I could have watched this scene go on for hours. Nobody plays a weasel better than Woods. When you think about it now, what other performance in the 80's can compare? DeNiro in Raging Bull? Compared to the 1970's, the 80's really lacked for great performances by leading actors (I'm thinking of American actors primarily). So many DATED movies from that decade IMO.
shareI agree, I always thought James Woods in Salvador was one of the best acting performances I've ever seen.
I'd say Mickey Rourke in Angel Heart and Gene Hackman in Mississippi Burning are two other brilliant performances from the 1980's
"It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything." - Tyler Durden
What's all the more impressive about that scene is that according to the DVD, it was largely improvised. Most of that dialogue wasn't scripted at all. I agree, Woods is a terrific actor.
The war is not meant to be won... it is meant to be continuous.
[deleted]
what other performance in the 80's can compare?
Willem Dafoe in "Last Temptation of Christ", Dafoe again (as well as Tom Berenger) in "Platoon", Michael Douglas in "Wall Street", R. Lee Ermey and Vincent D'Onofrio in "Full Metal Jacket", Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn in "On Golden Pond", Bill Murray in "Stripes" and "Caddyshack", James Caan in "Thief", Donald Sutherland in "Ordinary People", Tom Cruise in "Born on the Fourth of July", Emilio Estevez in "Young Guns", Mel Gibson in "Lethal Weapon", Matthew Broderick in "Glory", Morgan Freeman in "Driving Miss Daisy", Robert Sean Leonard in "Dead Poets Society", and Matt Dillon in "Drugstore Cowboy".
There were just as many great performances in the 80's as in the 70's imo. Every decade has its performances.
Thank you for mentioning Berenger & defoe for Platoon....
Also:
Paul Newman, The Verdict
Timothy Hutton, Taps
Mickey Rourke, Year of the Dragon
James Spader-Robert Downey Jr., Less than Zero
Harrison Ford, All Indiana Jones Movies
One I know most people wont get, John Neville in the Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Lee Marvin, The Big Red One
Newmand and Cruise, The color of money...
Like you said, EVERY decade had its great acting moments....but lets not also forget, with the advent of Netflix, expanded cable and on demand...
We dont go to the movies the way we used to back then...