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Post by pacinoyes on May 15, 2019 12:00:10 GMT
Walken is a fascinating actor to discuss - we talk about the same few actors over and over on here but Walken might be the most talented actor for what he did in his career and what he was actually capable of doing - the hardest to judge anyway. I know why some actors are better than others (just ask me! lol) but I literally do not really how good he could have been - and it all gets jumbled up with his tics and quirks and oddities. I'm not the biggest fan of The Deer Hunter overall but this performance is among GOAT level in the category.
I'd throw out this one (same year!) by a guy who may be close to him in that "how good was he?" thing - Harvey Keitel who I ranked very high on our GOAT actors poll - maybe even TOO high but mostly because I just love him. This scene from one of his very best performances shows him practically exploding within himself and torn in two - where his desperation meets madness, where holding it together meets starting to lose it - he's desperate and slipping through this whole movie, sometimes you see it.......sometimes the music expresses it...........sometimes it drowns it out too :
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2019 12:42:48 GMT
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Post by theycallmemrfish on May 15, 2019 12:51:05 GMT
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Post by pacinoyes on May 15, 2019 12:59:26 GMT
All these dudes but especially Shelley:
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Post by TheAlwaysClassy on May 15, 2019 15:31:55 GMT
Macy in Fargo deserves a mention.
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Post by TerryMontana on May 15, 2019 16:00:41 GMT
Lemon, Walken, Hanks!!!
Powerful performances. Especially Walken's. A punch to the gut.
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Post by pupdurcs on May 15, 2019 16:10:16 GMT
Al Pacino- Dog Day Afternoon
Denzel Washington- Roman J Israel Esq
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Post by pacinoyes on May 15, 2019 17:23:26 GMT
How about a weird one - most romantic desperation movie - the two of them really - most romantic comedies have nothing at stake but here that isn't the case.........in a lot of ways Johnny is one of the more desperate characters he ever played actually..........there are some scenes here where he is almost harassing her and stalkerish and quite different from some of the stage versions I saw (I would love to see how Michael Shannon plays it - on Broadway now)
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Post by pacinoyes on May 15, 2019 17:35:48 GMT
A more traditional one, with great David Mamet dialog and great Mamet repetition - his specialty (at the beginning "My client" twice......"I know about you" repeated twice is particularly brilliant "I know about you, you couldn't hack it as a lawyer....you were a bag man for the boys downtown and you still are.......I know about you" (damn I love that)
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Post by Martin Stett on May 15, 2019 17:36:38 GMT
De Niro's career for the past twenty years has been a desperate plea for help.
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Post by pacinoyes on May 16, 2019 18:46:56 GMT
This is another you wouldn't think of maybe but to me is an example of desperation you actually totally feel. I've discussed Malkovich before on here a lot, and he's yet another of those "possible" best actors to emerge in the 80s (there's several) - and while he's not that, he does some things that no one else does of his peers at all - even better actors.
This is an obvious spoiler so if you haven't seen it - move on. The desperation is in the act, and the realization and aftermath of the act. He isn't a desperate character prior but the scene is - extremely tough to play because you want to play consistent up to that scene and not show your acting hand so to speak.....it's an actor's trick........play the character and the scene but trust the text and yet don't be an exact slave to the text either.
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clunkybob2
Junior Member
clunky's posts should be locked in a cell
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Post by clunkybob2 on May 16, 2019 21:20:15 GMT
idk but this a good one  |
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Post by futuretrunks on Sept 19, 2019 21:46:02 GMT
Michael Shannon in Premium Rush
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Post by fiosnasiob on Sept 20, 2019 17:48:27 GMT
Choi Min-sik is a master at playing these losers full of despair and sorrow.  ![]() |
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Post by themoviesinner on Sept 20, 2019 18:09:39 GMT
Choi Min-sik is a master at playing these losers full of despair and sorrow. ![]() I definitely agree. He is a great actor and I consider his performance in Failan as his best. |
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Post by pacinoyes on Sept 20, 2019 20:43:39 GMT
The marvelous John Hurt - in an update of Death in Venice - in a heartbreaking scene and this whole film the stakes get raised from slight comedy to unfathomable loneliness at every moment.
One of his best performances - Love & Death On Long Island
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Post by wallsofjericho on Sept 20, 2019 22:53:49 GMT
Gene Hackman in French Connection.
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Post by jimmalone on Sept 22, 2019 14:08:34 GMT
When I think about this I always think about Al Pacino in Heat, when he takes Natalie Portman to the hospital. That look on his face is what I'd call sheer desperation.
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Post by stephen on Sept 22, 2019 14:20:36 GMT
Walton Goggins in the last three seasons of The Shield.
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Post by Kings_Requiem on Sept 24, 2019 17:28:16 GMT
A more recent example would be Robert Pattinson in Good Time.
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Post by pacinoyes on Sept 24, 2019 18:01:37 GMT
How about "most desperate role?" .......3 pretty great actors take a crack at the most desperate character - King Richard III.
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