# "Coffee is for closers!" Memorable single scene perfomances in film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 23, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516 "2011-06-23T02:17:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/41 "2011-06-23T16:25:22Z")
Edit: Whoops. The actor, being the star of the film, was definitely in more than one scene. May be back with better answer. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/42 "2011-06-23T16:32:12Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Good to know the objective better. It’s not coming to me just now, but I remember reading something very recently (perhaps heard it on TV) about such a role. Whoever this was is felt as a presence by way of other characters’ references to him (or her) but whose actual screen time is very minimal, a matter of just a few minutes over the entire movie. It was, no doubt, a big name star. I’ll be trying to remember who it was and what the movie was. I don’t think it was Brando in _Superman_ or _Apocalypse Now_, but it was that sort of thing. Speaking of Apocalypse Now, Robert Duvall. Edit: (I got swooped!) ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/43 "2011-06-23T16:34:36Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > I also think Tom Cruise pretty much stole the show with perhaps his greatest performance ever when he portrayed movie producer Les Grossman in _Tropic Thunder_. I didn’t even know he was in TT until I saw it and even then it took me a second to recognize him. He’s only got a couple scenes, but they’re the funniest in the movie. **[FUCK YOUR OWN FACE!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63lYBalGx7M)** ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/44 "2011-06-23T16:39:10Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > He was the main character in that. I’m not getting your point. Was this thread supposed to be about non-stars? If so, then I’d nominate Bronson Pinchot (as Serge) for stealing nearly the entire movie in his scene in the art gallery in _Beverly Hills Cop_. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/45 "2011-06-23T16:40:23Z")
The point of the OP is for characters that only appear in one (or very few) scenes, not are the main character that spends hours on screen. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/46 "2011-06-23T17:13:49Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > The point of the OP is for characters that only appear in one (or very few) scenes, not are the main character that spends hours on screen. Guess I missed the point. I’d also nominate Brando’s scene in _Apocalypse Now_: “Are you an assassin? A grocery clerk sent to collect a bill?” While the character is referred to throughout the film, he doesn’t appear until the end. Also, a very young Brad Dourif in his ultimate scene with Nurse Ratched (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), when he is so badly shamed that he reverts to stuttering. While all of the “nuts” appear on screen throughout the film, this scene clearly shines. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/47 "2011-06-23T17:19:08Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > The point of the OP is for characters that only appear in one (or very few) scenes, not are the main character that spends hours on screen. Exactly. I’m hard-pressed to think of a thread where so many people have completely ignored the OP altogether. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/48 "2011-06-23T17:21:54Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > I also think Tom Cruise pretty much stole the show with perhaps his greatest performance ever when he portrayed movie producer Les Grossman in _Tropic Thunder_. I didn’t even know he was in TT until I saw it and even then it took me a second to recognize him. He’s only got a couple scenes, but they’re the funniest in the movie. [His dance at the MTV movie awards is amazing, too.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y07Tkf5gds8#t=1m53s) ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/49 "2011-06-23T17:37:20Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Exactly. I’m hard-pressed to think of a thread where so many people have completely ignored the OP altogether. Heh. Happens in the BBQ Pit a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/50 "2011-06-23T18:50:30Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Exactly. I’m hard-pressed to think of a thread where so many people have completely ignored the OP altogether. The wording was a bit vague, I guess. For me, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/51 "2011-06-23T20:54:09Z")
Sean Connery in _Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves_. Except in this case it’s to the film’s detriment, as in the 30 seconds he has onscreen he shows us how the lead role \*should \*have been played. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/52 "2011-06-23T21:51:44Z")
Excellent–I get to be the first to mention Hugh Jackman in _X-Men: First Class_! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/53 "2011-06-23T21:53:31Z")
It’s not even him, but: Schwarzenegger in T4. Everyone in the theater went nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/54 "2011-06-23T22:36:54Z")
[What is the problem with Michael Jackson?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwySzkpyMfI) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/55 "2011-06-23T22:41:31Z")
