I’ve always wanted to find an excuse to do Wilder’s speech before he reanimates the monster. That’s big scenery-chewing, especially from an actor who normally seems pretty mild-mannered:
“From that fateful day when stinking bits of slime first crawled from the sea and shouted to the cold stars, “I am man!”, our greatest dread has always been the knowledge of our mortality. But tonight, we shall hurl the gauntlet of science into the frightful face of death itself. Tonight, we shall ascend into the heavens. We shall mock the earthquake. We shall command the thunders, and penetrate into the very womb of impervious nature! Herself!”
Oh, hell yes. I love when they go on a day to the beach and come back to find their house burned down and can’t comprehend that a bomb didn’t hit it. The fireman has to gently remind them that houses just burned down before the war, too. It’s been so long since “before the war” that they forgot what it was like.
I thought I’d read somewhere that he made big demands about the camera being on him all the time (even when others were speaking their part). I suppose that doesn’t really count though, because it wasn’t limited to any specific scene.
I’m going to have to disagree about Duval as Lt. Col. Kilgore in Apocalypse Now - I’ve known quite a few Army officers and they’re just like that performance - BIG, loud and proud. I don’t think he was chewing scenerly so much as really portraying the character. Besides, at the end of the tirade he gets very quiet and says something along the lines of “One day this war’s gonna be over,” and the way he says it and look in his face is a mixture of resignation and “…and then I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Peter O’Toole had one or two as Henry II in “Becket”. But Henry’s rages were legendary, and at their height it’s said he frothed at the mouth and literally chewed the straw on the floor. So can you call a portrayal “chewing the scenery” when it’s almost literally accurate?
The best scene is when the boy, after having spent a glorious summer in the countryside, miserably returns to school for the new year…only to find out that it had been bombed to ruins. The chaotic scene of madly cheering schoolboys thanking Hitler while their parents look on in disapproval is one of my all-time favourite movie moments.
I’ve read the thread and I don’t think he has been mentioned yet: Zero Mostel.
He was larger than life, and when he took on a role, he Took. On. The. Role. He ate up The Producers for lunch, and without him, there would be no A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. Granted, these are broad schtick movies, but how well would any other performer have supported them? We would have seen him in more movies, but ISTR he was blackballed during the commie witch hunts in the 50’s, and this prevented him from getting a lot of film work. Wouldn’t I have loved to have seen him in one of his many Broadway plays - that’s all.
My personal choice: the moment near the end in Dangerous Liaisons, when Glenn Close tears around her room shrieking and howling like a madwoman, pulling at her hair.
(Mostly because we were watching this way back in history class, and my history teacher leaned over and deadpanned: “They’ve just told Glenn Close she has to do another movie with Keanu Reeves.”)
Okay, I know this topic is a month or so old but I just read it all over (and quite enjoyed some of the links) and kept on expecting to see this mentioned…only it wasn’t. WHY this one wasn’t the very first one in the topic, I have no idea. : D
Clark Griswold wishes to tell you what he wants for Christmas:
Are you kidding? The entire film is a meal! But not due to overacting. THe script and the acting are just so big.
But then, in any film between ,say, 1965 or so and ,say, 1985 with Peter O’Toole, he’s just plain larger than life. Unlike Gary Oldman, he is not a person who is capable of disappearing into a role. Your eyes, your ears are always drawn to him. He’s a great actor, but he was huge. He’s shrunken now as he has gotten older, but The Voice is still there, and he still manages to steal movies with bit roles even now.
Here’s an obscure one for you–Rod Steiger in “Happy Birthday, Wanda June.” Now I’ll grant you the character is supposed to be larger than life, but old Rod looked and sounded like he was channeling Ernest Hemingway in that movie and it was grand! Unfortunately, it’s not released on DVD and that’s a crying shame.
