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Weekend Discussion Thread: That One Good PerformanceSo you’re watching an episode and most of the performances are terrible or at the very least flat and bland. But then one performer comes on the screen with actual screen presence, with actual ability, and suddenly the movie is briefly watchable.
You’ve probably had that experience. Tell us about it. Here’s mine: It’s the rather brief appearance of veteran actor Les Tremayne as Norman “the crazy goat man” Tolliver in “The Slime People.” He arrives and the screen lights up, he departs and it’s just a foggy mess again. And if you can think of a thread topic, be sure to send it in! 111 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: That One Good Performance”Commenting at Satellite News
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I’m going with the girl from WILD REBELS. Especially the scene towards the end where she’s reloading magazines in the lighthouse and she looks over with this look that conveys that she understands how hopeless the stand off is. Remarkably well acted.
The girl who played Debbie in Manos.
Bev Garland. I’ve seen her in three Corman pictures that I can remember — It Conquered The World, Swamp Diamonds, and another one which escaped the clutches of MST3K, Not Of This Earth. She was excellent in all of them, especially Not Of This Earth — not to mention cute as hell.
Needless to say, I’ve liked Bela Lugosi in pretty much anything, even as the quality of the movies he was in slowly declined as the studios seemed concerned only with milking his image and persona. Hell, I even liked him in The Phantom Ship, one of the grimmest, darkest downers of a movie I’d ever seen. That one’s about as bleak as it gets, and Lugosi is awesome in it.
I would like to commend the entire cast of The Creeping Terror for never openly laughing while doing the scenes with the monster.
#40 Hey, Tab Hunter, you just reminded me of Myron Healey. I thought he was so cool, playing sympathetic tough guys in “The Unearthly” and “Melting Man.” And I LOVE his little “A cold turkey leg? Awesome!” smile to himself when he opens the ‘frig.
I think Steeve Reeves played Hercules pretty well. Even when the character did ridiculous things. His Hercules could be kinda dumb and still have dignity.
Beverly Garland in anything, but especially Gunslinger!
Also, I thought Joe Turkel did a great job as the blackmailing beatnik in Tormented. He really made Richard Carlson squirm.
My vote’s for Dunja Movar, who played Ophelia in 1009-HAMLET. Her portrayal was sensitive, nuanced, and completely believable. It is such a shame that, like Ophelia, Dunja took her own life: at age 23, on her birthday. She had many more bravura performances to give.
I’ve professed my love for the Fontanelles in Hobgoblins before, and I’ll profess it here again. The “Kiss Kicker” scene always rocks my world. I’ve also got a soft spot for Steven Boggs (Kyle) because he looks like a guy I dated in high school.
Gizmonic temp, et al: NOTHING (except riffing) makes Overdrawn watchable, even Raul Julia. I do agree Jonathan Haze had some good performances.
I’m going to go out on a limb and for Richard Kiel in Hunan Duplicators; his take is similar to Terminator 2’s “I know now why you cry” ending, with shades of Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner, or Harrison Ford, knowing now that he’s a replicant too.
And, everyone in High School Big Shot; for a movie that offers no redeeming value, it has some good acting, even by the bit players. Almost all the characters have depth, and the reason is not that stinky plot or pedestrian dialogue, the actors really invest in their time on screen.
Oh, Tom Pittman for SURE. He really gives the material in “High School Big Shot” more than it deserves. He actually turns Marvin’s stupidity into something a little different; a misplaced need for love that comes from a need for escape from his dysfunctional family life. It’s a shame that he died so young; he might have done better in better films later on.
#41: His name was George Lloyd, and he was a prolific character actor in the forties. He appeared with the Three Stooges in both “Pardon My Clutch” and “Crime on their Hands,” and appeared with Laurel and Hardy in “The Dancing Masters.” Pretty much he was mostly “gravelly voiced nemesis” in all these films; maybe he appreciated the chance to appear “human” in “I Accuse My Parents.”
#59: You beat me to it. Actually, it’s true… even goofy character actor STANLEY ADAMS seems to have some depth in this film, especially towards the end, when he gives his brother-in-law a reassuring “You’re not so bad, Sam.”
#59
Call me cynical (like Deckard? :) ) but isn’t it possible Ridley Scott
is pulling film viewers legs in claiming now that Harrison Ford’s
character was a replicant?
This Island Earth has some of the worst acting performances I’ve seen. Most of the actors in it weren’t great, but they could do a much better job than they did. But Jeff Morrow as the head alien Exeter does a pretty good job.
I was a bit disappointed in the Professor too in This Island Earth.
And Exeter missed a bet there. had he taken him back to Metaluna the
professor might have constructed a defense for the planet out of coconut shells.
