Great acting performances you've seen

[Samuel Reyes]

The title should speak for itself.

Three words: Anthony Perkins, Psycho.
He deserved an Oscar for the final scene of that movie alone, such a great performance.

 

[GwenRaiden]

Robert DeNiro, Taxi Driver. Travis Bickle as a paranoid, loner vigilante is one of the best things I've ever seen. His social isolation and social ineptness (especially towards women), and how he is quite clearly is suffering some sort of PTSD from Vietnam and his difficulty in trying to re-enter society, all make an antihero that is so hard to take your eyes off of. He acts on the dark feelings in his head, his fantasies of violence towards injustice come true - and he rescues a child from prostitution. At the end of the film you're cheering him on, even though he's practically insane and so is his plan of action. DeNiro absolutely amazes me everytime I see it.

 

[Blaze]

Charlize Theron in just about anything she does.

Hilary Swank in Boys don't cry.

Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips (just that last scene, it was unbelievable acting, Barkhad Abdi also put a great performance in that movie)

Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister (although many actors on GoT are fantastic, I couldn't imagine anyone else playing Tyrion)

 

[Skanky Vamp]

To me it's a toss-up between Robert Mitchum in Night of the Hunter, and Sidney Poitier in In the Heat of the Night.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

Closer to home, have you ever seen a better performance than Hinton Battle as Sweet in Once More with Feeling 6ABB07"? He gets the music right, he gets the choreography right, he gets the speaking cadence right and he delivers the best performance ever on the small screen.

 

[thetopher]

Micheal Fassbender as a young Magneto AND also David in 'Prometheus'- seriously his performance is the only reason to watch that heap.

Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock- defined the role for a generation imo.

Tom Hiddleston- Henry V

Leonardo DiCaprio in 'The Basketball Diaries. There he impressed me.

Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List.

Anyone else prefer Brian Cox's performance as Hannibal Lector in 'Manhunter' to than Anthony Hopkins' efforts? I found his performance in 'Silence of the Lambs' to be really cartoonish, not at all like a real-world serial killer. He gets a bit better in 'Hannibal/Red Dragon'.

 

[white avenger]

Jackie Gleason played a mute Frenchman in the movie "Gigot." No jokes, no slapstick, no, "And awa-a-a-aa-a-a-a-a-y we go!" None of the things that were his trademarks. Without one single word of dialog, his performance was brilliant as well as totally unexpected.

Robin Williams in "The Dead Poet's Society."

Yul Brynner in "The King And I."

Charlton Heston in anything that he ever did.

John Wayne in "True Grit."

Spencer Tracy in "The Old Man And The Sea."

Bogart and Hepburn in "The African Queen."

Leonard Nimoy in Spock's death scene in "The Wrath Of Khan."

Clint Eastwood in "Million Dollar Baby."

Barbara Streisand in "The Way We Were."

Nick Nolte in "The Prince Of Tides."

 

[GwenRaiden]

Sam Rockwell as Chuck Barris, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Vincent Price as Edward Lionheart, Theatre of Blood

Mia Farrow as Rosemary Woodhouse, Rosemary's Baby

Alan Arkin as Yossarian, Catch-22

Al Pacino as Sonny Wortzik, Dog Day Afternoon

Dustin Hoffman as Babe, Marathon Man

Steve Buscemi as Enoch Thompson, Boardwalk Empire

Kevin Spacey as Lester Burnham, American Beauty

 

[Blaze]

Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black

 

[bespangeled]

Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black

You stole my answer - this great minds think alike think is getting out of hand!😀

 

[Samuel Reyes]

Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Watching him go from (somewhat) sympathetic hobo to heartless monster was quite the transformation.

Jim Carrey in The Truman Show, Man on the Moon, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. His portrayal of Andy Kaufman in MOTM was spot-on, and I thought he was really likable in TTS.

Gary Sinise never fails to entertain playing Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump.

 

[bespangeled]

@Mr Trick: Really need to check that show out, its just waiting for me to do so!

It is the best of the best - utterly riveting. Not only are the characters amazing, the plots are unpredictable, and once you think you know what is going on you are about to have a rude awakening. I thought I would have a real problem with one actress carrying so many roles but when I'm watching I don't even see it. Everyone I know who watches it says the exact same thing. Each of the clones is so complete, and so completely different - nature vs nurture on steroids.

 

[Mr Trick]

Juilatte Binoche in Three Colours Blue

Emily Watson in Hilery and Jackie

Gene Tierney in Leave Her to Heaven and Laura

Kate Winslett in Heavenly Creatures, Holy Smoke and Revolutionary Road

Jack Lemmon in The Apartment, Some Like It Hot and The Days of Wine and Roses

Kristin Scott Thomas in I've Loved You So Long

Issabelle Hurpert in The Piano Teacher

Marlon Brando in The Godfather, On the Waterfront and A Street Car Named Desire

Harry Dean Stanton in Repo Man, Wild at Heart, Pretty in Pink, Wise Blood and Big Love

Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet

Isabella Rossellini in Blue Velvet

John Hurt in The Elephant Man

Al Pachino in Crusing

Robert De Niro in King of Comedy

 

[Buffy Summers]

Tom Hiddleston as Coriolanus

🙂

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Kristen Stewart in The Messengers

Paul Bettany in Legion

Elisabeth Harnois in Solstice

Kate Hudson in Almost Famous

 

[Mr Trick]

Julianne Moore in Safe, Boogie Nights and Far From Heaven.

 

[Mr Trick]

Jack Nicholson in Chinatown and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Laura Linney in Primal Fear, The Truman Show and You Can Count on Me

Katherine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby and The African Queen

 

[thetopher]

Jason Stathem actually losing in a fight to the totally non-threatening, growly, porky Vin Diesel in Furious 7 is some of the finest acting he's ever done. 😀