# The award for best hysterics goes to... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 15, 2002, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843 "2002-04-15T23:57:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2002, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843/1 "2002-04-15T23:57:35Z")
I was watching _The Shining_ on DVD the other night and it occurred to me that one of the reasons the film worked was because it didn’t spend all of its time trying to scare me (in the audience), but rather it showed a completely hysterical Shelley Duvall. She was sobbing, crying, screaming, hyperventilating–the whole nine yards. And I think it was contagious. When you see someone that freaked-out it’s hard to stay calm yourself, even if you’re just watching a movie. But you don’t see a lot of actors or actresses who go all out into total uncontrollable crying jags too often. It’s not surprising, I suppose. It’s got to be hard on the actor or actress and, let’s face it, what Hollywood star wants to be seen with running mascara, a red nose, and tears and snot all over her face? So my nominations for best hysterics are: **Shelley Duvall** I swear, I thought she was about to hyperventilate and pass out when she was waving that bat at Jack Nicholson in _The Shining_. **Veronica Cartwright** A veteran character actress with a knack for _really_ turning on the waterworks. Watching _Alien_, you knew things were bad when you saw her character have a breakdown. She’s been crying her eyes out in all sorts of movies and television before and since. A real trouper. Any other nominations? ---
**Author:** ![bafaa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@bafaa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bafaa)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843/2 "2002-04-16T00:04:01Z")
Halle Berry? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843/3 "2002-04-16T01:03:17Z")
Sally Field has a nice freak-out on _E.R._. I was impressed that the whole thing was one take. Best comedy freak-out belongs to Bruce Campbell when confronted with the man-eating book in _Army of Darkness_, among other moments in the film ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843/4 "2002-04-16T01:54:52Z")
Marylin Burns, Texas Chainsaw Massare. Unparalleled freakout. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843/5 "2002-04-18T12:00:03Z")
Ray Liotta in **Goodfellas** : the scene where Henry finds out Karen flushed all the cocaine. I think it had to be a closed set. ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843/6 "2002-04-18T12:25:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > \*\*Sally Field has a nice freak-out on _E.R._. I was impressed that the whole thing was one take. \*\* Check out her performance in _Steel Magnolias_. She goes from zero to 60 emotions in about 30 seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843/7 "2002-04-18T12:54:06Z")
**Chloe Webb** as Nancy Spungen in _Sid and Nancy_. Pretty much the entire performance was spent in hysterics, but the scene where she is calling her parents (“I’m not of drugs!”) asking for money (“I’M NOT ON F\*\*\*ING DRUGS!”) so that they can buy drugs is a classic. ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843/8 "2002-04-18T13:11:20Z")
Honorable Mention to Jeremy Irons in _Dungeons and Dragons_. His performance DEFINES “scenery chewing”. He is constantly potted up to 11 throughout the whole thing, and the result is hilarious. Best bit is one of the deleted scenes, which was unfinished. It shows Jeremy going through his usual histrionics, and then the director yells “Cut!” and Jeremy just stalks off the set without a word. I like to think that’s how every scene went. “Cut!” and Jeremy heads off to his trailer for another shot of scotch and another round of kicking his agent, who’s tied up on the floor of his trailer. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843/9 "2002-04-18T13:37:27Z")
So THAT was the secret to Shelly Duvall’s performance! For 99.99% of the movie she was as wooden as a cigar store Indian and now I know the reason…she had to go into hysterics. Talk about conservation of energy… ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843/10 "2002-04-18T14:53:15Z")
Billie Burke’s great “The Ferncliffes aren’t coming to DINNER!” aria in “Dinner at Eight.” She rises to such a peak of hysteria she actually got applause at a revival house I saw it at once. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843/11 "2002-04-18T15:33:33Z")