Btw, the movie was considerably better then Mike Nelson attacks it for being,
especially since the Brains (granted under diress) had to chop up much of it
so badly to fit in the absurd time constranits mandated by the Suits in Hollywood.
I like Richard Carlson (Tom Stewart in Tormented) and he’s one of my favorite 1950s actors. He seemed to always give it his best even when the material maybe wasn’t that great. He was in The Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Magnetic Monster, two very fun scifi films. He was a cutie too!
The bubble machine from Robot Monster gave quite a stirring performance. In fact I would say it was the GREATEST performance by a bubble macine outside of the Lawrence Welk Show ever!!
Gamera and Godzilla always bring their A game.
#66 Did you see Richard Carlson in The Little Foxes(1941)? Dreamy!
While many MST3K episodes that I worked on have delightfully awful performances, there are also several instances of talented actors and actresses doing the best they can with the material they’re given. This I’m afraid is the lot of the professional actor most of the time. “Marooned” is a case where just about the entire cast is great. And it was directed by John Sturges, who made “The Magnificent Seven,” “The Great Escape” and “Bad Day At Black Rock,” three terrifically entertaining movies. Yet “Marooned” is a dull, plodding film. Some movies are bad because everyone involved in the making of them are incompetent. And some movies are bad because…well, there’s no easy explanation for why they’re bad. What a lot of us don’t want to admit is that when you come right down to it, the creative process is a mystery.
I’ve always felt that the Crawling Eye was actually pretty effective, in no small part due to the Lovecraft-creepiness of the undead mountaineers relentlessly pursuing their targets. I remember watching the scene where the dead man returns to the bar, sits down and has a drink as everyone stares at him in horror… and then they have this weird, creepy conversation. That actor and that scene really worked for me. Guillermo Del Toro should remake the Crawling Eye.
@ #70: But he should at least get his At the Mountains of Madness adaptation off the ground first.
I agree with a lot of the posts above, but I gotta throw Alan Hale Jr. onto the board, from The Crawling Hand and Giant Spider Invasion. Bite me, I love The Skipper!!!!!
#72 – Actually, I agree with you on Alan Hale Jr. in the Crawling Hand. It proved that he could play a memorable role without the need to whack someone with a hat.
That’s my Season 1 pick. Here are the rest:
2 – The main characters as a whole during the climax and ending of First Spaceship on Venus, especially when they propose the monument to the three who died on the mission, as you can indeed feel how torn up they are at being forced to leave them behind.
3 – John Call IS Santa Claus and he conquered the s**t outta those Martians!
4 – Despite his sleazy “all mine” line near the beginning, I have to give props to John Ashley as Stan in The the Eye Creatures as he ends up playing a role of a quick-thinker who keeps his sense of humor and doesn’t even back down when a shotgun’s pointed at his face.
5 – Adolfo Celli in Operation Double 007, especially in the uncut version as you learn more about his character’s personal motivations and, even though the actors knew the movie wasn’t taking itself seriously, Beta was still a dangerous villain.
6 – Adam West’s role in Zombie Nightmare. Enough said.
7 – Henry Silva in Escape 2000, despite the dubbing.
8 – Eulabelle in Horror of Party Beach. The most likable, sensible and useful character in that movie, and I don’t think she was even a professional actress.
9 – Believe it or not, I’m being serious when I say Yuri in Werewolf, but mostly during the scenes where he drugs and injects the security guard with the werewolf blood. It shows that the guy can be a subtle, dangeous man when he isn’t being a complete, obvious psychopath.
10 – Geri and Alma’s mother in Squirm. The way she slowly loses it over the course of the movie just sends a chill down your spine.
This is a sentimental choice for me. Long before I saw the MSTed version of “The Giant Gila Monster,” my dad and I started watching the unaltered movie on TV. After a few scenes, dad pointed out that the guy playing the sheriff (Fred Graham) was clearly a professional actor who knew how to carry himself on film. This, of course, stood in sharp contrast to those people sharing the screen with Graham, so this observation added a whole new level of watching the film (and later, movies in general) to me.
Thanks for the topic.
Bruno VeSota was always good in his many – and varied – appearances. Well, except maybe in Batwoman. Not even Bruno could escape that swirling vortex of suckitude.
The blonde in Danger: Diabolik. :chic:
@ no.75:
Right on about Bruno VeSota. I like to joke about him being the poor man’s Orson Welles, but he really was a very versatile character actor despite being trapped in all those stinkburgers. A redneck lummox general store owner in Giant Leeches, and a devious refined intellectual villain in Daddy-O — man, ya’ can’t beat Bruno.
