Actors you like in exactly one role and nothing else

Jack Nicholson in Chinatown.

 

John Garfield. I've never liked him and I can't really say why, something about him bugs me. I haven't seen all of his films, but of the dozen or so I've seen, Tortilla Flat (1942) is the only one I like him in.

 

Nice idea for a thread. For me, it's definitely Robin Williams on film.

The only movie I've liked him in is The World According to Garp, his first leading role in a dramatic picture. To me, he seems like a natural actor in that movie. Every other single role I've seen him in (aside from perhaps Mork and Mindy, which is TV) I can see his "acting" and not the character. Most of it seems forced, and often just variations on Robin's usual comedic schtick.

Good Will Hunting is a possible exception, but even that performance seems like I'm watching Robin Williams overplay a character at times.

I realize Williams is beloved by many and this may be a hot take for some.

 

Did you see Out of Sight or Michael Clayton?

 

Alex Baldwin is close, Hunt For Red October and Glengarry Glen Ross. Madonna is right on, but I like Rosie in Beautiful Girls.

 

No but I have seen O Brother, Descendants, Tomorrowland, Ticket to Ride, Batman and Robin, Gravity, the thin red line and the perfect storm. To me he's nothing but a pretty face who plays the exact same character in every film. At least in One Fine Day his everyman shtick wasn't old yet.

 

I would argue the problem with M*A*S*H was that after McLean Stevenson left it became too centered around Hawkeye Pierce, and perhaps parallel or because of that, the show lost its edge.

 

It's strange but I felt the first 3 seasons were the worst 3 seasons - to me the show was much better written when Frank Burns (Larry Linville) left and Charles Winchester arrived. Of course, there is a divide among fans who either liked the first 1/3 or the latter 2/3.

I found the first years far too silly. Yes they wanted to make the military look foolish - it was a liberal show - but Frank was a cartoon - and that's why Linville left - there is no growth to a cartoon. While I liked the comedy of Stevenson - as a bumbling, in-over-his-head, commander - Col Potter was a far more believable person. So was BJ and so was Charles - they were simply written a lot better as fleshed-out human beings than buffoonish cartoons. I also liked that the show treated the military better in the last 2/3rd with episodes like "Say No More" (Season 11 episode 12) where a general visits his son who suffers a leg injury and is also "Caught in the machine of War:"

Moreover, the second half of the series also had more episodes that focussed almost entirely on other characters - all Potter episodes, or BJ or Klinger or Margaret or Charles and even Father Mulcahy. You really couldn't do that much in the first few years because Frank and Margaret were cartoonish - Wayne Rogers was basically the same as Hawkeye at the beginning - there wasn't really any separation of the two. Both were drinkers and skirt chasers with interchangeable one-line gags.

Charles was a much better foil because unlike Frank - Charles was the better doctor and wittier. BJ was the family man - a departure from the skirt-chasing Hawkeye/Trapper.

 

The Sadist looks excellent! Lol

 

All of that can be true and the show still managed to lose the edge it had in the first few seasons. The show’s first few seasons showed us that the emperor indeed has no clothes, while the back half of the show’s arc told us what? Just how far it had gotten away (grown?) from the movie itself?

 

Idris Elba as Luther.

 

Michael Clayton should be seen for Tom Wilkinson even if you don't like GC.

 

I liked him in "Diner"--but if you find him annoying, you probably won't like him in that. He was good in "Whiplash" too.

 

I assume you don't like him when he's showoff-y. Have you seen The Border (1982)? It might be my favorite subdued performance of his.

 

Yeah, I probably shouldn't mention Reiser because he is fine in the 1st "BHC". But it's such a small role that I think it doesn't count!

 

I think Madonna was okay in some other roles, but even as a massive Madonna fan, I can't much defend her acting. Not good - but she was solid in "League".

As for Rosie, she was actually pretty good in the largely abysmal 1994 "Flintstones" movie, so that's at least 2 good performances from her!

 

I would agree that the first 3 seasons were more like the movie but then I felt the last 6-7 years of the TV series were also better than the movie. I'm not sure what is meant by edgier or if that is actually a good thing. I don't think a TV series can do a movie over and over and over every week. Personally, I found the first three seasons of M*A*S*H quite repetitive. It was more slapstick comedy.

I think there were some outstanding episodes in the first 3 seasons like "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet" and obviously "Abyssinia Henry" which may be the hardest-hitting episode in the entire series. I just think it wasn't as consistently strong.

I say the same thing about Star Trek: The Next Generation - some excellent episodes in the first 2 seasons but it started getting better as it went on. But to each their own.

 

And Tilda Swinton.

 

Never saw "Diner"! Probably should!

Though I don't like Levinson.

Did see "Whiplash"... and have no memory of Reiser in it.

I think this points out the real challenge, as it's tough to find any prolific actor who I actively dislike everywhere but in one role.

Even as annoying as I tend to find Reiser, clearly we can find parts other than "Aliens" where he's fine.

I guess I viewed the thread in the "as a rule" way.

As a rule, I dislike Reiser, but I think he's great in "Aliens".

So there!

 

Not that I've seen her in all that many films, but Beyonce's acting never did much for me--till I saw her in Cadillac Records. Somehow, playing Etta James got the great actress within to emerge, if only one time.

 

Reiser + Levinson? Sounds like a definite skip for you!

It's still my favorite Levinson film, though.

 

It might well be very good. Maybe Levinson didn't develop the cinematic traits I dislike until later.

Like I said, I should see it!

 

No fan of Adam Sandler, but he was great in Uncut Gems.

 

M*A*S*H grew into a caricature of itself as the series wore on. That's inevitable of any show, I suppose. Give me the episodes with Colonel Flagg/Captain Halloran instead of Major Freedman eight days a week.

IMO the first two seasons of TNG were awash in bad acting and a soundtrack that demanded to be heard as a character in the show.

 

I used to argue with an acquaintance about Jennifer Lopez's acting. She said Lopez had never been good in anything besides Out of Sight, and I would reply that she was good elsewhere but it was hard to notice when the movies themselves were so bad.

From my point of view, Hustlers settled the argument in my favor.