Best Acting Scenes.... EVER! - by Scots Taffer
nickie on 7/3/2008 at 22:00
Excellenti all! I can't find the particular scene that I love in In the Heat of the Night (Rod Steiger talking about a motive which is murder and a body which is dayed) but for an alternative, pretty much all of Tom Hanks in Philadelphia. (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b0p9mTJOJI) This scene in particular (undoubtedly due to the music) has always put shivers down my spine. It does unfortunately cut it short though.
Scots Taffer on 8/3/2008 at 06:33
Quote Posted by D'Juhn Keep
I know it's an obvious one but I really love Jack Nicholson in the dock in A Few Good Men. His speech/diatribe after "YOU'RE GODDAMNIT RIGHT I DID" is fantastic.
Prior to "You're goddamn right I did" you mean, unless you mean the savagery with which he screams "I'll rip off your head and shit down your neck! You fucked with the wrong marine!", but I agree entirely. Another great one.
jstnomega on 8/3/2008 at 07:21
Liz Taylor, all over the place, in National Velvet. Likewise, Margaret O'Brien, all over the place, in The Secret Garden. Tho both were quite memorable, Catherine Burns in Last Summer absolutely takes the cake. The camera hit her form afar and did a slow close-up to her face, during which, IIRC, she spoke of her mother's recent (drowning?) death. She gave a good 90 second to two minute unbroken soliloquy, maybe even longer. It was so hypnotically rivetting as to be transcendent - the most memorable acting I've ever seen.
Ironically, I was on an airline flight in 73 and sat next to a fellow NYC actress who said she knew her. That's when I knew envy.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Summer) :thumb:
Angel Dust on 8/3/2008 at 10:22
Quote Posted by Scots Taffer
Massive spoilers for
There Will Be Blood in the ending scene, known in internet circles as (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xncvvHM_NU8) I DrinkYour Milkshake with the utterly masterful Daniel Day Lewis.
While that scene is undeniably a great one the baptism scene, for me, is far far better. The way Daniel Day Lewis takes Plainview from being very flippant about the whole process to actually having an epiphany when he repeatedly screams 'I have abandoned my son!' is staggering.
Quote Posted by Scots Taffer
Not to derail this thread but I'll answer quickly, part of the problem I had with Mulholland Drive might have been that he was continuing the same structural lark that he established with Lost Highway and I had grown tired of it. Also, until that point I felt like Lynch's work was best viewed very tired at the creeping edge of night and morning where all the crazy nightmare-fuelled shit that gets out of his head onto paper makes the most dream-logic sense, whereas it just heightened my confusion.
Mulholland Drive has a very straight-forward story once you realise that the first 2/3 or so
is a dream with the rest of the movie being the reality. Although the fact that it, the reality, is told out of sequence is what really fucks with you but this can be explained as the recollections of the main character right before they kill themself .
Quote:
but as is often the case with a lot of Lynch's work, there isn't as much of a narrative as there is an overall feel and vibe to his work.
How do you feel about other generally narrative-less (?) directors like Fellini?
'8 1/2' doesn't have much in the way of a plot but that doesn't stop it from being one of the greatest films of all time.
Dia on 8/3/2008 at 13:23
When Cruise is interrogating Nicholson in A Few Good Men: the whole scene leading up to and after Nicholson's 'You can't stand the truth' outburst.
End of discussion.
Tocky on 8/3/2008 at 14:46
Rock 103 out of Memphis called Jack up one morning when it was about 5:30 west coast time and woke him to do the whole scene. He repeated it spot on from memory. He kept asking who gave them that number in between being his usual charming asshole self. I love Jack.
mol on 8/3/2008 at 17:16
Good scenes.
A couple of more.
Casablanca. The whole movie is one great scene. Too many to choose from.
It is somewhat of a geek cliché, but I think it transcends that, and is actually a brilliant acting scene, despite the cult baggage it carries on its shoulders; I'm of course talking about Rutger Hauer's scene at the end of Blade Runner. "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe...." It's the expressions of Hauer, not the lines. It's how he delivers those lines.
And to stay with Hauer, there's a whimsical fantasy/fairytale movie called Ladyhawke. I like it a lot, but don't pretend it's anything but light entertainment. However, Rutger Hauer has a few scenes in that movie that are very powerful. When Etienne Navarre thinks Isabeau is dead, and he's facing the Bishop - again, it's Hauer's face and the emotions that he's able to convey that make this one a winner. And this is not the only one in the movie.
Also Richard Farnsworth in The Straight Story, by David Lynch. Every scene he is in just grabs me by the heart. He should've won the Oscar. Maybe that one particular scene in the diner, where he talks about his experiences in the war, with another veteran, deservers to be singled out, along with the last scene with his brother, played by Harry Dean Stanton. A brilliant movie, all in all.
Danny DeVito in The Big Kahuna, when he talks to Bob Walker played by Peter Fascinelli about his friend, Larry Mann. But again, the whole movie is full of brilliant acting by DeVito and Kevin Spacey. A vastly underrated movie.
Night on Earth by Jim Jarmusch - right, this seems to be turning into a Good Movie list by me, but no matter. It's a brilliant episode film. Every moment of Armin Mueller-Stahl as Helmut Grokenberger, a taxi driver in NY, is great. The whole movie is quite special.
demagogue on 8/3/2008 at 17:16
I just saw
Mystic River -- (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a6qXegwVh8) --
Tim Robbins and Sean Penn both had great performances, but Sean Penn went above and beyond in this one.
As for great dialogue, I thought
A Simple Plan was exceptional in that basically the whole movie is in the dialogue and tension among the characters, building up to this heroic scene -- (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78rcDhlwFJE)
The way Jakob is playing it off as a joke and holding back tears at the same time...
I was trying to find a great scene with no dialogue. Once I watched
The Actor's Studio, and it gave the example of Harrison Ford in the dam scene in
The Fugitive, using only gestures and expression, with no spoken dialogue. (The only clip I can find is a gag: (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m0_LEQkDvQ) ). It was memorable, but I bet I could find a better one if I looked long enough.
paloalto90 on 8/3/2008 at 18:51
Several scenes from Glory.
Mathew Broderick when he starts tearing up the supply store and ripping the supply sargeants ass for not delivering boots.
When he is kneeling on the beach before the assault on the fort.And the look on Denzel Washingtons face when he is being whipped for hunting for a pair of boots.
