Posted on 06/26/2011 5:56:22 PM PDT by PJ-Comix
I was just watching the original "True Grit" starring John Wayne. Yes, he deserved his Oscar for the role of Rooster Cogburn but opposite him was someone who played his part horribly. I am talking about Glenn Campbell as the Texas Ranger. Sheesh! Talk about stilted delivery. Really bad. Another example of bad acting was also in a John Wayne movie---"The Alamo." It was Frankie Avalon as Smitty who was supposed to be a young Tennessee frontiersman. I like Frankie Avalon in the beach flicks but, let's face it, he was waaay too urban to be believable in the role of Smitty. Whenever I see "The Alamo," it is impossible to forget that this is just a movie because of Frankie Avalon's completely unconvincing acting.
There are many other major movies with examples of really horrible acting. I cited a couple of such examples, so please list yours.
I’m going to blashpheme here and say Jack Nicholson. He always plays himself. The Departed was good, but again the bad accent ruined it. He’s clearly a fascinating guy on screen, and worthy of success, but I don’t see much “range”. I just see Jack Nicholson. The best actors are those that you forget that they are playing a role. Dustin Hoffman is a good example. You believed he was the savant in Rain Man. Daniel Day Lewis is another. He prepared for “There Will be Blood” for a year, getting the accent just right. He listened to recordings of speech patterns of old prospectors, and ended up sounding like John Huston. Believable in the role. Bad accents are like fingernails on a chalkboard.
Stars have always played themselves. Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Bogart. Actors are usually in supporting roles, or as so-called character actors, who also, more often than not, play themselves, or play the same role over and over again.
True actors are people with theatrical training which many of the stars lack. You see those in European films.
I thought the tipped drink was perfect! So was Bogey as the man’s man with the shattered heart. I don’t think any other actor could’ve pulled it off. Any how, the whole picture is corny — that’s it’s genius!
Raquel Welch wasn't in Clan of the Cave Bear
Persis Khambatta in Star Trek TMP...actually worst acting by an entire ensemble.
The kid in E.T.
Timothy Dalton as James Bond (all).
Shaquile O’Neil in Kazaam.
Mick Jagger in Freejack.
Jeff Goldblum in Silverado and Jurassic Park.
Can’t watch Sean Penn, Tim Robbins or Jeanine Garaffolo.
I agree. His performance was horrible. A few years ago I was channel surfing and I came upon HBO's Spanish language channel. Firewall was on, and I watched for a few minutes. The guy dubbing Harrison Ford's lines delivered them with more passion and energy than Ford did in the original!
Harrison Ford reading cue cards in the most recent Indiana Jones.
"What has been seen, cannot be unseen!"
Rosie dressed up as a dominatrix in a skimpy leather outfit is not only unbelievable but repulsive!
I thoroughly enjoyed “The Waterboy.” Laughed until my sides hurt. Haven’t cared for anything else from Sandler, however.
Try to count how many times Ford gets that fakey pained expression on his face. He has a repertoire of exactly one pained expression which he overuses in every dramatic role. Another terrible Ford film was “Firewall”.
Tongue in cheek roles like Ind. Jones he does well. Drama not so much, IMO.
“Raquel Welch wasn’t in Clan of the Cave Bear”
Oops. You’re right. It was Daryl Hannah who was so bad in “Clan of the Cave Bear”.
It was Raquel Welch in “One Million Years B.C.”, an even worse film and even worse acting job than Cave Bear.
“Duke Wayne went to no acting school and quickly became a great, GREAT film star. I am a total movie SLUT and John Wayne is my favorite actor. full stop.”
Duke didn’t go to any “acting” school, but did get lots of lessons from the actor Paul Fix. Fix was in many Wayne movies, and is best remembered as the marshal in “The Rifleman.” Wayne also learned from John Ford. But if you want bad acting, watch Duke in the 30’s “Singing Sandy” movies.
My two favorite actors are Duke and Bogie.
Edward G. Robinson’s role as Dathan in The Ten Commandments...... line spoken with heavy NYC accent: “Where’s your Messiah now?”
Ali McGraw in “The Getaway”
The kid was in other films and did fine. Sometimes it ain't the acting, but the screenplay and directing that destroys a performance.
Specifically, in the case of the Star Wars movies -- the only one that's really a good movie in its own right is Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Why? Because it's the only one that Lucas neither directed nor wrote the screenplay for.
With the exception of Harrison Ford, the original Star Wars (Episode IV) was horribly acted, very wooden. Lucas directed and was the sole screenplay writer.
Return of The Jedi wasn't horrible (replace the Ewoks with Wookies like they were originally supposed to be...) -- but Lucas was only co-wrtier of the screenplay there, and didn't direct either.
The "prequel" trilogy has Lucas' prints all over them (co-screenplay writer for Episode II, but otherwise all Lucas in writing and directing) and they can easily be characterized as cartoonish stories with bad acting.
Don’t forget Keanu Reeves in Much Ado About Nothing. *shudder*
Best part of that whole movie was watching Pitt get taken out by the bus at the beginning. In what was supposed to be a tragic, shocking moment, the whole theater erupted in laughter. I knew then it was only going to go downhill from there. It did.
Trying to imitate a foreign or southern (Any kind of) accent.
“7 Years in Tibet” was pathetic, and “Inglorious Basterds” was another. (Just to name a few) How he gets so much critical favor is beyond me.......
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