Best acting in a movie?

Jimmy Higgins said:

southernhybrid said:

One of the my all time favorite movies is the comedic drama, "The Apartment" starring Jack Lemmon. I also loved Lemmon in "The Odd Couple", "How to Murder your Wife", "Some like it Hot" and lots of others. I just can't remember the names or which ones were my other favorites because I'm old. Lemmon won many awards and could do drama or comedy extremely well.

"Days of Wine and Roses" was pretty good too, from what I remember. Sad, but well acted. I haven't seen that one in many years. Oh wait.. "Glenngarry Garry, Glen Ross" was excellent as well and Alex Baldwin played a great asshole, which is what he's always been good at.

I haven't watched a new movie since around 2000, so all of my favs are going to be old school.

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I think I've seen 30 Lemmon films. Inherit the Wind was really good (TV version with George C. Scott and Beau Bridges), more subtle than the film. I love his acting, but I wouldn't say he was the tops in acting. He just has such a pleasant charisma (except Day of Wine and Roses which was hard to watch and I can't stand The Odd Couple). The Wackiest Ship in the Navy is an odd name to a film that wasn't that wacky. I'd say Save the Tiger, The Front Page, and The Apartment are his three best. Oh and Missing. Damn, his movies were usually great.

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Glengarry Glen Ross is a 1992 American drama film directed by James Foley and written by David Mamet, based on his 1984 Pulitzer Prize–winning play of the same name. The film depicts two days in the lives of four real estate salesmen, and their increasing desperation when the corporate office sends a motivational trainer to threaten them that all but the top two salesmen will be fired within one week.

Like the play, the film is notorious for its use of profanity, leading the cast to refer to the film jokingly as "Death of a Fuckin' Salesman".[3] The title of the film comes from the names of two of the real estate developments being peddled by the salesmen characters: Glengarry Highlands and Glen Ross Farms.

The film was critically acclaimed and is widely considered one of the best films of the 1990s. The world premiere was held at the 49th Venice Film Festival, where Jack Lemmon was awarded the Volpi Cup for Best Actor. Al Pacino was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Yet, the film was a box office failure for grossing $10.7 million in North America against a $12.5 million budget. It has since become a cult classic.

Plot​

The film depicts two days in the lives of four real estate salesmen who are supplied with leads—the names and phone numbers of prospects—and use deceitful and dubious sales tactics. Many of the leads rationed out by office manager John Williamson lack either the money or the desire to actually invest in land. The firm sends Blake, one of its top salesmen, to motivate the team. In a torrent of verbal abuse, he gives them notice of termination and tells them that only the top two deal-closers of the month (with one week to go) will keep their jobs and gain access to promising leads for the Glengarry Highlands development.

Shelley "The Machine" Levene is a once-successful salesman in a long-running slump and with a daughter in the hospital. Desperate to keep his job, Levene tries to persuade Williamson to give him some of the Glengarry leads, but Williamson refuses. Levene tries first to charm Williamson, then to threaten him, and finally to bribe him. Williamson is willing to sell some of the prime leads, but demands cash in advance,

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Jimmy Higgins said:

I think Williams doesn't get enough credit for his acting. He could play off the walls nuts and sensitive/awkward exceptionally well. He is in one of the Season Two episodes of Homicide Life on the Streets and he just slams it with his performance. But that is TV. Popeye, Hook, Good Will Hunting. Same guy.

Which then leads me to considering Robert DeNiro in Awakenings.

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Jimmy Higgins said:

I think Williams doesn't get enough credit for his acting. He could play off the walls nuts and sensitive/awkward exceptionally well. He is in one of the Season Two episodes of Homicide Life on the Streets and he just slams it with his performance. But that is TV. Popeye, Hook, Good Will Hunting. Same guy.

Which then leads me to considering Robert DeNiro in Awakenings.

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ZiprHead said:

Jimmy Higgins said:

I think Williams doesn't get enough credit for his acting. He could play off the walls nuts and sensitive/awkward exceptionally well. He is in one of the Season Two episodes of Homicide Life on the Streets and he just slams it with his performance. But that is TV. Popeye, Hook, Good Will Hunting. Same guy.

Which then leads me to considering Robert DeNiro in Awakenings.

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My wife really loved Robin Williams. She took it pretty hard when he committed suicide. She has never watched him in anything since.

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Ford said:

ZiprHead said:

Jimmy Higgins said:

I think Williams doesn't get enough credit for his acting. He could play off the walls nuts and sensitive/awkward exceptionally well. He is in one of the Season Two episodes of Homicide Life on the Streets and he just slams it with his performance. But that is TV. Popeye, Hook, Good Will Hunting. Same guy.

