What about Al Pacino in Scarface? You really think he was acting… 
He was way too convincing.
… but not as good as he was in The Shootist, I’m thinking.
You don’t have to convince me. I like John Wayne even though he doesn’t get much respect around here.
Big Jake
The Cowboys
True Grit
Red River
etc
etc
I think a lot of folks just have a personal problem with him. Sure some of his shows don’t cut it as far as greatest performances but he’s done quite a few that come close IMHO.
People are always saying Brando this and Brando that…bullshit. Brando couldn’t suck the Duke’s big toe.
Everybody’s talking Orson Welles, oh oh Orson Welles…yada yada like it’s expected… yeah well he was pretty good director. I’d rather watch anything done by Kevin Costner. By the same token…I can watch The Outlaw Josey Wales every year. Citizen Kane not so much…
Glen Close>Fatal Attraction, hell of a performance, I still think the bitch is really crazy.
There ought to be something that John Malkovich did in here somewhere. he’s another one of those guys everybody calls genius.
Val Kilmer…what’d he do?
What no Sean Connery?
Then there’s the Woody Allen folks…how in the hell can you even sit through Woody Allen’s crap. People think it’s intellectual comedy… maybe but it’s NOT funny. It’s mostly just pathetic. But WTF do I know, the only Jim Carrey movie I ever liked was Dirty Harry.
Where’s Rocky?
Raging Bull DeNiro’s best IMHO.
Joe Pesci in anything…you just wanna choke the guy.
Sorry but somebody had to say it.
A lot of critics will try to impress you with their opinions on actors and movies and books etc… by quoting the old “classics” as examples of great works. It’s bullshit mostly.
The OP asks the question: The greatest film performance ever? EVER? :eek:
I don’t know but the more I think about it, the scene where Neeson breaks down at the end of Schindler is pretty intense.
I don’t mean to insult anybody’s nominees here. They are all great performances. But ever…that’s a tough ass call. I think we’re gonna have to get away from a “great” actor to find the truth to that question.
Can it really be a GREAT performance if the actor is great to begin with. How about an actor or actress that isn’t great or famous who does a truly outstanding job? Now that’d be a great performance wouldn’t it?
Sorry to be so longwinded Rosey but this thing was fizzlin out. I thought maybe I could breathe a little more life into it.
t/k hides from the approaching mob It’s Alive…it’s alive!
Boris Karloff ?
Highly underrated. Best movie that Don Siegel ever did, that’s for sure. Great western, great Wayne movie.
I still prefer Dirty Harry, and The Beguiled is probably better also. Still an underrated film, though.
I usually hate “Greatest” threads, because some jerkoff ends up :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: all over the place about someone choices, but this one has been really good so far. With thaaaat said…
Another vote for Brando in The Godfather
Elizabeth Taylor in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe?
Richard Burton in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe?
Another vote for Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs
Barbara Stanwyck in The Thorn Birds
Another vote for Davis in Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?
There’s tons more, obviously.
My heartfelt thanks to **t-keela ** for yanking this thread back on track. **T-keela ** says:
“I think we’re gonna have to get away from a “great” actor…Can it really be a GREAT performance if the actor is great to begin with. How about an actor or actress that isn’t great or famous who does a truly outstanding job?” [italics mine]
That is exactly what I had in mind when I began this thread, but I did not pose the question well at all. I should have phrased it like this:
What would be your choice for the greatest film performance ever by a relatively unknown actor - preferably in a small role, a bit part or a character turn?
Once again I make the case for my original choice, **Frank Faylen ** in The Lost Weekend (1945).
Faylen has less than 5 minutes of screentime, but he really makes the most of it. The following quotes are taken from http://www.geocities.com/classicmoviescripts/script/lostweekend.txt.
BIM: I’m a nurse. Name of Nolan. They call me Bim. You can call me Bim. [pulls out a pen and notebook] What’s your name?
DON: Birnam.
BIM: What kind of Birnam?
This line is delivered with a delicate sneer which is ever-so-slightly prissy. It hints at Bim’s homosexuality (made more explicit in the original novel), but, more to the point, it is exquisitely condescending and suggests that Bim sees Birnam and the rest of his alcoholic patients as less-than-human beings.
BIM: Ever have the D.T.s?
DON: No.
BIM: You will, brother.
DON: Not me.
BIM: Like to make a little bet? After all, you’re just a freshman. Wait’ll you’re a sophomore, that’s when you start to see the little animals. You know that stuff about pink elephants? That’s the bunk. It’s little animals. Little tiny turkeys in straw hats. Midget monkeys coming through the keyholes…
This is extremely disturbing, like watching a cat play with a wounded mouse. Bim is the very personification of spite and cruelty, taking vicious pleasure from the pain of others.
BIM: …You’ll be back.
DON: Oh, shut up.
BIM: Listen, I can pick an alky with one eye shut. You’re an alky, you’ll come back. They all do…
All in all, a mesmerizing performance. For me, the human voice is the greatest musical instrument of all. And Faylen uses it brilliantly.
DON: Look, I’m as well as you are. I can get out of here right now.
BIM: Think so? [spoken in a higher vocal tone]
DON: Where are my clothes?
