Best one scene-only movie performance?

[Starbucks Anarchist]

This post is partly inspired by the Alec Baldwin thread in GD. I was reminded of his incendiary performance in "Glengarry Glen Ross," the only scene in which he appears.

Aside from Baldwin's performance, I'd also say Ned Beatty's one-scene performance as Arthur Jensen in "Network" is also a classic.

So what are your choices for best one-scene only performances? To make it easier, if the character in mind has two or three scenes, yet still makes the movie memorable, that can count as well.

What do you say?

[Frank Cannon]

1. I think the Baldwin scene in "Glengarry Glen Ross" has it hands down

It was the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread title. Absolutely unforgettable, and he's only in the movie for a few minutes.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

3. Did you know that scene wasn't in the original play?

David Mamet wrote it in the movie specifically for Alec Baldwin.

[Frank Cannon]

10. Wow. I did not know that.

Mamet sure knew what he was doing because that scene is a classic, and I can't imagine anyone better for it than Baldwin.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

12. "'Fuck you,' that's my name!"

Man, that scene is a classic.

[Frank Cannon]

39. "PUT THE COFFEE DOWN!!"

"Coffee is for closers!"

[Midnight Rambler]

69. You know what it takes to sell real estate?

It takes brass balls to sell real estate

[LostinVA]

2. Toni Collette in "The Hours"

Her brittle, babbling, shallow neigborhood wife suddenly kissing Julianne Mooree... hungry, searching, wanting... her eyes suddenly real, there dimensional... then the mask slides back on...

Toni Collette is a POWERHOUSE.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

8. Haven't caught that one yet.

I'll need to check it out sometime. Julianne Moore is a fantastic actress.

[LostinVA]

14. Agreed!

[Starbucks Anarchist]

16. She's also quite the looker.

She's over 40, yet is more beautiful (and talented) than the cookie cutter anorexic ditzes that pass for young actresses these days.

Maybe it's her natural beauty that you can't carve with a scalpel.

[LostinVA]

18. No disagreements from me... I've liked her since "Benny & Joon"

She's yummo... to quote your nasty lust girl Rachael Ray...

[Starbucks Anarchist]

20. Oh, you mean THIS Rachael Ray?

Just kidding! Thought I was gonna post a pic, didn't you? :D

I'll put it this way: Unlike Julianne, I wouldn't want to talk to Rachael afterwards.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Like I have a chance with either. :(

EDIT: Talk to your contact yet?

[long_green]

63. Her bio says she's 34

if you believe that.
She is smokin'.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

66. Nope, she's 45:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000194/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9anVsaWFubmV8ZnQ9MXxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8Y289MXxodG1sPTF8bm09MQ__;fc=1;ft=119;fm=1

[long_green]

67. Oh, HER! I meant Toni Collette

nm

[LynneSin]

15. Did you rent "In her Shoes" What did you think

:shrug:

[LostinVA]

36. The movie (ie script) was okay, but the acting was very good

It's worth seeing... she gained 25 lbs. for the role... not quite as much as her 40 lbs. for Muriel's Wedding

[blondeatlast]

33. Most underrated actress out there.

I could watch "Muriel's Wedding" a thousand times. I may have!

[LostinVA]

37. Me too and "Cosi" -- GREAT movie

[Spacemom]

4. Christopher Walken & Dennis Hopper

in True Romance. One of my favorite scenes of all time.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

5. I remember that one.

:thumbsup:

[Burma Jones]

6. Walken in Pulp Fiction is a good one

[Starbucks Anarchist]

7. Definitely.

Also, Harvey Keitel's performance as Mr. Wolf.

[LynneSin]

17. Keitel also rocked as Vic the Cleaner in "Point of No Return"

"I'm Vic, I'm the Cleaner"

The movie wasn't that great (it's an american remake of La Femme Nikita) but worth watching just for Keitel's scene at the end of the movie

[underpants]

27. ADD Walken in "True Romance"

One of the greatest scenes ever on film IMHO Walken and Dennis Hopper.

