# Favorite Actor Who Was Never In A GREAT Movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 5, 2020, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980 "2020-03-05T21:17:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980/1 "2020-03-05T21:17:38Z")
James Cagney Again, your favorite, and movies you consider great… He was in many good films, a lot of 80 minute manufactured quickies, but a GREAT movie? ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980/2 "2020-03-05T22:27:14Z")
Yankee Doodle Dandy is one of the best musicals ever. (One of the few I can stand to watch at all.) The Public Enemy, White Heat, The Roaring Twenties (with Bogart), Each Dawn I Die… I think they’re pretty great, though I don’t know what the afficionados would say. The last scene in The Public Enemy where his trussed-up body falls forward where mom is awaiting his return is still one of the most hair-raising I have seen. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980/3 "2020-03-05T22:38:41Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > Yankee Doodle Dandy is one of the best musicals ever. (One of the few I can stand to watch at all.) > > The Public Enemy, White Heat, The Roaring Twenties (with Bogart), Each Dawn I Die… I think they’re pretty great, though I don’t know what the afficionados would say. > > The last scene in The Public Enemy where his trussed-up body falls forward where mom is awaiting his return is still one of the most hair-raising I have seen. And incontestably FOOTLIGHT PARADE. Simply magnificent. ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980/4 "2020-03-05T22:53:10Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > Yankee Doodle Dandy is one of the best musicals ever. (One of the few I can stand to watch at all.) > > The Public Enemy, White Heat, The Roaring Twenties (with Bogart), Each Dawn I Die… I think they’re pretty great, though I don’t know what the afficionados would say. > > The last scene in The Public Enemy where his trussed-up body falls forward where mom is awaiting his return is still one of the most hair-raising I have seen. I think they are all good movies, except “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, but I can only think of one musical I like, and it’s probably the one everyone likes - “Singin’ in the Rain”, maybe because they show the process, the behind the scene stuff, basic critiques of show-biz… Cagney is always great, though, even his cameo in “Ragtime” Every actor I like seems to be in at least one GREAT movie. Cagney was the only one I could think of. Again, just personal preference. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980/5 "2020-03-05T23:27:29Z")
I think Matthew Lillard is great, but I won’t defend calling any of his movies that. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980/6 "2020-03-05T23:49:22Z")
One of my **favorite** actors whose movies I really enjoy is Jean-Claude van Damme. Yes I am serious. I find him and his movies to be entertaining. I am not sure I would refer to any of his movies to be particularly “great” though. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980/7 "2020-03-06T01:04:39Z")
How exactly are we defining “GREAT” here? Box office returns? DVD sales? AFI polls? Rotten Tomato ratings? How often a movie’s shown on TV these days? :dubious: 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980/8 "2020-03-06T01:12:53Z")
How about **William Powell**? I think _My Man Godfrey_ is brilliant (and has the funniest closing line in movie history), and the _Thin Man_ series, of course, but I don’t know if any of them rise to the level of true greatness. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980/9 "2020-03-06T01:24:17Z")
**White Heat** was a GREAT movie starring Cagney. Also everything **jaycat** mentioned, plus **Angels with Dirty Faces, One Two Three,** and a lot of others I’m not willing to look up. I consider Powell’s **My Man Godfrey** To be a great film. I…I’m sorry, but I don’t quite understand the OP. Could you be a little more clear about what you’re looking for in this thread? ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980/10 "2020-03-06T01:35:08Z")
Were Jimmy Durante, Phil Silvers, or Mae West in any great films? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980/11 "2020-03-06T01:38:01Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > Were Jimmy Durante, Phil Silvers, or Mae West in any great films? Silvers was in _It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World_. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980/12 "2020-03-06T01:43:01Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Silvers was in _It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World_. So was Durante. Mae West probably would have been in it too, if they had asked her. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980/13 "2020-03-06T01:44:23Z")
Buster Crabbe. The original Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and Captain Gallant. Always liked him, but he never was in anything that could be considered great. In the same vein, Johnny Weissmuller. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980/14 "2020-03-06T01:49:16Z")
…they could have written a pretty good scene of her interacting with Dick Shawn. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980/15 "2020-03-06T02:11:52Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Mae West probably would have been in it too, if they had asked her. In her own right, I don’t know how [My Little Chickadee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Little_Chickadee) could be considered anything less than a great film. “Young lady, are you trying to show contempt for this court?” “No, your honor, I’m doing my best to hide it!” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980/16 "2020-03-06T02:44:30Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Silvers was in _It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World_. Not a great film by any stretch of the imagination. It’s an hammy, overacted mess. Stanley Kramer produced it as a challenge; someone has told him he had no sense of humor and couldn’t do comedy. Kramer proved the other guy right. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980/17 "2020-03-06T03:12:31Z")
Respectfully, I disagree. I laughed. I enjoyed the mass participation of stars. It looked forward to such 70s productions as **Catch-22** and **Murder by Death.** ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980/18 "2020-03-06T06:28:38Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Respectfully, I disagree. > > I laughed. > > I enjoyed the mass participation of stars. It looked forward to such 70s productions as **Catch-22** and **Murder by Death.** Ah, [MAD WORLD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_Mad,_Mad,_Mad,_Mad_World). The Jack Davis poster. Jimmy Durante kicking the bucket (I know the exact spot). Jonathan Winters demolishing the gas station. Terry-Thomas commenting on Americans’ infatuation with “bosoms”. I laughed and laughed. Sure, I was just adolescent then. And it wasn’t as much fun as the BEN-HUR premiere at Grauman’s, with chariots. But I liked it. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980/19 "2020-03-06T10:59:25Z")
Also Buddy Hackett flying the airplane through the billboard ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980/20 "2020-03-06T13:20:25Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Not a great film by any stretch of the imagination. It’s an hammy, overacted mess. > > Stanley Kramer produced it as a challenge; someone has told him he had no sense of humor and couldn’t do comedy. Kramer proved the other guy right. 20 minutes into it, I had to turn it off! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-actor-who-was-never-in-a-great-movie/848980.md?page=2)