Bedazzled
This 1967 Stanley Donen comedy pulls off the feat of centering around a truly miserable character without ever feeling like a downer of a film. Stanley Moon (Dudley Moore) is a lonely short-order cook with a crush on a waitress at his diner who he's too shy to approach. The devil (or at least some vague devil incarnate) comes along, introduces himself (his name's George and he's played by Peter Cook) and grants him seven wishes in exchange for his soul.
Stanley promptly uses up one wish after another on Margaret and, because the devil is a trickster who can't be taken at face value, they all backfire. That's OK because Bedazzled isn't really a love story. Instead it's a meandering meditation of love, death, good and evil, and religious dogma that's imbued with an absurdist wry humor that only British comedy can do. In other words, the film feels a little aimless but that's part of the charm: Delving too deeply into romantic comedy territory would make the film feel hackneyed while delving entirely into religious politics would make the film feel preachy.
Marathon Man
Marathon Man is a Dustin Hoffman vehicle that stands as one of the best-known thrillers of the 1970's. Fitting into 1970's conventions to minimize on back story and to emphasize action (Brad Pitt, Bennett Miller, Ben Affleck, and George Clooney were all attracted to this style when they made Moneyball, Argo and Good Night and Good Luck respectively), the film is centered around the evolution of a relatively complex character but is primarily action-driven.
That relatively complex character is graduate student Thomas "Babe" Levy (Hoffman) whose remains haunted by his father's persecution and subsequent suicide as a result of the Red Scare. Seeking to enter into the same field of study as his father, Levy hopes to exonerate his father's work. The title of the film derives from the fact that "Babe" is a long-distance runner but if you assume that this is the "Prefontaine" or "Chariots of Fire" of the 1970's, be warned that this is not a running movie at all and a suspiciously minor plot point. The running scenes are reminiscent of the way French New Wave films juxtapose motifs (I'm thinking specifically of Breathless where the guy is shown looking at a picture and smoking a cigarette like the matinee idol he's trying to emulate) as an avant-garde way of providing characterization.
In the film's first hour, there's a twin narrative occurring alongside a love story between Babe and a fellow grad student that turns out to be nothing more than a red herring. In the other story, Roy Scheider plays "Doc" who turns out to be Babe's brother (apparently, the Levy clan had terrible taste in nicknames) and he's tracking an ex-Nazi dentist played by Laurence Olivier. Olivier's role and the presence he brings to that role (it was the final of his 10 Oscar nominations) provide the film with its most memorable moments. People might not know the plot details of Marathon Man but many are familiar with the dentist's torture scene as well as his "is it safe?" monologue.
Similarly, that's how I felt about the film: I'll remember the film's overall tone (very dark for a Dustin Hoffman film) and a handful of moments such as Olivier's torture scene, the sewer scene, the drag race, and the reveal that Doc is Babe's brother (Scheider's character is a very enigmatic figure and his involvement in the story goes without an explanation for what I'm guessing is an hour). The plot is highly dense and takes a couple of viewings to really grasp and even then there's a feeling of discomfort of blanks left unfilled. You might call them plot holes (i.e. how exactly did a traffic hold-up turn into a drag race filled with murderous rage and what are the odds that a tanker would be there?) but it seems like a certain story convention that's seemingly being emulated by the biggest names in Hollywood today. I felt a similar disconnect from The French Connection which is another film of great praise that I seem to be in the minority on.
Rather than end this review with a conclusive statement on what was wrong or right about the film, I'll ask other people who have seen it to explain the film's appeal.
Showing posts with label Dustin Hoffman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dustin Hoffman. Show all posts
Monday, February 10, 2014
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Every Film Ive seen in 2007 II: Films 23-44
This is a continuation of a lengthy exercise in which I ranked every single film I saw in 2007 from best to worst. Here's Part I.
23. National Treasure 2-If you buy the ridiculous premise that another archaeological gold mine that would fall into Ben Gates's lap, then this is a reasonably entertaining film with some top rate action scenes and lots more fun with history. Otherwise, it's the kind of film that makes plot hole enthusiasts' heads explode with possibilities. The president can easily be kidnapped, Buckingham Palace has laxer security than your local library, and you can break as many laws as you want as long as you want as long as it's in the name of a dead relative who passed away 150 years ago. Helen Mirren joins the cast which is always fun and Ty Burrell (before "Modern Family") can be spotted here like Where's Waldo,
24. Transformers - While there certainly wasn't enough creative juice to merit a good sequel to this film and the film was highly Michael Bayish in its love of explosions, superficial human interaction, hot girls, and general coolness, there was a Spielbergian element in the middle of all of it too (common themes: boy needs a friend, boy needs a daddy figure, girl and boy unite over lack of respective daddy figures) that made the film charming at times.
26. Music and Lyrics-Hugh Grant straddles a thin line between charming and boring and has failed to carry many a film, but he succeeds here because, like Blades of Glory, this is a film that doesn't aim particularly high and delivered on lower ambitions. One caveat: The whole film does rely on you buying the premise that a reasonably intelligent professional songwriter can't string basic rhymes out of words and has never heard of a thesaurus.
27. Ocean's 13-Ocean's 12 was such a self-indulgent mess that in press conferences preceding the film, cast members (Matt Damon on Inside the Actor's Studio comes to mind) were saying that while the cast was enjoying each other's company and the exotic locations, they were being professional and working. And the funny thing is they weren't even being asked: They just volunteered this information as if anyone would doubt that actors would do anything but act on a film set. With the disaster behind them, the Ocean's 13 crew had a respectable third outing in that it had a coherent plot but trying to lower the yelp rating (oops, excuse me, diamond rating) of a casino is not as exciting as a classic heist and I found the franchise's choice to reduce the stakes rather then up the level of excitement baffling. On the upside: Ellen Barkin, David Paymer and Al Pacino were all inspired casting choices.
28. The Hoax-For such a grand premise (a guy fooling the world into thinking he's a biographer of Howard Hughes), The Hoax was moderately uneventful which made the film feel a little pretentious. On the positive, it had some nice character moments here and there.
29. Lucky You-Curtis Hanson is a great director (LA Confidential, Wonderboys, In Her Shoes, 8 Mile) and this film has his trademarks of quiet moments, self-reflexive characters, immersion in a subculture, but this film felt a little dreary and the plot lacked forward movement. Wasn't necessarily a bad film but not Hanson's best work
30. Evan Almighty-If you're wondering why this ridiculously tenously connected sequel exists the answer is twofold: 1) Bruce Almighty grossed north of $200 million. For a comedy, that's pretty damn good, and even if it came with a neatly packaged ending, Hollywood economics supercede story: A sequel had to be made 2) Jim Carrey didn't want to do it and, fortunately, Steve Carell had became a star in the interim. Because they built an elaborate ark (fun fact: the ark was constructed and shot in Virginia, a casting call went out to my college and a couple friends were extras) , this was technically the most expensive comedy to date. Some critics ripped on the film for unwisely spending all that money for a superfluous ark but I think they missed the point: plus or minus an ark, the entire film was a grand piece of superfluousness. Evan was a one-note villain who only merited a film of his own unless you sweep it all under the rug and retcon him as a deeper character. If you can get past all that, then it's an, at times, moderately decent comedy.
31. Walk Hard-The best parodies tend to be more subtle. Walk Hard tended to hit you over the head with a grand announcement that it was a parody.
32. Charlie Barrett-I find it interesting that Iron Man was touted as Rob Downey Jr's comeback when here he was in a film the year before. Not one that anyone saw, but still. This film is a high school dramedy about a new transfer (Anton Yelchin) who goes from selling his adderroll to becoming the unofficial school psychologist and sports star. It's kind of a thin plot but has its moments.
33. Fantastic Four Part II-I can't tell whether Fantastic Four came along at an earlier point in the development of comic books or it was the movie's fault but this quartet of superheroes seems oddly one-dimensional: You have the womanizer who won't settle down, the big lug of a tough guy, the dweeby scientist and Jessica Alba's invisible heroines who is, surprisingly, the only character who feels like more than one-and-a-half dimensions. The best I can come up with for a compliment to this film is not awful.
34. Shrek 3-I have literally no memory of this film. How often does that happen five years later that you can't recall a single detail of a film? I clearly remember the Shrek universe and distinctly remember the plots of the first and second installments but this must have been a very unremarkable film. On the other hand, a truly awful film gets burnt on my memory which is why this doesn't have lower placement.
35. Invasion-A remake of the 1950's sci-fi classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" or possibly a remake of the 1976 Donald Sutherland-Brooke Adams remake, who can really keep track of this unorigiality anymore? The film felt uninspired (because it was) but made for a halfway decent action film.
36. Mr Magoriums Wonder Emporium-After so many remakes and sequels, I'm glad to finally get to an entry on the list that's original. Zach Helm, who wrote the screenplay to the highly inventive "Stranger than Fiction", approaches this film with the same sense of whimsy but it still feels like a second rate version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with an admirably odd turn by Dustin Hoffman as a Wonkaesque stand-in.
37. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry-Adam Sandler's usual mixture of heartfelt emotion and juvenile humor barely worked in its favor in this slightly misguided but ultimately tolerable take on the gay marriage debate. The film was met with some criticism for being outwardly homophobic. Like all Adam Sandler films, the film treats its subjects with underlying warmth but tackles human complexities (in this case, a delicate subject such as sexual orientation) with the emotional maturity of an eight year old, which is what Adam Sandler essentially is. It's not his fault: When he first broke out his guitar and started singing as a prepubsecent boy on SNL, we encouraged it, and enabled him to never grow up emotionally or comically.
38. No Country for Old Men-Cinematography was top-notch but was there a point to this film? I'm sure someone out there could watch this film and read some thematically coherent message from it, but I'm guessing most of the film's fans (including the Oscar voters for some odd reason) just liked it because it included a cool weapon, a villain with a weird haircut and dialogue so vague he became interesting, and a couple cool action scenes. I love some of the films by the Coen brothers but when they don't resonate with you, they feel like you're presented with a series of superficial objects and tricks with nothing beneath the surface.
39. Golden Compass-Rule #1 when delving into heavily complex mythological tale: Make it interesting. Otherwise, it feels like you're just reading the rule book to some complicated board game.
