100 Greatest Performances of all Time, From 'Premiere' magazine Options

[Zoe]

My favourite film magazine Premiere has published it's list of the 100 Greatest Film Performances of all Time and it makes for interesting reading.

1. Peter O'Toole as T.E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
2. Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront (1954)
3. Meryl Streep as Sophie Zawistowska in Sophie's Choice (1982)
4. Al Pacino as Sonny Wortzik in Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
5. Bette Davis as Margo Channing in All About Eve (1950)
6. James Cagney as George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
7. Dustin Hoffman as "Ratso" Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy (1969)
8. James Stewart as George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
9. Gene Wilder as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein in Young Frankenstein (1974)
10. Robert De Niro as Jake La Motta in Raging Bull (1980)
11. Daniel Day-Lewis as Christy Brown in My Left Foot (1989)
12. Jack Nicholson as "Badass" Buddusky in The Last Detail (1973)
13. Katharine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter (1968)
14. Robert Duvall as Mac Sledge in Tender Mercies (1983)
15. Tom Hanks as Josh Baskin in Big (1988)
16. Cary Grant as T.R. Devlin in Notorious (1946)
17. Denzel Washington as Malcolm X in Malcolm X (1992)
18. Emily Watson as Bess McNeill in Breaking the Waves (1996)
19. Paul Newman as Frank Galvin in The Verdict (1982)
20. Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II (1974)
21. Giulietta Masina as Cabiria in Nights of Cabiria (1957)
22. Johnny Depp as Edward Scissorhands in Edward Scissorhands (1990)
23. Russell Crowe as Jeffrey Wigand in The Insider (1999)
24. Humphrey Bogart as Fred C. Dobbs in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
25. Greta Garbo as Ninotchka in Ninotchka (1939)
26. Maria Falconetti as Joan of Arc in The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
27. Marlon Brando as Paul in The Last Tango in Paris (1972)
28. Rosalind Russell as Hildy Johnson in His Girl Friday (1940)
29. Peter Sellers as Chance the Gardener in Being There (1979)
30. James Stewart as John "Scottie" Ferguson in Vertigo (1958)
31. Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles in Ray (2004)
32. Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
33. Dustin Hoffman as Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie (1982)
34. Buster Keaton as Johnny Gray in The General (1927)
35. Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote in Capote (2005)
36. Faye Dunaway as Evelyn Cross Mulwray in Chinatown (1974)
37. Gene Hackman as Harry Caul in The Conversation (1974)
38. Carole Lombard as Maria Tura in To Be or Not to Be (1942)
39. Laurence Olivier as Richard III in Richard III (1955)
40. Nicole Kidman as Suzanne Stone Maretto in To Die For (1995)
41. Samuel L. Jackson as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction (1994)
42. Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976)
43. James Dean as Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
44. Charlie Chapman as a Tramp in City Lights (1931)
45. Reese Witherspoon as Tracy Flick in Election (1999)
46. Tom Hanks as Chuck Noland in Cast Away (2001)
47. Jack Nicholson as Randle Patrick McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
48. Bill Murray as Phil Connors in Groundhog Day (1993)
49. Liv Ullmann as Elisabet Vogler in Persona (1966)
50. Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon (1941)
51. Henry Fonda as Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
52. Emma Thompson as Miss Kenton in The Remains of the Day (1993)
53. Daniel Day-Lewis as Bill "The Butcher" Cutting in Gangs of New York (2002)
54. Katharine Hepburn as Tracy Lord in The Philadelphia Story (1940)
55. Sidney Poitier as Virgil Tibbs in In the Heat of the Night (1967)
56. Jodie Foster as Sarah Tobias in The Accused (1988)
57. Max Von Sydow as Lasse Karlsson in Pelle the Conqueror (1987)
58. Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in Aliens (1986)
59. Catherine Deneuve as Severine Serizy in Belle de Jour (1967)
60. Diane Keaton as Annie Hall in Annie Hall (1977)
61. Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth in Schindler's List (1993)
62. Gary Oldman as Sid Vicious in Sid & Nancy (1986)
63. Gena Rowlands as Mabel Longhetti in A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
64. Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler (1961)
65. Jack Lemmon as Jerry/Daphne in Some Like It Hot (1959)
66. Holly Hunter as Jane Craig in Broadcast News (1987)
67. Spencer Tracy as Henry Drummond in Inherit the Wind (1960)
68. Cary Grant as Dr. David Huxley in Bringing Up Baby (1938)
69. Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard (1950)
70. Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
71. Meryl Streep as Karen Silkwood in Silkwood (1983)
72. Judy Garland as Esther Blodgett, A.K.A. Vicki Lester in A Star Is Born (1954)
73. John Travolta as Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever (1977)
74. Madeline Kahn as Lili Von Shtupp in Blazing Saddles (1974)
75. Julie Christie as Diana Scott in Darling (1965)
76. Burt Lancaster as J.J. Hunsecker in Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
77. Morgan Freeman as Leo Smalls Jr., A.K.A. Fast Black in Street Smart (1987)
78. Toshiro Mifune as Sanjuro Kuwabatake in Yojimbo (1961)
79. Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
80. Jeanne Moreau as Catherine in Jules and Jim (1962)
81. Kate Winslet as Clementine Kruczynski in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
82. George C. Scott as General George S. Patton Jr. in Patton (1970)
83. Hilary Swank as Brandon Teena in Boys Don't Cry (1999)
84. Anjelica Huston as Lilly Dillon in The Grifters (1990)
85. Jessica Lange as Frances Farmer in Frances (1982)
86. Robert Walker as Bruno Anthony in Strangers on a Train (1951)
87. John Wayne as Ethan Edwards in The Searchers (1956)
88. Christopher Walken as Nick Chevotarevich in The Deer Hunter (1978)
89. Gong Li as Juxian in Farewell My Concubine (1993)
90. Jeff Bridges as Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski in The Big Lebowski (1998)
91. Jane Fonda as Bree Daniels in Klute (1971)
92. Clint Eastwood as "Dirty" Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry (1971)
93. Joan Crawford as Mildred Pierce Beragon in Mildred Pierce (1945)
94. Peter Lorre as Hans Beckert in M (1931)
95. Angela Bassett as Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It? (1993)
96. Judy Holliday as Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday (1950)
97. Ben Kingsley as Don Logan in Sexy Beast (2001)
98. Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity (1944)
99. Steve Martin as Navin Johnson in The Jerk (1979)
100. Malcolm McDowell as Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange (1971)