_Oz_ has had many standout examples of full-on freakout, most notably Tobias Beecher strung out on PCP in the 1st season. Ellen Burstyn had a phenomenal meltdown scene, full of incoherent screaming and wailing, in _Requiem For A Dream._ ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843/12 "2002-04-18T16:36:29Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Why A Duck \* > **Chloe Webb as Nancy Spungen in Sid and Nancy. Pretty much the entire performance was spent in hysterics, but the scene where she is calling her parents (“I’m not of drugs!”) asking for money ("I’M NOT ON F**_ING DRUGS!") so that they can buy drugs is a classic. \*\* Yeah but the second she got off the phone was Hysterical (in a different sense) NANCY: “She won’t give us Money… SHE SAID WE’D SPEND IT ON DRUGS!” SID: (QUIETLY AND MATTER OF FACTLY) “Well, we would.” Damn that was funny. Oh and best hysterical scene… Marylin Burns for Chainsaw. It was one of those moments were the screaming chick coming unglued made perfect sense. ---
**Author:** ![Jabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@Jabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jabba)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843/13 "2002-04-18T18:10:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*Billie Burke’s great “The Ferncliffes aren’t coming to DINNER!” aria in “Dinner at Eight.” She rises to such a peak of hysteria she actually got applause at a revival house I saw it at once. \*\* [Hijack] This was on TCM a couple of days ago. One of my favourite scenes in all cinema is Marie Dressler’s reaction when Jean Harlow says she’s been reading a book.[/Hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843/14 "2002-04-18T18:35:12Z")
For those who haven’t seen the movie, this is what Jabba’s referring to: Jean Harlow: I was reading a book the other day. Marie Dressler (doing a majestic double take): Reading a book? JH: Yes, the nuttiest kind of a book—the guy said that machinery is going to take the place of every profession! MD (giving Jean the once-over): Oh, my DEAR, that is something you need never worry about. ---
**Author:** ![Billy\_Baroo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/76d3ee/32.png) [@Billy\_Baroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billy_Baroo)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843/15 "2002-04-18T21:28:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by chukhung \* > \*\*I was watching _The Shining_ on DVD the other night and it occurred to me that one of the reasons the film worked was because it didn’t spend all of its time trying to scare me (in the audience), but rather it showed a completely hysterical Shelley Duvall. \*\* Another reason the film works is the score. That music grabs you from the outset and just squeezes tighter and tighter. Whether you realized it or not, the score was messing with your head, and definitely trying to scare you, throughout. My nomination is Leo DiCaprio in _The Basketball Diaries_. Damn I wanted that scene to be over long before it ended. His mother’s reaction shot made it all the more harrowing. Marky Mark has a drug-fueled paranoia freakout in that film, too. The mom was played by Lorraine Bracco, who also had a protracted hissy fit in _Goodfellas._ ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843/16 "2002-04-18T22:10:44Z")
Parker Posey in **Best in Show**. The way she loses it in the pet store when the poor clerk can’t get her a “Busy Bee” is priceless! ---
**Author:** ![lethean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@lethean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lethean)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843/17 "2002-04-18T22:36:18Z")
Dylan McDermott… Every time he gets angry on **The Practice**. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843/18 "2002-04-18T23:11:52Z")
And here’s one for the worst: Harvey Keitel. Every time he does his “I’m crying/in pain face” and lets out that whine, it totally takes me out of the movie. I just plain am not sold. Examples: [ul] [li]_Reservoir Dogs_ when he’s got the gun to the head of Tim Roth at the end[/li][li]_Bad Lieutenant_ - he does it a couple times - once right at the end.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843/19 "2002-04-19T02:17:06Z")
How about that Heather chick from _The Blair Witch Project_. Her character covered the entire spectrum from overbearing, bossy bitch to snivelling, panicy bitch. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-award-for-best-hysterics-goes-to/103843/20 "2002-04-19T04:06:00Z")
I remember that Michael Caine did a scene where someone was holding a gun to his head and he was bawling and pleading and begging for his life. Can’t remember the title of the movie, though.