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(#4) Bronson Pinchot
- 56
The Scene: Detroit cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) arrives in Beverly Hills and stops into an art gallery to see his old friend Jenny (Lisa Eilbacher). Upon entering, he is greeted by her assistant Serge.
The Role: Serge has an accent of indeterminable origin. He is immediately taken with the rough-edged Foley, famously offering him an espresso with "a lemon twist."
The Performance: Coming out on top in a scene with Eddie Murphy isn't easy, yet Pinchot did it. In just a few minutes of screen time, he takes an otherwise irrelevant character and imbues him with purpose and meaning. Serge, who was inspired by Pinchot's makeup lady on a previous film, was such a fan favorite that they brought him back for Beverly Hills Cop III, despite the fact that his boss, Jenny, wasn't part of the film.
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(#23) Brian Tyree Henry
The Scene: Fonny (Stephan James) runs into an old friend and invites him in for a few beers so they can catch up.
The Role: Daniel Carty spent a couple of years in prison. Whatever happened to him in there has clearly had a traumatic impact.
The Performance: Henry arrives at the 45-minute mark, adding a profound emotional jolt to If Beale Street Could Talk. His job is to make the viewer - and Fonny - understand how horrific prison life can be. Indiewire's Chris O'Falt nailed what makes Henry's performance so remarkable: "Henry shows us a man who has been broken, haunted by that unspecified horror of what happened to him in prison." Because the actor does that so perfectly, Daniel's words hang over the film's back half as we see Fonny himself behind bars.
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(#5) Bill Murray
- 68
The Scene: A sadistic dentist (Steve Martin) hits the jackpot when a masochistic patient (Bill Murray) lands in his chair.
The Role: Arthur Denton is that patient, and the more painful his dental procedure is, the giddier he becomes.
The Performance: Murray puts a comedic spin on the character Jack Nicholson played in Roger Corman's 1960 non-musical Little Shop of Horrors. The concept of the scene is undeniably twisted, but Murray softens it by bringing an over-the-top sense of humor. He matches Steve Martin's wild energy level note-for-note. Watching them play two sides of the same coin is consequently hilarious. The Washington Post said, "Murray and Martin together is the comic equivalent of the Thrilla in Manila, as the two peerless comedians of our era go at it hammer, tongs and, uh, drill."
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(#16) Chris Tucker
- 47
The Scene: Dealer and gun-runner Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson) fears that one of his couriers, who just got pinched, will turn informant on him. He bails the guy out, convinces him to get in the trunk of a car, and then executes him.
The Role: Beaumont Livingston is a profane, fast-talking goofball who really doesn't want to get into that car trunk and puts up a passionate defense against it.
The Performance: Going toe-to-toe with the estimable Samuel L. Jackson isn't easy, but Tucker does it. That feat is even more remarkable when you consider he only had a few film roles under his belt at that time and hadn't yet achieved his massive Rush Hour success. Tucker makes Beaumont's fear of getting in the trunk funny and tense simultaneously, leading to one of the most electrifying moments in a movie packed with them.
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(#7) Alec Baldwin
- 60
The Scene: The owners of a real estate business have sent over a hot downtown salesman to light a fure under the rest of the sales team.
The Role: Whereas most motivational speakers opt for a hopeful, you-can-do-it approach, Blake scares his audience by warning about the stark realities of failure - which include getting fired - in a blistering seven-minute scene.
The Performance: Glengarry Glen Ross is fundamentally about the pressure of working in a cutthroat business, where one's survival is at stake every single day. The intensity with which Baldwin plays Blake sets up the stakes the salesmen are under. Baldwin is in full command throughout the sequence, barking and yelling vintage David Mamet dialogue at the other characters. He makes Blake an alpha male who relishes his power, perfectly setting the tone for the rest of the film, which he's not even in.
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(#2) Billy Crystal
- 70
The Scene: The film's hero, Westley (Cary Elwes), is "mostly dead but still slightly alive." He is revived by two miracle workers.
The Roles: Billy Crystal is Miracle Max and Carol Kane is Valerie. Both are gray-haired, wrinkled, and a little nutty - despite their very specific skills.
The Performance: Buried under old-age make-up, Crystal and Kane improvised a lot of their lines, including the oft-quoted, "Have fun storming the castle!" Aside from their scene being naturally funny, this is a case in which the comedic voices of two different actors blend together perfectly. They suggest a long-lasting relationship between Max and Valerie that has seen ups and downs. The way they feed off one another offers a master class in how to build comedy.
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The use of scene language in the film is like a storyteller, taking the responsibility of conveying the content and meaning of the film to the audience. Excellent use of the scenes can make a bland story appear as an amazing experience. Of course, a perfect single scene performance cannot be separated from an excellent actor. It is an important issue to make scenes' movements and use complement each other in a single scene.
Have you noticed any single scene performances? The random tool generates 23 items, it helps you to find the greatest single scene performance in movie history. The collection can be refreshed to show another group of items.
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