Film > Features > 100 Essential Male Film Performances

100 Essential Male Film Performances

Part 5: Under the Radar

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[31 July 2009]

By PopMatters Staff

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Indie darlings on shoestring budgets, foreign art house staples, and sometimes straight to DVD (but always straight from the heart), this list includes women who might be considered prolific stars, by some standards, whose work unfortunately fell by the wayside.

Mathieu Amalric Kings and Queen (Arnaud Desplechin, 2005)

I find this performance to be as elusive as I do contemporary, a jittery embodiment of a globalized world that frantically, impatiently flits from source to source for constant stimulation. It is the fraught Ismael that breaks the chain in Kings and Queen. He has been over-stimulated and is too sensitive and high-strung to see the benefits of change. He clings to his ideals. He is childish. He is often inappropriately loud-mouthed and foul-tempered. But this is the life of an artist, turbulent mind and all: Amalric’s Ismael is a virtuoso cellist. As such, a certain amount of artistic temperament must be honed by the actor and displayed, to make the character seem as though he is perhaps the diva of his company, and wherever he happens to be at the time (though that is generally his apartment). Working both in English-language and his native French film, Amalric, one of the most exciting working actors in the world, is all jangled nerves and exposed insecurity, an obnoxious, spoiled dilettante who could probably stand to be slapped (his stunning scene with Catherine Denueve might be the most compelling argument for such drastic action).

There is a point, though, at the beginning of Amalric’s performance, where he is just so funny that you can’t help but love him (his break-dancing scene is magnificent). He’s mouthy, stubborn and unpleasant, but there is something very compelling about his nihilism, something hinting at a heart behind all of his cynicism and manic-ness. In the final section of the film, any preconceptions you might have had about Ismael melt away in one of my favorite monologues, perhaps ever given by an actor in a film, as he explains to his ex-wife’s son why he cannot be his adopted father. It is a vivid story he paints for the child, both letting him down easy and breaking his heart - and also doing the same thing for the audience. While it may be sad that he cannot accept this new responsibility, it is actually a triumph for his character: Ismael has, throughout the course of the film, gradually attained the emotional maturity necessary for him to go forth artistically. We know he will survive, that he will be strong, whereas in the film’s initial scenes, it seemed like he could go in a tragic direction not unfamiliar to tormented, brilliant artists and musicians. Amalric’s navigation of this tricky dramatic arc is flawless. Matt Mazur

Gael Garcia Bernal Bad Education (Pedro Almodovar, 2004)

Few would describe Bad Education as one of Pedro Almodóvar’s best films: it’s too diffuse, too messily convoluted and almost entirely lacking the wild humor and generosity of sprit of his most accomplished work. But at the dark heart of this tormented and tormenting movie is a simply stunning performance—or, more accurately, a series of performances—by García Bernal. The actor bravely delivers a chameleonic star turn that transgresses gender and noirish genre “norms”. Whether lip-synching to Sara Montiel in a startling dress, performing oral sex on a drowsy pick-up (a scene which earned the film an undeserved NC-17 rating in the States), or participating in one of the sexiest swimming-pool sequences in movie history, García Bernal expertly juggled variant versions of the same (or is it?) character, all the while keeping in view the role of grasping, ambitious actor Angel, a protagonist willing to lie, betray, murder and screw his way to a desired part.

Not many actors get the chance to play an homme fatale and a femme fatale in the same movie, but García Bernal gamely responded to the challenge, with rumors of on-set clashes between actor and director only adding to the masochistic fun. In a brief but telling scene that cuts to the heart of Almodóvar’s concern to blur the border between reality and fiction, García Bernal’s Juan unexpectedly breaks down on a film-set, having just acted out a version of the scenario of his real-life brother’s death. It’s a rare moment of redemptive emotion in a mainly icily cold movie. Alexander Ramon

Chris Cooper Lone Star (John Sayles, 1996)

“Forget the Alamo” is one of the best lines from Sayles’ masterful ode to Texas, and serves as a metaphor for the entire film. Using an unsolved mystery as its catalyst, this story about racial divide in a rural border town is driven by white Sheriff Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) and his pursuit of the uncovering the truth about the disappearance of the town’s hated, bigoted sheriff, Charlie Wade, 40 years earlier. The discovery of Wade’s bones re-opens the case, which has become a local legend. “This country’s seen a number of disagreements over the years,” says Deeds. Through Deeds’ eyes we see the mostly Hispanic town’s history-as he travels to the black community’s “Darktown”, or to the local drinking hole that mostly caters to white rednecks. When someone mentions that the family of a possibly gay black woman would be “relieved” even if she married a white man, the retort is that it’s “always heartwarming to see a prejudice defeated by a deeper prejudice.” With evidence pointing to Sam’s late father Buddy, who took over as sheriff when Wade disappeared, Sam uncovers some dark secrets about his father. Cooper’s face is a roadmap of emotions as Sam deals with his resentment toward his father (over a forbidden high school relationship), while trying to be impartial in his own investigation. It’s a well-seasoned, mysterious performance and Cooper brings a well of understated strength to the character, not unlike that of the veteran western film actor Gary Cooper (no relation). Tim Basham

