best actor of all time???

[slimref]

Who is in your opinion the dogs bollox of an actor?

Is there someone that you just wach any old film cos that person is in it??

a legend like Clint Eastwood? or maybe a action hero like steven seagal/Jean Claude van damme?? A comedian like Jim Carrey/John Candy/Eddie Murphy?

What you think???

[ourkid]

My favourite actors hmmm.. would have to categorise...


Mafia Thriller - DeNiro\Pesci
Thriller - Mel Gibson
Comedy - Richard Prior (comedic genius), Gene Wilder, Eddie Murphy

[o_bEnFiQuIsTa]

Jack Nicholson :clap:

[Cjm24]

Mel Gibson is a good actor. Can't think of too many others maybe Bruce Willis.

[spursfan]

pacino for me :)

[The Truth]

Marlon Brando.

Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino and Gene Hackman would also come into consideration somewhere along the line.

[FtangFtang]

Any film containing either De Niro , Hoffman or Nicholson is almost always bound to be watchable.

[Marlin]

De Niro, Hoffman, Sean Penn, Pacino, Bogart, Ed Norton, Gregory Peck, Gene Hackman, Paul Newman, Spencer Tracy, Max von Sydow- any one of them really, but probably De Niro.

Nicholson is great, but he always plays Jack Nicholson. That said, his performance in Easy Rider is a true classic.

"Boy, do I have a great helmet..."

[The Truth]

Sadly De Niro hasn't done anything worth a damn in years. I loved his early stuff - Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Godfather 2, King of Comedy etc - but he seems to be acting from memory now. Delivers his lines as if he's reading from autocue these days.

[Marlin]

Inclined to agree although I thought "The Score" and "City by the Sea" were both pretty decent performances. It was, however, tough to forgive him Rocky & Bullwinkle. Then I remembered Angel Heart and let him off...

[The Truth]

Am I the only one who thought that his performance in Analyze This was pitiful?

:confused:

[Marlin]

Nope.

When he broke down crying I nearly turned it off. Mind you, I though he was great in Meet the Parents...

[The Truth]

Originally posted by Marlin
When he broke down crying I nearly turned it off.

That is exactly the part I was thinking of. It was downright embarrassing. Agreed, Meet The Parents was an improvement but I still found him somewhat wooden even in that. Not a patch on King of Comedy.

[Azzagiu]

I think De Niro is a good actor but hes made some pretty poor choices lately and whereas a couple of years ago I would have been more than happy to blindly catch a De Niro movie ~ now adays I just as happy to give them a miss as now all I expect are turkeys...

That said actors whose films I`d look out for are... Cary Grant (joint best actor with...), Robert Donat (my two favourite actors who just nudge ahead of...), Daniel Day~Lewis, Beat Takeshi, Toshiro Mifune, Al Pacino, Ed Norton, Daniel Auteuil, Harold Lloyd & the early Clint Eastwood...

[Marlin]

Beat Takeshi? More of a director than an actor, although he was good in Battle Royale.

If we're including foreign films, then I'd haveJP Belmondo, Klaus Kinski, Toshiro Mifune, the entire cast of Wages of Fear, Chow Yun Fat (on the grounds than in English he's sh1te) and the old guy in Amores Perros whose name escapes me.

If we're allow to select early appearances only, then Donald Sutherland, Jon Voight, Malcom Macdowell and Harvey Keitel would be in as well...

Oh, and add Walken and John Cazale to the original list.

[mickgrant]

This is no contest: Spencer Tracy. I never saw him ever give a bad performance. The only film of his that I didn't like was "The People Against O'Hara" in 1951. Early John Sturges movie. Hated that movie. Having said that he was excellent in it. As always. He was physically incapable of giving a bad performance. Plus more importantly he made acting look so easy.
There were many great actors of yesteryear. Peck, Grant, Douglas, Lancaster, Stewart, Burton, Olivier, Donat, Laughton (when he didn't descend into ham), Clift etc.
Of today: De Niro, Pacino, Hoffman, Hackman, Penn, Norton, Washington, Day Lewis, Nicholson, Hopkins, Freeman.

There are many more but my four favorites of today are:

Daniel Day Lewis - just for My Left Foot, imo, the greatest performance ever to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. Or any award. Plus he was in my fave movie: The Last of the Mohicans.