Which then leads me to considering Robert DeNiro in Awakenings.

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My wife really loved Robin Williams. She took it pretty hard when he committed suicide. She has never watched him in anything since.

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For me, the movie "The Fisher King" was like a convergence of sorts. An early serious role for Robin Williams, a Terry Gilliam film, AND Jeff Bridges as a down and out radio host (something I know a bit about)? Sign me up.

I remember exactly where I was when I heard about his passing on my car radio. Just on the outskirts of Flagstaff in the middle of a driving rainstorm.

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Thomas II said:

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Jimmy Higgins said:

I think Williams doesn't get enough credit for his acting. He could play off the walls nuts and sensitive/awkward exceptionally well. He is in one of the Season Two episodes of Homicide Life on the Streets and he just slams it with his performance. But that is TV. Popeye, Hook, Good Will Hunting. Same guy.

Which then leads me to considering Robert DeNiro in Awakenings.

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Ford said:

ZiprHead said:

Jimmy Higgins said:

I think Williams doesn't get enough credit for his acting. He could play off the walls nuts and sensitive/awkward exceptionally well. He is in one of the Season Two episodes of Homicide Life on the Streets and he just slams it with his performance. But that is TV. Popeye, Hook, Good Will Hunting. Same guy.

Which then leads me to considering Robert DeNiro in Awakenings.

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My wife really loved Robin Williams. She took it pretty hard when he committed suicide. She has never watched him in anything since.

Click to expand...

For me, the movie "The Fisher King" was like a convergence of sorts. An early serious role for Robin Williams, a Terry Gilliam film, AND Jeff Bridges as a down and out radio host (something I know a bit about)? Sign me up.

I remember exactly where I was when I heard about his passing on my car radio. Just on the outskirts of Flagstaff in the middle of a driving rainstorm.

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Spacetime Inhabitant said:

Jimmy Higgins said:

I think Williams doesn't get enough credit for his acting. He could play off the walls nuts and sensitive/awkward exceptionally well. He is in one of the Season Two episodes of Homicide Life on the Streets and he just slams it with his performance. But that is TV. Popeye, Hook, Good Will Hunting. Same guy.

Which then leads me to considering Robert DeNiro in Awakenings.

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Ford said:

ZiprHead said:

Jimmy Higgins said:

I think Williams doesn't get enough credit for his acting. He could play off the walls nuts and sensitive/awkward exceptionally well. He is in one of the Season Two episodes of Homicide Life on the Streets and he just slams it with his performance. But that is TV. Popeye, Hook, Good Will Hunting. Same guy.

Which then leads me to considering Robert DeNiro in Awakenings.

Click to expand...

My wife really loved Robin Williams. She took it pretty hard when he committed suicide. She has never watched him in anything since.

Click to expand...

For me, the movie "The Fisher King" was like a convergence of sorts. An early serious role for Robin Williams, a Terry Gilliam film, AND Jeff Bridges as a down and out radio host (something I know a bit about)? Sign me up.

I remember exactly where I was when I heard about his passing on my car radio. Just on the outskirts of Flagstaff in the middle of a driving rainstorm.

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Yes, he is well known for his comedy where he is very good, but one can really see how excellent he was in his serious roles such as The Fisher King and The Dead Poets Society.

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southernhybrid said:

Did you ever see the film, I mentioned earlier, Glenn Garry Glen Ross? It has some of my favorite stars in it, including Jack Lemmon and Al Pacino.

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ideologyhunter said:

southernhybrid said:

Did you ever see the film, I mentioned earlier, Glenn Garry Glen Ross? It has some of my favorite stars in it, including Jack Lemmon and Al Pacino.

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GGG Ross is exceptional -- how many films can boast of a hand-picked cast with seven incredible actors, playing to their strengths? It is the definition of ensemble cast, just as Dinner at Eight was in '33 and Citizen Kane in '41. Al Pacino as smooth, sharklike Ricky; Jack Lemmon as Shelley, the oiliest salesman, the kind you hate to ask in; Alan Arkin as a man beaten down by anxiety and unable to cope; Alec Baldwin as the corporate hammer; Ed Harris as a man boiling with rage; Kevin Spacey as the heartless office manager; Jonathan Pryce as the hapless easy mark. Virtually every line reading is memorable. The only thing that keeps me from watching this more than once in two, three years is that the film has the heart of an ice cube. When you leave it, you've seen a couple of lives wrecked and the ones who prevail living hollow lives.

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southernhybrid said:

Let's see, I think. Henry Fonda and Ed Begley were in it, as well as EG Marshall and Jack Klugman etc. It was made in 1957. If you've never seen it, I'd put it on my must watch list.

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