Greatest Actor/Actress/Director (in your opinion)

[Murph]

Actor:

John Wayne

Toshiro Mifune

Takukara Ken

 

Actress:

Maureen O'hara

(any modern actresses might as well be porn stars, all you have to do is take your clothes off really fast, and moan loudly).

 

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

 

 

 

 

[nitflegal]

37 minutes ago, Murph said:

Actor:

John Wayne

Toshiro Mifune

Takukara Ken

 

Actress:

Maureen O'hara

(any modern actresses might as well be porn stars, all you have to do is take your clothes off really fast, and moan loudly).

 

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

 

 

 

 

Damn dude, I read the title and then you basically hit all my picks.  I would add Gregory Peck and Jimmy Stewart to the actors and possibly Elizabeth Taylor and maybe Jessica Lange but Maureen O'Hara did Quiet Man so she automatically wins in my book.  Director; there are others I like (John Ford, Scorsese, Coppola, etc) who I would add to a list of greatest directors but I don't think anyone can claim the title besides Kurosawa.  

[rmgill]

+10 on Kurosawa, this is, among other things, given how much Scorsese, Coppola and others bowed to Kurosawa by way of duplicating his movies/methods/etc and have in interviews said how he inspired them to get into movie production or inspired their methods. Or in the case of Ford who was concurrent, who was likewise enamored of Kurosawas art.  
 

Every Frame a Painting makes good case here. 
 

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by rmgill

[rmgill]

Runners up, for their physical comedy in both acting/stunt work AND directing would be Jackie Chan and Buster Keaton. 

Again nodding to Every Frame a Painting to make my argument. 

 

 

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by rmgill

[Ssnake]

Judging from six seasons of Orphan Black, my vote for best actress goes to Tatiana Maslany. Not only did she play up to eight different characters consistently, she made me occasionally forget that physical similarity, and at the same time when she played one character badly imitating another, you could see both of them in her acting. What a stunning, unforgettable performance.

[Tim Sielbeck]

1 hour ago, Murph said:

Actor:

John Wayne

Toshiro Mifune

Takukara Ken

 

Actress:

Maureen O'hara

(any modern actresses might as well be porn stars, all you have to do is take your clothes off really fast, and moan loudly).

 

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

 

 

 

 

Can't argue with those choices.

[rmgill]

On Mifune....He's one of my favorites.
 

But then I also love the work of Takashi Shimura (Shichinin No Samurai alongside Mifune, Stray Dog, Ikiru, etc). Lee Van Cleef is sort of an American Takashi Shimura but without the range of character types. 

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by rmgill

[Murph]

OMFG! If Mifune had played Obi Wan, it would have been the film of all time!

[Stuart Galbraith]

Best director, probably Scorsese, Coppolla or Ridley Scott. The latter's The Duellists still stands up nearly 50 years later. I love Kubrick, but I find him patchy. Sergeo Leone, not least for Once upon a time in America.

Best actor? Oliver Reed, followed closely by Tom Hardy. Eastwood in his Prime. Probably ought to include Richard Burton, who arguably wasted most of his talent but usually was brilliant in all the films I've seen. But usually angry.

Actresses, there is plenty today I admire, from Kate Winslet to Eva Green. Sofia Helin gave a breathtaking performance in The Bridge. But the women in the Golden age of Cinema had something. I go with Brigitte Helm and Louise Brooks. The latter mainly for Pandoras Box, the former for Metropolis.

 

 

 

[Ssnake]

A disproportionate number of my favorite films are from Ridley Scott. And yet, some of his films where he was both director and producer have infuriatingly bad scripts. I think he really has a blind spot as far as plot holes and good dramaturgy go. If he has a decent script, the fill will be at least quite good, occasionally very good. With a stellar script, the result will be near-perfect. But he doesn't invest in fixing the thing that is cheapest to fix, a bad script.

[Stuart Galbraith]

Yeah, he rarely has films with snappy dialogue (Thelma and Louise is the exception), it's usually his visuals that carry it. Say what one might about Kingdom of Heaven, it looks absolutely fantastic. The script and the history, well let's not worry about that...

 

[sunday]

Honorable mention to John Ford.

[NickM]

2 hours ago, Ssnake said:

A disproportionate number of my favorite films are from Ridley Scott. And yet, some of his films where he was both director and producer have infuriatingly bad scripts. I think he really has a blind spot as far as plot holes and good dramaturgy go. If he has a decent script, the fill will be at least quite good, occasionally very good. With a stellar script, the result will be near-perfect. But he doesn't invest in fixing the thing that is cheapest to fix, a bad script.

Blackhawk Down gripped me like no other war film ever has.

