Inspired by this thread, Most influential very minor movie role - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board, let’s do a scene stealing thread.
Rules are, must be a speaking role, must be in only one scene.
It’s not just me that feels this way.
For the most part, Run Ronnie Run is a maddening exercise in botched opportunities, self-indulgent celebrity cameos, and arbitrary subplots. But one scene illustrates just how brilliant a Mr. Show movie could and should be: Mandy Patinkin–rehearsing the main part in a musical based on the life of David Cross’ oft-arrested hillbilly shitkicker–offers an epic take on the title character’s theme song, beautifully playing up the mock-nobility of his persecution while brilliantly spoofing every musical in which the wretched of the earth express themselves with crystal-clear, Juilliard-trained pronunciation and delicate melodies. Clad in overalls and a straw hat for the full Li’l Abner effect, Patinkin croons the song with the conviction and intensity of a veteran trouper debuting a new Gershwin number on opening night. Never has Dobbs’ catchphrase “Y’all are brutalizing me” seemed so melancholy, or so rife with noble indignation.
For the record, I actually like the movie because I feel there were a number of scenes that worked. The film was more like a Mr. Show episode of connected sketches than a real story. But I laughed enough times throughout the film that it redeems itself to me. (And I am a massive Mr. Show fan also, which helps.)
All that being said, that one scene was such a departure from the rest of the movie. In a good way. It was surreal and Patinkin really committed to it.
This is exactly what I came to post, based on the thread title alone.
Christopher Walken in Pulp Fiction?
One scene, one incredible scene.
How the watch came to Butch.
Ray Charles in Blues Brothers.
Not just his songs, but the lines before and after and his stopping the robbery.
Jeremy Piven in Rush Hour 2.
Are TV shows allowed? If so, I nominate Lord Flashheart in Blackadder II.
Beatrice Straight is on screen for a single five-minute scene in Network (1976) and won an Academy Award for it.
But the rest of Network is fantastic, so I would hesitate to say she “steals” the movie.
Still, she makes a definite impression.
Is Vanessa Redgrave at the end of Atonement just in one scene? It’s a hell of a scene.
But surely the granddaddy of them all is Alec Baldwin is “Glengarry Glen Ross.” I mean, it’s the most famous scene in the film. Endlessly parodied. One of the most famous movie scenes EVER.
Carl Reiner’s mom saying “I’ll have what she’s having” in When Harry Met Sally
Christopher Walken in Annie Hall.
One scene, one incredible scene.
(If you’ve never seen it before, be sure to watch to the end of the clip.)
Seconding Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross. Won a 20/20 award for Best Supporting.
Anthony Hopkins only had 16 minutes of air time in “Silence of the Lambs”, yet that’s who everyone remembers. It could be argued that it wasn’t really a minor role, however.
I also have to go again with Alfonso Bedoya in “Treasure of the Sierra Madre”.
Rules are, must be a speaking role, must be in only one scene.
Second one is a great example.
Actually, that was Rob Reiners mom.
Julie Ann Moore has a tiny roll in The Fugitive but she has so much screen presence it’s like she stepped into this movie from another movie where she was the star.
I nominate Dennis Hopper from Apocalypse Now. I consider this role to be minor, not sure if it’s “very minor” or not. But those crazy monologues of his were pure gold.
Remind me, what’s his character’s name? 