ElMaruecan82's profile

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Sunday, March 4th, 2018 3:34 PM

Live Poll: Memorable One-Scene Characters

One scene, one single scene can be enough for a character to leave a huge impact on the viewers*, even become one of the most memorable and enjoyable aspects of the film, even earn the actor an Oscar nomination... and in some exceptional cases, a win.

So, which of these one-scene movie characters was, given the short amount of screen time AND the intensity of the performance, the most memorable?

https://www.imdb.com/list/ls021971399/

https://www.imdb.com/poll/WkuuA6pvpuA/

*some of them managed to sneak into one little scene (or two) but they hardly spoke in them and whether a scene or a 'sequence', they're all known for one moment of the film, little in time but big in the impact.

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6 years ago

Great idea and list. I would have added Rutger Hauer as Curtiz from Knockin' on Heaven's Door (1997) (although IMDb lacks a photo) and Dick Miller from The Terminator (1984) (here we have a photo!). There are actually a lot of great one-scene wonder cameos, but usually they are uncredited or only credited in the end credits to preserve the effect of surprise, while here we have a list of top-billed one-scene appearances, so the two I've mentioned are of the same type.  

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I'll check these, thanks.
I guess I should also specify that this list mainly concerns dramas or 'straight' movies, many comedies and spoof movies feature memorable cameos, played generally just for laughs

Champion

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6 years ago

ElM,

I removed the duplicate text in your post.

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I knew something was odd, the first text was pasted in "white" for some reason lol
Thanks for the 'removing' :)

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6 years ago

ElM,

Interesting idea. There are so many memorable performances that I will have to think about this.

I'm assuming that you will exclude Alfred Hitchcock and other director cameos from this poll.

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I'm totally excluding Hitchy and any form of cameo, except when it's not played for laughs or as a wink to the audience and drive the narrative like any other acting presence.

The idea of this poll is to pay tribute to these performances that proved to the extreme that there was no small part indeed in a movie and five minutes of screen time (or seven, or two) can be enough to make an impact.

This poll is partial to one-scene Oscar worthy performances, for instance, that guy who played Elmo Blatch was just extraordinary, only one minute and his acting covers every possible range of creepiness (and I'm not 'rooting' for him because of his name lol)

I'm pretty sure there are countless potential additions, they just have to be considered 'impactful' by the suggester and please, just make sure there's a good picture :)

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6 years ago

bump

Champion

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6 years ago

Philip Seymour Hoffman has been said to be one of the best actors to do so much even with just a little bit of screen time so I'm thinking he might have at least one performance that fits. I haven't seen 'Hard Eight' (1996) in a long time but I know this: his performance was incredibly powerful and memorable, can find photos of him in only one outfit and background, and he is not a named character. I can't say for sure that he was only in one scene but I highly suspect it. Wikipedia says he appears only briefly but doesn't specify. This article speaks of the intensity and brilliance of Hoffman's performance and also of his very small role but, again, it doesn't specify: http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/31498/1/your-guide-to-paul-thomas-anderson-s-firs...
Other articles in Rolling Stone and other publications say much of the same thing but doesn't say exactly how many scenes he was in. I'd bet it was one scene, though. 

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6 years ago

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6 years ago

My Vote: Mark Hanna

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6 years ago

ElM,

Did you see rubyfruit76's suggestion above?
https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/poll-suggestion-memorable-one-scene-characters?topic-reply-l...

Otherwise, do you consider this poll ready?

Champion

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6 years ago

Nice.

That scene from Mississippi Burning made the mayor my pick for the R. Lee Ermey poll.

FYC:
Colonel Kilgore - Apocalypse Now
Boo Radley - To Kill a Mockingbird (??? It's been a while)
Leon - Dog Day Afternoon
Jive Lady - Airplane
Econ teacher - Ferris Bueller
Dr. Hineman - Minority Report
The Penguin - The Blues Brothers
Bill Murray - Zombieland
Chet - Barton Fink
Victor nettoyeur - La Femme Nikita
Topher Grace - Ocean's Eleven
Cozy Carlisle - Dead Again
Beaumont Livingston - Jackie Brown
The Blind Hermit - Young Frankenstein
Charlie Sheen - Ferris Bueller
The Wolfe - Pulp Fiction
Errol Flynn - The Aviator
Vincent Price - Edward Scissorhands
Lapadite - Inglourious Basterds
Ellie (Carl's wife) - Up
Cardinal Glick - Dogma
Miracle Max and Valerie - Princess Bride
Chazz Reinhold - Wedding Crashers


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So far, I've added 4 suggestions, Boo Radley, Beaumont Livingston, Charlie Sheen in Ferris Bueller and Miracle Max.

From my memories, I know other characters have more than two scenes to steal the show (let alone one): Kilgore, Leon, Viktor (Nikita), The Wolfe, some others don't leave much an impact or are mostly there for comedic purposes, I don't recall Steve Buscemi playing a significant part in Barton Fink.

I wish I could include the Lapadite actor but Waltz is the one who's impressive in that sequence.

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6 years ago

Oh man, it's a shame that among the many images in the gallery, there's not one for Tadek Lokcinski as the old man in the toilet in La Haine (1995). But I had to mention him, people are still talking about the meaning of that scene.

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6 years ago

This poll is so good. Do you consider it to be complete? Or do you want to add any of the suggestions above?

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No... it's still in construction. I still have to answer To Jen's suggestions:)

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ElM,
Any progress in answering Jen's suggestions?

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I added what I thought was "addable". Many suggestions actuallly :)

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6 years ago

Champion

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6 years ago

Congratulations ElMaruecan82 on your 464th live poll! As of 16-May-2018 7:31 PM Pacific your polls have 937,311 or more votes, for an average of 2,020 votes per poll.

Memorable One-Scene Characters
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