40. Pirates of the Caribbean III-Once upon a time, Disney brilliantly revived the pirate genre with a film that was a little bit long-winded but ultimately a lot of fun. Then, in attempting to stretch the series into a trilogy, some terrible decisions were made: Rather than simplify the mythology (this is, after all, a film based on a ride) they added entirely new plots on top of unresolved ones. If you remember, the first film ends with Depp an outlaw and Bloom trying to clear his name. That would be a good movie in itself, but they decided to add some entirely new mythic octopus on top of everything that kind of nullified the first film (Why would Jack care about fighting for control of the Black Pearl if both the souls of he and Barbosa were owned by a giant octopus anyway?). The second film ends with no resolution to the first film and Johnny Depp being taken prisoner by the octopus. The third film bloated things into a gigantic mess by conveniently introducing the fact that the tertiary character played by Tia Dalma happends to be enormously powerful and brings some dangerous spell of her own. Oh and Chow Yung-Fat is some Asian sea captain who imprisons Elizabeth and Keith Richards shows up because, why not at this point?
41. Nancy Drew-I saw this film with a couple younger cousins and while I get that the film appeals primarily to kids, there's no harm in making it presentable to an older demographic. This film suffered because there was a clear need to dumb down and simplify basic plot elements to be digestible. On the bright side, this film is responsible for keeping former Mango/Antonio Banderas SNL stalwart Chris Kattan employed for the year of 2007.
42. License to Wed-Imagine a romantic comedy starring Jim from The Office in full smugness mode without the endearing romantic backstory that made the Jim-Pam relationship work and you're only at the start of the list of problems with this poorly thought-out disaster. See, faux-Jim is engaged to an annoyingly cheery woman (Mandy Moore) and must get permission from pastor Robin Williams to proceed with marraige. Only, Robin Williams is a troublesome creep who seeks to sabatoge him. Or maybe he isn't and faux-Jim's overly suspicious. It doesn't really matter because by the third act, both these plots are bafflingly forgotten and everyone celebrates matrimony on the beach. It's one of the most abrupt endings I've ever seen. If that's not bad enough, the movie features Brian Bumgartener playing an even dumber guy than Kevin Malone and easily the most cringeworthy line of dialogue of 2007: When Mandy Moore suggests they abstain before the wedding, faux-Jim responds "but I want to play tickle my pickle with my girlfriend." Oh the horror.
43. Superbad-Yes, I got the memo that this film became somewhat of a classic. Still, the general populance gets things wrong sometimes. This film is crass, sophomoric, and worst of all, uneventful. I don't mind a film being low-brow if it goes somewhere but it appears that they set the record for number of f-words in a film for no other reason than it sounded cool. Yes, two high school senior boys on an average Saturday night are gonna be thinking about sex a lot and they're going to stumble their way through a party or two in search of it, but that doesn't mean it's an interesting thing to put on film.
44. 1408-I probably made a mistake by watching this one as horror really isn't my genre. Not getting the appeal of the film before I begin the viewing experience isn't a good place to start. 1408 felt like an ameteurish b-movie.
23. National Treasure 2-If you buy the ridiculous premise that another archaeological gold mine that would fall into Ben Gates's lap, then this is a reasonably entertaining film with some top rate action scenes and lots more fun with history. Otherwise, it's the kind of film that makes plot hole enthusiasts' heads explode with possibilities. The president can easily be kidnapped, Buckingham Palace has laxer security than your local library, and you can break as many laws as you want as long as you want as long as it's in the name of a dead relative who passed away 150 years ago. Helen Mirren joins the cast which is always fun and Ty Burrell (before "Modern Family") can be spotted here like Where's Waldo,
26. Music and Lyrics-Hugh Grant straddles a thin line between charming and boring and has failed to carry many a film, but he succeeds here because, like Blades of Glory, this is a film that doesn't aim particularly high and delivered on lower ambitions. One caveat: The whole film does rely on you buying the premise that a reasonably intelligent professional songwriter can't string basic rhymes out of words and has never heard of a thesaurus.
27. Ocean's 13-Ocean's 12 was such a self-indulgent mess that in press conferences preceding the film, cast members (Matt Damon on Inside the Actor's Studio comes to mind) were saying that while the cast was enjoying each other's company and the exotic locations, they were being professional and working. And the funny thing is they weren't even being asked: They just volunteered this information as if anyone would doubt that actors would do anything but act on a film set. With the disaster behind them, the Ocean's 13 crew had a respectable third outing in that it had a coherent plot but trying to lower the yelp rating (oops, excuse me, diamond rating) of a casino is not as exciting as a classic heist and I found the franchise's choice to reduce the stakes rather then up the level of excitement baffling. On the upside: Ellen Barkin, David Paymer and Al Pacino were all inspired casting choices.
28. The Hoax-For such a grand premise (a guy fooling the world into thinking he's a biographer of Howard Hughes), The Hoax was moderately uneventful which made the film feel a little pretentious. On the positive, it had some nice character moments here and there.
29. Lucky You-Curtis Hanson is a great director (LA Confidential, Wonderboys, In Her Shoes, 8 Mile) and this film has his trademarks of quiet moments, self-reflexive characters, immersion in a subculture, but this film felt a little dreary and the plot lacked forward movement. Wasn't necessarily a bad film but not Hanson's best work
30. Evan Almighty-If you're wondering why this ridiculously tenously connected sequel exists the answer is twofold: 1) Bruce Almighty grossed north of $200 million. For a comedy, that's pretty damn good, and even if it came with a neatly packaged ending, Hollywood economics supercede story: A sequel had to be made 2) Jim Carrey didn't want to do it and, fortunately, Steve Carell had became a star in the interim. Because they built an elaborate ark (fun fact: the ark was constructed and shot in Virginia, a casting call went out to my college and a couple friends were extras) , this was technically the most expensive comedy to date. Some critics ripped on the film for unwisely spending all that money for a superfluous ark but I think they missed the point: plus or minus an ark, the entire film was a grand piece of superfluousness. Evan was a one-note villain who only merited a film of his own unless you sweep it all under the rug and retcon him as a deeper character. If you can get past all that, then it's an, at times, moderately decent comedy.
31. Walk Hard-The best parodies tend to be more subtle. Walk Hard tended to hit you over the head with a grand announcement that it was a parody.
32. Charlie Barrett-I find it interesting that Iron Man was touted as Rob Downey Jr's comeback when here he was in a film the year before. Not one that anyone saw, but still. This film is a high school dramedy about a new transfer (Anton Yelchin) who goes from selling his adderroll to becoming the unofficial school psychologist and sports star. It's kind of a thin plot but has its moments.
33. Fantastic Four Part II-I can't tell whether Fantastic Four came along at an earlier point in the development of comic books or it was the movie's fault but this quartet of superheroes seems oddly one-dimensional: You have the womanizer who won't settle down, the big lug of a tough guy, the dweeby scientist and Jessica Alba's invisible heroines who is, surprisingly, the only character who feels like more than one-and-a-half dimensions. The best I can come up with for a compliment to this film is not awful.
34. Shrek 3-I have literally no memory of this film. How often does that happen five years later that you can't recall a single detail of a film? I clearly remember the Shrek universe and distinctly remember the plots of the first and second installments but this must have been a very unremarkable film. On the other hand, a truly awful film gets burnt on my memory which is why this doesn't have lower placement.
35. Invasion-A remake of the 1950's sci-fi classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" or possibly a remake of the 1976 Donald Sutherland-Brooke Adams remake, who can really keep track of this unorigiality anymore? The film felt uninspired (because it was) but made for a halfway decent action film.
36. Mr Magoriums Wonder Emporium-After so many remakes and sequels, I'm glad to finally get to an entry on the list that's original. Zach Helm, who wrote the screenplay to the highly inventive "Stranger than Fiction", approaches this film with the same sense of whimsy but it still feels like a second rate version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with an admirably odd turn by Dustin Hoffman as a Wonkaesque stand-in.
37. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry-Adam Sandler's usual mixture of heartfelt emotion and juvenile humor barely worked in its favor in this slightly misguided but ultimately tolerable take on the gay marriage debate. The film was met with some criticism for being outwardly homophobic. Like all Adam Sandler films, the film treats its subjects with underlying warmth but tackles human complexities (in this case, a delicate subject such as sexual orientation) with the emotional maturity of an eight year old, which is what Adam Sandler essentially is. It's not his fault: When he first broke out his guitar and started singing as a prepubsecent boy on SNL, we encouraged it, and enabled him to never grow up emotionally or comically.
38. No Country for Old Men-Cinematography was top-notch but was there a point to this film? I'm sure someone out there could watch this film and read some thematically coherent message from it, but I'm guessing most of the film's fans (including the Oscar voters for some odd reason) just liked it because it included a cool weapon, a villain with a weird haircut and dialogue so vague he became interesting, and a couple cool action scenes. I love some of the films by the Coen brothers but when they don't resonate with you, they feel like you're presented with a series of superficial objects and tricks with nothing beneath the surface.
39. Golden Compass-Rule #1 when delving into heavily complex mythological tale: Make it interesting. Otherwise, it feels like you're just reading the rule book to some complicated board game.
40. Pirates of the Caribbean III-Once upon a time, Disney brilliantly revived the pirate genre with a film that was a little bit long-winded but ultimately a lot of fun. Then, in attempting to stretch the series into a trilogy, some terrible decisions were made: Rather than simplify the mythology (this is, after all, a film based on a ride) they added entirely new plots on top of unresolved ones. If you remember, the first film ends with Depp an outlaw and Bloom trying to clear his name. That would be a good movie in itself, but they decided to add some entirely new mythic octopus on top of everything that kind of nullified the first film (Why would Jack care about fighting for control of the Black Pearl if both the souls of he and Barbosa were owned by a giant octopus anyway?). The second film ends with no resolution to the first film and Johnny Depp being taken prisoner by the octopus. The third film bloated things into a gigantic mess by conveniently introducing the fact that the tertiary character played by Tia Dalma happends to be enormously powerful and brings some dangerous spell of her own. Oh and Chow Yung-Fat is some Asian sea captain who imprisons Elizabeth and Keith Richards shows up because, why not at this point?
