Your All-Time Favorite Performances

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Once again, maybe I wasn't looking hard enough, but I was surprised to not find an existing thread for this. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Mine are...

MALE

Marlon Brando in LAST TANGO IN PARIS (1972)


Leonardo DiCaprio in REVOLUTIONARY ROAD (2008)


David Thewlis in NAKED (1993)


Robert De Niro in RAGING BULL (1980)


Al Pacino in DOG DAY AFTERNOON (1975)


Gregory Peck in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)


River Phoenix in MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO (1991)


James Dean in EAST OF EDEN (1955)


Peter Lorre in M (1931)


Orson Welles in CITIZEN KANE (1941)



FEMALE

Ellen Burstyn in REQUIEM FOR A DREAM (2000)


Bette Davis in WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (1962)


Audrey Hepburn in BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S (1967)


Naomi Watts in 21 GRAMS (2003)


Kate Winslet in REVOLUTIONARY ROAD (2008)


Diane Keaton in ANNIE HALL (1977)


Ellen Page in THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS (2007)



Elizabeth Taylor in WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966)


Faye Dunaway in BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)


Kim Novak in VERTIGO (1958)
__________________
I was recently in an independent comedy-drama about post-high school indecision. It's called Generation Why.

See the trailer here:




Leonardo DiCaprio - What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Johnny Depp - Secret Window
Nicolas Cage - Face/Off
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Ben Foster - Hostage
Anthony Hopkins - Proof



Gene Hackman in "The Conversation"
Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight"
Anthony Perkins in "Psycho"
James Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"
Tom Hanks in "Forrest Gump"

Some of the best from the movies I've seen.



I liked:

Robert DeNiro in Goodfellas.
Will Ferrell in Elf!
Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally
Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight



Kenny, don't paint your sister.
Harrison Ford in The Fugitive
James Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life
Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke (and quite a few others)
Cary Grant in People Will Talk
Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear
John Wayne The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Kate Winslet in Titanic
Audrey Hepburn in Wait Until Dark
Irene Dunne in The Awful Truth
Judy Garland in Wizard of Oz
Jean Arthur in Shane
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Faith doesn't make things easy, just possible.
Classicqueen13




Harrison Ford in The Fugitive
James Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life
Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke (and quite a few others)
Cary Grant in People Will Talk
Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear
John Wayne The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Kate Winslet in Titanic
Audrey Hepburn in Wait Until Dark
Irene Dunne in The Awful Truth
Judy Garland in Wizard of Oz
Jean Arthur in Shane
I thought Leo was just as good as Kate in Titanic. He was snubbed by the Academy, in my opinion.

I'm liking the Mitchum, Stewart and Newman love.



Kenny, don't paint your sister.
I thought Kate was only slightly better than Leo in Titanic, but I think she had a little more to with with her character (the way some of the narrations got into Rose's thoughts) but he was a great match for her.



One that hasn't been mentioned...

Maria Falconetti in The Passion of Joan of Arc




To answer michaelcorleone. No, I haven't yet. But I've heard that it's terrific and I'd like to.
You have to see it. Especially if you're a Titanic fan, and if you like DiCaprio and Winslet together.



Kenny, don't paint your sister.
You have to see it. Especially if you're a Titanic fan, and if you like DiCaprio and Winslet together.
My friends and I actually have a Titanic Day every year! I was just talking about it earlier because it is less than a month away from its 4th year.



River Phoenix in MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO (1991)
Agreed! This is without a doubt River Phoenix's very best screen performance, and it shocks me that he wasn't even nominated for an Academy Award for it. Phoenix achieves perfection in his role as Mike Waters.

A lot of my all time favorite performances come from River.

- Christopher Chambers in Stand By Me
- Danny Pope in Running On Empty
- Birdlace in Dogfight
- James Wright in The Thing Called Love



Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth ( Schindler's List )



Adrien Brody as Władysław Szpilman ( The Pianist )



James Dean as Jim Stark ( Rebel Without A Cause )



Marlon Brando as Johnny Strabler ( The Wild One )



Meryl Streep as Sophie Zawistowski ( Sophies Choice )



Lili Taylor as Rose ( Dogfight )


Brad Renfro as Bobby and Stephen Dorff as Leon ( Deuces Wild )


Matt Dillon as Bob Hughes ( Drugstore Cowboy )



The greatest performance I have ever seen in any movie has to go to Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence.


Her depiction of a woman pushed to the limits of sanity was not only powerful, but absolutely frightening and beautiful. I have yet to see another actor, man or woman, top that performance.
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Imagine an eye unruled by man-made laws of perspective, an eye unprejudiced by compositional logic, an eye which does not respond to the name of everything but which must know each object encountered in life through an adventure of perception. How many colors are there in a field of grass to the crawling baby unaware of 'Green'?

-Stan Brakhage



I haven't posted here yet because I just can't seem to whittle my list down,

MALE:


Peter O'Toole: The Lion in Winter


Brad Pitt: Se7en


Morgan Freeman: Se7en


Al Pacino: The Godfather, and The Godfather Part II


Edward Norton: American History X



FEMALE:


Katharine Hepburn: The Lion in Winter


Rachel Weisz: The Constant Gardener