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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
 Posted - 04/25/2007 : 02:50:29 AM
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Last time I linked to [url]http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/[/url] it was regarding their ridiculous fan driven list of favorite sci films.
This time I bring your attention to another category: 100 Greatest Movie Actors.
(Note that a direct link to the DDD Movie Actors page is not available. Simply travel to home page and click on the Movie Lists link; you'll find it eventually. I'll copy and and post the complete list below my post.)
For starters, the clueless denizens of DDD chose as the greatest actor of all time: Marlon Brando. Brando, for my money, has to be the most overrated actor of our time. Yes, I will concede, he ushered the Method onto movie screens (along with Montgomery Clift). So what? Brando was a ham. Even before Brando turned into a walking joke, he never was that great an actor. His performances rarely seemed natural; often they seemed joyless and devoid of energy, as was the case in Julius Caesar and The Chase. I imagine a list of the 100 best actors would have to include Brando somewhere, but number one? No way.
Other head scratchers:
15. Cary Grant. A charming actor and a Hollywood legend, but Number 15? When I get to some of the actors listed below Grant, you'll see what I mean.
16. Sidney Poitier. A trailblazer, but as an actor he pales in comparison to others on this list. And a bit of a ham at times, though not one-tenth as bad as Brando. Deserves to be in the top 100, but not the top 20.
19. Burt Lancaster. This guy was a movie star and a darned good acrobat, but a great actor? Hardly.
27. Charlton Heston. Think Lancaster without the backflips.
33. Denzel Washington. Yes, Washington deserves to be on this list. He deserves to be HIGHER. Anybody here honestly think that Charlton Heston was a better actor than Denzel? Or Lancaster? Or Grant? Or Brando. And if I must compare African-American to African-American, I'll pick Washington's marvelous range over Poitier's any day.
35. Errol Flynn. A star, but not an actor. Did good work late in his career, but c'mon, king of the swashbucklers or not, when it came to reading dialogue, this guy was as two-dimension as they come.
39. Gene Hackman. How did one of our greatest actors (and arguable our greatest living actor) find himself way down the list at 39? (Again, remember where Heston/Lancaster et al figure on the list.)
41. John Wayne. (I'll try not to smirk.) If this was meant to be a list of the greatest movie stars (as opposed to actors) this guy should be in the Top 10, if not the Top 5, if not Number 1. But if this is meant to be a list of the greatest male thespians of our time, sorry, Duke doesn't even belong on the list. It's not that he was a bad actor (he wasn't). It's just that there are too many better actors, past and present, who deserve to be on the list instead.
46. Harrison Ford. Now I know the denizens of DDD are smoking something. Harrison Ford, he of the single facial expression and the monotone voice on the list of greatest movie actors? I've got a bad feeling about this.
49. Richard Harris
and
50. Sean Penn. Both are terrific actors who deserve to be much higher on the list.
52. Morgan Freeman. See Denzel Washington.
54. Kenneth Branaugh. Branaugh's work onscreen is too inconsistent for him to be seriously considered IMHO.
55. Steve McQueen. Again, it needs to be asked: is this a list of movie stars or actors? McQueen was not a great actor. Never mind The Blob; check out his creaky work in Soldier in the Rain or Papillon. This was an actor of very limited range. He was fine playing variations of his own personality, but whenever he tried to stretch himself, the results were seldom pretty.
61. Victor Mature. That's right. Victor Mature made the list. I think that pretty much speaks for itself.
Skipping down some (a lot of the actors listed deserve to be here, I just have quibbles with the ranking... Samuel L. Jackson listed ten spots lower than Clint Eastwood? Clint Eastwood?)
