The best moment of acting you've ever seen?

These ones always give me chills...

Marlon Brando: "Look how they've massacred my boy."

Marlon Brando: "You think you're God Almighty, but you know what you are? You're a cheap, lousy, dirty, stinkin' mug! And I'm glad what I done to you, ya hear that? I'm glad what I done!"

Marlon Brando: "HEY STELLA!!!!!!!"

Robert DeNiro: "You talkin' to me?"

Al Pacino's look on his face after Kay tells him she had an abortion

Those above are definately great moments in acting. A scene that comes to mind for me is from "Spartacus" when Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis are forced to fight one another. The punishment for the winner is a long sufering crucifiction! These two guys loved each other sooo much that one wanted to kill the other so that the other would NOT have to suffer a crucifiction! In other words Douglas loved Curtis so much that he wanted to kill Curtis so that he could spare him the pain of a crucifiction, and Curtis felt the same about Douglas. A classic scene with outstanding acting. Just as Kirk Douglas is about to knife Tony Curtis, with all his heart he tells Curtis " I love you Antoninas!" and kills him! Classic!

Another great and memorable piece of acting is from "On The Waterfront" when Lee J. Cobb and Brando are having a verbal war on the Dock and Cobb looks at Brando and in such a provoking way screams to him " C'mon, C'mon" taunting Brando to attack him! Cobb does such an outstanding job in that scene that it almost makes the viewer want to jump off his seat and into the scene to kick Cobb's ass! That's how powerful Lee J. Cobb was in that scene.


Don Cardi

Marlon Brando in THE GODFATHER, PART I : "Look how they've massacred my boy."

Al Pacino, John Cazale in THE GODFATHER, PART II:"I know it was you Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart."

(Sorry for all THE GODFATHERS') Al Pacino's scream at the end of The Godfather, Part III.

Al Pacino, Dog Day Afternoon : "ATTICA, ATTICA, ATTICA!!"

Every scene in Saw. :p

Al Pacino's "every inch" speeh in any given sunday

Al Pacino in Scarface, You couldnt name another actor who could have played the character of tony montana so well

How about his speech in "Scent Of A Woman"? One of the best!


Don Cardi

How about his speech in "Scent Of A Woman"? One of the best!


Don Cardi [/b][/quote]Both pacino speeches you mentioned are not even close to City Hall's speech !

I have yet to see "Scent of a Women" is it worth watching?

Its one of the best.
The scene at his brother's house is outstanding!

Both pacino speeches you mentioned are not even close to City Hall's speech ! [/b][/quote]I haven't seen City hall, it's a pity, but personally I don't consider Scent close to Al's best performances. The best speech I remember right now is "You are nothing to me Fredo".

Some off the top of my head:

James Caan: "Whatya gonna do? Nice college boy..." that whole speech. Actually, everything he does in the GF...best acting ever.

Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind, the scene right before the intermission, when she says "I'll never be hungry again!"

Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, what he says to Ringo at the end, "I"m trying really hard to be the shepard."

These are just some off the top of my head. I agree with all the ones listed too, especially, "Marlon Brando: "HEY STELLA!!!!!!!""

Have you seen Scarface - The bad guy speech?

I'd say the whole restaurant scene.

Then why youre not posting in the Sacarface section?!

We Need You!!

De Niro as Johnny Boy in Mean Streets, when he is about to explode with Charlie at the top of the stairs.

De Niro in The Deer Hunter: Russian Roulette scene #1 ("Mao!") and #2, when he goes back to 'Nam to find Nicky ("one shot").

De Niro in Taxi Driver when he first applies for the job ("It's clean, like my conscience").

David Bradley, in all of Kes.

Peter Sellers as The President, on the phone to Dmitri, in Dr. Strangelove.

Ned Beatty in Deliverance ("Squeal!").

More to come...

Mick

This is it. I totally agree. The first scene feels so real its hard to believe youre watching a movie.
The ending scene where De Niro's holding the gun to his head "I love you Nicky,you know that?"
And then "One Shot"...what a movie!
This is De Niro's best performance. I'm in love with this movie.

Michael : "Every time he comes up, he's got no knife, he's got no jacket, he's got no pants, he's got no boots. All he's got is that stupid gun he carries around like John Wayne"

Michael: A deer has to be taken with one shot. I try to tell people that but they don't listen

This is this, Stanley.

