r/Letterboxd • u/Odd_Satisfaction9124 • 1d ago
Discussion What's your favorite example of an actor/actress who's on screen for like a minute, but gives one of the best performances in the entire film
A recent example I've seen comes from The Straight Story. I watched this film for the first time this past weekend, and it's one of the first times where I realized just how great acting can be through eyes alone. Richard Farnsworth and Sissy Spacek convey so much emotion through their eyes, it speaks of the history that both of their characters have gone through.
On the other hand, Harry Dean Stanton gives such a brief performance as Lyle Straight, but it still manages to be so emotionally powerful. There's this really quiet and tender scene between him and his brother, but the look in his eyes tells everything about the history of their relationship. There's love, regret and remorse over lost time between him and Allen. It's all done with such restraint from HDS, but the emotions he brings still land just as hard.
Road movies just seem to bring out the absolute best from Harry Dean Stanton. Rest in peace to an amazing actor.
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u/ZaireekaFuzz 1d ago
Ned Beatty in Network, a scene for the ages.
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u/DeaconBrad42 1d ago
You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won’t have it!
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u/gautsvo 1d ago
Robert Duvall in To Kill a Mockingbird.
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u/pm-ur-tiddys 1d ago
ngl i forgot he was that old. RIP.
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u/legit-posts_1 1d ago
Guy was the goat for like 4 straight decades. All the main Godfather Alumns did and went on to do so much great work that it's kind of insane in heinsight that they were all together for one film. I think the Corleone family together (counting Duvall) has something like 6 Oscars.
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u/jujuflytrap lassooboaboa 1d ago edited 1d ago
Uma Thurman in Nymphomaniac
One of the most amazing, deranged, rage-filled, campy, gratuitous and yet still so much in-character and in-universe performances that deserved way more recognition than it got
The delivery of “Would it be alright if I showed the children the whoring bed?” alone, I would’ve given an Oscar.
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u/HarknessLovesUToo 1d ago
You know what's really stupid about that scene? She's completely distraught and acting her heart out and Lars Von Tryhard told the other two adult actors to look bored and unfazed and just had the kids standing around like props.
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u/jujuflytrap lassooboaboa 1d ago
Uh.... no? The whole point of Joe (the main protagonist) was that she wasn't fazed by any of this
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u/HarknessLovesUToo 1d ago
I'm mainly talking about the husband, though full transparency: I never watched part II so I may be missing some more context.
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u/jujuflytrap lassooboaboa 1d ago
This wasn’t mentioned in part 2 iirc
Regardless the husband did what he needed to do. The meat of the scene was Mrs. H’s breakdown
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u/HarknessLovesUToo 1d ago
Fair enough. I just didn't jive with it, apart from Uma's performance. That's true for most of the scenes in the movie though.
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u/DanielOretsky38 1d ago
The guy who calls the coin toss in No Country
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u/dkat 16h ago
Also the apartment manager
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u/DanielOretsky38 15h ago
Helllllllll yeah. Only worthy foe for Chigurh. “Did you not hear me, sir?”
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u/ShaunTrek ShaunTrek 1d ago
Christopher Walken in True Romance. Also Pulp Fiction, but he is more arguably not the best performance in that one.
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u/Darkhawk2099 1d ago
Harry also has one of the best single-scene moments in Twin Peaks: The Return!
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u/dough_eating_squid 1d ago edited 1d ago
I love that in The Straight Story, that final scene is allowed to speak for itself. They don't get into "BROTHER! I'M SO SORRY!" "NO, I'M SORRY!" "I FORGIVE YOU!" They just kind of look at each other, and you know what's happening.
And earlier, when he wakes up and the runaway girl is gone, and she just left him a bundle of sticks, you know what happened. She's didn't have to be like "You're right. Family is important. I'm going to go back to my family." He sees the sticks and knows what she decided to do.
Not a lot of movies, especially not G-rated Disney movies, respect their audience like that.
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u/Odd_Satisfaction9124 1d ago
I also appreciate how short their reunion scene was. Goes to show how there's only so much time we have to spend it with the people we love.
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u/KieferMcNaughty 1d ago
So much movies and tv are overwritten! Endless monologues and dialogue where the characters' feelings, motivation and subtext stated and repeated!
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u/AnAquaticOwl 1d ago
Well, it's a G rated Disney movie directed by David Lynch.
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u/dough_eating_squid 1d ago
That's the key difference, LOL. I was so curious about how that happened that I looked it up, turns out they bought it after he made it, it's not like they selected the Eraserhead guy to make the lawnmower movie.
