Cabaret when York asks Sally why she had an abortion. Shes lying her bed with her back to the camera and just throws one hand up as to say…“who knows.”. Love it.
On CSI prime there was an episode where there was a big gun battle involving police. One officer was killed. The team had to reconstruct the events. The found out the the bullet that killed the officer came from the gun of Captain Brass, Paul Guilfoyle. The officer stepped in his line of fire inadvertently and Brass didn’t realize in the confusion. It was an all around good episode but the brilliant acting came at the wake. Brass is there in uniform a broken man. All of the other officers are avoiding him. His body language is perfect. As he approaches the widow he tries to speak but he breaks down. She takes him into her arms and he sobs. Extremely powerful and no words as I recall. Guilfoyle is another underrated character actor.
The final scene from “The Last Good Friday” is definitely not “unknown” if you’ve seen the movie, but just thinking about all the emotions Bob Hoskins’ character goes through gives me chills.
There was an otherwise forgettable movie called “Heaven” featuring Cate Blanchett as an American woman living in Italy. When her husband is killed by a drug dealer with the local police in his pocket and it is clear that nothing will be done, she decides to get revenge herself.
She plants a bomb in the bad guy’s office, but unfortunately, the bomb is removed by a janitor who has his young son tagging along.
After the explosion, she is hauled into the police station for interrogation, as the obvious suspect. She starts the interview assuming that she got her intended target and has an “I know it was me, and you know it was me, but you can’t prove a thing…” expression on her face. Then the officer interrogating her tells her that actually the janitor and his 10 year old son were killed. There is a shot of her face as she processes this and goes from disbelief, to belief, to horror at what she’s done to shame, all unspoken, but clearly visible on her face.
It’s one of the great moments of acting IMHO.
But the scene where he goes off on the American Mafia finding them ‘too risky’ - granted it is not understated, but his enraged disbelief - “We’re criminals” - it’s right up there with St. Crispian’s Day.
Burl Ives and Paul Newman in Cat on a Hot tin Roof when Big Daddy tells Brick that life isn’t 2 hours of glory in a kids game and a bunch of high spots, and then he has a big pang of pain from his cancer and says “Truth is pain and sweat and paying bills and making love to a woman that you don’t love anymore…”
So moving…
And also, every single second of screen time we got of Howard Morris as Ernest T. Bass on the Andy griffith Show. So sublime I can barely stand it!
So good I actually knew his name without looking him up.
Great stuff guys.
This probably stretches the definition of “unknown”, but the facial expressions on everyone during the ballroom scene in Enchanted.
Ok, this scene wouldn’t win any awards and probably doesn’t compare to the others mentioned, but there’s a scene in Wayne’s World that has always impressed me as quality work in an unexpected place.
Wayne, in a good mood, stops by Cassandra’s place to hang out only to find out that she has been spending a lot of time with Benjamin and he’s flying her somewhere without Wayne under the auspices of helping her career. Wayne’s jealous and starts being kind of a dick, but the exchange between the two of them is actually a quick bit of surprisingly effective and believable dramatic acting. (by Myers. Tia Carrere’s acting ability is pretty weak)
Both very good examples.
Every time I watch ‘Cat On A Hot Tin Roof’ I notice some scene or dialogue I haven’t paid much attention to before. I wish they could have made an ‘uncensored’ version back then.
And the Band Played On is full of great performances but one will always stay with me. David Clennon and Swoosie Kurtz play a seemingly uptight upper class couple. She has contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion. Researcher Charles Martin Smith is questioning her about it when he realizes no one has told her she has AIDS. When he informs them you can see the husband’s heart shatter. David Clennon let’s his whole body collapse in on itself and he sobs uncontrollably. In that instant you see what has probably always been true, his wife is the strong one. Even though she just found out she is dying she consoles him and continues to speak to the doctor. The most powerful performance in a work that reduces you to tears over and over.
I found the entire movie on YouTube. I’m not sure if it’s an authorized posting so I won’t link to it. The scene is at 1:30 of the movie. It’s a little more nuanced and even better than I remember.
Michael Stuhlbarg’s monologue in Call Me By Your Name got him an Oscar nomination.
And another scene from the same movie, the final scene, when Timothee Chalamet just cries silently.
