# Best scenery chewings in cinematic history **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 18, 2008, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418 "2008-06-18T23:51:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418/61 "2008-06-20T14:41:25Z")
Denzel Washington, Training Day ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418/62 "2008-06-20T14:52:18Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] _“To waaaar!”_ [/QUOTE] Yeah, I thought about that. He’s had so many villainous roles, but the great ones that I’ve seen were heavy on the lugubriousness and (metaphorical) cat-stroking - Scaramanga and Lord Summerisle didn’t raise their voices, and I don’t think his Dracula ever spoke, so… ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418/63 "2008-06-20T17:39:43Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Oh, how about Adam West in the Batman TV series? [/QUOTE] I don’t know. The whole “Batman” TV series was so over-the-top, it was almost a parody of the comic book genre. You had the scenery-chewing villians, too, such as Burgess Meredith/Penguin, Frank Gorshin/Riddler, and Cesar Romero/Joker. It was not grounded in any sense of reality and was a self-aware exaggeration of the costumed-hero genre. It was deliberately played for camp by West and all who participated in it. The show was almost a spoof of Batman, only made with the consent and cooperation of DC Comics. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418/64 "2008-06-20T17:43:49Z")
I don’t think anybody’s yet mentioned Samuel L. Jackson, which is astonishing. What’s his best candidate role/rant? **The Negotiator**? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418/65 "2008-06-20T17:52:13Z")
[QUOTE=John DiFool] I don’t think anybody’s yet mentioned Samuel L. Jackson, which is astonishing. What’s his best candidate role/rant? **The Negotiator**? [/QUOTE] You’re correct. But I think the winner has to be Jules’ Biblical rant in Pulp Fiction. ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418/66 "2008-06-20T18:31:36Z")
I nominate another great scene chewer: Christopher Plummer, in _Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country_ “Cry HAVOC! …And let slip the dogs of war!!!” also: “Don’t wait for the translation! ANSWER ME NOW!!!” (During the Klingon trial of Kirk and McCoy) ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418/67 "2008-06-20T19:04:48Z")
Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham? “…and cancel Christmas!” ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418/68 "2008-06-20T19:09:18Z")
[QUOTE=BrotherCadfael] Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham? “…and cancel Christmas!” [/QUOTE] I’M GOING TO RIP YOUR HEART OUT…WITH A _SPOON_! ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418/69 "2008-06-20T23:59:26Z")
[QUOTE=Bosstone] Gary Oldman doesn’t chew the scenery, he blends into it like a chameleon. A chameleon that can act. …Oh, wait. _Fifth Element_. Totally. [/QUOTE] Actually, I would have picked _The Professional_ as his top scenery chewing moment. And while Pacino does plenty in _Glengarry Glen Ross_, it’s Alec Baldwin who takes that film away from everyone else, even Jack Lemmon. “Your name is “you’re wanting”, and you can’t play the man’s game, you can’t close them, and then tell your wife your troubles. ‘Cause only one thing counts in this world: get them to sign on the line which is dotted. You hear me you fuckin’ faggots?” Pacino gets his in Michael Mann’s _Heat_: “I’m angry. I’m very angry, Ralph. You know, you can ball my wife if she wants you to. You can lounge around here on her sofa, in her ex-husband’s dead-tech, post-modernistic bullshit house if you want to. But you do not get to watch my fucking television set!” I can’t watch it without laughing out loud. Campbell Scott owes a mention for his opening monologue in _Roger Dodger_ (which I can’t quote in pieces; it just hangs together too well, and the bitter irony contrasts with the titular character’s actions throughout the film). _Mommie Dearest_ might the the most extended chewing of scenery ever (and Faye Dunaway at her death’s-head best), but for pure concentrated diabolically, terrifyingly, monomanically hilarious dialogue, Ned Beatty’s single scene in _Network_ takes the prize: “It is the international system of currency which determines the vitality of life on this planet. THAT is the natural order of things today. THAT is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today. And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature. And YOU WILL ATONE. Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? You get up on your little 21-inch screen and howl about America, and democracy. There is no America; there is no democracy. There is only IBM, and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today.” Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418/70 "2008-06-21T01:12:10Z")
Joaquin Phoenix in _Gladiator_ gave an over-the-top, angst ridden performance that would make the most emo kid blush. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418/71 "2008-06-21T02:04:55Z")
[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train] Actually, I would have picked _The Professional_ as his top scenery chewing moment. [/QUOTE] I would agree with this but at the moment, I have my back turned and I’m cracking my neck. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Punkyova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@The\_Punkyova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Punkyova)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418/72 "2008-06-21T02:46:39Z")
Gerard Depardieu, dying in _Cyrano de Bergerac._ 20 minutes of stumbling around, bleeding profusely, declaiming rhymed couplets, declaring undying love to Roxanne, justifying his life, coughing, heroicly managing to pull himself together for one more stanza, stumbling against the walls, saying just one more phrase… It’s a wonder the whole theater wasn’t eaten away. (Yes, I was crying the whole time. Why do you ask?) ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418/73 "2008-06-21T04:33:07Z")
[QUOTE=BrotherCadfael] Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham? “…and cancel Christmas!” [/QUOTE] That performance is what made that movie watchable. Brian Blessed is wonderful, too. I just watched the first season of Black Adder, he steals every scene he’s in. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418/74 "2008-06-21T05:24:51Z")
[QUOTE=NaturalBlondChap] Well if it is over the top and hamming it up, we are looking for, R Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket probably has a shot. Obligatory YouTube link (like you don´t have it book marked anyway) ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/TFNeBRc7W7s/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/TFNeBRc7W7s?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque [/QUOTE] That is fuckin’ brilliant. It never gets old for me. And I don’t think there was anything over the top. I think that was Lee being Lee. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418/75 "2008-06-21T05:37:43Z")
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! I HAVE HAD IT WITH THESE MOTHAFUCKIN’ SNAKES ON THIS MOTHAFUCKIN’ PLANE! -Samuel L. Jackson - _Snakes on a Plane_ ---
**Author:** ![Lysitheia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@Lysitheia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lysitheia)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418/76 "2008-06-21T07:07:48Z")
Haden Christiansen in “Revenge of the Sith”. “I Hate you!” “I Hate you!” ---
**Author:** ![Hogwash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e57/32.png) [@Hogwash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogwash)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418/77 "2008-06-21T08:34:45Z")
[Keanu wants room service.](http://youtube.com/watch?v=J1okpAj7Fhw) ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418/78 "2008-06-21T10:21:58Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] Brian Blessed is wonderful, too. I just watched the first season of Black Adder, he steals every scene he’s in. [/QUOTE] THE WOMAN’S INSATIABLE! ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418/79 "2008-06-21T14:13:49Z")
[QUOTE=Lysitheia] Haden Christiansen in “Revenge of the Sith”. “I Hate you!” “I Hate you!” [/QUOTE] You have to act before you can _over_act. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418/80 "2008-06-21T17:09:06Z")
No one’s yet mentioned Robert Duvall’s notable set-noshings, but he had a troika of 'em beginning in the mid-70’s: **Network** (his rabid TV executive raving and raging about Howard Beale and having a big hit); \*\*Apocalypse Now \*\* (“Charlie don’t surf,” “I love the smell of napalm in the morning…”); and \*\*The Great Santini \*\* (pretty much his whole performance, as he played a larger-than-life kind of guy). But the first things that came to mind was James Woods in **The Specialist** : “…and get a new shirt!”, among other scenes, and Ricardo Montalban’s Khan. Pure comedy gold. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-scenery-chewings-in-cinematic-history/453418.md?page=5)