best film: Lawrence of Arabia. La Strada is the other masterpiece but I think there’s a sizable gap here between the two masterpieces with Lawrence on top. It’ll be the best film for a few actors on this list in fact. It’s David Lean’s greatest achievement and the greatest achievement of epic filmmaking (up there with Kane, and Raging Bull for the best biopic).
best performance: La Strada and there’s no close contender here. Quinn’s Zampanò is a wonderful character. He’s overly masculine, a brutal bully pushing around Masina. However, he’s not a flat villain- he’s complex and though you never sway in your sympathies in the film, there are times when you connect with Quinn’s character and that’s a triumph for Quinn as an actor.
Stylistic innovations/traits: Quinn started out his career playing the villains and heels in westerns and B-movies and emerged in the 50’s and 60’s as the occasional lead and great supporting actor. He excels at playing passionate, aggressive characters- often operating on their most basic primal instincts and nature. He’s superb in two masterpieces, won two Oscars (Lust for life, Viva Zapata!) while being nominated four times.
directors worked with: Nobody more than once— Lean, Spike Lee, Minnelli, Fellini, Kazan and Raoul Walsh
Top 5 Performances:
- La Strada
- Zorba the Greek
- Lawrence of Arabia
- Lust For Life
- Viva Zapata
Archiveable films
| 1941- They Died With Their Boots On |
| 1942- Larceny, Inc. |
| 1942- The Black Swan |
| 1942- The Road to Morocco |
| 1943- The Ox-Box Incident |
| 1945- Back To Bataan |
| 1951- Brave Bulls |
| 1952- Vita Zapata |
| 1954- La Strada |
| 1956- Lust For Life |
| 1959- Last Train From Gun Hill |
| 1959- Warlock |
| 1961- Guns of the Navarone |
| 1962- Lawrence of Arabia |
| 1962- Requiem For a Heavyweight |
| 1964- Zorba the Greek |
| 1972- Across 110th Street |
| 1991- Jungle Fever |
WAS NEVER APPRECIATED FOR HIS MASTERY OF PORTRAYING A ROLE HE PLAYED YOU LEFT OUT TO MANY MOVIES THE SAVAGE Innocent, MESSAGE. HE DESERVED A ACADEMY AWARD FOR THE REQUIEM OF A HEAVY WEIGHT. BLOOD ON THE SAND,FISHERMAN AND HUNDREDS MORE NOT MENTIONED. NO ACTOR THAT WAS MENTIONED OVER HIM COULD PLAY ALL THE ROLES HE DID AND BE CONVINCING. He never gave less than a great performance even as pirate,gangster,etc
@Stanley . Thanks for the comment here on Quinn’s page. Quinn is a great actor. I haven’t seen some of these films- I’ll try to catch them. You can’t give him the Academy Award in 1962 with Peter O’Toole in Lawrence of Arabia– sorry. That should be your winner that year as good as Quinn is in Requiem for a Heavyweight. Quinn is in only two films in the top 500 of all-time- “La Strada” and “Lawrence of Arabia”. The best of the best actors are in like 5-10.
the message movie his top 5 performance in please must be writing
Am I supposed to have at least a faint clue of what this comment is trying to say?
That his performance here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Message_(1976_film)) should be his 5th best performance? It’s what I’m picking up. Drake doesn’t have it in the archives but I don’t know if he just hasn’t seen it or not.
Thanks for explaining. Perhaps ok wrote the correct words to form a cohesive comment, but arranged them in an incomprehensible order.
@ok- thanks for the comment. I do not believe I’ve seen The Message- I’ll add it to my list. Thanks for the recommendation
Thanks for explaining. Perhaps ok wrote the correct words to form a cohesive comment, but arranged them in an incomprehensible order.
Yeah it’s not easy. I just looked at the individual phrases (“the message movie,” “his top 5 performance,”) and went off from there.