DeNiro, Hoffman, Nicholson, Pacino--who's the best?

Hoffman's easily my favorite.

DDL

In their prime - De Niro, Pacino, Nicholson then Hoffman.

It's hard to say now given that with the exception of Hoffman they are all now caricatures of themselves.

Does Nicholson ever play anyone that's not Jack Nicholson?

Check out "Ironweed" for a more low key Nicholson performance.

Hoffman has always been my favorite. He never descended into parody like the others, and has the best filmography of pretty much any actor, living or dead.

I just watched Scarface and boy, was that a bravura performance!

Nicholson was also low-key as Eugene O'Neill in REDS.

I picked Hoffman, who's been the most consistent, but I think Pacino is the most interesting to watch of the four. And that Day-Lewis is better than any of them.

Pacino had more interesting roles.

They're all great and considered the big four for a reason, but I always thought Hoffman was the most talented even out of this rarified group. If this thread gets popular maybe I'll be inclined to elaborate further but for now will just leave it at that.

I'm here to stick up for Jack Nicholson. He has a very rich filmography, and he's worked with many of the best directors. Here's just a sampling of his work. Any actor would "stick needles in their eyes" for a body of work like his.

Easy Rider

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever

Five Easy Pieces

Carnal Knowledge

The King of Marvin Gardens

The Last Detail

Chinatown

The Passenger

Tommy

The Shining

The Postman Always Rings Twice

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Reds

Terms Of Endearment

Heartburn

Ironweed

Prizzi's Honor

The Witches of Eastwick

Broadcast News

Batman

As Good As It Gets

The Pledge

About Schmidt

The Departed

Some of the directors Jack has worked with: Vincente Minnelli, Roman Polanski, Hal Ashby, Michelangelo Antonioni, Mike Nichols, John Huston, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, James L. Brooks, Bob Rafelson, Milos Forman, Tim Burton, Ken Russell, Sean Penn (Penn is an underrated director IMO).

He also doesn't have any films in his filmography that were done only for a paycheck, unlike Mr. DeNiro. He's not greedy. I think Jack has managed his career in a very intelligent and graceful manner.

Anger Management, The Bucket List, and How Do You Know all seem paycheck-y, R12, though not nearly as bad as a lot of the shit De Niro has done.

DeNiro and it's not even close. Although all of them have just coasted for the past 20 years.

Fun fact: All four were Oscar-nominated in 1975. Hoffman for Lenny, Nicholson for Chinatown, and Pacino and De Niro for The Godfather: Part II. De Niro won that year.

Pacino, by some distance. Then Nicholson, De Niro and finally Hoffman.

It's a tough question. Which one has had more great roles vs. the schlock they have each done? I'd say DeNiro by a hair over Nicholson. Pacino I've found hammy in everything save for the first two "Godfather" films. Hoffman got off to a great start, then became ordinary.

Point of information, R15: DeNiro was nominated as Best Supporting Actor. Art Carney won Best Actor for "Harry & Tonto" that year.

The two on this list who show the most range are Pacino and Hoffman.

They could all credibly teach an acting class.

I'll give my vote to Pacino, just for his performance in Dog Day Afternoon.

They've all given great performances and are legends. I'd put them in this order: Pacino, Hoffman, Nicholson, DeNiro.

Who's the sexiest?

Al Pacino makes me laugh every time I watch "Dick Tracy".

I just watched Netflix's Medici series. I never realized what a horrible actor Dustin Hoffman can be! He has no range.

Pacino is the worst - ridiculously hammy.

"Give her another quaalude and she'll love me."

If we were to let Oscar decide:

Nicholson: 12 nominations, 3 wins (2 Best Actor, 1 Best Supporting Actor)

Hoffman: 7 nominations, 2 wins (Best Actor)

DeNiro: 7 nominations, 2 wins (1 Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor)

Pacino: 8 nominations, 1 win (Best Actor)

All except Hoffman have played the devil.

Quick, someone do a Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with all four of them. Go!

R12, you left out the prominent of Nicholson's works, "Mars Attacks", which he did for the Art of the film, not the paycheck.

R31 Dual roles as well!

I prefer De Niro, but really the only one who hasn't damaged his reputation in the last 20 years is Hoffman.

Is Nicholson ever going to do another film?

I think Nicholson is retired, and he's rumored to be in very poor health.

DiNero just for his Boo Radley.

R35, are you drunk?