Jeff Daniels The Squid and the Whale (Noah Baumbach, 2005)

If the best minds of some generations chained themselves to subways and were destroyed by madness, then what became of the merely above average ones of the proceeding years? Those who quietly watched what talent they did have slide away without even being aware that it was leaving them? Who spent so long feeling unrecognized and unappreciated that it became the only way they knew how to see themselves? Besides taking it out on everyone around them, perhaps, having never fully settled into their mortgages, their marriages, and their kids, they end up flat on their back on a Brooklyn street in presumed cardiac arrest, trying to argue their way out of a parking ticket.

In Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale, as the controlling, begrudging, father of two who is also an underachieving writer that considers Kafka to be his predecessor and Mailer his contemporary, Daniels makes the difficult character of Bernard completely and sadly understandable. Inscribing a copy of one of his books for his teenage son, he signs it and then, as a perfectly timed afterthought, adds “Dad” in parentheses. He never asks, or even realizes, that he needs to be forgiven, but in the end there’s almost no other way to deal with him. He’s perhaps the hardest type of father to understand and the kind that somewhere in the back of their minds most men harbor a deep fear of becoming—or at least hate that they can relate to. Bernard never intends to be mean, he never intends to be hurtful or undermining, but he consistently is and it serves to alienate him from virtually everyone. Jon Langmead

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100 Essential Male Film Performances

Tagged as: 100 essential male film performances

Comments

Great list. May I respectfully submit for your consideration: Stellan Skarsgard in Insomnia.

Comment by Shawn R from Oakland — July 31, 2009 @ 8:34 am

I agree we should have had Stellan Skarsg�rd on this list. He’s one of my favorites too.

Comment by Sarah Zupko — July 31, 2009 @ 8:41 am

So I read through this whole list expecting the next page to mention Toshiro Mifune in - well, any of three dozens roles - and I never saw him. Your list is woefully neglectful of Japanese actors. Yeah, Tatsuya Nakadai is a good call, but his performance in Harakiri was much greater than that of Ran. And where the hell is Takashi Shimura’s Ikiru?

Comment by Mark — August 21, 2009 @ 4:07 am

Great list! I’ll be going through this list over the next few days and adding them to my “to watch” queue. In regards to The Lives of Others, aren’t there more than a few pieces of anecdotal evidence about the “turning” of Stasi agents?

Comment by Pristine — August 21, 2009 @ 9:27 am

I would recommend Noah Taylor or John Cusack from 2002’s Max.

Comment by Zaggs — August 21, 2009 @ 10:38 am

No Ryan Gosling for ‘Half Nelson’?

Comment by Tony from idk — August 21, 2009 @ 1:12 pm

Not too many silent actors on the list-
What about Emil Jannings in The Last Laugh? He was one of the most incredible actors working in the silent era, in Germany and in the U.S.

Comment by Aria — August 21, 2009 @ 1:36 pm

An interesting list. I think Donald Sutherland’s performance in Klute would fit nicely here. Glad you make note of Matt Damon in The Talented Mr Ripley.

Comment by Shaun from Auckland, New Zealand — August 21, 2009 @ 4:06 pm

— PopMatters sponsor —

I would have replaced several of the (un)important performances on this list with some really great ones:
1. Humphrey Bogart, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
2. John Wayne, The Searchers (1956)
3. Guy Pierce, Memento (2000)
4. Jack Nicholson, Chinatown (1974)
5. Henry Fonda, Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
6. Peter O’Toole, Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
7. Gregory Peck, To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

But at least there was the mention of Bruno Ganz (Downfall) and Ulrich Muhe (The Lives of Others).

Comment by Matthew from Muncie, IN — August 21, 2009 @ 5:30 pm

Wonderful list, with so many of my favorite performances, some of which often go unremarked. But I’d have to add Ben Kingsley in “House of Sand and Fog”, Geoffrey Rush in “Quills,” Albert Finney in “Under the Volcano”, Joaquin Phoenix in “The Yards” and Peter O’Toole in any one of several roles, but probably “Lawrence of Arabia”.

Comment by Marie-Claire Scott from US — August 21, 2009 @ 6:06 pm

I knew JCM would make this list. That makes me so happy.

Comment by Daniel B — August 21, 2009 @ 8:38 pm

AND Kevin Spacey, Tom Hanks, and Sam Jackson are missing. Those are some big guys.

