Estevez in Repo Man

Jimmy Stewart-It's a Wonderful Life
Peter Lorre-Mad Love
Boris Karloff-The Bride of Frankenstein
Vincent Price-the Abominable Dr. Phibes
Isabella Rossellini-Blue Velvet
Ben Kingsley-Gandhi
Robert Mitchum-Night of the Hunter
Charlie Chaplin-the Kid

Peter O'Toole - Lawrence of Arabia
William Holden - The Wild Bunch
John Wayne - The Cowboys
Stephen Rea - The Crying Game
Joseph Cotten - Shadow of a Doubt

Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects
Jeremy Sisto in Requiem For A Dream
Ellen Burstyn in Requiem For A Dream
Kevin Spacey in The Life of David Gale
Guy Pearce in Memento
Jack Nicholson in The Shining
Pierce Brosnon in Shattered
Maria Bello in Shattered

I have so many more...

Heck yes.
One of the great, generally overlooked performances of all time.

01. Catherine Denevue in Repulsion
02. Max Von Sydow in The Virgin Spring
03. Anthony Perkins in Psycho
04. Toshiro Mifune in Rashomon
05. Al Pacino in Scarface