Game of actors and films
OK, let’s play a game.
Make a list of your 10 favourite actors.
Or, 5 (if 10 is too many).
They can be all male or all female or a combination of male and female.
They could be transgender or non-binary or non-tertiary.
ANYWAYS….
I think you get the picture.
Pick your list of 10 (or 5 or whatever); and then
choose NOT necessarily the actor’s most famous film (or even your favourite film of the actor); but
another that is otherwise quirky or meaningful to you; and
your REASON//REVIEW for choosing that movie
LET ME GIVE MY EXAMPLES….
1) MARLON BRANDO:
FAMOUS//FAVOURITES: (Godfather 1//Apocalypse Now)
QUIRKY: “On the Waterfront” - Brando under the direction of Elia Kazan completely transformed the nature of film acting. His interactions with Rod Steiger were mesmerizing. The scene in the car when Steiger pulls a gun on him (generally known as the “I Could Have Been A Contender” speech) is one of the most famous in film history. A lot of great actors who came after Brando have cited the influence of his acting on their careers: James Dean, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson, Robert Duvall, James Caan, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro (and many others).
2) DENZEL WASHINGTON
FAMOUS//FAVOURITES: (Malcolm X//Training Day//Flight)
QUIRKY: “Crimson Tide” - a cracking action thriller mainly set in a nuclear submarine. The toe-to-toe heavyweight match-up between him and Gene Hackman is a joy to behold! It was like a Calling Card for Denzil to the world as if saying: “If You Didn’t Know Before, Now You Know, People!”
And, as the ever-watchable Hackman himself said after filming: “Washington is a terrific actor!”
3) EDDIE MURPHY
FAMOUS//FAVOURITES: (Beverly Hills Cop 1//Coming to America/Shrek)
QUIRKY: ‘Trading Places” - a great ensemble comedy derived from “The Prince and the Pauper” storyline: also starring Dan Ackroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Denholm Elliot, Don Ameche, Ralph Bellamy and directed by John Landis. A great cast, brilliant script, wonderful performances and superb direction. A film that is the collective sum of all its parts and not dependent - like some of Murphy’s later films - on Eddie simply “doing his thang.”
4) MERYL STREEP
FAMOUS//FAVOURITES: (The Iron Lady//The Devil Wears Prada)
QUIRKY: “Sophie’s Choice” - a heart-rending film about a Polish lady caught up in a Nazi concentration camp. The choice in the title being the dilemma she faces about choosing (under duress) which one of her children should be saved and which one would be forced to go to the gas chamber. Streep is utterly convincing in the role and totally inhabits the character. The legend is that she learnt Polish for the role. Whatever the truth of that reality, it is a master-class of a performance.
5) RICHARD BURTON
FAMOUS//FAVOURITES: (Cleopatra//Where Eagles Dare//The Wild Geese)
QUIRKY: “Becket”: Good friends and Shakespearean theatre legends, Burton and Peter O’Toole act together on film for the first time in this movie based on the eponymous play by Jean Anouilh about the relationship between friends and later rivals King Henry II of England and Archbishop Thomas a-Becket. Also starred the great Sir John Gielgud and the mighty Sir Donald Wolfit. The lead actors ( in deference to and out of respect for their senior co-stars) tempered their normal rabble-rousing to deliver one of the best performances of their respective careers. A great and compelling tete-a-tete.
JUST A BIT OF TRIVIA: John Gielgud used to tease them and get their competitive juices flowing by asking which of them was the most famous. Burton had just completed ‘Cleopatra” (with Elizabeth Taylor) and their affair on set had caused a global scandal. O’Toole had taken the world by storm with his captivating “Lawrence of Arabia” directed by David Lean the year previously.
6) AL PACINO
FAMOUS//FAVORITES: (Godfather 1//Godfather 2//Scarface//Heat)
QUIRKY: “Serpico”: Pacino plays a real life cop, Frank Serpico. A one-man army fighting a near-impossible battle against insidious and institutionalized police corruption in 1960s and 1970s New York. Coming between the two Godfather films of 1972 and 1974, it marked Pacino’s confirmation as a star and proved (beyond doubt) that this phenomenal actor was here to stay. In acting, they say: “the eyes never lie.” And, no performer exemplifies this premise better than Al Pacino.
