Favorite movies that the actor starred in. The example I’m thinking about is in the OP, because I usually don’t watch or like much Kurt Russell movies, but I loved Big Trouble in Little China. Everything else he’s in (except The Thing) is just meh.
One of my favorite movies. Whooda Thunkit that Bruce Willis could act? He’s very damn good in that one.
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I like Peter O’Toole in just about anything, but especially in My Favorite Year, in which he plays a tipsy, flamboyant actor (the role was based upon Errol Flynn) and in The Ruling Class, in which he’s a looney British aristocrat who thinks he is Jesus Christ. O’Toole can do anything: high drama, action thrillers, romance. Yes, I loved Lawrence of Arabia. But his comedic side is a weird and wonderful thing.
I really don’t care that much for Will Ferrell and his comedies, but he was perfectly cast in Stranger Than Fiction. I would like to see him try more dramatic roles.
Second (or third) Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine… and in The Truman Show.
marlon brando - godfather1 (best performance by an actor in a movie.)
robert de niro - have trouble deciding between taxi driver and godfather2
jack nicholson - the witches of eastwick (a role only jack can play --honest)
gene kelly - singing in the rain
omar shariff - dr. zhivago
michael keaton - beetlejuice
lawrence olivier - hamlet
kurt russel - tombstone
john voight - midnight cowboy
dustin hoffman - the graduate
paul newman - cool hand luke
gary oldman - immortal beloved
jean reno - the professional
samuel jackson jr - pulp fiction
john travolta - pulp fiction
bruce willis - pulp fiction
harvey keitel - pulp fiction
ving rhames - pulp fiction
I really dislike Owen Wilson. However, I enjoy both of the Shanghai Noon films. He was perfectly cast as the anachronistic idiot self-absorbed cowboy.
I also think Will Ferrell is outstanding in Elf, but not in much else.
Loved the movie but dislike the actor.
Tim Allen in Galaxy Quest
Kurt Russell in Big Trouble in Little China
Bruce Willis in The Seventh Element
Sly Stallone in Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot
I really loathe Richard Gere in almost anything but he was perfect both in Primal Fear & Chicago
you could play it differently, the best actor for a role:
james bond - sean connery
batman - i still thought michael keaton preserved adam west’s comic bruce wayne and inserted a 90s action flare
king of siam - chow yun fat (a surprise winner over legends rex harrison and yul bryner)
king arthur - richard harris
superman - chris reeve
henry VIII - robert shaw
jack ryan - harrison ford
wyatt earp - kurt russel
haven’t decided on the following:
robin hood
tarzan
flash gordon
Peter Sellers–The Party. I have never laughed so hard in my life.
Speaking of Michael Keaton…I can’t remember the name of the movie, but he was in the looney bin. He & the others got out to attend a ballgame. When he stepped outside of the building he took a deep breath & said, “Ahhh, to be young and insane!” I love that line.
Randy Quaid, “The Last Detail” – I guess he was OK in a small role in “The Last Picture Show,” but aside from those two movies, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in anything on purpose. He was just outstanding in “TLD,” though. Don’t know what happened to him, really.
Paul Newman, “The Color of Money.” He really made that movie what it is, IMO, but that’s different from Quaid, since Newman did so much else that was truly extraordinary.
Karl Malden, “Patton.”
Alan Arkin, “Catch-22.” I only saw it a few years ago, and thought, “damn, that guy looks familiar.” Well, that’s him – and he was just fine at carrying the whole (truly fine) movie.
Dustin Hoffman, “Straw Dogs.” Never thought he was all that as an actor, but he nailed it.
Now for the big guns: Susan George in “Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry.” Ditto for Petey Fonda in that one. Long-standing confusion between an uncle and me if they were trying to be awful, or they just were born that way.
Lee Remick in “Telefon” – meh as an actress, never even thought she was that hot, but she did fine work in that fine movie.
Patricia Neal in “Hud” – never better.
Gene Tierney in “Laura” – never did much that I rate too highly, but when she got the right role, she was perfect.
The Dream Team
With Christopher Lloyd as a mental patient who believed he was a psychiatrist, Peter Boyle as a former ad exec who walked around naked and believed he was Jesus.
Ditto Randle Patrick McMurphy
And nobody has mentioned Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch?
I’ll give the Pecker that one. And, provided I (and avid Ava Gardner “fan”-“wanker”) can remove “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” from list of horrible films Peck ruined, he can return to his place as Hollywood icon.
(Still beat off to Ava Gardner – fuck you, I know you’re listening. I CAN’T. No, you’re not listening.)
Wasn’t Susan George in “Straw Dogs” too?
Yes to all the other Paul Newman movies. I like lots of actors, but I can’t think of a single bad movie he’s been in.
Damnit, you’re right – I think. She was the hottie wife, IIRC, and she was pretty good if I remember right. Only seen it a few times a few years ago, though, and too lazy to google it, so YMMV.
Nicholas Cage-“Bringing Out the Dead”
This Martin Scorcese film about a burned out NYC ambulance driver (Cage) was a break from Scorcese’s usual style and didn’t receive as much attention as some of his other work. But I really liked Cage in this movie; I really enjoyed the movie as a whole, I felt the experiences in the film. Most of Nicholas Cage’s other roles come in movies that are made in high-budget, low-sophistication manner to bring in the bucks. But this movie was good, in an obscure, aesthetic way.
Admirably few for such a long career, but they’re there. “The Silver Chalice” was an early misfire, as was “The View from the Terrace,” later a cowboy-theme remake of “Rashamon,” and some pretentious post-apocaptalyptic drama where he and some other actors wander in and out from the snow.
Another of my favorites from the past is the British actor Dennis Price. He made his career playing well-bred cads, of which the best was “Kind Hearts and Coronets.” (also in that was Joan Greenwood, who could sit on a block of ice reading the phone book aloud and still sound like she was having an orgasm).
To our horror, a few years ago it was announced that KH&C would be remade as a Will Smith vehicle. Luckily this didn’t happen, though I can imagine the kill meeting: “We’ve made great advances in race relations in America, but I don’t think we’re ready for a revenge comedy where a black man kills off a rich white family.”