De Niro and Pacino are in Scorsese's next film The Irishman. Starts shooting Feb/March. Add in Harvey Kietel and Joe Pesci - his first film in 6 years - looks promising. There's talk Pesci has pulled out, but I can't find confirmation.

Surprisingly, the first time Pacino has been in a Scorsese film. I expect to see the best of De Niro and Pacino.

DeNiro and Pacino are both extraordinary in Godfather 2.

I loved them both together in Heat. I think Both of them bring their A Game when they work together. I love DeNiro, but I love Pacino more. He seems more interesting to watch. "Attica! Attica!"

I'm sorry, R25, Hoffman's Ratso in Midnight Cowboy, Benjamin in The Graduate, the drunk defense attorney in Sleepers, Mumbles in Dick tracy, Captain Hook, Little Big Man, Kramer vs. Kramer? And he has no range? Please.

I saw The Medicis, and it was pretty damned awful. I think he did the best he could with an atrocious script and bad directing. I felt sorry for Richard Madden who was hopelessly miscast.

I pick Pacino, because in the same role he can turn your blood cold and break your heart. In that way he reminds me of the criminally underrated and seemingly forgotten Richard Widmark.

DeNiro and Hoffman tie for second, then Nicholson.

I like the way R40 put that and I second Pacino for Dog Day Afternoon.

Not denying the others are great actors, I'm another in the Jack Nicholson camp.

For me, he's been the most interesting to watch, over the course of his career. I discovered Five Easy Pieces and Easy Rider in college, after knowing him from seeing Cuckoo's Nest on television as a kid. S

Nicholson seems fine in this clip from June of last year talking about Muhammed Ali. He actually looks great for 79.

I picked Hoffman because he's the only one of these four who has appeared on "The Simpsons," and he did it back when it was cool to do it.

Nicholson as the devil

Nicholson plays himself in every role. As does Pacino.

Pacino as the devil

DeNiro as the devil

Nicholson provided the worst performance of 1970 in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, R12.

Deniro, Pacino, Hoffman and Nicholson. In this order. Hoffman was only decent in The Graduate and Midnight Cowboy and Nicholson always plays Nicholson, total one trick pony.

Pacino is my favorite but I also find Nicholson fascinating. When I think of the work he did in Prizzi's Honor, then As Good as It Gets, the The Departed, he's a powerhouse. Actually all four of them plus Daniel Day Lewis are the top.

R59 just because an actor doesn't regularly put on prosthetic noses and transform himself physically doesn't mean he "always plays himself." What an amateur criticism.

His emotional range is as great as the best of them.

Are you calling from 1988, OP? Because these guys are so over.

Nicholson and DeNiro in their Prime. Vote for Chris Cooper for a great actor under recognized for his acting ability.

More fun trivia Nicholsons female costars also won oscars when he did. (Louise fletcher, Shirley MacLaine and Helen hunt)

The correct answer is Pacino by a mile but they're all deeply and importantly talented bastards.

Pacino NOT by "a mile." I'd say of the four DeNiro is probably the all around best.

And you would be wrong about that, R57. DeNiro is very talented as are Hoffman and Nicholson. Pacino blows them all off the stage and the screen. Of the four, he has the most impressive stage career and with Michael Corleone he has the most iconic film character (much more iconic than DeNiro's turn as Young Vito in Godfather 2).

Sorry, some things are subjective and some aren't - this one isn't.

R53 as opposed to 98 percent of the other threads on here?

R58 Michael Corleone is iconic. But so is Travis Bickle. And Ratso Rizzo. And McMurphy. How ridiculous to claim this isn't subjective, of course it's subjective!

No, Michael Corleone is MORE iconic than Ratso, Bickle or McMurphy and he always will be. Godfather 1 and 2 are two of the greatest films ever made and Pacino's performance is mind blowingly good not just for their time period but FOREVER.

I love Taxi Driver, Goodfellas and Raging Bull - all brilliant performances by DeNiro and - of course - by Marty Scorsese most of all, they will live forever but they don't loom as large as Michael Corleone. Even DeNiro's Young Vito for Coppola doesn't match it.

Midnight Cowboy, The Graduate, Little Big Man - all fabulous and not up to Michael Corleone's level. Nicholson has had a ton of great performances, Five Easy Pieces, Reds, Cukoo's Nest, Chinatown, The Departed - all fucking brilliant - no question. None of them are as iconic as Michael Corleone in the pantheon of brilliant film performances.

