This was pretty fun, especially since there’s a narrow list to choose from, and the questions are not so broad as to get a lot of opinions, but still good enough to debate. Especially the fourth part – much better than just asking, “When I say ‘versatile actor’, who do you think of?”. I didn’t consider it ‘lame’ but something of a challenge. (I hope that isn’t taken the wrong way if you really were trying to come up with ‘great’ lists; I just really didn’t see it that way.)
Part 1 :
The Graduate
Airplane
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
The Godfather
West Side Story
I actually made this list by first crossing off a few I knew I wasn’t keeping, and then moving the ones I knew I was (Airplane! and The Graduate) to the top. Then I began to trim a few more off until I got down to about 10 or so I though were okay, and then down to 7, and I picked my three favorites of those to keep. I tried to keep my judgments independent, but in some sense I did keep West Side Story for sentimental reasons and kicked Monty Python and the Holy Grail off since I had too much comedy already (but it was a close call, there).
I’ll also admit to knowing very little about Barton Fink(all I know is it was a Coen bros. production) and The Evening Star(was that a sequel to something or other?).
Part 2
Suspense
Dark Comedy (Comedy Drama)
Drama (Melodrama)
This was pretty difficult. The first two weren’t hard to choose, but the third seemed close. I had to consider my last few rental options to decide it.
Part 3
Screenplay
Directing
This would have been much harder with three. I think Cinematography & Music would be too difficult to decide. It is interesting that I don’t consider Acting that much, though when I think about it, I might say, hey, so-and-so did a good job in that movie but I don’t always feel it improves the movie that much (I do consider it the most important element for making a movie at least good, but that’s not the question.)
As for why screenplay over directing, I kind of base that on an ‘average’ principle. If it’s a Kubrick movie, the writing doesn’t need to be stellar (e.g. 2001:A Space Odyssey) but there aren’t many Kubricks around these days. So if I have to go with competent director and great screenplay vs. competent writing and great direction, I go with the writing; I usually want a good story, and most of the time you need the writing to carry that. Taking the negative view, it’s much easier for bad writing to destroy an otherwise good film as it can ruin the mood. Bad directing has to be really bad to have the same effect, and is easier to hide it than bad writing.
Part 4
For the actors, it came down to these three, and I had to compare listings on the IMDB to jog my memory.
Robert Duval : Well, certainly a very fine actor. And some memorable and varied characters – we’ve got THX 1138, Tom Hagen of the Godfather, Col. Kilgore in Apocalypse Now, The Apostle E.F., John Q.'s Frank Grimes – wait! FRANK GRIMES?! Someone made a movie about Grimey! Wow!
Anthony Hopkins : Quite impressive. I would say the best actor on the list, but we’re looking for versatility. Let’s see, David Lloyd George, Richard Nixon, Adolf Hitler, Yitzhak Rabin, C. S. Lewis, John Quincy Adams … he’s got a good list, but he does tend toward the intelligent, powerful types.
John Hurt : I had a strong suspicion that I should pick him, but wanted to check out his listing first. I knew about the obvious (Quentin Crisp, Caligula, Winston Smith, John Merrick). I noticed he’d done animation voice work as well, Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings and Hazel(and in 1999, General Woundwort in a Watership Down TV series). Then there were a few times I said, oh yeah, I’ve seen that and now I remember him, like Montrose in Rob Roy or Jesus in History of the World, Part I (“Yes?”). Honestly, I think the first four I put in was enough to decide, and the rest of his work makes it clear that he’s the winner here.
Jodie Foster
This one’s a little easier : Put Nell next to Taxi Driver next to Contact next to Freaky Friday to see what I mean.