One more:
When Tom Hanks breaks down in Saving Private Ryan after letting the blindfolded German go.

Mick

LOL I just noticed it and was actually going to edit it but you beat me to it
Gotta add that one then:

Michael: Stanley, see this? This is this. This ain't something else. This is this. From now on, you're on your own.

In order:

Sean Penn(Mystic River) "Is that my daughter in there!?"

Marlon Brando(On the Waterfront) "I coulda been somebody.."

John Cazale(GF2) "I'm ya older brother Mike and I was stepped over!"

"See, you know what the problem with you is Mike? Nobody can understand what the fuck youre talkin' about.'Dis is dis.' What the hell is that supposed to mean, 'dis is dis' Is that some ****** soundin' bullshit or is that some ****** soundin'..."


EDIT I got edited!

Agreed! For me I'd say Kevin Costner in the courtroom scene in JFK when he's talking about the people who couldn't afford to send money but still do.

I'm sure I'll think of more but I don't wanna hurt myself too much now :p

Anything by Vin Diesel or Keanu Reeves. :p :p

Oh, it doesn't seem so. You are doing there pretty good without me. Besides, I don't know it by heart as I do GF. But if you insist - make way for the bad gal!

And why do I not see you in GF quotation game anymore? We need you. Service for service, huh, Bonasera?

Meryl Streep: "Sophie's Choice" when she has to choose which child to leave behind.

This is like asking what is your favorite food or wine.... there are soooo many...

I will exempt all the Godfather scenes because we can discuss them elsewhere on these boards. This is not to say that several of them aren't up there. So with GF omitted, and in no particular order:

Jack Nicholoson's performances in Five Easy Pieces and About Schmidt.

Pacino's "Eddie Barzun, Eddy Barzun" and "God is an absentee landlord" monologues in Devil's Advocate.

Ed Harris' suicide speech in The Hours

The "What's Your Name" Scene with Natalie Portman and Clive Owen in Closer.

All of Million Dollar baby.

Theres much more but thats a starter

No order, and off the top of my head.

Silence of the Lambs - Anthony Hopkins in the "rube" monologue.

The Godfather part II - Al Pacino when Kay informs him about what really happened to the baby.

Five Easy Pieces - Jack Nicholson in the scene with his father towards the end.

About Schmidt - Jack Nicholson, the last scene.

...And Justice For All - Al Pacino, "THE SONOFABITCH IS GUILTY!"

On the Waterfront - Marlon Brando, the cab scene.

Apocalypse Now - Marlon Brando in the horror monologue.

Raging Bull - Several of DeNiro's scenes, too many to mention.

Taxi Driver - Robert DeNiro, many of the scenes where he tries to be social, wonderful acting.

Dr. Strangelove - Peter Sellers in all three roles, especially the president's phone conversation.

American History X - Edward Norton, the scene where he talks about minorities before the attack.

Dracula - Gary Oldman
in several scenes.

Blow - Johnny Depp, the scene with the recorder and the final scene.

Monster - Charlize Theron in several scenes.

La Dolce Vita - Marcello Mastroianni at the end.

Citizen Kane - Orson Welles when he destroys the room.

The Conversation - Gene Hackman, the whole film.

The Deer Hunter - Robert DeNiro in the Russian Roulette scene.

I can go on and on.

I agree with most of the moments of acting you mentioned. So I'll just add Anthony Hopkins in "The remains of the day", an exceptional performance . Please, please, watch this film, it'a masterpiece!

Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt when he's putting the cream on his face and just breaks down. Incredible acting.

Paddy Considine in A Room for Romeo Brass (1999). Not been a better performance since.

Mick

Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull when he's in jail.

Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull in the first scene with his first wife.

"I've got no choooooooooice!!!! I've got no choooooooooooooooice!!"

When Jabba the Hut dies.

the first one that came to my mind was Al Pacino when Kay tells Michael about the abortion. but there are so many others I could name I wouldn't dare starting..

Hilary Swank's "You're all i got" speech to Clint in Million Dollar Baby-one of the best female performances ever.

Charlize Theron's final court scene in Monster

Ed Harris' Suicide speech in The Hours/Meryl Streep's "unraveling" speech

Al Pacino Godfather III-Finale on the Steps

Diane Lane-Train scene

Bobby De Niro kicking the PhoneBooth in GoodFellas and the Final part of Scarface. . .

GoodFella

A.J from the Sopranos any time. And Al Pacino anytime.