41. Nancy Drew-I saw this film with a couple younger cousins and while I get that the film appeals primarily to kids, there's no harm in making it presentable to an older demographic. This film suffered because there was a clear need to dumb down and simplify basic plot elements to be digestible. On the bright side, this film is responsible for keeping former Mango/Antonio Banderas SNL stalwart Chris Kattan employed for the year of 2007.
42. License to Wed-Imagine a romantic comedy starring Jim from The Office in full smugness mode without the endearing romantic backstory that made the Jim-Pam relationship work and you're only at the start of the list of problems with this poorly thought-out disaster. See, faux-Jim is engaged to an annoyingly cheery woman (Mandy Moore) and must get permission from pastor Robin Williams to proceed with marraige. Only, Robin Williams is a troublesome creep who seeks to sabatoge him. Or maybe he isn't and faux-Jim's overly suspicious. It doesn't really matter because by the third act, both these plots are bafflingly forgotten and everyone celebrates matrimony on the beach. It's one of the most abrupt endings I've ever seen. If that's not bad enough, the movie features Brian Bumgartener playing an even dumber guy than Kevin Malone and easily the most cringeworthy line of dialogue of 2007: When Mandy Moore suggests they abstain before the wedding, faux-Jim responds "but I want to play tickle my pickle with my girlfriend." Oh the horror.
43. Superbad-Yes, I got the memo that this film became somewhat of a classic. Still, the general populance gets things wrong sometimes. This film is crass, sophomoric, and worst of all, uneventful. I don't mind a film being low-brow if it goes somewhere but it appears that they set the record for number of f-words in a film for no other reason than it sounded cool. Yes, two high school senior boys on an average Saturday night are gonna be thinking about sex a lot and they're going to stumble their way through a party or two in search of it, but that doesn't mean it's an interesting thing to put on film.
44. 1408-I probably made a mistake by watching this one as horror really isn't my genre. Not getting the appeal of the film before I begin the viewing experience isn't a good place to start. 1408 felt like an ameteurish b-movie.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
The Supersappy Quartet Trailer
One of my favorite internet videos is by comedy duo Britannick mocking Oscar movies in one trailer that incorporates everything from Good Will Hunting to Dances with Wolves to Rain Man to Dead Poets Society to Love Story to...hell, even Silver Linings Playbook:
Now the film looks kind of exciting in a way and has a lot of feel-good moments. It was through watching the trailer that I decided to watch the actual film so technically the trailer did its job. At the same time, it seems like the trailer through every possible cliche it could.
Look, there's Tom Courtenay teaching an
inner-city black kid to appreciate music! And look, that guy is old but can still be sexually attracted to people. Maybe that old guy will
successfully romance that woman half her age! And maybe Maggie Smith will
release her tough exterior to show the beauty within! And the film is joyful because both the guy and the girl are kissing Tom Courtenay simultaneously. And grumpy Tom Courtenay is smiling!
The film is actually really good, though. It's a bit cliched and sappy, but generally earns its heartfelt moments and three of the four lead actors are really good in it. The exception is the Billy Connolly character who really is kind of one-note as the horny old man comic relief.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Revolving Door of TV Openings: 2011-2012 Edition
Here's my annual look back at which TV and movie stars have come back to TV in the 2011-2012 season. The idea of this list is to show how expansive the revolving door is and just how many familiar names and faces make it back to our airwaves every year. The list is created by looking at the rosters of all the TV shows to debut every year and all the additions to existing casts and adding any names to the list that I personally recognize. Of course, that makes this all very subjective. I recognized Annie Potts and Leslie Bibb from the GCB cast list because I recognized them from Ghostbusters and Talladega Nights, respectively, but you might recognize Jennifer Aspen from her role on Rodney or a 4-episode stint on Glee (which I didn't).
If they're a movie star and primarily known as that (Anjelica Huston, Dustin Hoffman, and Jessica Lange were making their TV debuts but there was no way I was leaving them off this list), I label them as such and if they're known only for one movie (again, that's subjective), I list that one movie with an (M) around it.
I try to note when their last project was and the year beside the project means when they're last show went off the air. A * means recurring role, an (A) means animated, a (TR) means a talk or reality show, and a (C) means creator. An animated role is far-less demanding then a live action role and often doesn't preclude them from further projects. Also, keep in mind, a person doesn't have to have left a previous show project to work on a new show like Stephen Merchant and Rickey Gervais adding "Life's Too Short" to their talk show on HBO.
I try to document just when their last TV gig was too:
Amanda Peete, Bent (Studio 60 2007)
Amber Head, Playboy Club (Hidden Palms, 2007, Zombieland [M])
Annie Potts, GCB (Ghostbusters (M), Dangerous Minds, Law and Order SVU* 2009)
Anjelica Huston, Smash (M)
Ashton Kutcher, Two and a Half Men (Movies, That 70s Show 2006)
Brittany Snow, Person of Interest (American Dreams 2004)
Catherine Tate, The Office (Catherine Tate Show 2004 [C])
Chelsea Handler, Are You There, Vodka? (Chelsea Lately [TR])
Christina Ricci, Pan Am (M)
Claire Danes, Homeland (My So-Called Life 1995, Temple Grandin 2010)
Colm Meany, Hell on Wheels (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 1999)
Connie Britton, American Horror Story (Spin City 2000,
Friday Night Lights 2011)
David Hornsby (A), Unsupervised-Creator (It’s Always Sunny*)
Dylan McDermott, American Horror Story (The Practice 2004, Big Shots 2008)
Debra Messing, Smash (Will and Grace 2006, The Starter Wife 2008)
Dennis Farina, Luck (M)
Dianne Ladd, Enlightened (M)
Diedrich Baker (A), Napoleon Dynamite (Drew Carey Show, Outsourced 2011)
Dustin Hoffman, Luck (M)
Garrett Morris, 2 Broke Girls (SNL, Jamie Foxx Show 2001)
Hank Azaria, Free Agents (Simpsons [A], Movies, Huff 2006)
Hector Elizondo, Last Man Standing (Monk 2009)
James Spader, The Office (Boston Legal 2009)
James van der Beek, Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 (Dawson’s Creek 2003)
Jason O’Mara, Terra Nova (Life on Mars 2009)
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story (M)
Jill Hennessy, Luck (Crossing Jordan 2007)
John Goodman*, Community (Roseanne, Normal Ohio, Damages* 2011)
Jonah Hill (C), Allen Gregory (M)
Jeffry Tambor, Bent (Arrested Development 2006, Welcome to the Captain 2008, Archer* [A])
Jessica St. Clair, Best Friends Forever (Best Week Ever)
Jon Heder (A), Nepoleon Dynamite (M)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep (SNL, Seinfeld, New Adv. Of Old
Christine, 2010)
Justin Long (A), Unsupervised (M)
Kat Dennings, Two Broke Girls (Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist [M])
Katherine McPhee, Smash (American Idol [TR])
Kathryn Hahn, Free Agents (Movies, Crossing Jordan 2007)
Kathy Bates, Harry’s Law (The Office 2011)
Kelsey Grammer, Boss (Frasier, Back to You, Hank 2011)
Kiefer Sutherland, Touch (24 2010)
Kristin Chenowith, GCB (West Wing, Pushing Daisies 2009, Sit Down Shit Up, 2010, Glee* 2011)
Laura Dern, Enlightened (M)
Laura Prepon, Are you There, Vodka? (That 70’s Show 2006)
Leslie Bibb, GCB (Talladega Nights [M])
Leslie Mann (A), Allen Gregory (M)
Luke Wilson, Enlightened (Movies)
Maria Bello, Prime Suspect (Movies)
Matt Walsh, Veep (Upright Citizens Brigade, Dog Bites Man 2006)
Mandy Patinkin, Homeland (M)
Maya Rudolph, Up All Night (SNL 2008)
Maulick Pancholy, Whitney (30 Rock 2011)
Nancy Travis, Last Man Standing (Almost Perfect, Becker, Bill Engvall Show 2009)
Nick Nolte, Luck (M)
Rachel Bilson, Heart of Dixie (The OC 2006)
Regnald vel Johnson, Heart of Dixie (Family Matters 1998)
Ricky Gervais (C), Life's Too Short (Extras, Ricky Gervais Show [TR])
Stephen Merchant (C), Life's Too Short (Extras, Ricky Gervais Show [TR])
Ted Levine, Luck (Monk 2009)
Tim Allen, Last Man Standing (Home Improvement 1999)
Will Arnett, Up All Night (Arrested Development, 30 Rock, Running Wilde 2011)
Will Forte (A), Allen Gregory (SNL 2010)
Zooey Deschanel, New Girl (M)
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Fued of the Sound Mixers & The annoying focus on oscar losers
I found myself quite interested with the sound mixing controvoursey that took place between Michael Minkler, one of the three sound mixers for Dreamgirls who won an Oscar, and sound mixer Kevin O'Connell, the 18-time Oscar loser, who turned up a record-breaking #19 at this year's ceremony, thanks to Dreamgirls.
I did see the video today, but before that had heard reports about what happened, and the best thing to do is see the video yourself to see exactly how Minkler worded what he had to say, but here's a summary by the Hollywood Reporter:
Could a little rivalry have been revealed in the sound mixing world? Things turned weird when the winners in that category -- Willie Burton, Bob Beemer and Michael Minkler for "Dreamgirls" -- were onstage in the press room. A question was thrown to the trio about what advice they had for Kevin O'Connell, a nominee for "Apocalypto" who now has been nominated 19 times without a win. While Burton and Beemer had conciliatory things to say -- "Hang in there, Kevin, you'll get your chance," Burton said -- Minkler's words were the opposite. "I think Kevin should go away with 19 nominations," he said without cracking a smile. "We work really hard, and if we stumble upon an award, we are so grateful. I have to wonder ... Kevin is an OK mixer, but he should take up another line of work." He exited the stage leaving people wondering whether he was serious.
Minkler just revealed an apology:
"Gentlemen, Friends, and Colleagues,
A very unfortunate situation has developed because of my stupid answers to some inappropriate questions. I did not seek this spotlight -- the press did, as they have in the past. It was wrong of them to ask the questions, and wrong, wrong, wrong of me to answer them the way that I did.