I think that was the only scene Walken was in.

[Orrex]

31. Walken in True Romance is also excellent.

[taterguy]

9. Muddy Waters in the Last Waltz

[LynneSin]

11. Keith David in Crash

He played a police officer - Ryan Phillipe's superior. When Phillipe wanted to complain about how his partner, Matt Dillion, was a racist asshole, Keith David played it off perfect as a "Just because I'm a black man doesn't mean I actually give a shit about the asshole your stuck with because let's face it, the LA Police department is full of racist assholes".

[Starbucks Anarchist]

13. Another one I have yet to see.

It's in my Netflix queue.

[DrDan]

19. I'm torn here

The scene in Glengarry Glen Ross was, no doubt, memorable. I am not much of a movie guy, but I thought that this movie was just spellbinding.

But - I also must mention the Marlon Brando's death scene in the Godfather

and of course Sharon Stone - you know the one

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

21. Tim Robbins in Shawshank Redemption

The scene just before he breaks out of prison... "Get busy livin', or get busy dyin'."

Honorable mention to Sean Astin in "The Two Towers" for his speech to Frodo near the end. "There's good in this world... and it's worth fighting for."

[Starbucks Anarchist]

22. Great performances in a great movie (Shawshank).

Alhough I was referring to characters that only appear in three scenes or less that still positively impacted the movie.

:hi:

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

23. Oh... my bad.

I haven't seen the movie you've mentioned, so that's probably why I didn't pick up on it. :hi:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

25. My fault, too.

I reread the OP and saw how it could be construed the way you thought it was.

:hi:

[underpants]

24. "These pretzels are making me thirsty"

[Starbucks Anarchist]

26. LMAO!

:toast:

EDIT: It'd be funny if Woody Allen actually used that line on one of his movies as an homage.

[DS1]

28. Rambo: First Blood Part II

When Rambo goes all out nutzo on the VC and he's hiding in that mud wall then leaps out and stabs the guy in the head.

That's good shit, right there

[DanCa]

29. Tom Laughlin Billy Jack

"I am going to take my left foot thwap you on that side of your nose, and there's not a thing you can do about it." Back in they days when marial art movies didn't use wires. :D

[Arkham House]

30. Jack Nicholson in "Easy Rider"...

"This used to be one helluva good country..."

[bmbmd]

32. Maybe not the best, but probably the funniest-

Gene Hackman in "Young Frankenstein".

[blondeatlast]

34. There ya go!

"Espresso?" :rofl::rofl::rofl:

[ForrestGump]

35. Marlon Brando as George Lincoln Rockwell in "Roots: The Next Generation"

or whatever it was called. I haven't seen it in decades, but it always struck me as a chilling scene...he was perfect, as was James Earl Jones.

[mitchum]

57. Another vote for that scene

[kwassa]

38. Hienz, the Baron Klaus von Espy from "Intolerable Cruelty"

as played by Jonathan Hadary.

Hysterical courtroom performance

[peekaloo]

40. Jon Polito in 'The Man Who Wasn't There'.

the drycleaner with a plan.

[hobo_baggins]

41. Just reading the subject of your post, thats exactly what i had in my head

Alec Baldwin in glengarry glen ross is a great performance...that scene isn't in the play, they wrote it specifically for him, and it shows.

[ProfessorGAC]

42. Wilford Brimley in "Absence Of Malice"

The scene dominates the movie, and he dominates the scene. I will watch the whole movie just to get to that part!
The Professor

[SaveElmer]

43. Daniel Day Lewis in Last of the Mohicans...with Wes Studi...

The scene with the Huron Chief...competing for the Munro Sisters...followed by a great 10 minute sequence as Hawkeye, Chingachgook and Uncas chase down Magua in the mountains!!!


btw I think Wes Studi was great in that movie!!!

[Shakespeare]

44. Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Lester Bangs in Almost Famous

I think he was in a total of three scenes. Love that movie, love Hoffman.

