# What/Who are the best "Chewing the Scenery" Films/Actors? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2017, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359 "2017-02-09T00:12:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/121 "2017-02-26T03:57:48Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I’ve always felt that Shatner deserves more credit than he gets. The Enterprise bridge was made of pastel-colored plywood. If Shatner hadn’t been absolutely earnest and convinced (as opposed to convincing) that he was on a starship in the Ceti Alpha system, the audience wouldn’t have believed it, either. Just a little wind and a nod and the whole thing could have turned very silly, very fast. The show spawned a fanatical fanbase that has stuck with it for 50 years. He must have done something right. I’ve been watching a number of TNG episodes recently, and I think I see the same thing with Patrick Stewart. There is definitely an element of cheese, but his performance seems to elevate everything. The rest of the cast aren’t exactly the most amazing actors, but do seem to work well together. ---
**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:** [February 27, 2017, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/122 "2017-02-27T01:03:36Z")
_ **"I KNOW WHO I AM!** _ I’m the dude _ **PLAAAYIN’** _ the dude _ **DISGUIIISED** _ as _ **ANUTHA** _ dude!" - Robert Downey Jr, as Kirk Lazarus, as Lincoln Osiris. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/123 "2017-02-27T01:09:48Z")
Darren McGavin gnawed on a lot of scenery in[A Word to the Wives](https://youtu.be/CL7VXmFWsMo). Especially the cabinets. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/124 "2017-02-28T15:09:13Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > If you want a scenery-chewing George C. Scott film I’d nominate _“Hardcore”_. > “Oh my GOD, thats MY DAUGHTER!” I never watched that one. ---
**Author:** ![Lungfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d78d45/32.png) [@Lungfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lungfish)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/125 "2017-02-28T16:17:21Z")
_Ben Gazzara_ in Roadhouse. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/126 "2017-02-28T17:09:07Z")
> [@Lungfish](#): > > _Ben Gazzara_ in Roadhouse. Everyone in _Roadhouse_. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/127 "2017-02-28T17:30:41Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > If you want a scenery-chewing George C. Scott film I’d nominate _“Hardcore”_. > “Oh my GOD, thats MY DAUGHTER!” Oh, that reminds of me of Sean Penn doing some serious chewing in Mystic River. “IS THAT MY DAUGHTER IN THERE!?!?!” ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/128 "2017-02-28T17:44:20Z")
I don’t think anyone could possibly beat Kevin Bacon in Paul Verhoeven’s _Hollow Man_, who managed to chew up scenes _he was never actually physically in!_ ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/129 "2017-02-28T18:20:32Z")
Coincidentally I just watched [Extreme Prejudice](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092997/combined), 1987, and it has a complete rogues’ gallery of scenery chewers: Nick Nolte, Powers Boothe, Michael Ironside, Rip Torn, and William Forsythe. Needless to say there isn’t much scenery left unchewed by the end of the movie! ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/130 "2017-02-28T19:51:00Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Everyone in _Roadhouse_. 🙂 “I used to fuck guys like you in prison” guy does evangelical Christian movies now. ---
**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 2, 2017, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/131 "2017-03-02T13:51:04Z")
MY COUSIN VINNY is entertaining enough when it’s just a fish-out-of-water comedy about misunderstandings, but the tuning point is when our misunderestimated hero finally gets to break out his _Funny How, I Mean Funny Like I’m A Clown_ skills in court when he’s loftily informed that no self-respectin’ Southernuh eats instant grits. “I’m sorry; I was all the way over there, I couldn’t hear you; did you say that you were a fast cook? That’s it? Are we to believe that boiling water soaks into a grit faster in your kitchen than on any other place on the face of the EARTH? … Well, perhaps the laws of PHYSICS cease to exist on your STOVE? Were these MAGIC grits? I mean, didja buy 'em from the same guy who sold Jack his BEANSTALK beans?” That’s when it become clear that, oh, this isn’t the story of a cocky little loudmouth who’s in way over his head; this is, as it happens, the guy you’re talking about when you say, _yeah, granted this looks bad, but I Know A Guy._ ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359/132 "2017-03-02T15:02:58Z")
“How about a nice greasy pork sandwich served in a dirty ashtray?” Bill Paxton had his moments. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-who-are-the-best-chewing-the-scenery-films-actors/779359.md?page=6)