My Top 10 Actors of All-Time

The key scene in Pawnbroker is... well, I can't tell you without spoiling it. But it's all in his face, all suggestion. You'll know if you see it.

A top ten actor for me, and this may seem silly, is Oliver Hardy. They might be broad comedy films, but his sensibility as an actor is nearly always superb. (He's terrible in Swiss Miss, though).

De Niro, I really like, though he can only play De Niro. Put him in something else - Frankenstein's monster, for example - and it's not so hot.

[betmen]

england, aye?

probably he thinks kurosawa is sushi restaurant or Fellini is some kind of pasta.

[4Corners]

The key scene in Pawnbroker is... well, I can't tell you without spoiling it. But it's all in his face, all suggestion. You'll know if you see it.

A top ten actor for me, and this may seem silly, is Oliver Hardy. They might be broad comedy films, but his sensibility as an actor is nearly always superb. (He's terrible in Swiss Miss, though).

De Niro, I really like, though he can only play De Niro. Put him in something else - Frankenstein's monster, for example - and it's not so hot.

I take it you never saw Awakenings or Cape Fear.....

[4Corners]

probably he thinks kurosawa is sushi restaurant or Fellini is some kind of pasta.

Most Actors who make major legacies in film, act in American and British Films most of the time. Not saying they are only American or British actors, because that's not the case. I'm talking where the films are made and where they come from.

Forgive me for saying England.

england, aye?

You cheeky slag.

England actually had a decentish film industry before the 1980s... maybe even including the 1980s. But nowadays it's all crappy Richard Curtis movies.

Of course, this does invoke the question of what is an English movie these days. Britain doesn't have the ££££ to make many movies, so most of it gets made with $$$$. Look at those Dark Knight movies you Fat Yanks love so much... written and directed by a Green Teef, starring Green Teefs.

But this scoffing at England's movie output without raising an eyebrow at Yank endeavours does suggest you're sat there going "Yo, Fellini, De Sica and Kurosawa? Yo, dey ain't nuthin' compared to Expendables 2 - USA USA USA!"

Most Actors who make major legacies in film, act in American and British Films most of the time. Not saying they are only American or British actors, because that's not the case. I'm talking where the films are made and where they come from.

Forgive me for saying England.

That's such a Yankian way of looking at things. Are you talking commercial appeal or critical worth?

I just did a search for a recent poll on such matters: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19078948

Now, it was conducted by the British Film Institute, but it quizzed "846 distributors, critics and academics". Here's the top ten (and **** me, I don't agree with No.1, but there you go)...

1. Vertigo (Hitch****, 1958)
2. Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
3. Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953)
4. La Regle du Jeu (Renoir, 1939)
5. Sunrise: a Song for Two Humans (Murnau, 1927)
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)
7. The Searchers (Ford, 1956)
8. Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929)
9. The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer, 1927)
10. 8½ (Fellini, 1963)

Half of that list isn't even in English. It's okay sitting there with your popcorn and your second extra portions of fries, firing off your gun and going "if dey don't speak good English like us Americans do, they don't count for **** - USA USA USA!" but you'll find a lot of those foreign bastards make good movies.

I take it you never saw Awakenings or Cape Fear.....

Cape Fear wasn't massively outside the box, was it?

Awakenings, a decent call. But he's not Mr. Variety, is he? And I say that as a DeNiro fan. (though a DeNiro fan who acknowledges he does ANYTHING these days)

Robert DeNiro was great in Taxi Driver too. He should have won the Best Actor Oscar for that one.

It's a great film, and he's great in it, but how does that contradict my "De Niro only acts within a certain range" assertion?

[_original_]

Can we get a mention for Christian Bale?

The Fighter
Batman trilogy
American Psycho (his best performance IMO)
The Machinist
The Prestige
ect.

The guy is a modern day great, one of my favorite current actors along with Leo, JGL, Tom Hardy, and Fassbender.