I apologize to all of you for creating a messy situation, and exposing the appearance of any dissention among our ranks.
The press has been asking me questions about Kevin since 2002. They continue to hound me with the same questions again and again, and this time I lost control, using bad choices of words and bitter sarcasm. The award should be about the work---period.
It is always my concern to preserve the Oscars' significance to the filmmaking community and its international audience. My thoughts got away from me at an emotional time, and that I regret.
My response to the last question was off-the-cuff sarcasm meant as humor. However it seems that it has caused even greater reaction...shock. I wanted to end the questioning and those words came out. Not funny. I am very sorry. The time and place was wrong for any of it.
Adding sentiment to this unfortunate situation has of course been the sorrowful passing of Skippy O'Connell. My sincere condolences go out to the entire O'Connell family.
I have been in communication with Kevin directly, and I wish the best for him in the future. I am sure that he will receive his due recognition on that same stage very soon, and I will be the first to congratulate him.
In my career, I'm sure that I have accidentally hurt people, but I've never intentionally sought to do harm. I ask forgiveness from them. I have given shots and taken some, but I don't believe that at any time, true malice was the objective.
I appreciate you sharing your personal thoughts with me, as I always have. I now thank you for allowing me to share mine with you.
Respect to all, Michael Minkler [src]"
A lot of people were harsh, saying Michael Minkler was a humongous jerk, but I perfer to look a little beneath the surface. I'm not saying I forgive Michael Minkler, obviously some of it is a PR stunt, but there must be more to it than him just being a jerk and I'm glad to see more to the story.
I always thought there was a little more to it than Michael Minkler being a jerk when I saw those comments. I reasoned that it probably had something to do about the press not caring anything about sound mixing at the oscars and how people like Richard Roeper are saying that the smaller awards should be given a seperate ceremony. The Oscarcall pundits who do a weekly podcast from theenvelope.com and write for various LA Publications are also saying something about how the Oscars should follow the format of the Grammys, where the more technical awards that appeal less to the general public are relegated to a seperate ceremony in the Grammys.
I think that there is just tension beneath the surface of the Oscars for the equal treatment in terms of facetime on tv for the smaller categories. Similarly, the press room full of film critics has to come up with similar questions to field to a group of artists that they probbaly know nothing about.
If you look at how many posts I've written, you'll see that I know quite a bit about the movie industry, yet I have no freaking clue what sound mixing is, what it takes to be a good sound mixer, and of course which movie had the best sound mixing.
So maybe the only question I might be able to come up with to a sound mixing winner is "so what do you think about that other guy, who hadn't won 18 times, he should've won. That would've been a more interesting story for us to have written about." But the truth is that that's an insensitive question and will get on the guy's nerves who is taking the award on stage and these guys probably could just crack under the pressure of having to be politically correct all the time. They should ask him questions about his sound mixing craft like they do with the acting winners or the directing winners, but who really has any f*ing clue? that's the problem.
Also, i'm tired of the focus on losers. If you get nominated you're a winner, and if you win, you're even more of a winner. I'm incredibly impressed with someone who has racked up 5 nominations like Kate Winslet, let alone to have done so at a younger age than anyone else. And who knows, if she won for Sense and Sensibility or Titanic, the academy might be less inclined to honor her subsequent work because they felt she'd already been given her dues. Tom Hanks is one of our generation's greatest actors and has continued to turn in excellent performances, for example, in The Green Mile, Catch Me if You Can, The Terminal, and The Ladykillers but has gotten no oscar buzz for any of those performances (and i'm not saying he should've been nominated but at least he could've made the top 10 or top 15 on sites like the oscar igloo or the film experience who monitor oscar buzz).
And don't get me started on Peter O'Toole. First of all, why has everyone freaking forgotten his honorary oscar. Kirk Douglas got an honorary oscar and got to join the 75th anniversary oscar photo for it. Not to mention, Peter O'Toole's Lawrence of Arabia performance ranked him #1 all-time on Premiere Magazine's 100 best performances list. I also personally judge an actor by
how many memorable roles they have. I look at someone like Dustin Hoffman and think: Midnight Cowboy, Rain Man, Kramer vs. Kramer, Tootsie, Papillon and The Graduate, what a career! He only won Oscars in 2 of those but by looking at his list of nominations you easily get a sense of what a great actor he was. If you look at Hillary Swank's # of Oscar nominations and # of wins, you see the same # of wins but outside those 2 winning-films, it's not nearly as impressive of a career yet. Same goes for Russell Crowe, a more modern day example, his nomination in A Beautiful Mind and The Insider along with his win for Gladiator gives me a better idea of how great an actor he is vs. Helen Hunt, for example with 1 nom and 1 win. Another example of a guy with a lot of worthy nominations but only 1 win would be Paul Newman.
ate Winslet had
I did see the video today, but before that had heard reports about what happened, and the best thing to do is see the video yourself to see exactly how Minkler worded what he had to say, but here's a summary by the Hollywood Reporter:
Could a little rivalry have been revealed in the sound mixing world? Things turned weird when the winners in that category -- Willie Burton, Bob Beemer and Michael Minkler for "Dreamgirls" -- were onstage in the press room. A question was thrown to the trio about what advice they had for Kevin O'Connell, a nominee for "Apocalypto" who now has been nominated 19 times without a win. While Burton and Beemer had conciliatory things to say -- "Hang in there, Kevin, you'll get your chance," Burton said -- Minkler's words were the opposite. "I think Kevin should go away with 19 nominations," he said without cracking a smile. "We work really hard, and if we stumble upon an award, we are so grateful. I have to wonder ... Kevin is an OK mixer, but he should take up another line of work." He exited the stage leaving people wondering whether he was serious.
Minkler just revealed an apology:
"Gentlemen, Friends, and Colleagues,
A very unfortunate situation has developed because of my stupid answers to some inappropriate questions. I did not seek this spotlight -- the press did, as they have in the past. It was wrong of them to ask the questions, and wrong, wrong, wrong of me to answer them the way that I did.
I apologize to all of you for creating a messy situation, and exposing the appearance of any dissention among our ranks.
The press has been asking me questions about Kevin since 2002. They continue to hound me with the same questions again and again, and this time I lost control, using bad choices of words and bitter sarcasm. The award should be about the work---period.
It is always my concern to preserve the Oscars' significance to the filmmaking community and its international audience. My thoughts got away from me at an emotional time, and that I regret.
My response to the last question was off-the-cuff sarcasm meant as humor. However it seems that it has caused even greater reaction...shock. I wanted to end the questioning and those words came out. Not funny. I am very sorry. The time and place was wrong for any of it.
Adding sentiment to this unfortunate situation has of course been the sorrowful passing of Skippy O'Connell. My sincere condolences go out to the entire O'Connell family.
I have been in communication with Kevin directly, and I wish the best for him in the future. I am sure that he will receive his due recognition on that same stage very soon, and I will be the first to congratulate him.
In my career, I'm sure that I have accidentally hurt people, but I've never intentionally sought to do harm. I ask forgiveness from them. I have given shots and taken some, but I don't believe that at any time, true malice was the objective.
I appreciate you sharing your personal thoughts with me, as I always have. I now thank you for allowing me to share mine with you.
Respect to all, Michael Minkler [src]"
A lot of people were harsh, saying Michael Minkler was a humongous jerk, but I perfer to look a little beneath the surface. I'm not saying I forgive Michael Minkler, obviously some of it is a PR stunt, but there must be more to it than him just being a jerk and I'm glad to see more to the story.
I always thought there was a little more to it than Michael Minkler being a jerk when I saw those comments. I reasoned that it probably had something to do about the press not caring anything about sound mixing at the oscars and how people like Richard Roeper are saying that the smaller awards should be given a seperate ceremony. The Oscarcall pundits who do a weekly podcast from theenvelope.com and write for various LA Publications are also saying something about how the Oscars should follow the format of the Grammys, where the more technical awards that appeal less to the general public are relegated to a seperate ceremony in the Grammys.
I think that there is just tension beneath the surface of the Oscars for the equal treatment in terms of facetime on tv for the smaller categories. Similarly, the press room full of film critics has to come up with similar questions to field to a group of artists that they probbaly know nothing about.
If you look at how many posts I've written, you'll see that I know quite a bit about the movie industry, yet I have no freaking clue what sound mixing is, what it takes to be a good sound mixer, and of course which movie had the best sound mixing.
So maybe the only question I might be able to come up with to a sound mixing winner is "so what do you think about that other guy, who hadn't won 18 times, he should've won. That would've been a more interesting story for us to have written about." But the truth is that that's an insensitive question and will get on the guy's nerves who is taking the award on stage and these guys probably could just crack under the pressure of having to be politically correct all the time. They should ask him questions about his sound mixing craft like they do with the acting winners or the directing winners, but who really has any f*ing clue? that's the problem.
Also, i'm tired of the focus on losers. If you get nominated you're a winner, and if you win, you're even more of a winner. I'm incredibly impressed with someone who has racked up 5 nominations like Kate Winslet, let alone to have done so at a younger age than anyone else. And who knows, if she won for Sense and Sensibility or Titanic, the academy might be less inclined to honor her subsequent work because they felt she'd already been given her dues. Tom Hanks is one of our generation's greatest actors and has continued to turn in excellent performances, for example, in The Green Mile, Catch Me if You Can, The Terminal, and The Ladykillers but has gotten no oscar buzz for any of those performances (and i'm not saying he should've been nominated but at least he could've made the top 10 or top 15 on sites like the oscar igloo or the film experience who monitor oscar buzz).
And don't get me started on Peter O'Toole. First of all, why has everyone freaking forgotten his honorary oscar. Kirk Douglas got an honorary oscar and got to join the 75th anniversary oscar photo for it. Not to mention, Peter O'Toole's Lawrence of Arabia performance ranked him #1 all-time on Premiere Magazine's 100 best performances list. I also personally judge an actor by
how many memorable roles they have. I look at someone like Dustin Hoffman and think: Midnight Cowboy, Rain Man, Kramer vs. Kramer, Tootsie, Papillon and The Graduate, what a career! He only won Oscars in 2 of those but by looking at his list of nominations you easily get a sense of what a great actor he was. If you look at Hillary Swank's # of Oscar nominations and # of wins, you see the same # of wins but outside those 2 winning-films, it's not nearly as impressive of a career yet. Same goes for Russell Crowe, a more modern day example, his nomination in A Beautiful Mind and The Insider along with his win for Gladiator gives me a better idea of how great an actor he is vs. Helen Hunt, for example with 1 nom and 1 win. Another example of a guy with a lot of worthy nominations but only 1 win would be Paul Newman.
ate Winslet had
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Actors and how many best picture nominees they've been in
This was a lot harder than the previous list with best picture nominees, but it was a rather enjoyable way to spend free time. That gives me an indication over what kind of job I should go for if i can do this and it's not considered work.
