Liza Minnelli in The Sterile Cukoo.
There is one scene were she is talking on the phone, pleading with a boy not to break up with her. It is so raw, so pathetic, so real - Liza was nominated for an Oscar for the role, but that one scene alone is a master class in acting.
Brad Pitt’s abs in Thelma and Louise
I’ll mention, though not raise to a level of “best perfromance,” simply because I just saw it last week, William Hurt in A History of Violence. If pressed for the best performance, I’d need to see a list that included the afore-mentioned, Alec Baldwin and Christopher Walken. Walken also gets my vote for his True Romance tour de force with Dennis Hopper (who himself is ineligible for the category because of other scenes in the movie). And would the fact that you never actually see Val Kilmer in True Romance rule him out?
Mickey Rourke’s part in Body Heat is worth a mention. Not a winner, I suspect, but noteworthy.
I’d vote for expanding the category a little by including actual screen time as a means of subdividing the nominees into “brevity” groups. Alec Baldwin’s screen time is rather lengthy even if he’s just in that one scene.
[QUOTE=Quixotic]
I agree with Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross; he was also very good in Elizabethtown and Fun With Dick and Jane in similarly small roles.
To add another nomination: William Hurt in A History of Violence. Ed Harris was also very good, but was in more than one scene (though probably less than ten minutes total).
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I’m just now seeing the Hurt reference. Sorry!
[QUOTE=glee]
I know it’s TV, not the movies, but Martin Sheen’s performance in the first episode of ‘The West Wing’ changed his intended role from occasional cameos to a full part.
Spell-binding. 
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And Disco Stu has turned a thirty second gag on the Simpsons into an entire career!
The actor who played this role (not Cawthorne) in the stage version got a lengthy and interesting bio in the Playbill, which was pretty clever and revealing. The Guy who played Detective Inspector Tarrant and the Constable also had interesting bios.
[QUOTE=DMark]
Liza Minnelli in The Sterile Cukoo.
There is one scene were she is talking on the phone, pleading with a boy not to break up with her. It is so raw, so pathetic, so real - Liza was nominated for an Oscar for the role, but that one scene alone is a master class in acting.
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While it may be a great scene, Minnelli was the star of A Sterile Cuckoo, and appeared in nearly all the scenes, thus disqualifying her.
[QUOTE=Quixotic]
William Hurt in A History of Violence. Ed Harris was also very good, but was in more than one scene (though probably less than ten minutes total).
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I agree with both of those. It was a weak movie to me, but Hurt was phenomenal. He was actually nominated for best supporting actor this year. Clooney won for Syriana. Choosing between them is tough.
Marcel Marceau in Silent Movie
Phil Hartman in So I Married An Axe Murderer comes to mind.
James Cagney in “Ragtime.”
You say Christopher Walken in True Romance? Well, I’ll see your Walken and raise you a Gary Oldman from the same film.
Great one Leechboy, Phil Hartman aka Vicki, is exactly what I was looking for.
She was in more than one scene, but the girl (Joy Page) who played the young refugee’s new bride (Annina Brandel) in Casablanca.
“If a person did something really bad, even if she did not want to …” A remarkable performance. Remarkably sexy in some way that is really, really sick.
[QUOTE=Zakalwe]
Ned Beatty in Network
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This was going to be my nomination.
“You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale!”
Great, great scene. Beatty knew he had something special and he absolutely rocks the house.
Does Robert Duval as Col Kilgore count? Best Exit ever by a character, ever! (Note I refer to the original cut and not the godawful Redux scenes)
[QUOTE=Dooku]
Wilford Brimley in Absence Of Malice.
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He also had a great cameo in an episode of Seinfeld.
“Do you like golf, Mr. Kramer?”
Scariest damn postmaster general ever! :eek:
[QUOTE=Hampshire]
Christopher Walken in Pulp Fiction.
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Second!
If you’re talking one scene. Brad Pitt in True Romance.
[QUOTE=Quixotic]
To add another nomination: William Hurt in A History of Violence.
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As I just saw this flick last night, this was the performance that immediately popped into my head. Loved the Amish look!