[NickM]

2 hours ago, rmgill said:

On Mifune....He's one of my favorites.
 

But then I also love the work of Takashi Shimura (Shichinin No Samurai alongside Mifune, Stray Dog, Ikiru, etc). Lee Van Cleef is sort of an American Takashi Shimura but without the range of character types. 

 

Loved Shimura in 7 samurai---and in that OG Gojira,  El Rey de Los Munstros 

[Murph]

Takashi Shimura is amazing, and when he plays next to Mifune adds just something amazing to films.

[rmgill]

[Rick]

6 hours ago, Murph said:

Actor:

John Wayne

Toshiro Mifune

Takukara Ken

 

Actress:

Maureen O'hara

(any modern actresses might as well be porn stars, all you have to do is take your clothes off really fast, and moan loudly).

 

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

 

 

 

 

Hhmmm, I'm not a big movie or tv fan. I admit to not knowing or heard of Toshiro Mifune,  Takukara Ken or Akira Kurosawa.

I wholeheartedly agree with John Wayne and Maureen O'hara. Might have to add Charlton Heston and Lucille Ball. Directors, well, as mentioned before John Ford, and may have to add Alfred Hitchcock. Almost always got a chuckle from The Three Stooges. 

 

[rmgill]

You've probably seen him and not known it. 

He was also Toronaga in the Shogun Miniseries back in the 80s. 

 

[Ivanhoe]

5 hours ago, Ssnake said:

Judging from six seasons of Orphan Black, my vote for best actress goes to Tatiana Maslany. Not only did she play up to eight different characters consistently, she made me occasionally forget that physical similarity, and at the same time when she played one character badly imitating another, you could see both of them in her acting. What a stunning, unforgettable performance.

You definitely have a point. I've only seen the first two seasons of OB, but her range is exceptional.

[Ivanhoe]

Ignoring the Japanese nominees for the moment, I'll say that Ridley Scott at his best (i.e. Blade Runner) is at the top. His worst, though, is crap (i.e. KoH). Likewise for Scorsese; Gangs of New York was off the charts, Last Temptation to me looked like a high school project.

For best actor, Dustin Hoffman and De Niro have to be on the short list; again, great range. Let's throw in Denzel also. In terms of acting performance, his Training Day was amazing.

 

 

 

[Mikel2]

7 hours ago, Ssnake said:

A disproportionate number of my favorite films are from Ridley Scott. And yet, some of his films where he was both director and producer have infuriatingly bad scripts. I think he really has a blind spot as far as plot holes and good dramaturgy go. If he has a decent script, the fill will be at least quite good, occasionally very good. With a stellar script, the result will be near-perfect. But he doesn't invest in fixing the thing that is cheapest to fix, a bad script.

 

He seems to suffer from the same problem as George Lucas.  They've become demigods in Hollywood that no one dare challenge.  Back in the day, they were forced to work with people who were talented in other fields and that made the end product far better.

An example:

 

[NickM]

2 hours ago, Ivanhoe said:

You definitely have a point. I've only seen the first two seasons of OB, but her range is exceptional.

AND Then they saddle Maslany with the idiotic she hulk script and all the goodwill goes to hell

[R011]

3 hours ago, Ivanhoe said:

You definitely have a point. I've only seen the first two seasons of OB, but her range is exceptional.

I've only seen her in She Hulk.  She did a good job, but nothing exceptional - though that may be the fault of the writing.

[Stuart Galbraith]

6 hours ago, Mikel2 said:

 

He seems to suffer from the same problem as George Lucas.  They've become demigods in Hollywood that no one dare challenge.  Back in the day, they were forced to work with people who were talented in other fields and that made the end product far better.

An example:

 

Im not sure thats entirely fair. There was an excellent book on the making of Bladerunner, and when Scott turned up, the crew hated him. Half the cast hated him, or least Harrison Ford did by the end of the shoot. What was worse, the financiers didnt trust him, and tried to reedit the film over his head. In the end in exhaustion he capitulated, which is why the early versions of the film had the hideous dialogue overlay and the stitched on happy ending.

I guess there is a case for saying, back in the day his work was compromised by having to deal with idiots in Hollywood. It was only when he became a success that he could go back and Fix Bladerunner to something approaching his original intent.

 

 

[Ssnake]

Even with all its deficits, the original Blade Runner was a powerful film; note that Scott needed at least three or four attempts before he actually nailed it with the Final Cut; without Producer meddling the original theatrical release might have had fewer issues, it might have made 10% more at the box office - Blade Runner made a profit not in the theaters, but through video and later DVD because people rented it over and over again an the search for the European theatrical release became a bit of an obsession for some of the fan base.