I had help from two other people on this, so thanks to them, whatever their names are. This isn't a complete list of course, because we can only do one actor at a time. I also really hope there isn't a computer genius out there who figured out how to do this in an easier way. I'd like to hope I'm the only person out there with these statistics and that i've done something revolutionary here.
Some observations:
-What does this list show? I think it shows more than the previous list of actors in 2 or more best picture nominees because the tastes of people who award the best picture vary so much from year to year and dynasties don't regularly play out in terms of best picture winners. Good movies usually do get in the best picture category and the club of nominees ranges from things as diverse as coming-of-age stories in American Graffiti and Breaking Away to action films like Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark, to musicals (lots and lots of musicals, to .
-Appearing in a lot of good movies and having a lot of great accolades doesn't neccessarily coincide as is the case with Meryl Streep, Humphrey Bogart, or Katherine Hepburn. Good actors and actresses will stand out in extreme cases. Actors can get oscar-nominations for artsy films that wouldn't get the best picture prize but take Lawrence Olivier vs Dustin Hoffman. Dustin Hoffman is an iconic figure in film history because whenever we think of Rain Man, All the President's Men, Tootsie, Midnight Cowboy, or The Graduate, we think of him. His characters have had some of the most memorable scenes and lines in movie history. Lawrence Olivier was possibly the best actor ever, but exactly what do we remember of him? Wuthering Heights? Hamlet? Henry V? No doubt, great films, but the number of high profile films, I think makes a difference, that's all I'm saying.
-Being friends with Frank Capra and John Ford would get you high on the list. Every major work of theirs earned a best picture nomination. To a lesser extent, Eliza Kazan, William Wyler, Fred Zinneman, and Billy Wilder had that same success.
However, an eye for good projects makes a star bankable and you're more likely to have a legacy and be remembered if you're in great pictures. Harrison Ford never earned acting acclaim but until the last couple years where he slowed down in project selection he was one of the most visible and most popular stars in Hollywood, and this list indicates that.
-Way to go Ward Bond! I did this through clicking random names and came across this guy and slowly started working my way up the list and going "this guy might beat Jack Nicholson!" and i counted one after another after another. He was an uncredited actor (his biography said he was friends with John Ford who kept giving him bit parts) but by the time we got into the 40s, he was starting to have speaking roles and he even played Morgan Earp (Wyatt's brother) in My Darling Clementine. So Ward Bond, I salute you, and if your descendants are reading this be sure to contact me to claim your complimentary prize for winning the contest.
-Incredibly useless stat: Shirley MacLaine and Morgan Freeman rank highest on conversion of nominees to best picture winners by going 3 for 4
-Slightly more intersting stat: John Cazale has only appeared in 5 movies and 5 of them are best picture nominees
-Kevin Bacon does pretty well among his contemporaries with this criteria with 4 films. I wonder how much of the Six degrees of Kevin Bacon game can be played on those 4 films alone since they're all ensemble pieces
-John C. Riley with Chicago, The Hours and Gangs of New York in 2002 and Thomas Mitchell with Mr Smith Goes to Washington
-Robert Duvall has 8 films on this list, 7 of which are on AFI's top 100 list (all except Tender Mercies). He holds the distinction of being in the most movies on that list, although To Kill a Mockingbird is more like a cameo than a part.
The grand list:
Ward Bond-12 films-Mister Roberts, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Maltese Falcon, Seargent York, Grapes of Wrath, Gone with the Wind, You Can’t Take it With You, The Informer, Lady for a Day, It Happened One Night, Arrowsmith, The Quiet Man
Jack Nicholson-10 films-As Good as It Gets, The Departed, Reds, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Terms of Endearment, Five Easy Pieces, Chinatown, Broadcast News, A Few Good Men, Prizzi’s Honor
Elizabeth Taylor-9 films-Father of the Bride, A Place in the Sun, Quo Vadis (uncredited),
Ivanhoe, Giant, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Cleopatra (1963), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Anne of the Thousand Days (uncredited)
Gregory Peck-8 films-Guns of Navaronne, To Kill a Mockingbird, How the West was Won, Roman Holiday, Twelve O'Clock High, Gentlemen's Agreement, Yearling, Spellbound
Dustin Hoffman-8 films-Tootsie, The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, Finding Neverland, Rain Man, Kramer vs Kramer, All the President’s Men, Lenny
William Holden-At least 8 films-Bridge on the River Kwai, Network, Our Town, Sunset Boulevard, Born Yesterday, Towering Inferno, Love is a Many Splendored Thing, Country Girl
Gary Cooper-8 films-Wings, High Noon, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Pride of the Yankees, Mr Deeds Goes to Town, Seargent York, Friendly Persuasion, Farewell to Arms
Robert Duvall-8 films-Tender Mercies, Apocolypse Now, Godfather II, Godfather, The Conversation, Network, To Kill a Mockingbird, MASH
Harrison Ford-8 films-American Graffiti, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Witness, Working Girl, The Fugitive, Conversation, Apocolypse Now
Marlon Brando-7 films-A Streetcar Named Desire, Julius Caesar (1953), On The Waterfront (Winner), Sayonara, Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), The Godfather (Winner), Apocalypse Now
Thomas Mitchell-7 films-High Noon, It’s a Wondeful Life, Our Town, Mr Smith Goes to Washington, Gone with the Wind, Stagecoach, Lost Horizon
Robert De Niro-7 films (Godfather II, Deer Hunter, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Brazil, Goodfellas, Awakening)
Henry Fonda-7 films-On Golden Pond, The Ox-Bow Incident, Grapes of Wrath, How the West Was Won, Jezbezel, 12 Angry Men, Mister Roberts
Katherine Hepburn-6 films-Stage Door, Little Women, Philadelphia Story, On Golden Pond, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Lion in the Winter
Daniel Day-Lewis-6 films-Ghandi, Room with a View, My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, Gangs of New York, There Will be Blood
Jean Arthur-6 films-Mr Deeds Goes to Town, You Can’t Take it With You, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Talk of the Town, The More the Merrier, Shane
Al Pacino-6 films-Scent of a Woman, The Insider, Godfather, Godfather II, Dog Day Afternoon , Godfather III
Tom Wilkinson-6 films-In the Name of the Father, Sense and Sensibility, Full Monty, Shakespeare in Love, In the Bedroom, Michael Clayton
Anthony Hopkins-5 films-Lion in the Winter, Elephant Man, Silence of the Lambs, Howard's End, In the Name of the Father
John Cazale-5 films-The Godfather (Winner), The Conversation, The Godfather: Part II (Winner), Dog Day Afternoon, The Deer Hunter (Winner)
Ingrid Bergman-5 films (?)-Bells of St. Mary's, Gaslight, Spellbound, Casablanca, For Whom the Bell Tolls
Willhem Defoe-5 films-Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Mississippi Burning, English Patient, Aviator
Russell Crowe-5 films (in the last 9 years which is pretty damn impressive)-
LA Confidential, Insider, Gladiator, Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander
John C Riley-5 films-Thin Red Line, Aviator, The Hours, Gangs of New York, Chicago
Gene Hackman-5 films-Bonnie and Clyde, French Connection, The Conversation, Reds, Unforgiven
Cate Blanchett-5 films-LOTR I-III, The Aviator, Elizabeth
Tommy Lee Jones-5 Films-Love Story, Coal Miner’s Daughter, JFK, The Fugitive, No Country for Old Men
Tom Cruise-4 films-Born on the 4th of July, Rain Man, Jerry MaGuire, and A Few Good Men
Shirley MacLaine-4 films-Around the World in Eighty Days (Winner), The Apartment (Winner), The Turning Point, Terms of Endearment (Winner)
Richard Dreyffus-4 films-The Graduate, American Graffiti, Jaws, Goodbye Girl,
Faye Dunaway-4 films-Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown, Network, Towering Inferno
Tom Hanks-4 films-Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, Green Mile
Humphrey Bogart-4 Films-Treausre of the Sierra Madre, Caine Mutiny, Casablanca, Maltese Falcon
James Cromwell-4 films-Babe, LA Confidential, Green Mile, The Queen
Morgan Freeman-4 films-Driving Miss Daisy, Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Shawshneck Redemption
Walter Huston-4 films-Treausre of Sierra Madre, Dodsworth, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Maltese Falcon
Ian Holm-4 films-Aviator, Chariots of Fire, 2 LOTRs
Vanessa Redgrave-4 films-Man for All Seasons, Julia, Howard's End, Atonement
Leo DiCaprio-4 films-Aviator, Gangs of New York, Departed, Titanic
Ed Harris-4 films-The Right Stuff, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, The Hours
Geoffery Rush-4 films-Shine, Shakespeare in Love, Elizabeth, Munich
Kelly McDonald-4 films-Elizabeth, Godsford Park, Finding Neverland, No Country for Old Men
Claude Rains-4 films-Lawrence of Arabia, Casablanca, Mr Smith Goes to Down, Kings Row
Kevin Bacon-4 films-JFK, A Few Good Men, Apollo 13, Mystic River
Allison Janey-3 films-American Beauty, The Hours, Juno
Chris Cooper-3 films-American Beauty, Seabiscuit, Capote
Sean Penn-3 films-Dead Man Walking, Mystic River, Thin Red Line
Judi Dench-3 films-A Room with a View, Shakespeare in Love, Chocolat
Maureen O’Hara-3 films-How Green was My Valley, Miracle on 34th Street, Quiet Man
Alec Baldwin-3 films-Working Girl, Aviator, The Departed
George Clooney-3 films-Thin Red Line, Good Night and Good Luck, Michael Clayton
Beth Grant-3 films-Rain Man (as the woman from the farmhouse who let Ray watch Jeapordy), Little Miss Sunshine (as the bitchy beauty paegent organizer), No Country for Old Men (as Kelly McDonald's mom)
John Voight-3 films-Midnight Cowboy, Deliverance, Coming Home
Robin Williams-3 films-Dead Poets Society, Awakenings, Good Will Hunting
Natalie Wood-2 films-Miracle on 34th Street, West Side Story
Daniel Craig-2 films-Elizabeth, Munich
Woody Harrelson-2 films-Thin Red Line, No Country for Old Men
Barry Del Sherman-2 films-American Beauty, There Will be Blood
Sidney Pollack-2 films-Tootsie, Michael Clayton
Brenda Blethyn-2 films-Secrets and Lies, Atonement
JK Simmons-2 films-Cider House Rules, Juno
David Warchofsky-2 films-Born on the Fourth of July, There Will be Blood
Paul Dano-2-Little Miss Sunshine, There Will be Blood
Stephen Root-2-Ghost, No Country for Old Men
If anyone wants to assist in this list, go right ahead
I had help from two other people on this, so thanks to them, whatever their names are. This isn't a complete list of course, because we can only do one actor at a time. I also really hope there isn't a computer genius out there who figured out how to do this in an easier way. I'd like to hope I'm the only person out there with these statistics and that i've done something revolutionary here.