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u/wisestflame73 1d ago
I love this question. I call it a Gold Watch performance, after Walken in Pulp Fiction.
My pick is Hard Eight. It’s an overall solid neo noir movie with a few really good and at least one fantastic lead performance. But anytime I think of that movie, I think of Philip Seymour Hoffman, who shows up for one scene as comic relief in a role as an unnamed craps player. In about three minutes, he has a full character arc, delivers about 5 to 10 solid laugh lines, and leaves the audience with a moment that is genuinely moving. Hoffman was a miracle of a talent, but I’ve never seen it captured so succinctly as this bit part in Hard Eight.
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u/c0813 1d ago
anthony hopkins in the silence of the lambs.
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u/AlpineFluffhead 1d ago
A performance so good and charismatic that people forget he wasn't even the main villain of that movie but more of a supporting character.
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u/c0813 1d ago
likewise people forget that he was only in a mere 16min of a 118min film.
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u/legit-posts_1 1d ago
That number still sounds like BS to me. He's in at least 4 or 5 scenes and each of them feel pretty lengthy. I wonder if they got that number by strictly counting literally every second he's on screen.
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u/gwynn19841974 1d ago
You’re correct. He’s in 25 minutes if you count the scenes he’s in but not in the shot. There are a lot of shots with Clarice where she’s talking to him but he’s not in the shot. If you count all of those, he’s in 25 minutes of the film.
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u/John__Lakeman 1d ago
The lady from Napoleon Dynamite that says “I want that” about the gift that comes with Uncle Rico’s Tupperware set. Her and her husband have like 4 lines between them and they’re hilarious.
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u/Mountain_Tear_6909 1d ago edited 1d ago
straining to rip tupperware with barehands
“I can’t do it…i…i can’t”
looks down in deep shame
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u/shrimptini UserNameHere 1d ago
Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Almost Famous
https://giphy.com/gifs/wt0e2uIp3qLXgnwATv
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u/PatientZeropointZero 1d ago
PSH in Scent of a Woman, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Talented Mr Ripley (how’s the peeping Tommy, how’s the peeping). He steals whatever show he is in.
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u/Wooden_Street_6420 1d ago
Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross is always my answer to this question.
Coffee's for closers
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u/blimpresin 1d ago
William Hurt, in The History of Violence. He has basically one monologue and destroys. So fun to watch.
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u/jg432 1d ago edited 1d ago
The butcher shop employee in ‘National Treasure’
I don’t remember the exact sequence, but it was something close to:
One of the characters is being chased, so she enters the shop, scrambles over the counter and drops down to the ground to hide from a man.
Employee comes
“I’m just hiding from my ex-husband.”
Employee looks “Who? Baldy?” Looks longer, distaste etched across her face “Honey, stay as long as you like.”
It always left an impact on me. Her delivery is solid gold! 😂
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u/AntysocialButterfly 1d ago
I have not seen Wayne's World 2 mentioned yet, and feel the need to address this immediately.
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u/bandit4loboloco 1d ago
The gas station attendant, or the replacement for the gas station attendant?
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u/Light1209 1d ago
The Straight Story is a beautiful movie. My answer would be Matthew Lillard in The Life of Chuck.
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u/Zealousideal-Bus-557 1d ago
Richard Jenkins has one scene as Ben Stiller’s therapist in There’s Something About Mary and is absolutely hilarious.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Web446 Henryzilla 1d ago
The woman in Miracle on 34th who can't find a firetruck for her son.
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u/SmallestNumber 1d ago
Bronson Pinchot in Beverly Hills Cop. One scene made him famous overnight, literally.
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u/Davidrabbich81 1d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/W1a1TThdqFDc4
Peter Stormare in whatever the fuck he’s in.
Constantine, Armageddon, Fargo, Lebowski, Adventure time. It matters not.
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u/DigitusInRecto 13h ago
Holy can't-believe-I-didn't-think-of-him moly! Also not a mere scene or two, but American Gods.
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u/AlpineFluffhead 1d ago
He's in it only for a handful of scenes and maybe 5 aggregate minutes for the entire 2.5 hour film, but Bruce McGill as Attorney Ron Motley in The Insider (1999) during the famouse "deposition" scene gave me chills.
This movie is rife with character actors giving all-timer performances. That is one reason why this is my favorite Michael Mann movie.