[cemaphonic]

45. John Turturro in The Big Lebowski

Completely steals the show in about 5 minutes total screentime. In a movie already as funny and memorable as this, no small feat.

He also does an excellent job with a small part in Miller's Crossing, but that's probably stretching the OP's terms a bit.

[hyphenate]

46. I'm surprised no one chose

Dame Judi Dench for her performance as Queen Elizabeth I in "Shakespeare in Love." That's one of my favorite short roles, and she won the Oscar for it as well. The comments she makes to Colin Firth (as Lord Wessex) are ingeniously funny and really bitch slap him without him really being aware she is doing it.

[ohiosmith]

47. Naomi Watts and Chad Everett in Mulholland Drive

[BrotherBuzz]

48. Mister X (Donald Sutherland) in JFK

[Starbucks Anarchist]

49. Definitely.

[Orsino]

50. John Geilgud in The Critic

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0301142/

Not only is it a single scene--he has no lines and is all alone onstage. Riveting.

[Missy Vixen]

51. Jack Black in "High Fidelity"

Jack Black walking into John Cusack's character's record store is the best entrance to a scene ever, in my humble opinion.

Julie

[veganred]

52. Usual Suspects

My favorite movie scene is the line up scene in The Usual Suspects.

[Rowdyboy]

53. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton: any scene taken from....

"Who's afraid of Virginia Wolfe" after they both get drunk. They're searingly painful to watch.

[Paladin]

54. Orson Welles In The Original "Moby Dick"

As the preacher in the little whaling town, blessing the sailors before they sail......

[Xipe Totec]

55. Steven Seagal - Executive Decision

Short, sweet, and to the point.

Very short.

Very very sweet.

:evilgrin:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

56. CLARIFICATION:

I realize I may have worded the OP incorrectly, since some people have apparently misunderstood what I meant.
Don't worry, it's my fault.

What I meant in the OP was what's the best performance by an actor who appears in ONLY one scene in the movie (or two or three, at most) who gave a great performance.

I'm NOT talking about a great scene featuring a major character in the film. Hope this clears things up. Again, my fault.

:hi:

[Lilith Velkor]

58. Beatrice Straight in "Network"

[Starbucks Anarchist]

59. Also the shortest Oscar-winning performance in history.

She has about five minutes of screen time in total.

[Merrick]

60. Gary Busey in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"

"Can I have one little kiss before you go? I get very lonely out here"

[mikeytherat]

61. Kevin Costner as the corpse in "The Big Chill"

His finest role ever!

mikey_the_rat

[Merrick]

62. Quentin Tarantino in "Pulp Fiction"

Jimmie: No, let me ask you a question. When you came pulling in here, did you see a sign out in front of my house that said Dead Nigger Storage?
Jules: Jimmie, you know I ain't seen no...
Jimmie: Did you see a sign out in front of my house that said Dead Nigger Storage?
Jules: No. I didn't.
Jimmie: You know WHY you didn't see that sign?
Jules: Why?
Jimmie: 'Cause it ain't there, 'cause storing dead niggers ain't my fucking business, that's why!

[WeRQ4U]

64. Bob Sagat in "Half Baked"

Him as a cocaine addict (he's actually a really raunchy stand up comic) after seeing him as Danny Tanner from "Full House" will make your head spin.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

65. LOL, definitely.

:rofl:

[Midnight Rambler]

68. Chris Tucker in "Jackie Brown"

Good ol' Beaumont. Shame he had to be let go.

I also second Christopher Walken in "Pulp Fiction." The bald dude in "Sin City" who gets the arrows shot through him is another. And I gotta give props to Carol Cleveland in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and all the girls of Castle Anthrax.

[Ryano42]

70. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome...

Dr. Dealgood: Right now, I've got two men, two men with a gut full of fear. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls... dyin' time's HERE!

Skeered me bigtime as a pup. :scared:

[peekaloo]

71. Steve Buscemi in "The Wedding Singer'.