# What performance defines "scene-stealer" for you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 19, 2012, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248 "2012-03-19T19:24:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/1 "2012-03-19T19:24:20Z")
rewatched “The Fugitive” recently. Man, Tommy Lee Jones doesn’t just steal scenes, he hijacked that whole movie from Harrison Ford. and the first Pirates movie, I’ve read, was supposed to have Orlando & Keira’s characters as the main roles. Ha! Johnny Depp steals scenes, and the movie. You can’t look away from him when he’s on screen -except when Geoffrey Rush is up there out-thieving him. What performance, for you, defines “scene-stealer” ? (those were my examples) ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/2 "2012-03-19T19:29:44Z")
_Just Friends_ starring Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart was a sub-par teen comedy but the whole movie was made by Anna Faris’ character. Her best comedy work. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/3 "2012-03-19T19:37:06Z")
James Dean in \*Giant. \*Though the stars of the movie were Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson, Dean stole every scene he was in. It was his last performance before his death. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/4 "2012-03-19T19:44:59Z")
Alan Rickman in “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” (and possibly “Die Hard” too but Bruce Willis certainly held his own in that one) ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/5 "2012-03-19T19:56:39Z")
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight Joe Pesci - Goodfellas Val Kilmer - Tombstone ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/6 "2012-03-19T20:08:03Z")
**Teen Wolf** is a completely stupid teen horror comedy. Except for every scene that Jay Tarses is in. Tarses was brilliant and probably wrote his own dialog (he wrote for **The Bob Newhart Show** and **Carol Burnett** , among others). ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/7 "2012-03-19T20:10:45Z")
Rupert Everett in _My Best Friend’s Wedding_. I don’t even remember who played the actual “best friend” – I’d have to go look it up. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/8 "2012-03-19T20:13:33Z")
With all the amazing actors in _Glengarry Glen Ross_ it’s amazing that Alec Baldwin waltzes in and makes off with at least part of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/9 "2012-03-19T20:18:26Z")
Dunst in _Interview With the Vampire_. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/10 "2012-03-19T20:19:40Z")
One from music. After the Monterey Pop Festival, no one came away talking about anyone but Jimi Hendrix. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/11 "2012-03-19T21:08:11Z")
In the brilliant David Lean movie _Hobson’s Choice_, Brenda de Banzie almost steals the whole film from Charles Laughton. And Laughton was brilliant as usual, playing a hilarious, wonderful old bossy reprobate. Brenda de Banzie’s character was just a straight-laced, businesslike, determined spinster, yet she trumped Laughton. Trumping Laughton is not for sissies. ---
**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:** [March 19, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/12 "2012-03-19T21:09:56Z")
In these threads I always bring up Wilford Brimley’s one scene in **Absence of Malice**. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/13 "2012-03-19T21:18:04Z")
On the commentary for the DVD “Cat Ballou” Michael Callan and Dwayne Hickman are full of praise for Lee Marvin’s acting, saying even when he is not speaking, your eyes are on him. The musical troubadours, Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye, are pretty good too. John Banner as Sgt Schultz on “Hogan’s Heroes” could still scenes with his exaggerated motion of leaving a room. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/14 "2012-03-19T21:19:26Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > In these threads I always bring up Wilford Brimley’s one scene in **Absence of Malice**. Word. He pwns _everybody,_ including Sally Field. Paul Newman is so passive there (he can afford to be) he lets Brimley kick ass. > [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Alan Rickman in “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” (and possibly “Die Hard” too but Bruce Willis certainly held his own in that one) Not to take anything away from Rickman (who is brilliant in everything he does) but since Kevin Costner practically slept his way through that movie, virtually everybody steals scenes from him. Morgan Freeman, Christian Slater, and my personal favorite, Mike McShane (as Friar Tuck). Sean Connery’s cameo as King Richard is just icing on the cake. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/15 "2012-03-19T21:22:33Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Alan Rickman in “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” (and possibly “Die Hard” too but Bruce Willis certainly held his own in that one) This is the one I think of. Rickman doesn’t just steal scenes, he basically decides that he’s making a Robin Hood spoof, and he doesn’t let the fact that Costner seems to be in a Robin Hood drama deter him. He hijacks the entire film. Whenever they’re in Nottingham, the movie changes from drama to parody. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/16 "2012-03-19T21:46:45Z")
One day when I was sick and home from school I watched a (I hope the) Ozzie and Harriet movie on TV. It was quite as bad as you might suspect, except one scene where Alvy Moore (Mr. Kimble on Green Acres) enters for some reason and does his shtick while the other characters just watched. It was like he was from another movie entirely, a funny one. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/17 "2012-03-19T21:52:14Z")
I’m going to give you a different one from The Fugitive. Julianne Moore completely owns the 5-10 minutes of screen time she has in her short scene in the hospital. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/18 "2012-03-19T21:57:47Z")
Anthony Hopkins arguably counts, for The Silence Of The Lambs; the guy deservedly won Best Actor despite being on screen for – what, fifteen minutes and change? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/19 "2012-03-19T21:58:06Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > In these threads I always bring up Wilford Brimley’s one scene in **Absence of Malice**. That was a memorable performance. But I’m not sure it was a ‘scene stealer’. It seemed to have been written for that climactic moment. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/20 "2012-03-19T21:58:07Z")
I’ve said this before, but Robert Carlyle on Once Upon A Time can just be standing there during a scene waiting for someone else to stop talking, and I have a hard time focussing on that conversation. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248.md?page=2)