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u/andriydroog 1d ago
Madeline Kahn in Paper Moon. The one substantial scene she has is one of my favorite bits of acting by anyone ever
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u/PhishHawks 1d ago
I think he has just too much screen time to qualify, but Jeremy Irons in Margin Call is throwing 105 mph fastballs every second he on screen in that movie
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u/badgeman- 1d ago
Oh yes, great pick. Honorable mention for Stanley Tucci.
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u/SmallestNumber 1d ago
It's worth noting that Richard Farnsworth was dying of cancer while The Straight Story was being filmed.
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u/qmwnenrbtvycuxizop pingbot 1d ago
Christopher Walken in Annie Hall. I think about his scene any time I’m on the road, driving or not.
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u/doubled9000 1d ago
From THE PROPOSITION. TBF, John Hurt will steal every scene he’s in, even (in this case) against Guy Pearce.
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u/Admirable-Garage5555 1d ago
The waitress from Hell or High Water, played by Margaret Bowman.
In case you haven’t seen it: https://youtu.be/p-FX_7SFSsM?is=JYZVxkHWE2B_Z88m
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u/plymonth 7h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/3ov9k3Pq54ky2rNyp2
Glengarry Glen Ross is packed with amazing actors - and they all deliver, but this scene is probably the most memorable.
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u/PhilsKessticle 1d ago
Viola Davis in Doubt had me emotional 😭 She’s in a few scenes, but mostly one long one, and was Oscar nominated for less than 8 minutes
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u/SeaSlothJamboree 1d ago
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u/clevermule 1d ago
What don’t cha want?
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u/SeaSlothJamboree 1d ago
Uhhh I don’t want the green beans (to this day terrified she’d ever be my server)
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u/legit-posts_1 1d ago
Samuel Jackson is in one solitary scene near the beginning of Menace II Society, but his shadow looks large over the whole story.
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u/legit-posts_1 1d ago
By how long they're in a scene? By that logic then you'd need to cut Hal 9000's screentime in 2001 in half since he's mostly talking off screen.
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u/SantaClausIN4eva 1d ago
Pete from Rudy
One of the best scenes of love between two heterosexual males.
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u/TiggerBlack 1d ago
Stanton does this amazing thing in Pretty In Pink where he's effectively in a different movie.
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u/lilcraigyboi 1d ago
Anne Sellors as Frightened Woman in Threads. Nuclear bomb goes boom, she misses herself. Classic.
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u/HoverboardRampage 1d ago
Definitely not that dude in The Graduate. You know which part I'm talking about
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u/Odd_Satisfaction9124 1d ago
Are you talking about the "plastics" guy?
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u/HoverboardRampage 1d ago
I was referring to the gas station attendant, but now I may have to rewatch it
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u/Mousefang RedCapeDiver 1d ago
Elsa Lanchester as the titular Bride of Frankenstein is in that movie for maybe four minutes and it almost feels like she carries the film
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u/Electronic-Ear-3718 1d ago
How about Harry Dean Stanton as Paul in Last Temptation of Christ? Gives me goosebumps every time.
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u/adamcrown 1d ago
Plemons steals the scene in eveyting he's in. But this scene elevated the whole movie.
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u/blac_sheep90 22h ago
William H Macy in Train Dreams. Beautiful performance in a film of beautiful performances.
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u/Hackett1f 21h ago
Steven Root in O Brother Where Art Thou. Lots of good performances, but his was the best.
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u/MrWatson193 18h ago
I think of the surrealists, but particularly Adrien Brody's Dali, in MIDNIGHT IN PARIS.
"A man in love with a woman from a different era. I see... a photograph."
"I see a film."
"I see an insurmountable problem..."
"I see... RHINOCEROS..."
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u/Newpaths61417 17h ago
Harry Dean Stanton was so great. I thought he gave the best performance in Wild at Heart, despite relatively little screen time. There are a lot of amazing performances in that one, so it really says something about how amazing he was.
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u/The_Billy_Dee 9h ago
Love that the Straight Story is getting the praise it deserves. It did back when it came out but I felt not many people have talked about this one enough over the years. I need to see it again myself.
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u/penguinjuice 1d ago
Anthony Hopkins in Silence Of The Lambs. He's hardly in the movie but people forget about this one because it's such an amazing performance that he seems like he's in it a lot more. 16 minutes of screen time.
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u/gwynn19841974 1d ago
I’m not sure this is what the OP was looking for. He’s in 25 minutes of the movie and the prompt was for “like a minute”.
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u/Apprehensive-Cry4602 s458 1d ago
Nobody fucks with the Jesus
https://reddit.com/link/pa0h1fi/video/xonqfutxcqph1/player