Well this one’s kind of obscure to modern audiences, but if you have ever seen [Wild River](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054476/) (a 1960 film starring Montgomery Clift, about the displacements caused by a TVA dam), [Barbara Loden](http://filmfanatic.org/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/wild-river-loden.png) absolutely lights up the screen for the few minutes she appears. Seeing the movie on TV I was so struck by her performance that I looked her up on IMDb. It turns out that I was not the only one impressed by Miss Loden in the role. Elia Kazan, having seen that performance, [made her his “_protegé_,” a prelude (naturally) to marrying her.](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0517056/bio) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/56 "2011-06-24T00:40:21Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Sean Connery in _Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves_. > > Except in this case it’s to the film’s detriment, as in the 30 seconds he has onscreen he shows us how the lead role \*should \*have been played. On a related note, I’ve always been amused by people who bitch about Robin Hood as played by Costner not having much of an English accent, but not having a problem with Richard the Lionheart speaking English with a Scottish accent… … or for that matter speaking English, period. Richard the Lionheart didn’t speak English. He was French. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/57 "2011-06-24T01:49:34Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > On a related note, I’ve always been amused by people who bitch about Robin Hood as played by Costner not having much of an English accent, but not having a problem with Richard the Lionheart speaking English with a Scottish accent… > > … or for that matter speaking English, period. Richard the Lionheart didn’t speak English. He was French. I don’t know that I’d go that far. His mother was from Aquitaine and she would have spoken one of the Occitan dialects, his father was Anglo-Norman and would have spoken some form of Old Norman. He _did_ speak the Old French spoken in the court at Paris, but it appears his his mother’s Occitan language was his primary tongue. Many people often don’t recognize that when the Norman conquest happened the Normans were not analogous to French. Really “French” people didn’t exist yet, France was a collection of different languages and political units in 1066, not a unified country. While the Old Norman spoken by William the Conqueror had some degree of mutually understandability with the language spoken in Île-de-France (they were both considered \*langue d’oïl), \*Old Norman was notable for being influenced by the Scandinavian raids and settlements in Northern France. Further 100 years later the Norman nobility would have been speaking a more Anglo-Norman dialect that would have been differentiated from the original Norman dialect. However it was during Richard the Lionheart’s generation that mainstream “court French” became the language of educated people and the language of the court in England (prior to that it was Anglo-Norman or Old Norman), because of heavy intermarriage with nobility related to the King of France and originating from regions closer to Paris. ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/58 "2011-06-24T08:24:32Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > To clarify, I was asking about instances where an actor only appeared in a single scene - Christopher Walken in _Pulp Fiction_, Ned Neatty in _Network_ and Dennis Hopper in _True Romance_ were the kind of examples I was talking about. > > I’d also accept examples where an actor really only had one _big_ scene, though, or maybe only a couple of scenes. Basically I’m looking for peformances that do a lot with minimal screen time (with an emphasis on the show stealing single scene moments). robert shaw as henry VIII in man for all seasons harvey keitel as the wolf in pulp fiction simon oakland as the detective in psycho james woods as the prosecutor in chaplin bob fosse as the snake in the little prince john mcgiver as the pimp in midnight cowboy ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/59 "2011-06-24T08:51:34Z")
> [@mac\_bolan00](#): > > john mcgiver as the pimp in midnight cowboy Speaking of _Midnight Cowboy_, Sylvia Miles was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film, and was on screen for a total of less than 4 minutes. And that’s one of the shortest performances to ever received a nomination. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516/60 "2011-06-24T15:19:31Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > I don’t know that I’d go that far. His mother was from Aquitaine and she would have spoken one of the Occitan dialects, his father was Anglo-Norman and would have spoken some form of Old Norman. He _did_ speak the Old French spoken in the court at Paris, but it appears his his mother’s Occitan language was his primary tongue. > > Many people often don’t recognize that when the Norman conquest happened the Normans were not analogous to French. Really “French” people didn’t exist yet, France was a collection of different languages and political units in 1066, not a unified country. While the Old Norman spoken by William the Conqueror had some degree of mutually understandability with the language spoken in Île-de-France (they were both considered \*langue d’oïl), \*Old Norman was notable for being influenced by the Scandinavian raids and settlements in Northern France. > > Further 100 years later the Norman nobility would have been speaking a more Anglo-Norman dialect that would have been differentiated from the original Norman dialect. > > However it was during Richard the Lionheart’s generation that mainstream “court French” became the language of educated people and the language of the court in England (prior to that it was Anglo-Norman or Old Norman), because of heavy intermarriage with nobility related to the King of France and originating from regions closer to Paris. And amazingly enough, after all that, in Richard the Lionheart’s day there were **still** Saxon nationalists trying to drive out the Normans! I know that 'cause I saw _Ivanhoe_ on _Masterpiece Theater._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coffee-is-for-closers-memorable-single-scene-perfomances-in-film/586516.md?page=4)