You can read their reasoning (written in their consistently intelligent style) in the above link.

So, thoughts?

[Jumpin Jack Flas...]

I'm suprised there is no nomination for "Red" in shawshank.

[Crutch]

Street Smart?! O my goodness!

And they forgot Robert Duvall in The Godfather!

This post has been edited by Crutch: Apr 23 2006, 01:49 PM

[Zoe]

I'm suprised there is no nomination for "Red" in shawshank.

I'm not, Freeman is massively overrated and that's certainly not in the 100 best performances ever.

[Crutch]

I'm not, Freeman is massively overrated and that's certainly not in the 100 best performances ever.

Good girl.

[Henry Krinkle]

  44. Charlie Chapman as a Tramp in City Lights (1931)

Didn't think much of his performance. I don't even remember him, to be honest.

[Dorf]

I'm not nearly enough of a film buff to critique the list but I am glad about #46 and #97 because I did really enjoy those performance.

I think I may use this as a "To See" list, as there are a few films on there I have never sat down and watched properly.

[gulfcoast_highwa...]

Good list. It got to number 70 before I called 'foul'.

[Jumpin Jack Flas...]

I cant think of any other performance that is amazing, but I remember him being perfectly laid back in that film.

[Zoe]

What's so hard about laid back? I can do laid back, I'm doing it right now.

[Jumpin Jack Flas...]

Like usually you're laid back but there is always a self awarness that people have. Red didn't. He was supposed to be cool and laid back all the time. like when he loses the bet at the beginning. Is this an arguement I'm doomed to lose?

[gulfcoast_highwa...]

He deserves at least some credit for his final scene in front of the parole board. He's majestic in that.

[MissingPlanet]

9. Gene Wilder as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein in Young Frankenstein (1974)

Got to take issue with this one - seeing as the film is a comedy, I'd expect a top 10 performance to have made me laugh.

70. Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Two words - Brian Cox.

58. Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in Aliens (1986)

Eh? Solid performance in a solid movie, but not top 100.

79. Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

I'm not arguing with Depp's abilities, but is this really his second best performance? I would rate his performances in Fear & Loathing, Dead Man and Ed Wood above this.

35. Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote in Capote (2005)

I haven't seen Capote, but there should be more of Hoffman in this top 100. Love Liza is the best I've seen from him so far.

The only glaring omission for me is Ellen Burstyn in Requiem For A Dream, but I know there are many here who will disagree.

[Zoe]

My favourite performance of all time is a little high up, but I'm glad it's featured. As ever the writers at Premiere express what makes it truly great more succinctly than I could ever dream of.

61. Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth, Schindler’s List (1993)

Even though Fiennes gained weight for the role of a Nazi concentration camp commandant—which heightened the disparity between Goeth’s depraved lifestyle and the starvation in the camp—his youthful face and blanched blue eyes project the restlessness of a driven man. As Goeth orders the depopulation of Jews from Krakow or beats a servant girl he’s attracted to, Fiennes reveals the complexity of his character—not with a tortured conscience but with Goeth’s insecurity about his own greatness. When a young inmate confesses he can’t scrub the stains off of Goeth’s bathtub, the commandant excuses him with the words, “I pardon you.” Alone, he looks at himself in the mirror and repeats the line like a narcissistic Roman emperor. Moments later, he shoots the kid dead from a distance.

I really couldn't have said it better myself.

[Crutch]

Two words - Brian Cox.

One word - Nah!

I'm not arguing with Depp's abilities, but is this really his second best performance? I would rate his performances in Fear & Loathing, Dead Man and Ed Wood above this.

Sure, but you should keep in mind how Depp saved this whole flic to go yonkers, so it has to be areally outstanding performance.