Edward Norton–Primal Fear. The way he played the two personalities, and slipped in and out of them so well, to bring them together at the end…awesome. That was the first movie of his I saw (it might have been his first major movie, I think), and I’ve made a point of seeing any other movie he’s been in.
Kevin Spacey–Seven. After I was knocked over by this performance, somebody told me he was better in The Usual Suspects. I disagree. He stammers. Great. If you want to see stammering, and I mean real stammering, see Norton in Primal Fear. In Seven, Spacey just played a pure freaking deranged sociopath. But he lent a certain intelligence to it as well. Awesome.
Vince Vaughn–Swingers. To this day, I still believe that Vaughn actually is Trent.
Anthony Hopkins–The Silence of the Lambs. No explanation needed here.
John Goodman–The Big Lebowski. Until now, the only comedies mentioned have been Big and Bull Durham. If you want somebody to make you laugh your ass off, watch Goodman in this film.
Jack Nicholson–A Few Good Men. This one is so hard to pick. Certainly, his performances in The Shining and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest deserve commendation, as well as Chinatown. But A Few Good Men is my favorite of his performances.
Denzel Washington–Glory. He is perfect in this movie.
“History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.” -Winston Churchill
He was soooo convincing, particularly since his character only spoke about four words in English in the whole movie. His performance brought me to tears more than once.
Steve Martin in “All of Me”. Absolutely convinces you Lily Tomlin is in control of half of his body. One of the best physical comedy preformances I have seen, ranking up with Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
Talk about taking over a role. He had to play the most craven, pathetic, and despicable character I’ve ever seen in a movie. He was a cop on the take with every conceivable vice. His downward and inevitable spiral into depravity and despair was unforgettable, especially the scene toward the end where he throws himself on the floor of the church and pours out his soul. I can’t imagine any other actor being nearly as effective in this role.
Ed Norton- American History X
Ed did such a good job here. He plays the pissed off psycho so well. I hope he doesn’t get type-cast. But with Primal Fear, American History X, and Fight Club to his credit,that may be possible. I know he has done other films such as rounders and People vs. Larry Flynt, but AH X is one of his greatest performances, IMHO.
Gary Oldman- The Professional
Gary Oldman is such a great actor, it’s hard to pick only one. But this is one of his finest performances because he plays such an excellent psycho-cop.
Kurt Russell- Tombstone
This is the only movie I like Kurt in, other than Backdraft.
A script that lets the actor say “Are you gonna do anything or just stand there and bleed?” can make anyone look like a badass, but I think Kurt added a certain panache to the whole thing.
how did it start? well i don’t know i just feel the craving. i see the flesh and it smells fresh and it’s just there for the taking…
VvvV
Sissy Spacek in Carrie. I know some will say Coal Miner’s Daughter, but her Carrie was absolutely perfect. Lost, afraid, and ultimately pissed. You feel sorry for her and afraid of her at the same time.
Jon Voight in Runaway Train. If you haven’t seen the movie, rent it tonight. He plays an escaped convict trapped aboard a train with no brakes and an accelerator frozen wide open. You’ll never believe he’s the same guy who did Anaconda and Enemy of the State.
James Stewart in It’s A Wonderful Life. Although I really liked him in Harvey as well…
Max von Sydow in Jungfrukällan (The Virgin Spring). He plays a man whose daughter is raped and murdered; he seeks revenge on her attackers. After hearing of his daughter’s death, his every movement is both chilling and wracked with grief. He’s a superb actor, one of the best alive in my opinion. Too bad he often takes projects like Strange Brew and Judge Dredd.
Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman. If nothing else, for the scene where he basically tells of Chris O’Donnell’s entire school. (I don’t watch a lot of Pacino movies; that one’s about it.)
Harrison Ford in “Witness”. Great movie, and I had never seen him in such a role before. I liked Ford in “Star Wars” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, I became a fan after seeing “Witness”.
Robert Stephens in “The Private (or was it ‘Secret’?) Life of Sherlock Holmes”. The most unnattractive, yet sexiest Holmes ever. Hey, maybe it’s just me, I love that movie.
Ernest Borgnine in “Marty”. Borgnine was always playing second fiddle or bad guys or “characters”. In this moive, Borgnine’s lonely butcher won my heart, and won him an Oscar.
Katherine Hepburn in “Rooster Cogburn”. This is an odd choice, but I love how she talks about “ablutions” (sp?) and gives John Wayne a bad time.
John Malkovich in Being John Malkovich. I know that Malkovich is supposed to be a great character actor, but in most of his roles he comes across more as an actor trying too hard to become the role. In this movie though, playing himself has freed him to lighten up a little.
Woody Allen in Play It Again, Sam. For all those people who don’t get Woody Allen, see this film and understand what his appeal was all about.
Even though he always played the same character, this is the first time there’s a little more depth to the wisecracking con man. His character seems more astute in this film and he carries it off without getting bogged down in it.
Not that anyone would ever consider Groucho a great actor (although one of the greatest film comedians ever), but the OP only specifies the best movie in which a movie star has a starring role. Groucho wouldn’t have been as good in Duck Soup or A Night At The Opera if he hadn’t gone a little deeper into the character in Monkey Business.
The Dave-Guy
“Since my daughter’s only half-Jewish, can she go in up to her knees?” J.H. Marx
Robert DuVal in the mini-series “Lonesome Dove” The guy is a wonderful actor. When I found out he was going to play Gus, I didn’t think he could pull it off. He’d often been cast as the heavy and I couldn’t believe he could play a gentle soul like Gus McCrae. But he was convincing.
Tommy Lee Jones was also excellent in Lonesome Dove as the emotionally crippled Call–usually he’s the easy-going good ol’ boy.
Robert DeNiro in “Awakenings” Not a tough guy at all in this film…He plays a nice person who is a victim of a crippling disease. I was amazed to see the scene where he was trying to brush his teeth when his body was in constant motion.
–Gail
“Predictable, really I suppose. It was an act of purest optimism to have posed the question in the first place.” --John Cleese
Meryl Streep: The River Wild, I thought she was terrific in this, and especially the scene where she is laughing hysterically at something that really wasn’t funny, after finding out Kevin Bacon’s plan for going down ‘The Gauntlet’
Kathy Bates: Primary Colors, she was SO tough, and believable, I loved when she is threatening the couple with telling THEIR own dirty secrets.
Kathleen Turner: Romancing the Stone, her romance author demeanor fading after getting into her own adventures with Michael Douglas’ character.
Tim Robbins: The Player, he showed so many different sides of himself, making you both dislike him, like him, and finally, GET it. No happy, neat little endings.
Jessica Tandy: Fried Green Tomatoes, I LOVED her wacky clothing in the beginning of the film, and when she tells the nurse she’s worried about her friend ‘Evelyn, that she just looks at her husband Ed watching tv and she wants to hit him in the head with a baseball bat’ That cracks me up every time.
Daniel Day Lewis in “My Left Foot”
Flawless performance as a man stricken with cerebral palsy.
William H. Macy in “Fargo” as the sleazy used car salesman.
Not my favorite, but a noteworthy performance from Courtney Love as Althea Flynt in “The People Vs. Larry Flynt” (Although some argue she was just being herself.)
How much deeper would the ocean be if sponges didn’t grow in it?