I mentioned this earlier in the film thread, but I thought I might aswell make a thread about it as it's quite an interesting topic.

Empire Magazine recently ran a thing where they picked who they considered to be the five most important, influencial and heavyweight actors of all time, then each issue did a large feature on one of them, before putting it to the public vote for who was the best.

The five they chose were:

Paul Newman
Jack Nicholson
Marlon Brando
Al Pacino
Robert De Niro

I dont personally agree with that list, I think there are perhaps one or two names not on that list who should be in above one or two who are, but one cannot deny how important and talented those five men were/are.

The actual winner of the poll was one of the least good in my opinion, Robert De Niro, but I was wondering what you thought. Therefore, I thought I'd make this thread and poll to see :)

Brando, easy.

Pacino... just mesmerizing at times... lately he has turned completely sh*t movies into watchable ones.

I don't like Brando's style very much and De Niro is more "adaptable" but less flashy than Pacino.

The other two are legends as well but not on par with the 3 above.

I just saw the full list...... come on...

Sigourney Weaver in #10... Alan Rickman in #19... disregard the list

definetly Jack Nichjolson from that list. so many great movies, and I actually cant name a crappy one (loved Mars Attack! :D)

Pacino and DeNiro almost killed their careers with most of their comedies (Pacino-S1m0ne, DeNiro-Showtime).
Brando didnt do enough movies.
Paul Newman-> meh, havent seen enough of him


of course, Tom Hanks is at the top IMO

Al Pacino IMO.

Marlon Brando.

Originally posted by Hakeem
definetly Jack Nichjolson from that list. so many great movies, and I actually cant name a crappy one (loved Mars Attack! :D)
Anger Management, Something's Gotta Give.

I went for Paul Newman. It was very close for me as to who I should go for out of Newman and Nicholson, both are incredible, brilliant actors, but Newman just edged it, probably through personal preference and the salad dressings. I think Jack Nicholson is a really phenominal actor, his cameo in Easy Rider was to die for and his performances in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and The Shining are among the best of all time. However, Newman is just so supercool, and his performances in things like The Hustler and Cool Hand Luke are just so awesomely chilled out and smooth, I just love him. He was incredible in Butch Cassidy too, and I havent even seen The Sting. Also, I feel Newman has kept up the standard with age better than Nicholson, think of Road to Perdition where Newman was the shining light in a bad film, then think of the Nicholson films I mentioned above.

De Niro and Pacino are just behind that pair in my opinion. I dunno why, but I always fell these guys are great because they have played great roles rather than through their own acting. All right, both can act damn well, but they didnt need too so much. Having said that, De Niro's early performances in Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Mean Streets are incredible, but I feel he's never equalled them since. The same perhaps with Pacino, his best acting came in Dog Day Afternoon and Godfather 1 when he was really young, and while he was awesome in GF2 and Scarface when a bit older, his recent stuff like The Recruit and Heat isnt nearly as good. Also, both seem to have cheapened themselves a bit with things like Shark Tale and S1m0ne. Undoubtedly brilliant, but not as good as the other two.

Brando for me is the real odd one out. He is not nearly of that standard I would say. Alright, his performance as Don Vito Corleone is, IMO, the best performance of all time by anyone in any film, but really, Idont like A Streetcar Named Desire and On The Waterfront very much, and his recent stuff like The Score and Apocalypse Now, he has been really poor in. I would be surprised if he is only here cos he died so close to it. I would have put Anthony Hopkins and maybe a couple more in above him.

Pacino is just LEGENDARY in the role of the blind Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman.

That's easilly Top 5 performances ever.



Out of the top of my head and considering the full top 30 list, Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise should be there and some more I can't recall atm.

Originally posted by CalumnCFC
Anger Management, Something's Gotta Give.

Anger Management wasnt a great movie overall but Nicholson was awesome.

Something's Gotta Give I just watched it for teh first time last month and I have to say it was great. mostly cause of Diane Keaton though

I must confess I havent seen either, but both got just one and a half stars in the Virgin Film Guide so I assumed they were bad. Is About Schmidt any good?

De Niro, hands down.

Originally posted by CalumnCFC
I must confess I havent seen either, but both got just one and a half stars in the Virgin Film Guide so I assumed they were bad. Is About Schmidt any good?

About Schmidt is awesome.

Axelander Payne is a genius :Bow: