Posted on 05/26/2006 3:31:32 PM PDT by Reaganesque
It's the beginning of the Memorial Day weekend. We've had our silliness thread to start things off now, how about this:
Who do you think had the best cameo performance in any movie or TV show? You know, someone who had a bit part but stole the show for you.
Bob Barker in "Happy Gilmore" where he is partnered with Happy (Sandler) in a celebrity golf tournament. After giving warnings to Happy to play "nice and easy" ("that was NOT nice and easy") the two get into a rolling fight. The shot from Happy's POV as Bob Barker, with a maniacal look, is pounding him is priceless. Also after Happy had seemingly won the fight he says "The Price is wrong, Bitch!" so when Barker wins the brawl he walks away, turns back briefly, and says "Bitch!" then walks away.
Rick Moranis was pretty good in "Head Office" too. "My Mercedes is leaking more oil than......aahhhh.......Poland!".
Sometimes you can find a nugget of true comic genius on TV...
Bob Newhart is one.
This was not exactly a 'cameo' performance as such, but in 1962, Clint Eastwood, played himself, in an episode of 'Mr. Ed'...I am a Mr. Ed fan, so seeing Clint Eastwood, playing Mr. Eds brief time neighbor, was quite a treat...
Aaah! Just noticed your post. I guess I've got egg on my face, too. If that's a fact, am I lying? Pure genius!
Alfred Hitchcock's Cameo Appearances
Family Plot
In silhouette through the door of the Registrar of
Births and Deaths, 41 minutes into the movie.
Frenzy
In the center of a crowd, wearing a bowler hat, three
minutes into the film; he is the only one not applauding the speaker.
Topaz
Being pushed in a wheelchair in an airport, half an hour in.
Hitchcock gets up from the chair, shakes hands with a man, and walks off to the right.
Torn Curtain
Early in the film, sitting in the Hotel d'Angleterre
lobby with a blond baby.
Marnie
Entering from the left of the hotel corridor after Tippi
Hedren passes by, five minutes in.
Birds,The
Leaving the pet shop with two white terriers as Tippi
Hedren enters.
Psycho
Four minutes in, through Janet Leigh's window as she returns
to her office. He is wearing a cowboy hat.
North By Northwest
Missing a bus during the opening credits.
Vertigo
In a gray suit walking in the street, eleven minutes in.
Wrong Man, The
Narrating the film's prologue.
Man Who Knew Too Much, The
Watching acrobats in the Moroccan marketplace (his back to the
camera) just before the murder.
Trouble With Harry, The
Walking past the parked limousine of an old man who is looking
at paintings, twenty minutes into the film.
To Catch A Thief
Ten minutes in, sitting to the left of Cary Grant
on a bus.
Rear Window
Winding the clock in the songwriter's apartment, a half
hour into the movie.
Dial M for Murder
On the left side of the class-reunion photo,
thirteen minutes into the film.
I Confess
Crossing the top of a staircase after the opening credits.
Strangers on A Train
Boarding a train with a double bass fiddle as
Farley Granger gets off in his hometown, early in the film.
Stage Fright
Turning to look at Jane Wyman in her disguise as
Marlene Dietrich's maid.
Under Capricorn
In the town square during a parade, wearing a blue
coat and brown hat, in the first five minutes. Ten minutes later, he is one of three men on the steps of Government House.
Rope
His trademark can be seen briefly on a neon sign in the view from the apartment window, approximately 55 minutes into the movie.
Paradine Case, The
Leaving the train and Cumberland Station,
carrying a cello.
Notorious
At a big party in Claude Rains's mansion, drinking
champagne and then quickly departing, an hour after the film begins.
Spellbound
Coming out of an elevator at the Empire Hotel,
carrying a violin case and smoking a cigarette, 40 minutes in.
Lifeboat
In the "before" and "after" pictures in the newspaper ad for Reduco Obesity Slayer.