80. Mel Gibson. That's it. I'm done. Puke time.
81. Johnny Depp. Yes, Depp belongs here. I'm just listing him so you folks could see he was listed after Mel Gibson.
87. Boris Karloff. An interesting choice. You could certainly make the case, but an odd inclusion nonetheless.
98. Tom Cruise? I'm gonna be jumping on the couch in a minute.
100. Gene Wilder. Hmm.
The puzzling omissions from the list? How about John Turturro, Jean Reno, Andy Garcia, Derek Jacobi, Jeff Bridges, Gabriel Byrne, James Spader, Roy Scheider, Robert Loggia, Nick Nolte, Edmund Gwenn, Jackie Gleason, Robert Ryan, Jose Ferrer... |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 04/25/2007 : 02:51:21 AM
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The complete list:
1. Marlon Brando
2. Laurence Olivier
3. Robert DeNiro
4. James Stewart
5. Alec Guinness
6. Humphrey Bogart
7. Gregory Peck
8. Jack Nicholson
9. Henry Fonda
10. Spencer Tracy
11. Charlie Chaplin
12. Gary Cooper
13. James Cagney
14. Al Pacino
15. Cary Grant
16. Sidney Poitier
17. Paul Newman
18. George C. Scott
19. Burt Lancaster
20. Anthony Hopkins
21. Dustin Hoffman
22. Peter Sellers
23. Robert Mitchum
24. Richard Burton
25. Yul Brenner
26. Edward G. Robinson
27. Charlton Heston
28. Clark Gable
29. William Holden
30. Jack Lemmon
31. Gene Kelly
32. Charles Laughton
33. Denzel Washington
34. Fredric March
35. Errol Flynn
36. Kirk Douglas
37. James Dean
38. Orson Welles
39. Gene Hackman
40. Robert DuVall
41. John Wayne
42. Anthony Quinn
43. Michael Caine
44. Sean Connery
45. Peter O'Toole
46. Harrison Ford
47. Robert Redford
48. Buster Keaton
49. Richard Harris
50. Sean Penn
51. Toshiro Mifune
52. Morgan Freeman
53. Lee Marvin
54. Kenneth Branagh
55. Steve McQueen
56. Paul Winfield
57. Ben Kingsley
58. Ralph Richardson
59. Montgomery Clift
60. Rod Steiger
61. Victor Mature
62. Marcello Mastroianni
63. Tom Hanks
64. Christopher Walken
65. Clint Eastwood
66. Walter Matthau
67. Peter Finch
68. Gary Oldman
69. John Malkovich
70. Daniel Day Lewis
71. John Gielgud
72. Dennis Hopper
73. Liam Neeson
74. Geoffrey Rush
75. Samuel L. Jackson
76. James Mason
77. Peter Lorre
78. Fred Astaire
79. Jon Voight
80. Mel Gibson
81. Johnny Depp
82. Gerard Depardieu
83. James Caan
84. Max von Sydow
85. Ralph Fiennes
86. John Hurt
87. Boris Karloff
88. Richard Widmark
89. Kevin Spacey
90. Nicolas Cage
91. Micheal Douglas
92. Russel Crowe
93. William Hurt
94. Richard Dreyfuss
95. Ian McKellan
96. Robin Williams
97. Sydney Greenstreet
98. Tom Cruise
99. Willem Dafoe
100. Gene Wilder
Again, this can be found at [url]http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/[/url] |
Edited by - zombiewhacker on 04/25/2007 02:54:30 AM |
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CDiehl
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
361 Posts |
Posted - 04/25/2007 : 11:01:18 AM
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There is so much about this list that makes no sense. At least a dozen times I thought "he's not a better actor than the guy behind him." Who compiled this list and what criteria did they use?
You know Grand Funk, don't you? The wild, shirtless lyrics of Mark Farner? The bong-rattling bass of Mel Schacher? The ... adequate drumwork of Don Brewer? |
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 04/25/2007 : 3:06:45 PM
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All I can say is on the rock lists my band is listed just below the top 100 in its respective list so you know it's a complete lie from hell *lol* On the other hand we are something like four slots below 10cc who are one of the greatest bands ever so I don't feel too bad.
I think the lists are voted on by anyone who goes to the site, right? The criteria is "Yeah, I've heard of him. My butt itches."
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
Edited by - Sardu on 04/25/2007 3:07:32 PM |
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RossM
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
427 Posts |
Posted - 04/25/2007 : 9:03:46 PM
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When Marlon Brando cared about a part he could be fantastic. When he didn't he could be awful. Cary Grant always played Cary Grant. But he was great at it and in my book Cary Grant was the funniest guy who ever lived. He could simply read names out of the phone book and have you laughing out loud. In my book Cary grand (archie leach) is number one and I pay no heed to anyone else's list.
rossM |
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