Denzel Washington, Edward Norton, Don Cheadle [his dodgy cockney accent in "Ocean's Eleven" aside. :no: :laugh:].

Tbh, all of the actors I've mentioned have made movies that in hindsight they shouldn't have done.

[Marlin]

Last of the Mohicans?!

utter contemptable pigswill.

Back of the class Mick...

;)

[The Truth]

Spoilsport. Last of the Mohicans was swashbuckling stuff of the highest order. Plus it had Madaleine Stowe. Never took her kit off though. Most unfortunate as I felt that this would have added greatly to the artistic value of the piece.

:(

[Marlin]

It may have raised it slightly above utter sh1te. But only slightly.

Now, if you want a film with Indians in it then you need Soldier Blue...

[The Truth]

Or East Is East.

[Marlin]

Behave.

Or Little Big Man, or Maverick...

[The Truth]

Just watched Training Day this weekend. Denzil Washington got an Oscar for that? Oh please.

[Marlin]

The Oscars are usually crap. Ordinary people beat Raging Bull. Forrest Gump beat Pulp Fiction, Titanic beat LA Confidential, Dances with Wolves beat Goodfellas...

Scorsese has never won one.

[The Truth]

Yeah Marlin, I take your point but in those instances it was a case of comparing the sum parts of one film to those of another, not assessing the merits of an individual performance. In Training Day I have seldom come away so underwhlemed by a best acting performance. As phoney as much of the Oscars are, you very rarely see an ordinary performance win a Best Actor Oscar. And that's exactly what this was.

[Goldenboy]

Just adding Kevin Spacey to the list

[Peel_Acres]

And Christopher Lee

[Marlin]

and Pauly Shore...

[The Truth]

Mick Jagger should definitely get a mention, for 'Ned Kelly' if nothing else.

[Azzagiu]

Originally posted by Marlin
Beat Takeshi? More of a director than an actor, although he was good in Battle Royale.


No hes just as much an Actor as he is a Director as he is a Writer, Producer and Editor. Hes also huge in Japan as a stand up comic.

Some of his other notable acting roles include starring roles in these great films...

Hana bi, Brother, Boiling Point, Sonatine, Violent Cop ~ he also co starred in Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence and as you mentioned Battle Royale.

[mickgrant]

Originally posted by Marlin
Last of the Mohicans?!

utter contemptable pigswill.

Back of the class Mick...

;)

Marlin - Leave it!! As Truth said, it's got Maddy Stowe (top totty), a class villain and the slow mo scene at the end gets my vote. Besides, where else can you see a nutter with a mohawk remove a man's still beating heart, using an extremely big knife, without an anaesthetic???

re. the Oscars, you have to understand that most of the acting performances that win aren't for the best performance of the year. They are usually as a result of rigorous campaigning. Classic example: Shakespeare in Love. I loved the movie but Best Picture, my @rse!! Saving Private Ryan was probably the best pic that year but Miramax rigorously campaigned for SiL and the voters were swayed by that.
Whilst I did like Denzel in Training Day, Russell Crowe should have won for A Beautiful Mind. The general consensus is what cost him is that outburst at the BAFTA's. I think that's bollocks.
Then again Russ won for Gladiator and, good though he was, it was hardly what I would consider to be the best male acting performance of the year.

Look at Pacino, he was good in Scent of a Woman but Denzel should have nabbed it for Malcolm X. Pacino should have won for Godfather II but Art Carney did for Harry & Tonto in '74. Honourable mention to Nicholson for Chinatown. :clap:

To show how pants the awards can be, Robert Benigni won for Life is Beautiful. Says it all right there. In my opinion, Ian McKellen should have won for Gods & Monsters or even Hanks for SPR. Nolte was also good in Affliction. Ed Norton was Norton in American History X. Look at those 5 performances and tell me that little tw@t deserved to win.

[Goldenboy]

Originally posted by mickgrant
Besides, where else can you see a nutter with a mohawk remove a man's still beating heart, using an extremely big knife, without an anaesthetic???



Behind the goal down at Milwall?

[The Truth]

Tom Hanks?? Mr One Dimensional. To the best of my knowledge EVERY role he has played - from Big to Turner and Hooch to Forrest Gump to Saving Private Ryan to Sleepless in Seattle to feck knows what else - has been the same. All his performances have been definined by his ability to play the nice guy, the good guy. Not once has he branched out into something a little different, maybe the role of a villain or somthing a little more demanding than Mr Affable. To think that this goon has two Oscars - and may well win one or two more before his career ends - is taking the piss.