Some observations:
-What does this list show? I think it shows more than the previous list of actors in 2 or more best picture nominees because the tastes of people who award the best picture vary so much from year to year and dynasties don't regularly play out in terms of best picture winners. Good movies usually do get in the best picture category and the club of nominees ranges from things as diverse as coming-of-age stories in American Graffiti and Breaking Away to action films like Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark, to musicals (lots and lots of musicals, to .
-Appearing in a lot of good movies and having a lot of great accolades doesn't neccessarily coincide as is the case with Meryl Streep, Humphrey Bogart, or Katherine Hepburn. Good actors and actresses will stand out in extreme cases. Actors can get oscar-nominations for artsy films that wouldn't get the best picture prize but take Lawrence Olivier vs Dustin Hoffman. Dustin Hoffman is an iconic figure in film history because whenever we think of Rain Man, All the President's Men, Tootsie, Midnight Cowboy, or The Graduate, we think of him. His characters have had some of the most memorable scenes and lines in movie history. Lawrence Olivier was possibly the best actor ever, but exactly what do we remember of him? Wuthering Heights? Hamlet? Henry V? No doubt, great films, but the number of high profile films, I think makes a difference, that's all I'm saying.
-Being friends with Frank Capra and John Ford would get you high on the list. Every major work of theirs earned a best picture nomination. To a lesser extent, Eliza Kazan, William Wyler, Fred Zinneman, and Billy Wilder had that same success.
However, an eye for good projects makes a star bankable and you're more likely to have a legacy and be remembered if you're in great pictures. Harrison Ford never earned acting acclaim but until the last couple years where he slowed down in project selection he was one of the most visible and most popular stars in Hollywood, and this list indicates that.
-Way to go Ward Bond! I did this through clicking random names and came across this guy and slowly started working my way up the list and going "this guy might beat Jack Nicholson!" and i counted one after another after another. He was an uncredited actor (his biography said he was friends with John Ford who kept giving him bit parts) but by the time we got into the 40s, he was starting to have speaking roles and he even played Morgan Earp (Wyatt's brother) in My Darling Clementine. So Ward Bond, I salute you, and if your descendants are reading this be sure to contact me to claim your complimentary prize for winning the contest.
-Incredibly useless stat: Shirley MacLaine and Morgan Freeman rank highest on conversion of nominees to best picture winners by going 3 for 4
-Slightly more intersting stat: John Cazale has only appeared in 5 movies and 5 of them are best picture nominees
-Kevin Bacon does pretty well among his contemporaries with this criteria with 4 films. I wonder how much of the Six degrees of Kevin Bacon game can be played on those 4 films alone since they're all ensemble pieces
-John C. Riley with Chicago, The Hours and Gangs of New York in 2002 and Thomas Mitchell with Mr Smith Goes to Washington
-Robert Duvall has 8 films on this list, 7 of which are on AFI's top 100 list (all except Tender Mercies). He holds the distinction of being in the most movies on that list, although To Kill a Mockingbird is more like a cameo than a part.
The grand list:
Ward Bond-12 films-Mister Roberts, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Maltese Falcon, Seargent York, Grapes of Wrath, Gone with the Wind, You Can’t Take it With You, The Informer, Lady for a Day, It Happened One Night, Arrowsmith, The Quiet Man
Jack Nicholson-10 films-As Good as It Gets, The Departed, Reds, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Terms of Endearment, Five Easy Pieces, Chinatown, Broadcast News, A Few Good Men, Prizzi’s Honor
Elizabeth Taylor-9 films-Father of the Bride, A Place in the Sun, Quo Vadis (uncredited),
Ivanhoe, Giant, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Cleopatra (1963), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Anne of the Thousand Days (uncredited)
Gregory Peck-8 films-Guns of Navaronne, To Kill a Mockingbird, How the West was Won, Roman Holiday, Twelve O'Clock High, Gentlemen's Agreement, Yearling, Spellbound
Dustin Hoffman-8 films-Tootsie, The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, Finding Neverland, Rain Man, Kramer vs Kramer, All the President’s Men, Lenny
William Holden-At least 8 films-Bridge on the River Kwai, Network, Our Town, Sunset Boulevard, Born Yesterday, Towering Inferno, Love is a Many Splendored Thing, Country Girl
Gary Cooper-8 films-Wings, High Noon, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Pride of the Yankees, Mr Deeds Goes to Town, Seargent York, Friendly Persuasion, Farewell to Arms
Robert Duvall-8 films-Tender Mercies, Apocolypse Now, Godfather II, Godfather, The Conversation, Network, To Kill a Mockingbird, MASH
Harrison Ford-8 films-American Graffiti, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Witness, Working Girl, The Fugitive, Conversation, Apocolypse Now
Marlon Brando-7 films-A Streetcar Named Desire, Julius Caesar (1953), On The Waterfront (Winner), Sayonara, Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), The Godfather (Winner), Apocalypse Now
Thomas Mitchell-7 films-High Noon, It’s a Wondeful Life, Our Town, Mr Smith Goes to Washington, Gone with the Wind, Stagecoach, Lost Horizon
Robert De Niro-7 films (Godfather II, Deer Hunter, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Brazil, Goodfellas, Awakening)
Henry Fonda-7 films-On Golden Pond, The Ox-Bow Incident, Grapes of Wrath, How the West Was Won, Jezbezel, 12 Angry Men, Mister Roberts
Katherine Hepburn-6 films-Stage Door, Little Women, Philadelphia Story, On Golden Pond, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Lion in the Winter
Daniel Day-Lewis-6 films-Ghandi, Room with a View, My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, Gangs of New York, There Will be Blood
Jean Arthur-6 films-Mr Deeds Goes to Town, You Can’t Take it With You, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Talk of the Town, The More the Merrier, Shane
Al Pacino-6 films-Scent of a Woman, The Insider, Godfather, Godfather II, Dog Day Afternoon , Godfather III
Tom Wilkinson-6 films-In the Name of the Father, Sense and Sensibility, Full Monty, Shakespeare in Love, In the Bedroom, Michael Clayton
Anthony Hopkins-5 films-Lion in the Winter, Elephant Man, Silence of the Lambs, Howard's End, In the Name of the Father
John Cazale-5 films-The Godfather (Winner), The Conversation, The Godfather: Part II (Winner), Dog Day Afternoon, The Deer Hunter (Winner)
Ingrid Bergman-5 films (?)-Bells of St. Mary's, Gaslight, Spellbound, Casablanca, For Whom the Bell Tolls
Willhem Defoe-5 films-Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Mississippi Burning, English Patient, Aviator
Russell Crowe-5 films (in the last 9 years which is pretty damn impressive)-
LA Confidential, Insider, Gladiator, Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander
John C Riley-5 films-Thin Red Line, Aviator, The Hours, Gangs of New York, Chicago
Gene Hackman-5 films-Bonnie and Clyde, French Connection, The Conversation, Reds, Unforgiven
Cate Blanchett-5 films-LOTR I-III, The Aviator, Elizabeth
Tommy Lee Jones-5 Films-Love Story, Coal Miner’s Daughter, JFK, The Fugitive, No Country for Old Men
Tom Cruise-4 films-Born on the 4th of July, Rain Man, Jerry MaGuire, and A Few Good Men
Shirley MacLaine-4 films-Around the World in Eighty Days (Winner), The Apartment (Winner), The Turning Point, Terms of Endearment (Winner)
Richard Dreyffus-4 films-The Graduate, American Graffiti, Jaws, Goodbye Girl,
Faye Dunaway-4 films-Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown, Network, Towering Inferno
Tom Hanks-4 films-Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, Green Mile
Humphrey Bogart-4 Films-Treausre of the Sierra Madre, Caine Mutiny, Casablanca, Maltese Falcon
James Cromwell-4 films-Babe, LA Confidential, Green Mile, The Queen
Morgan Freeman-4 films-Driving Miss Daisy, Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Shawshneck Redemption
Walter Huston-4 films-Treausre of Sierra Madre, Dodsworth, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Maltese Falcon
Ian Holm-4 films-Aviator, Chariots of Fire, 2 LOTRs
Vanessa Redgrave-4 films-Man for All Seasons, Julia, Howard's End, Atonement
Leo DiCaprio-4 films-Aviator, Gangs of New York, Departed, Titanic
Ed Harris-4 films-The Right Stuff, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, The Hours
Geoffery Rush-4 films-Shine, Shakespeare in Love, Elizabeth, Munich
Kelly McDonald-4 films-Elizabeth, Godsford Park, Finding Neverland, No Country for Old Men
Claude Rains-4 films-Lawrence of Arabia, Casablanca, Mr Smith Goes to Down, Kings Row
Kevin Bacon-4 films-JFK, A Few Good Men, Apollo 13, Mystic River
Allison Janey-3 films-American Beauty, The Hours, Juno
Chris Cooper-3 films-American Beauty, Seabiscuit, Capote
Sean Penn-3 films-Dead Man Walking, Mystic River, Thin Red Line
Judi Dench-3 films-A Room with a View, Shakespeare in Love, Chocolat
Maureen O’Hara-3 films-How Green was My Valley, Miracle on 34th Street, Quiet Man
Alec Baldwin-3 films-Working Girl, Aviator, The Departed
George Clooney-3 films-Thin Red Line, Good Night and Good Luck, Michael Clayton
Beth Grant-3 films-Rain Man (as the woman from the farmhouse who let Ray watch Jeapordy), Little Miss Sunshine (as the bitchy beauty paegent organizer), No Country for Old Men (as Kelly McDonald's mom)
John Voight-3 films-Midnight Cowboy, Deliverance, Coming Home
Robin Williams-3 films-Dead Poets Society, Awakenings, Good Will Hunting
Natalie Wood-2 films-Miracle on 34th Street, West Side Story
Daniel Craig-2 films-Elizabeth, Munich
Woody Harrelson-2 films-Thin Red Line, No Country for Old Men
Barry Del Sherman-2 films-American Beauty, There Will be Blood
Sidney Pollack-2 films-Tootsie, Michael Clayton
Brenda Blethyn-2 films-Secrets and Lies, Atonement
JK Simmons-2 films-Cider House Rules, Juno
David Warchofsky-2 films-Born on the Fourth of July, There Will be Blood
Paul Dano-2-Little Miss Sunshine, There Will be Blood
Stephen Root-2-Ghost, No Country for Old Men
If anyone wants to assist in this list, go right ahead
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Actors in 2 or more best picture oscar winners:
This is a list of actors who have appeared in 2 or more best picture oscar winners.
