Movie-Specific : Best Performances

[frederic_g54]

1. Robert De Niro in Raging Bull



My favorite performance. The final scene (monologue) and the prison scene where he’s pounding the wall. Gets me every time.

2. Jack Nicholson in The Shining



Love the ballroom scene

3. Jackie Coogan in The Kid



The scene where he gets taken away from his dad, the music: Amazing !!!

4. Klaus Kinski in Aguirre, the Wrath of God



Hypnotizing, scary. The last 5 minutes have really stayed with me.

5. Naomi Watts in Mulholland Dr.



I think Naomi Watts may be the only actress who reminds of the early 40's and 50's, of actresses like Judy Garland or Gloria Swanson. She was amazing in this film.

6. Gloria Swanson in Sunset Blvd.



Hilarious and creepy, love the film aswell.

7. Adrien Brody in The Pianist



It's fair to say he was brilliant.

8. Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu in Spoorloos (The Vanishing) ==> the original !!!


You thought Perkins was creepy in Psycho ? Alright fine, he was, but Donnadieu’s performance was far more disturbing and thought provoking.

9. Christian Bale in American Psycho



Try getting a reservation at Dorsia now, you fuckin' stupid bastard ! nuff' said

10. Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade



Affective, subtle, sad, and even funny at times. This was Thornton’s breakthrough performance. The film is just as great.

“I reckon, mmm hmmm”

11. Marion Cotillard in La Môme



A recent performance that has stayed with me. The continuous shot was quite effective.

12. Robert Downey Jr. in Chaplin



Downey Jr. was a perfect choice.

honorable mentions: Liv Ullman, James Stewart (most of their films)



show an array of emotions just with their eyes.
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other fine kid performances: the Bolger sisters in "In America", the cast from "Mean Creek", Natalie Portman in "Léon", Marianne Fortier in "Maman est chez le coiffeur",…

other performances I love: Malcolm McDowell in "A Clockwork Orange", Samuel L. Jackson in “Pulp Fiction”, Mickey Rourke in "Sin City" (guilty pleasure ), and many more…

nice topic

peace

[Hopscotch]

1. Anthony Quinn in Barabbas


2. Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People


3. Takashi Shimura in Ikiru


4. Andy Griffith in A Face in the Crowd: the ending is amazing!


[b]5. Andy Griffith in Waitress: he makes the movie with the 6 minutes or so he's on the screen.


6. James Cagney in White Heat


7. AnnaSophia Robb in Have Dreams, Will Travel: certainly one of the greatest child performances of all time.


8. Ronald Colman in Random Harvest


9. W.C. Fields in David Copperfield: great supporting role, he should've done more stuff like this.


10. Peter O'Toole in Man of La Mancha: don't know why so many people dislike this; sorry the pictures tiny.


11. Buster Keaton in The Cameraman: he does it all with his eyes; couldn't find a good picture.


12. Christopher Walken in The Deer Hunter


13. Patrick Stewart in Moby Dick


14. Jacques Villeret in The Dinner Game


15. Gerard Depardieu in Jean de Florette


16. Danny Kaye in Hans Christian Anderson: the only pictures I could find were blurry.


17. Charlie Chaplin in City Lights
You've all seen the picture


Couldn't pick just one for these movies:

Jean Reno and Natalie Portman in Leon the Professional
James Dean and Julie Harris in East of Eden
Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night
Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb in Bridge to Terabithia
John Candy and Steve Martin in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Joan Crawford and Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane
And I agree completely that the cast of Mean Creek was great

I'm not sure these are all the best I've ever seen, but they've stuck with me the most and have become favorites. Wish I could've found better pictures though. I know that this thread is really old, but to be fair, I wasn't here when it started.

[Stewball]

6. James Cagney in White Heat

Amen. And loving quotes as it do, it has one of the best.

Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

[JooJoo]

awesome choice in Ronald Colman. More people need to see Random Harvest.

[Hopscotch]

awesome choice in Ronald Colman. More people need to see Random Harvest.

Holy Crap only 25 people have rated this! For some reason I thought it was a popular movie. I guess one of the big three reviewers needs to see it, they've got enough followers. . How about a "Neglected Gems" write-up .

[ShogunRua]

1. Giancarlo Giannini in "Seven Beauties"



Unbelievable range, emotion, and depth in a single role. Not quite as flashy or theatrical as some of the others people have mentioned, but more real and difficult.

[shalev]

My number one: Tatsuya Nakadai in Harakiri - profoundly changed my perception of the whole samurai culture.




Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now - not neccessarily my number two, but I really love absurd characters like this, and most of my favorite performances were already mentioned.


"I love the smell of napalm in the morning"

[prowler]

My number one: Toshirô Mifune in Harakiri - unfortunantly, I don't have the words to describe it.

no mifune in harakiri, that guy i think is Tatsuya Nakadai

[shalev]

Damn you're right, how stupid of me . But i'm really having a hard time with those japanese names...

[SirStuckey]

Trying not to repeat any that have already been said:

Sam Rockwell in Moon - It's inexcusable he didn't even get an Oscar nod this year.


Micky Rourke in The Wrestler - And he should have one last year.


Paul Newman and Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - Some of the best chemistry in film history.


Val Kilmer in Tombstone - Just does an awesome version of Doc Holliday