Comment by Aria — August 21, 2009 @ 9:38 pm

I have to echo the others who were disappointed by the non-appearance of John Wayne in “The Searchers” and Toshiro Mifune in anything. Even if you don’t care for Wayne normally, he was powerful and brilliant in “The Searchers” and no one else could have done what he did in that role. And Mifune is one of the most galvanic screen presences in film history, with at least half a dozen performances which could have made this list. Helmut Berger over these two??? Even Alain Delon in “Rocco and His Brothers” or Dirk Bogarde in “Death in Venice” were superior in Visconti films.

Comment by Andy B from USA — August 22, 2009 @ 2:10 am

I find Russell Crowe’s performance in The Insider to be far more effective than LA Confidential.

What about Brian Cox in 25th Hour?

I know people will roll their eyes, but J.K. Simmons was the only good thing about Juno and he made the whole thing worth watching.

Glad to see Campbell Scott on the list!

Comment by lori — August 22, 2009 @ 2:35 am

I just have a few suggestions/some of my fave male performances

Paul Giamatti in Sideways

Yves Montand in Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources

Hugo Weaving in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Gary Oldman in State of Grace

Tim Roth in Rob Roy

Jonathan Pryce in Brazil (why this was omitted is beyond me)

Val Kilmer in Tombstone

John Turturro in Barton Fink

John C. Reilly in Chicago (say what you want about the film but he was wonderful)

John Hurt in 1984

Edward Woodward in The Wicker Man

Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski

Fred Astaire in On the Beach (see it…really)

Ray Winstone in The War Zone (not for the faint of heart…seriously)

Clint Eastwood in Gran Tarino

Gabriel Byrne in Miller’s Crossing

Benicio Del Toro in Traffic

Bruce Davison in Longtime Companion

Robert Downey Jr. in Two Girls and a Guy

Comment by Ashley P from Virginia — August 22, 2009 @ 2:47 am

Again, Peter O’Toole, for either the obvious choice of Lawrence, or perhaps Venus.

Comment by Chris — August 22, 2009 @ 3:21 am

— PopMatters sponsor —

This list has no legitimacy for one reason: no Gary Oldman.

Comment by Laura from New Orleans — August 22, 2009 @ 12:52 pm

Nice list. It reminds me some movies I need to see.

Btw. The list is missing some Gary Oldman, I should say, Gary in Leon, one of my favorite performance on screen.

Comment by Jo from Canada — August 22, 2009 @ 1:12 pm

I agree with everyone about the glaring omission of not even a single performance from Gary Oldman…so many films to choose from: Sid and Nancy, The Professional (Leon), Chattahooche, THE CONTENDER (Gaz was the best thing about that film), Prick Up Your Ears, Immortal Beloved (BEST…BEETHOVEN…EVER). He’s one of the best actors working today and one of the absolute best of his generation along with Tim Roth. Roth also was not on this list anywhere. He deserved nods at least for Meantime and Rob Roy, two of his best performances.

And where the hell is Humphrey Bogart on this list? He practically defined what it was to be male in his time. Yet not a single mention? Or John Wayne for that matter. Where’s he on the list? NOWHERE. One of the GREAT male icons to ever grace the screen, he deserved a mention.

Comment by Ashley P from VA — August 22, 2009 @ 3:30 pm

I haven’t seen all the movies listed, but what the ones I have, Lorre in M, Bruno Ganz as Hitler, Adrien Brody in the Pianist & in particular Ray Winstone in the Proposition one of the underrated films of recent years as far as I’m concerned. Notable omissions in my opinion. Brad Dourif in One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, Tommy Lee Jones In No Country For Old Men, John Turturro in Miller’s Crossing, Paddy Considine in Dead Man’s Shoes, Barry Pepper in The Three Burials Of Melquiedes Estrada, Emilio Echevarr�a in Amores Perros, Pat Short in Garage, Casey Affleck in The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford.

Comment by Shay from Ireland — August 22, 2009 @ 6:57 pm

Oops, two more if you’re going for a global perspective: Jean-Paul Belmondo in “Breathless”, who helped define a generation and Jean-Pierre Leaud in “Les Quatre Cents Coup”, possibly the most affecting performance ever by a child. Also, I tear up every time I see Anton Glanzelius in “My Life as A Dog” and I might include Gerard Philipe on this list if his work were more available to see in this country - sadly, most of his greatest performances are not.

Comment by Andy B from USA — August 23, 2009 @ 2:45 am

Some nice picks on this list, and some obvious mistakes. One glaring omission that comes immediately to mind is F. Murray Abraham in Amadeus.

Comment by Ken — August 23, 2009 @ 4:33 am

One of the BEST actors ever could be on this list for several characters. Johnny Depp for Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Secret Window, The Libertine, Before Night Falls, Sweeney Todd, Benny and Joon, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Brave, and yes: the Pirate movies, just to name a few. It is unbelievable that he did not make the list.

Comment by Laurie from Utah — August 23, 2009 @ 5:03 pm

Rarely has there been the embodiment of the American swashbuckler than Harrison Ford in the best of the series, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.

Comment by Vhay — August 23, 2009 @ 5:45 pm