Btw, while we’re on the subject of Bruno VeSota… a pal of mine and I are going to the May 31st late show of Cinematic Titanic at the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse. We chose the Friday night late show as the movie they’re riffing is an old Corman turdbomb that I actually hadn’t seen before, Wasp Woman, which features in the supporting cast none other than my main man, Bruno VeSota. I found a copy of Wasp Woman on YouTube, downloaded and watched it for the first time a few days ago, and it’s got all the prime ingredients that make for pure Corman gold…
@ no. 69:
…so, I’ll be seein’ ya there, Frank! Hi-keeba!
The “Rock and Roll Martian!” kid from Merlin’s Mystical Shop of Wonders. As the Brains pointed out themselves, it’s an instance of a kid purely being a kid and playing spontaneously. It was a wonder to catch such a moment on film.
I’ll go with the Del Aires from Horror of Party Beach. If the standard is someone (or a group of someones) then they fit the bill. The only part of the non-Mstied movie worth watching.
I have always enjoyed Brack from MST3K: THE MOVIE. His screen time is short but he does the whole “I hate humans – can’t wait to vaporise them all” flawlessly. He nails the evil alien role solidly. All Hail BRACK our evil overlord.:silly:
On the other side of the lens, how bout a hand for Leonard Maltin?
He gets hammered for giving good ratings to LASERBLAST and THE UNDEAD, and comes on for GORGO and plays the foil for Mrs. F.
Really showed what a stand-up guy he was. And he was funny!
This is an impossible topic for me since I have no ability to distinguish good from great acting or even average from good. Terrible acting, sure, that I can recognize but if someone says, “That was a great performance!” I just take their word for it. In movies where nearly everything is bad nothing will stand out to me.
@75 and 77: I’m way ahead of you, up at #19! But yeah, Bruno played a range of different parts on MST, and did most of them well.
Tracey Crisp (Sheila in The Projected Man). I truly believed she was in her underwear.
Beverly Garland is my top choice for female. For male, it is undoubtably Jack Taylor in I Accuse My Parents. The mere mention of his name causes the other actors to become elated with joy.
The dude that played Vidino (I’m an onion) from Pumaman. Mostly because he was the only likeible and compatent character in the flick. Also, Donald Pleasant is awesome for being Donald Pleasant.
Agree about Clu Gulager in SFI. I also always thought the actor who played Johnny Longbone had a solid screen presence that was sadly undermined by a script that required him to adlib stew ingredients.
Have to admit, I get a little happy every time a Keenan Wynn comes blowin in.
#87
Actually SFI had a couple of good performances. I thought David Hartman did a good job playing a pilot worried for the safety of his wife and although the plot was somewhat triple it’s hard to see Van Johnson giving anything less than a good performance as a self-absorbed reporter.
‘Little Man’ in ‘Invasion USA.’
He definitely has a very excitable waver to his voice. Notably in his tirade about 24 hour shifts.
Though I’m still highly entertained when the Tractor Manufacturer tries to give a John Wayne-like ‘growl’ of ‘That’s what you think,’ before ‘Little Man’ smacks him across the face!
The slap and the ‘SHUT UP!!’ deserve to be on a loop.
I don’t know if he was acting or that was how he really was as a person from the hills, but, Jimmy Clem as Old Man Crenshaw just looked like he belonged there. I know he was in a couple of other Chuck Pierce movies which I am actually intrigued to see, especially “The Town That Dreaded Sundown” to see if that is really his personality.
“The Town That Dreaded Sundown”, is actually a really good movie considering who made it. Jimmy Clem did a very good job as Crenshaw in Boggy Creek II becuase he’s a cop in Sundown and plays a very different type of character than the other movie.
I may get mocked for this, but Kee-mar in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians was good! He had some gravitas, and was able to read pretty bad lines convincingly.
#93 – Nah. Kimar puts in the 2nd-best performance in that movie behind John Call. Had more Martians been like him instead of Droppo, they’d actually have been a competent race as a whole.
Don’t forget Pia Zadora probably hit her high as an actress in SCCtM.
I’m going to second Vadinho from The Puma Man. It was nice that there was at least one Mexican actor in a movie about made-up Aztec folklore and he did play his role with sincerity: “Let him go, boss, he seems so sincere!” Vadinho also takes control of the situation when the lead is too whiny and useless to do anything. As Bill Corbett’s Crow put it, “So basically the hero is this guy!”
Lynn Fredricks as Kendra in Phase 4, and whoever played Betty in Teenagers from Outer Space.
@ #93: It also helps that he’s the only adult male Martian who isn’t a total eyesore in tights.
I thought Geri, the plucked stork, from Squirm was a good actress in a bad movie. Come to think of it, several of the performances in that movie were quite good like Roger and the sheriff, .
It’s already been said about Miguel Ángel Fuentes, but I agree he made Puma Man watchable.
I’d have to give my vote to Patsy Parsons as Cleolanthe in the Rocky Jones movies. Putting aside that RJ was targeted at children in the 1950’s, she played a convincing villian. A very strong female role, IMO.