Favorite Film Performances

[javero]

Sean Connery & Tippi Hedren in Marnie

Joe Mantegna in House of Games

Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now

Charlton Heston in The Agony and the Ecstasy

Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Denzel Washington & Ethan Hawke in Training Day

Brad Pitt in Interview with the Vampire

Matt Damon in The Good Shepherd & the Bourne Trilogy

Angelina Jolie in Salt & Gia

Ewan McGregor in Angels and Demons

Annette Benning in Valmont & Being Julia

Colin Firth in Valmont & Kingsman: The Secret Service

Anthony Hopkins in The Human Stain & The Rite

Jeffrey Wright in Basquiat

Keenu Reeves in Bram Stoker's Dracula & The Matrix Triology

Robin Givens & Grace Jones in Boomerang

Daniel Craig, Mara Rooney and Stellan Skarsgard in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Rebecca Romijn & Antonio Banderas in Femme Fatale

Fred MacMurray & Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity

Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield and Kevin Hooks in Sounder

Benicio del Toro and Emily Blount in Sicario

Gary Oldman in all his film performances

 

[John Adams]

It's interesting to see the ratio of female performances to male in these lists.

I also loved Geraldine Page in The Trip to Bountiful. I never tire of watching her performance.

Jack Lemon, Kevin Spacey and Alec Baldwin in Glengarry/Glen Ross (I thought all the men were fantastic, but those three were standouts).

Frances McDormand in Fargo

Anne Hathaway's phone call to Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain

[Jane2]

I left out Jeffrey Wright, Al Pacino, and Meryl Streep in HBO's Angels in America.

[javero]

I left out a few too:

Toby Jones in Infamous and W.

Joseph Fiennes, Jude Law, Rachel Weisz and Ed Harris in Enemy at the Gate

Charlize Theron, Penelope Cruz and Stuart Townsend in Head in the Clouds

Jessica Biel, Colin Firth, and Kristen Scott Thomas in Easy Virtue

Kate Beckinsale and Bill Nighly in the Underworld series

Tilda Swinston and Tom Hiddleston in Only Lovers Left Alive

George Clooney and Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton

Colin Firth and Julianne Moore in A Single Man

Tom Hanks in Philadelphia 

Leo DiCaprio in The Revenant (surprise!!!)

 

[TotallyEffed]

Giulietta Masina in Nights of Cabiria

Al Pacino in Angels in America

Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Cate Blachett in Blue Jasmine

Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire

Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie

Ruth Gordon in Rosemary's Baby

[Jane2]

lol, I also left out an important one- Charlize Theron in Monster.

[javero]

Jane2, I really enjoyed Charlize in Monster as well but have watched it only once for some reason.  The one's on my list are the movies I tend to download on days I'm shut in.  My all time fave is Double Indemnity with Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck.  Advances in forensic science make the plot seem highly implausible today.  But, that takes nothing away from the acting, writing, and direction.  I'm still a sucker for the film noir genre and well-acted small-budget indie movies like Notes on a Scandal starring Judi Dench , Cate Blanchett and Bill Nighly.  Sprawling period pieces have never really done anything for me.

[Jane2]

Javero, agreed. It doesn't matter if the film is Hollywood, Independent or otherwise. Fine acting shines on its own. I did see Monster twice, and I give more credit when a role is a stretch for the actor. That's why I couldn't rave about Casey Affleck this past year.

[luvcaroline]

Cloris Leachman in The Last Picture Show (the last scene is  my favorite acted scene of any motion picture in my many decades of movie watching). 

Geraldine Page, Trip to Bountiful

Liza in Cabaret

[carnzee]

luvcaroline said: "Cloris Leachman in The Last Picture Show (the last scene is  my favorite acted scene of any motion picture in my many decades of movie watching). 

Geraldine Page, Trip to Bountiful

Liza in Cabaret

 

And to think it only took Cloris one take! 

Glad to see all the Geraldine Page love on this thread.

[Jarethan]

???????Sorry...got a little carried away:

• Vivien Leigh in Streetcar and GWTW.  The two best performances I have ever seen in a movie
• Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice and The Devil Loves Prada
• Angela Lansbury in The Manchurian Candidate
• Bruno Ganz in Downfall
• James Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy
• Christophe Waltz in Inglorious Basterds
• Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain
• Frances McDormand in Fargo
• Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs
• James Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It's a Wonderful Life
• Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine
• Geraldine Page in Sweet Bird of Youth
• Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant in Bringing Up Baby
• Paul Newman and Orson Welles in The Long Hot Summer
• Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina
• Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler
• Monty Woolley in The Man Who Came to Dinner
• Burl Ives in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
• Julianne Moore in Still Alice
• Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett in Notes from a Scandal

 

If I count TV,

• Jane Alexander in Franklin and Eleanor
• Cicely Tyson in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
• Vanessa Redgrave in Playing for Time...so much controversy about her casting, but what a great performance
• Judy Davis in The Judy Garland Story

 

[JohnBoy2]

Anne Bancroft - THE MIRACLE WORKER

Julie Andrews - THE SOUND OF MUSIC

Jimmy Stewart - IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE

Kathy Bates - DOLORES CLAIBORNE

Olivia de Havilland - THE SNAKE PIT

Anthony Perkins - PSYCHO