Things we can learn from this list:
-If you judge actors and actresses by this criteria, it boosts the status of Clark Gable and Dustin Hoffman, the only 2 actors to earn play a leading role in leading three seperate pictures to best picture oscars. Hoffman and Gable each got a best actor nomination in each of those 3 pictures that they led to an oscar which are Rain Man, Kramer vs Kramer and Midnight Cowboy for Hoffman and Mutiny on the Bounty, Gone with the Wind, and It Happened one Night for Gable.
-Gable had less competition, in the sense that in the 1930s, I don't believe many of the stars that we associate with the Golden Age really were up and rolling with their careers. Jimmy Stewart had little outside Frank Capra's pictures, John Wayne wasn't a hit until Stagecoach, and Humphrey Bogart had more hits in the 40's, I believe. I think the same goes for Henry Fonda. Gary Cooper and Clark Gable were the two biggest leading men in the '30s and Gable brought enormous revenue to whatever projects he chose. I think that Gone with the Wind might have done so well, because of Clark Gable
-Morgan Freeman, Dianne Keaton and Meryl Streep get kudos for lead or supporting roles during each of those three pictures
-This list indicates that in the oscars there really aren't any dynasties, as in a certain kind of picture wins year after year. Even if actors might not be as steadfast to a certian type of genre as directors are, you'd think that if for example, gangster films were the ones that won all the time, that Robert De Niro or Al Pacino would win over and over. If you looked at directors, like Frank Capra, who's been honored a LOT of times by the academy with 5 best picture noms and 3 directing oscars (2 best picture winners), or John Ford, who's won 4 oscars (but only one of those was for a best picture winner), you'd find that even their type of genre doesn't win every time it's up. So no one really is ever on a roll, from an actor's perspective in leading a picture to win every time.
-Finally, we can also conclude, that this list doesn't neccessarily mean much. It could be dumb luck that you found yourself in 2 or 3 best picture nominees, especially since Around the World in 80 Days cast a lot of people like Shirley MacLaine and Peter Lorre as extras
How I did this:
It's not that long of a list, nor are there any that I could find who had appeared in over 3 films. It actually was somewhat simple to look this up. I went to the imdb.com's section on best oscar winners and clicked on every one. When that happens the links sort of change color to indicate that it's a link to a film that you've already seen, and then i started clicking on names under the best picture winners and scrolling down to see how many colored links they had. I didn't click on every extra and side player so there might have been someone who have been in 4 films, for all I know
John Gielgud 3 (Around the World in 80 Days, Ben Hur, Chariots of Fire)
Hugh Griffith 3 (Tom Jones, Ben Hur, Oliver)
Ward Bond 3 (Gone with the Wind, It Happened One Night, You Can't Take it With You)
(all as an extra....this guy has actually appeared in 11 oscar nominated films, more than anyone including Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Cooper, and Henry Fonda)
Donald Crisp 2 (Life of Emile Zola, How Green was my Valley)
Clark Gable 3 (Gone with the Wind, It Happened One Night, Mutiny on the Bounty)
Dustin Hoffman-3 (Rain Man, Kramer vs Kramer, Midnight Cowboy)
Meryl Streep-3 (Deer Hunter, Out of Africa, Kramer vs Kramer)
Dianne Keaton-3 (Godfather, Godfather II, Annie Hall)
Morgan Freeman-3 (Unforgiven, Driving Miss Daisy, and Million Dollar Baby)
Shirley MacLaine-3 (Around the World in 80 Days, The Apartment, Terms of Endearment)
Gene Hackman-2 (Unforgiven, French Connection)
Richard Harris-2 (Unforgiven and Gladiator)
George Saunders-2 (All About Eve and Rebecca)
Jack Hawkins-2 (Ben Hur and Bridge ont he River Kwai)
Claude Rains 2 (Lawrnece of Arabia and Casablanvx)
Anthony Quayle 2(Hamlet and Lawrence of Arabia)
Al Pacino 2 (Godfather and Godfather II)
Marlon Brando-2 (On the Waterfront, Godfather)
Peter Lorre-2 (Casablanca, Around the World in 80 Days)
Clint Eastwood-2 (Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby)
Karl Malden 2 (Patton and On the Waterfront)
Rob Duvall 2 (Godfather, Godfather II)
Russell Crowe-2 (Beautiful Mind and Gladiator)
Jack Nicholson 2 (One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest and Terms of Endearment)
Lawrence Olivier 2 (Hamlet, Rebecca)
Christopher Walken 2 (Deer Hunter and Annie Hall)
Peter O’Toole 2 (Last Emperor and Lawrence of Arabia)
Gladys Cooper 2 (My Fair Lady and Rebecca)
Rod Steiger 2 (On the Waterfront and In the Heat of the Night)
Cathy O’Donnell 2 (Best Years of Our Lives and Ben Hur)
Leslie Caron 2 (Gigi and American in Paris)
Ernest Borgnine 2 (From Here to Eternity and Marty)
Ian Holm 2 (LOTR: Return of the King and Chariots of Fire)
Nigel Davenport 2 (Chariots of Fire, Man for All Seasons)
Evelyn Keys 2 (Around the World in 80 Days, Gone with the Wind)
Melville Cooper 2 (Around the World in 80 Days, Rebecca)
Things we can learn from this list:
-If you judge actors and actresses by this criteria, it boosts the status of Clark Gable and Dustin Hoffman, the only 2 actors to earn play a leading role in leading three seperate pictures to best picture oscars. Hoffman and Gable each got a best actor nomination in each of those 3 pictures that they led to an oscar which are Rain Man, Kramer vs Kramer and Midnight Cowboy for Hoffman and Mutiny on the Bounty, Gone with the Wind, and It Happened one Night for Gable.
-Gable had less competition, in the sense that in the 1930s, I don't believe many of the stars that we associate with the Golden Age really were up and rolling with their careers. Jimmy Stewart had little outside Frank Capra's pictures, John Wayne wasn't a hit until Stagecoach, and Humphrey Bogart had more hits in the 40's, I believe. I think the same goes for Henry Fonda. Gary Cooper and Clark Gable were the two biggest leading men in the '30s and Gable brought enormous revenue to whatever projects he chose. I think that Gone with the Wind might have done so well, because of Clark Gable
-Morgan Freeman, Dianne Keaton and Meryl Streep get kudos for lead or supporting roles during each of those three pictures
-This list indicates that in the oscars there really aren't any dynasties, as in a certain kind of picture wins year after year. Even if actors might not be as steadfast to a certian type of genre as directors are, you'd think that if for example, gangster films were the ones that won all the time, that Robert De Niro or Al Pacino would win over and over. If you looked at directors, like Frank Capra, who's been honored a LOT of times by the academy with 5 best picture noms and 3 directing oscars (2 best picture winners), or John Ford, who's won 4 oscars (but only one of those was for a best picture winner), you'd find that even their type of genre doesn't win every time it's up. So no one really is ever on a roll, from an actor's perspective in leading a picture to win every time.