Of course, people will say that Nicholson is similar to him in that he doesn't shuffle his acting pack too much. To that I'd say that the range of emotions Nicholoson is able to instil in the viewer is much greater than that of Hanks. He's made me laugh (As Good As It Gets), shudder (The Shining) and choke (One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest). If Hanks had received a THIRD Oscar for a very ordinary performance in SPR (imo) I'm afraid it really would have been too much for me to bear.

[Cjm24]

Oh yeah forgot Tom Hanks-he has to be a contender surely

[Marlin]

Road to Perdition was a better performance from Hanks. Showed a little more range...

[The Truth]

I have yet to see that, although I'll admit it looks pretty good. But even in that film is he not supposed to play a 'good' bad guy?

[Marlin]

Correct, but he's a little more naughty than usual. Not quite Hannibal Lecter, more Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner...

[Azzagiu]

I saw Road to Perdition the other night ~ however the copy I had caused all the cast to sound like Disney Characters with Tom Hanks doing a good impression of Mickey Mouse ~ that apart I quite enjoyed the movie

I thought Hanks played the character `tough` who seeks retribution as his code of honour demands...(as per Lone Wolf & Cub on which the story is based) altho` the character was bad he was not IMO portrayed as bad but as a man of honour as is the norm in Mafia type films...

[Marlin]

Azza, Brother was utterly inept. I'll agreed on the other ones though.

[Azzagiu]

Yeah no worries Marlin I was just using that as example of one of his recent acting roles...:)

[Riffy]

Nicholson, De Niro and Bogart do it for Riff.

[Riffy]

Oh yeah...and how could i forget jimmy Stewart :dunce: :clap: :clap: :clap:

[Peazy]

Shane Ritchie. Withdoubt and out

[Jack]

Chuck Norris.

[Peazy]

McBain in 'McBain: Lets get Silly'

Plank of wood baby, plank of wood

[badattitude]

the Top 3 actors in the world today are Tom Hanks;I am not a big fan but he never seems to make a bad flic..and PPL are obsessed w/him his movies make bundles of money...Daniel Day Lewis..an Irish nutjob ,,however a brillant performer who takes himself too seriously..He was unreal in Name of the Father.My Left foot and now Gangs of New York creating the meanest ****er on screen since Pesci stabbbed Maury in the back of the head w/an ice pick..and lastly maybe the best of the 3 ..although I hate to say it..Russel Crowe..he's a giant arsehole..who just got his teeth knocked out in a North Carlina bar for shooting his Aussie mouth off..but the guy is as good as they come..

Honorable Mention
Christopher Walken (not a carry the movie guy,but a vital piece to any movie he appears in)

Gene Hackman-aging now,however has made the most MAJOR motion pictures of all time..a dynamite actor ...even today

Some very good ones,Matt Damon,Matt Dillon,Gary Oldham,Liam Neeson,Brendan Gleason,William H Macy,Kevin Spacey,JoePantolino,Bruce Willias has gottten better as he's gotten more serious roles..Morgan Freemnan ,Robert Duvall,Martin Sheehan..

[The Truth]

Is there a Tom Hanks cult in operation that I'm not aware of? The guy is the missionary position of the acting profession.

And BA - Daniel Day-Lewis isn't Irish. He was born in London to Cecil Day-Lewis (poet laureate) and Jill Balcon. He may like to think of himself as being such but that doesn't make it so.

[mickgrant]

BA, Matt Dillon? He's okay but one of the best. BA've!!! Also, whilst I do like Russell Crowe, I feel there are much better actors than he.

Chris Walken - can be a good actor but has a tendency to ham. Sleepy Hollow, Nick of Time, The Funeral, et al. He was excellent though in "Catch Me If You Can". Stole the whole movie.
Martin Sheehan - never heard of him. What's he been in?
Matt Damon?? He's good but me missus reckons Ben Affleck is better. I don't. Me sis hates them both.

However, this kind of question is always going to cause some sort of heated debate. Truth doesn't like Tom Hanks as an actor. Tbh, for his back to back Oscars I thought there were better performances in those two years. Then again, I also really fancy Sonia so what the hell do I know?? ;)

P.S. Honourable mention to Truth synopsis on Hank's acting ability (or lack thereof). :laugh: