Best Acting Scenes.... EVER!

Scots Taffer on 7/3/2008 at 00:19

I've been on a movie trip recently (lol, do I ever stop? I love cinema) and revisiting a lot of old favourites as well as discovering new classics that I'm sure I'm going to watch many times over. There's something so special about a movie that's so close to being perfect, it can encapsulate so many things - what's right about life, what's wrong about life, the life you live, the life you don't, the grand scope and awesome imagination of humanity, and the ugly truth and violent underbelly of human nature.

I find great emotional solace in a fiercely connected actor and the delivery of their dialogue, or even as most demonstrate in the clips that follow, their sheer physical presence. It's a magical thing and just rips me completely out of my seat and puts me in their world.

Add your favourite acting scenes, with a youtube clip if you can find it.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3OK0KgXjmk) Ellen Burstyn's monologue about getting old from Requiem for a Dream

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN8wQJqk_mc) Guy Pearce's monologue on time from Memento

Before he started chewing scenery, Al Pacino's turns as Michael Corleone in The Godfather movies provide some of the best acting around - (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it_9yqEKA60) the end of the Godfather with Kate, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AOOdU2bIN8) the Fredo scene from II, and another which I can't find a clip for that I love, is the scene after Michael's had his jaw broken by the police chief and he's sitting in the seat calmly talking about who they have to kill to win.

Massive spoilers for There Will Be Blood in the ending scene, known in internet circles as (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xncvvHM_NU8) I DrinkYour Milkshake with the utterly masterful Daniel Day Lewis.

Clive Owen's (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xCVkL8YRpA) CAVEMAN scene in Closer, spoilers again.

And of course, no discussion of acting is complete without the undeniably brilliant (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USnM-ee06pg) telling of the U.S.S. Indianapolis by Quint (Robert Shaw) in Jaws.

Aerothorn on 7/3/2008 at 00:31

The entirety of Gene Hackman's performance in The Royal Tenembaums comes to mind, though I know you're not going to agree with me on that one.

Aja on 7/3/2008 at 02:51

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErQ86RKY0FI) Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive

though it's even better if you've been watching the from the beginning.

And the masturbation scene is devastating; no youtube though :(

Scots Taffer on 7/3/2008 at 03:33

That's a great scene, Aja, it almost makes me want to sit through that horrible movie again.

Sulphur on 7/3/2008 at 03:48

Quote Posted by Scots Taffer

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3OK0KgXjmk) Ellen Burstyn's monologue about getting old from Requiem for a Dream

Fuck. I read the thread title and that was the first one that came to my mind.

everybody in that movie was amazing, but her performance just broke my heart. Damn movie scarred me for life. :(

Scots Taffer on 7/3/2008 at 03:52

No ending in the history of film has left so thoroughly shattered, drained and broken by the side of the road than Requiem. And yes, the performances were all something special - even Leto, for fuck's sake.

Aja on 7/3/2008 at 03:53

Quote Posted by Scots Taffer

That's a great scene, Aja, it almost makes me want to sit through that horrible movie again.

I don't know how you can say that. It is an absolutely brilliant film in terms of subtlety of story, acting, cinematography, soundtrack, and Lynch's uncanny ability draw the viewer so hopelessly into his bizarre landscapes.

Requiem for a Dream has been on my to-see list for a while, though from what everyone tells me I will be in pieces afterwards.

Scots Taffer on 7/3/2008 at 03:56

Not to derail this thread but I'll answer quickly, part of the problem I had with Mulholland Drive might have been that he was continuing the same structural lark that he established with Lost Highway and I had grown tired of it. Also, until that point I felt like Lynch's work was best viewed very tired at the creeping edge of night and morning where all the crazy nightmare-fuelled shit that gets out of his head onto paper makes the most dream-logic sense, whereas it just heightened my confusion.

I'll fully admit that there are great scenes in that movie, you linked one, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6rqrGqj1C0) I'll link another but as is often the case with a lot of Lynch's work, there isn't as much of a narrative as there is an overall feel and vibe to his work. Some of it is very ugly. I don't like Blue Velvet, at all. It's just too much that's wrong with the world.

And Aja, you must see Requiem for a Dream, it's a masterpiece but also utterly draining. The last thirty or so minutes are a full-on sensory assault.

Jackablade on 7/3/2008 at 04:00

Scots, Mulholland Drive is, like, an amazing movie.:mad:

Ko0K on 7/3/2008 at 04:08

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCLUyfHhbG4) The most intense scene in Training Day.

There are a lot of things going on in this scene, but focus on Ethan Hawke and see if you're not convinced that's how you'd be in that exact situation.