-Finally, we can also conclude, that this list doesn't neccessarily mean much. It could be dumb luck that you found yourself in 2 or 3 best picture nominees, especially since Around the World in 80 Days cast a lot of people like Shirley MacLaine and Peter Lorre as extras
How I did this:
It's not that long of a list, nor are there any that I could find who had appeared in over 3 films. It actually was somewhat simple to look this up. I went to the imdb.com's section on best oscar winners and clicked on every one. When that happens the links sort of change color to indicate that it's a link to a film that you've already seen, and then i started clicking on names under the best picture winners and scrolling down to see how many colored links they had. I didn't click on every extra and side player so there might have been someone who have been in 4 films, for all I know
John Gielgud 3 (Around the World in 80 Days, Ben Hur, Chariots of Fire)
Hugh Griffith 3 (Tom Jones, Ben Hur, Oliver)
Ward Bond 3 (Gone with the Wind, It Happened One Night, You Can't Take it With You)
(all as an extra....this guy has actually appeared in 11 oscar nominated films, more than anyone including Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Cooper, and Henry Fonda)
Donald Crisp 2 (Life of Emile Zola, How Green was my Valley)
Clark Gable 3 (Gone with the Wind, It Happened One Night, Mutiny on the Bounty)
Dustin Hoffman-3 (Rain Man, Kramer vs Kramer, Midnight Cowboy)
Meryl Streep-3 (Deer Hunter, Out of Africa, Kramer vs Kramer)
Dianne Keaton-3 (Godfather, Godfather II, Annie Hall)
Morgan Freeman-3 (Unforgiven, Driving Miss Daisy, and Million Dollar Baby)
Shirley MacLaine-3 (Around the World in 80 Days, The Apartment, Terms of Endearment)
Gene Hackman-2 (Unforgiven, French Connection)
Richard Harris-2 (Unforgiven and Gladiator)
George Saunders-2 (All About Eve and Rebecca)
Jack Hawkins-2 (Ben Hur and Bridge ont he River Kwai)
Claude Rains 2 (Lawrnece of Arabia and Casablanvx)
Anthony Quayle 2(Hamlet and Lawrence of Arabia)
Al Pacino 2 (Godfather and Godfather II)
Marlon Brando-2 (On the Waterfront, Godfather)
Peter Lorre-2 (Casablanca, Around the World in 80 Days)
Clint Eastwood-2 (Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby)
Karl Malden 2 (Patton and On the Waterfront)
Rob Duvall 2 (Godfather, Godfather II)
Russell Crowe-2 (Beautiful Mind and Gladiator)
Jack Nicholson 2 (One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest and Terms of Endearment)
Lawrence Olivier 2 (Hamlet, Rebecca)
Christopher Walken 2 (Deer Hunter and Annie Hall)
Peter O’Toole 2 (Last Emperor and Lawrence of Arabia)
Gladys Cooper 2 (My Fair Lady and Rebecca)
Rod Steiger 2 (On the Waterfront and In the Heat of the Night)
Cathy O’Donnell 2 (Best Years of Our Lives and Ben Hur)
Leslie Caron 2 (Gigi and American in Paris)
Ernest Borgnine 2 (From Here to Eternity and Marty)
Ian Holm 2 (LOTR: Return of the King and Chariots of Fire)
Nigel Davenport 2 (Chariots of Fire, Man for All Seasons)
Evelyn Keys 2 (Around the World in 80 Days, Gone with the Wind)
Melville Cooper 2 (Around the World in 80 Days, Rebecca)
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
50 best actors of all time
A pretty objective list, I think, of the top 50, I’m surprised I made it all the way to 50 and it was a really hard assignment since actors come in different types: mainly those who create a persona and are a personality and those who are character actors, so it's really hard to make a standard list. You also have people who are more prolific and people who made each picture count. Stars who are very bankable, stars who are confined to one niche (i.e. The Western, etc.)
I think i might keep working on providing descriptions and stuff but that would probably take a lot of time, and come on, i can't be here all day writing. Some notes though:
- Marlon Brando-Notable Roles: Streetcar Named Desire, Viva Zapata, Apocolypse Now, Last Tango in Paris, On the Waterfront, The Godfather, Favorite Director: Elia Kazan
- Humphrey Bogart-Notable Roles: Sabrina, African Queen, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, To Have and Have Not, Key Largo, The Big Sleep. Favorite Director: John Huston
- Jimmy Stewart-Notable Roles: It's a Wonderful Life, Rear Window, Vertigo, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Winchester '73, Favorite Director: Frank Capra/Alfred Hitchkock
- Gary Cooper-Notable Roles: The Westerner, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Pride of the Yankees, Seargent York, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, High Noon, Favorite Director: Nomadic
- Alec Guiness-Notable Roles: The Lavender Hill Mob, Bridge on the River Kwai, Star Wars, Dr. Zhivago, Favorite Director: Mostly British directors
- Robert De Niro-Notable Roles: Once Upon a Time in America, Deer Hunter, Godfather II, Mean Streets, Raging Bull, New York New York, Goodfellas, Casino, Favorite Director: Martin Scorsesee
- James Cagney-Notable Roles: White Heat, Yankee Doodle Dandy, The Public Enemy, Favorite Director: Nomadic
- Henry Fonda-Notable Roles: Young Mr. Lincoln, Grapes of Wrath, My Darling Clementine, 12 Angry Men, Once Upon a Time in the West, On Golden Pond, Favorite Director: John Ford, pehaps
- Orson Welles-Notable Roles: Citizen Kane, Magnificent Ambersons, Lady from Shanghai, Othello, Third Man, Touch of Evil, Favorite Director: Himself
- Clark Gable-Notable Roles: It Happened One Night, Mutiny on the Bounty, Gone with the Wind, Favorite Director: Nomadic
- Charlie Chaplain: Modern Times, City Lights, Gold Rush, Great Dictator, Favorite Director: Himself
- Peter O’Toole: My Favorite Year, Lawrence of Arabia, Beckett, Lion in the Winter, Goodbye Mr. Chips, The Last Emperor, Favorite Director: Nomadic
- Jack Lemmon: The Apartment, Days of Wine and Roses, Mr. Roberts, Some Like it Hot, Save the Tiger, Odd Couple, Glengarry Glenn Ross, Irma la Douce, Favorite Director: Billy Wilder
- Kirk
- Dustin Hoffman: The Graduate, Tootsie, Midnight Cowboy, Lenny, Papillon, Kramer vs Kramer, Rain Man, Wag the Dog, Favorite Directors: Barry Levinson, Mike Nicholls
- Jack Nicholson: Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Chinatown, The Shining, Prizzi's Honor, Terms of Endearment, A Few Good Men, As Good as It Gets, Favorite Director: Roman Polanski
- Gregory Peck: Duel in the Sun, Twelve O'Clock High, Gentleman's Agreement, Roman Holiday, To Kill a Mockingbird, Favorite Director: Nomadic
- William Holden: Network, Bridge on the River Kwai, Sabrina, Stalag 17, Wild Bunch, Towering Inferno, Favorite Director: Billy Wilder
- Gene Kelly-Notable Roles: Anchors Aweigh, On the Town, Summer Stock, American in Paris, Singing in the Rain, It's Always Fair Weather, Favorite Directors: Stanley Donen, Vincente Minelli
- John Wayne-Notable Roles: Stagecoach, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Fort Apache, Rio Bravo, The Searchers, The Alamo, True Grit, Favorite Director: John Ford
- Tom Hanks-Notable Roles: Splash, Big, Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, Cast Away, Road to Perdition, Favorite Directors: Rob Zemeckis, Ron Howard, Stephen Spielberg
- Sean Connery-Notable Roles: The Hill, Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Murder on the Orient Express, The Untouchables, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Favorite Director: Sidney Lumet
- Edward G. Robinson-Notable Roles: Little Ceasar, Confessions of a Nazi Spy, Double Indemnity, Key Largo
- Spencer Tracy-Notable Roles: Boys Town, Woman of the Year, Adam's Rib, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Bad Day at Black Rock, Inherit the Wind, Favorite Director: Stanley Kramer
- Fred Astaire-Notable Roles: Flying Down to Rio, Top Hat, Swing Time, Holiday Inn, Barkleys on Broadway, Band Wagon, Towering Inferno, Favorite Director: Whomever was assigned by RKO
- Burt Lancaster-Notable Roles: The Killers, From Here to Eternity, Elmer Gantry, Atlantic City
- Robert Redford-Notable Roles: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Natural, The Sting, The Candidate, The Way We Were, All the President's Men, Out of Africa
- James Dean
- Clint Eastwood
- Paul Newman
- Al Pacino
- Albert Finney
- Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
- Michael Caine
- Harrison Ford
- Gene Hackman
- Ben Kingsley
- Frank Sinatra
- Denzel Washington
- Walter Matthau
- Tom Cruise
- Robert Duvall
- Anthony Quinn
- James Coburn
- Ernest Borgnine
-Although, i am capable of independently thinking about this, i did consult two sources: AFI's twenty five legends and Premiere's April 2005 issue of top 50 movie stars
-For those keeping track, i basically have Robert De Niro as the best actor today. Obviously, it doesn't look as good with his last few comedic movies but look back before Analyze This
-Among my immediate family, Cary Grant is controversial but oddly enough Premiere Magazine ranked him #1 star of all time and AFI named him the #2 screen legend.
-Walter Matthau was a tough cookie to place, cause what do you have of him without Jack Lemmon
-This isn't really my opinion, although it's a balance between my opinion and popularity
-Ever notice how Gary Cooper, Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck and Jimmy Stewart are all very alike? Gregory Peck has some great performances but he was so cheesy in Gentleman's Agreement
-I would say that the two biggest actors i grew up with are Harrison Ford and Tom Hanks, and it's interesting to put them up against the greats. If you think about movies that are entertaining and exciting, Harrison Ford is always front and center, though admittedly he hasn't had a hit in years. Hanks, to me, is the best, but i weighed that against other stuff. He's my personal favorite, put it that way
-Admittedly Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire aren't the best actors, but keep in mind that those were the only 2 guys out of the entire MGM roster of stars who can act, sing and dance at a level that made those musicals work. Donald O'Connor could dance but he couldn't act that well. Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra could sing but couldn't dance.
-Tom Cruise isn't the best actor, no, but he's done enough good work that he deserves a place on the list. Remember when he used to not be so universally reviled and thought of as one of the biggest stars in the world. It is pretty interesting because Premiere's April '05 (before Oprahgate) Issue ranked Tom Cruise as the greatest living star of today, so it wasn't that long ago. I wonder if the magazine editors who had pages and pages praising Tom Cruise would have changed their minds like the rest of the American public within the following 18 months
-I don't think number of oscars equals greatness. Jack Nicholson isn't number one although some people might say he is. He's good, i like him, he's definitely extroadinarily talented but I think late in his career he's relied on just being Jack. Also, i think i disagree with other people over his best performances (i like 5 Easy Pieces and Chinatown, not As Good as It Gets or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest). I also perfer Robert Redford to Paul Newman even though Newman's been nominated a million times.
-James Coburn is interchangable with a number of stars from his era who were in The Great Escape or Magnificent Seven or similar Western/War movies with him-James Garner, Jack Palance, Charles Bronson, etc. It was a close call. I went for Coburn because In Like Flint just blew my mind. Was I supposed to take it seriously or was it a spoof? I couldn't figure out which.
-Sean Connery is also tough to nail down and evaluate outside of Bond. Is he a one-trick pony? The truth is he's done way more than 7 films in his career (that's how many Bond films he did), so it's a shame that he's so associated with Bond. His best acting performance outside of James Bond that i've seen is The Man Who Would be King. He's also not bad in Murder on the Orient Express
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