7) DUSTIN HOFFMAN
FAMOUS//FAVOURITES: (Tootsie//Rain Man)
QUIRKY: “Marathon Man”: In the late 1960’s and in the 1970s, Dustin Hoffman was on fire. Classic films followed in quick succession: The Graduate (directed by Mike Nicols), Midnight Cowboy (helmed by John Schlesinger), Straw Dogs, Lenny, Papillion (with Steve McQueen), Kramer vs Kramer (alongside Meryl Streep), All The President’s Men (co-starring Robert Redford).
In the latter film, he plays the Washington Post reporter Bernstein to Robert Redford’s Woodward, both of whom exposed corruption in the White House and brought down Richard Nixon in the scandal forever referred to as ‘Watergate’.
So, why not test himself against arguably the greatest actor in the world, Lord (Laurence) Olivier in “Marathon Man”?
Olivier and Hoffman came from very different schools of acting: the former, an aficionado of Shakespeare and grand theatre whilst Hoffman was film and method acting to his core. This set the stage for their most famous scene in the movie: the teeth torture scene. Olivier was playing a sadist, Nazi dentist and Hoffman is the wrong man in the wrong place being punished for events beyond his control.
Count how many times and in how many different ways Olivier says: “IS IT SAFE?” (in the scene). Go on - check it out on YouTube!
To prepare himself to be in the right mental state to perform the scene effectively, Hoffman decided not to sleep for a few days before it. So, in NYC, he would attend (the famous-at-the-time) Studio 54 nightclub all night and then come straight to the set (in the morning) to shoot. In true method acting fashion. He also liked to improvise whereas Olivier preferred - like most actors - the comfort blanket of a learnt script.
This went on for a number of days until finally an exasperated Olivier could take no more.
“Dear boy,” he turned grandly to Hoffman on one occasion. ‘Have you ever considered just acting?”
8) TOM CRUISE
FAMOUS//FAVOURITES: (Top Gun//Mission Impossible Franchise//Rain Man//Jerry Maguire)
QUIRKY 1 AND 2: “The Color of Money” and “Magnolia”
“Color of Money”: A supposed follow-up to Paul Newman’s “The Hustler” from the 1960s, it sees Tom Cruise (Vincent) playing Newman’s (Fast Eddie’s) protege as a cocky but not-too-bright pool hustler. Directed by Martin Scorsese with his usual dazzling flair but as a less signature piece of work, it is a fitting metaphor for an Acting Great passing over his mantle to the Young Pretender. Say what you like about Cruise (and many people tend do) but you have to hand it to him: he doesn’t shy away from tough challenges. Whether it’s embarking on the most dangerous stunts or testing himself with the best of the best, he has done it all in a long and distinguished career.
“Magnolia” - Against type, the Cruiser plays a coarse Life and Performance Coach who intermittently shouts “Respect The C**k” at his audience. Creatively, what’s not to like?! Certainly can’t accuse him of not being innovative in his choice of roles.
9) SIGOURNEY WEAVER
FAMOUS//FAVOURITES: (Ghostbusters//Alien//Aliens//Working Girl)
QUIRKY: “Dave”: Remember this film? She plays the First Lady married to Kevin Kline’s President (Bill Mitchell) who becomes incapacitated after a sexual assignation. So, some dodgy advisers have to find a look-alike to pretend to be the President whilst they run the country and decide what to do. Enter the eponymous “Dave” (also played by Kevin Kline) who is coerced/encouraged to help out his country at a time of urgent need. A comedy such as this requires performers of the most impeccable skill and timing. So, Weaver’s straight-laced and dead-panned Ellen Mitchell brilliantly compliments both the cold and priapic President as well as the ‘heart-of-gold’ Everyman that is “Dave”.
10) ANGELA BASSETT
FAMOUS//FAVOURITES: (Malcolm X//Black Panther)
QUIRKY: “Waiting To Exhale”: A rare thing for the time. A film lead - starring 4 black women , directed by a black director (Forest Whitaker) with a soundtrack choreographed by the legendary “Babyface” (the R&B maestro) and adapted from the book by Terry McMillan. It tells the story of four female friends and the changing fortunes in their lives as they navigate their interactions with men and other people around them.
A film that was highly anticipated, it gave black women (and the wider community) a chance to see themselves represented on screen away from the habitual gangster and hood backdrop. Bassett’s performance as Tina Turner in “What’s Love Got To Do With It” a couple of years earlier had made her a star. This role (alongside the luminous Whitney Houston) cemented her industry status.