BIM: Downstairs. [spoken in a lower vocal tone]
DON: How do I get out of this place?
BIM: Right through there. [spoken in a vocal tone exactly midway between the previous two lines]
It is like listening to a great singer deliver half notes and quarter notes.
Frank Faylen was immensely talented. He could sing, he could dance, he was an acrobat with a flair for physical comedy. And he was a consummate professional. When he was in his late 50s he threw himself into his TV role as Dobie Gillis’s father with a relish and energy that would shame a younger actor. His IMDb filmography lists 193 appearances. I am willing to bit that he never gave a weak or indifferent performance, even in his uncredited bits.
Compare that to the careers of such better-known “great” actors as Marlon Brando and Richard Burton.
It is true that Brando was dazzling as *The Godfather * (1972). But that was his first great performance since *On the Waterfront * (1954). Basically, he wasted almost 20 years. And after The Godfather, he went on to give rather dubious performances in *The Missouri Breaks * (1976), *Apocalypse Now * (1979) and *The Island of Dr. Moreau * (1996). In all three (and other films) he was either lazy, undisciplined and/or self-indulgent.
The same charge can be made against Burton, who had a few great roles, but also turned in spectacularly awful performances in Bluebeard (1972) and *Exorcist II * (1977). In *The Robe * (1953) he was actually out-acted by Victor Mature (who is, in truth, greatly under-rated).
In Candy (1968) you can watch both Brando and Burton embarrass themselves - a rare treat.
To repeat:
What would be your choice for the greatest film performance ever by a relatively unknown actor - preferably in a small role, a bit part, or a character turn?
This makes it a little more challenging.
Okay, then. Hmm… how about Whoopi Goldberg as Celie in The Color Purple?
Nearly all of the child actors in “Stand By Me”. Kieffer Sutherland was terrific as the quintessential hood, but all of these kids did an excellent job of acting like…well…kids.
John Malkovich as Lenny in “Of Mice and Men”.
Paul Newman in “Nobody’s Fool”.
Now I don’t know if this is in the spirit of the OP. The guy grew up to be a decent actor. But his first role as a child is still one that’d have to be considered great for a kid.
The Champ …w/ Ricky Schroeder (sp?)
If you didn’t tear up watching that flick you ain’t human. 
“But he ain’t human, Gus” …R.Schroder again many years later as Newt in Lonesome Dove
I scanned over the thread to make sure I hadn’t missed it, but apparently no one has mentioned Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. This is the performance I think of when I think of great film performances.
**
What would be your choice for the greatest film performance ever by a relatively unknown actor - preferably in a small role, a bit part or a character turn?**
Right now, I’ll have to go with Nicholas Hoult as Marcus in About a Boy. He was only about 11 years old when he filmed it, but there wasn’t a single false note in the performance. He may have been a bit too convincing, because I haven’t seen him in a single thing since that film.
What this thread is showing me is that there have been a great number of outstanding performances- which is understandable given the years we are covering.
FWIW, the best performance Wayne ever gave was in The Searchers.
Angela Landsbury- The Picture of Dorian Grey (where Hurd Hatfield was also excellent).
And I liked John Gilbert in ‘The Big Parade’
Initial reply: Jack Nicholson, Cuckoo’s Nest. The role is incredibly demanding. The McMurphy character has to show rage, boredom, anger, delight, joy, strength, weakness, charm, psychotic hatred, amusement… more or less everything on the radar. The part also calls for great verbal range and physical range, and Jack delivers the perfect performance in my book.
However, given the thread’s re-vamped focus, ‘What would be your choice for the greatest film performance ever by a relatively unknown actor - preferably in a small role, a bit part or a character turn?’, then I have a few offers:
Joan Cusack in Working Girl. She only has a minor supporting role, and wasn’t that well-known when it was made, but she stole the movie and is easily the funniest thing in it. This also goes to the sub-debate rumbling under this thread about comedy v drama. I think Cusack is a very gifted comedic actress who just hasn’t been given enough faith by the studios or the right vehicle.
**Jason Miller ** (Father Karras) in The Exorcist. Okay, it’s not a ‘minor’ role and he’s on screen for most of the time, but he wasn’t well-known and he didn’t go on to become a major star. But he gave a stunning performance.
Fulton Mackay in Local Hero. Great movie, full of many treasures, but crowned by Mackay’s great performance as Ben.
It certainly was a great performance, but the material helped…
“Stand up, Missy - your father’s passing!”
I think the best was achieved **despite the director cutting the actor’s screen time ** - Alan Rickman in ‘Robin, Prince of Thieves’.
Here are some suggestions that might get overlooked. I go most often with people who play rich, complex characters, with subtle but shifting emotions, that are difficult to act realistically.
Jim Carrey - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Miranda Otto - The Two Towers and The Return of the King
(There are other terrific performances from the LOTR movies, but hers for me really stands out.)
Judy Davis - Husbands and Wives
Katharine Hepburn - THe Lion in Winter
Bill Murray - Lost in Translation
Anthony Hopkins - The Remains of the Day
Emma Thompson - Howard’s End
Kennth Branagh - Henry V
Alan Alda - Crimes and Misdemeanors
Marlon Brando - On the Waterfront