Shadow of A Doubt
On the train to Santa Rosa, playing cards.
Saboteur
Standing in front of Cut Rate Drugs in New York as the
saboteur's car stops, an hour in.
Suspicion
Mailing a letter at the village postbox about 45 minutes in.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Midway through, passing Robert Montgomery in front of his building.
Foreign Correspondent
Early in the movie, after Joel McCrea leaves his hotel, wearing a coat and hat and reading a newspaper.
Rebecca
Walking near the phone booth in the final part of the film
just after George Sanders makes a call.
Lady Vanishes, The
Very near the end of the movie, in Victoria
Station, wearing a black coat and smoking a cigarette.
Young and Innocent
Outside the courthouse, holding a camera.
39 Steps, The
Tossing some litter while Robert Donat and Lucie
Mannheim run from the theater, seven minutes into the movie.
Murder
Walking past the house where the murder was committed, about an hour into the movie.
Blackmail
Being bothered by a small boy as he reads a book in
the subway.
Easy Virtue
Walking past a tennis court, carrying a walking stick.
Lodger, The
At a desk in a newsroom and later in the crowd watching an arrest.
TELEVISION
Dip in the Pool, Alfred Hitchcock Presents
As a cover picture on a magazine a passenger is reading. This is the only cameo Hitch took in a television show. (His opening remarks on Alfred Hitchcock Presents do not count)
It was a small production so it isn't on TV much, but I thought it fit in quite well with the other two. They're not remakes, really, but variations on the same theme. A trilogy, in a way, and far, far better than Romero's awful zombie movies which fans freak over.
He played Richard the Lionheart and gave his $1 million fee to one of the charities he's always supported.
An episode of "That Girl." Marlo Thomas bumps into a Catholic priest -- literally. She turns to him in embarassment, and say, "Excuse me, father." The priest replies, "That's all right, my child."
Who was playing the priest? Danny Thomas.
Danny Thomas's best cameo: As Colac, the bowlered-and-tuxedoed leader of the Twyloites, in the classic Dick Van Dyke Show sci-fi spoof, "If It Looks Like a Walnut." (Classic exchange---Rob: "You...you look like Danny Thomas." Colac: "What...is a Danny Thomas?")
I would agree, that the first two were really good, and from I can remember of the third, it was also a good little film...you are right, they are not exactly remakes of each other, but rather, are variations on a theme...and a really spooky theme, because the person is replaced with an exact physical duplicate, but whats inside, is so very different, and eerie and spooky...I love those types of films...
Well this really goes back a ways, but I think one of my favorite cameo appearances was Jerome Howard (Curly) of the Three Stooges showing up in "Hold That Lion" (1947), it is the only Stooge flick where all three brothers Moe, Curly AND Shemp were together. Curly was cast as an ordinary passenger on a train, sleeping with a hat over his face and a clothespin on his nose, and the unveiling of Curly was truly hilarious.
And as long as I'm talking about the Stooges, I'll put in a plug for the made-for-TV movie "The Three Stooges" that was produced and directed by noneother than Mel Gibson in 2000 (a rabid Stooge fan), Paul Ben-Victor played Moe, Evan Handler played an amazing Larry Fine, and Michael Chiklis (of the "Commish") played the role of Curly and IMHO, he should have received an Oscar, an Emmy, SOME sort of recognition, because he played Curly SO well, that you would begin thinking that he had ALWAYS been Curly, and that Jerome Howard had played Chiklis. It was that phenomenal a performance, I heartily recommend it and it is suitable for all ages too. :)
Sweet! I think Connery is awesome...even though he's old enough to be my dad. Also, I think he looks better as an older man than he did during the Bond years.
I wasn't a fan of The Thing remake and felt that was one area it screwed up. It touched on the idea of your friend being someone else under the skin but was too into disgusting effects to really work that element, which was the best part of the original story.
John Hurt in Spaceballs.
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