It's not subjective and it's no insult to the other three - Pacino/Michael is the king of iconic roles as any of them would tell you himself. Good luck to actors in the future trying to knock him off that thespian mountaintop. I don't see it happening. Even Day-Lewis, an undisputed fucking genius, hasn't had a role as huge and iconic as Michael Corleone and I doubt he ever will.

Fun fact, Robert Redford auditioned for Hoffman's role in The Graduate. It went down to the end and was supposedly between the two of them, Redford lost out. He says it was because no one would believe he couldn't get laid. True enough.

Gene Hackman

Good call, r62, there were many years when Gene Hackman could not give a bad performance. Didn't matter what the role was, he was always fantastic.

R61, I appreciate you're passionate about your opinion, but it's still subjective. An iconic role doesn't necessarily make someone a better actor. Rocky is an iconic role but Stallone will never be in the conversation with these guys.

As far as The Godfather, Michael Corleone isn't even the most iconic role in the film. That honour belongs to Brando's Vito. I'd argue De Niro had a harder task in Godfather 2 than Pacino because he had to play a younger version of an already iconic character without parodying Brando. That's my opinion, but it doesn't necessarily make me right and you wrong.

It's all subjective!

[quote]Are you calling from 1988, OP? Because these guys are so over.

We're talking about the greats here, millineal.

Daniel Day Lewis is of a different generation than the OPs guys, so that's why he's not included. Now, if we picked four guys for that age range, we'd be talking about DDL, Sean Penn, and...I can't think of two other guys but you get my drift.

Deniro is on Brando's level of genius acting. His body of work might have actually surpassed Brando. Pacino's a close 2nd. Hoffman and Nicholson while talented are limited however are more impressive compared to today's stars who also double as character actors.

R63 ok fine but did he reach the same peaks as the other four? I think most would agree, no.

And that's what ultimately defines the pantheon of "greatest" actors, not consistency.

That's why Brando is considered "greater" than Paul Newman - even if I personally prefer Newman by quite a bit.

r61, i hope you swallowed after sucking Pacino's cock.

Young Al Pacino

Sorry, meant to post this one:

Young Nicholson

If you weren't sexist and limited yourself to male actors, you know the rest.

Young De Niro

Young Hoffman

None come close to young Bridges though.

[R62], yes! You beat me to it. As soon as I saw this thread, my first thought was: this is easy, Gene Hackman!

No film actor has ever surpassed (I won't necessarily say equalled, I'll say "surpassed") his work/performance in "The Conversation" and that is saying a lot because it's an *extremely* difficult performance with a complex character and very little dialogue and depends almost 100% on the actor. It's one of the greatest performances I've ever seen in a film.

I'm not sure the other four could have delivered something so subtle and compelling, though they're all very talented (I think Nicholson may be the least of these though, since it almost *always* feels like it's him, winking at the audience in almost every role; I can't see him ever doing a "Dog Day Afternoon" level performance--even in his early days.)

R68 -the term used by OP was "best", not most iconic, so Hackman should at least be in the mix. And in a way, he wasn't that iconic because he was that good, subtlety wise, there was hardly ever the showoff elements people tend to remember (Superman was a rare exception). And Talking about 1974, the grand year of The Godfather II and Chinatown, Hackman's turn in The Conversation was the ultimate best, yet he was not even nominated. Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot was.

R77, I missed tor post, which I totally agree with, of course.

I remember so well the scene where De Niro is sitting in his home office in his chair, and the camera pans around to the back of his chair, and when it comes back to the front, it's Marlon Brando and the transition is seamless. That is genius.

All three of them, Scorcese, Brando & De Niro. I remember reading that they were talking about getting Anthony Quinn for Vito Coreleone, but they decided to go in an entirely different direction. Brando's interpretation was way more subtle.

Look. The Godfather is an historic film. OK? Everything about it is "iconic." The cast, the characters, the story, the dialogue, the music, everything. And Pacino did genius level work. But. that isn't why I consider him "the best." I consider him the best because he has consistently demonstrated his range, and the quality of his work has been, with very few exceptions, uniformly excellent.

I think Hoffman, while not as glitzy as the others, is right up there as a close second for the same reasons. If I had to add another to this pantheon of greats it would be Denzel Washington, not Gene Hackman. Hackman is brilliant but he's not at their level. He's a character actor. Great work. I don't go to see Gene Hackman movies. I do go to see Denzel, Pacino, and Hoffman. Nicholson a too.Their work is always interesting.

I love De Niro, and he is brilliant, but his recent work hasn't been up to the quality of his earlier stuff. The Intern? Really? And that was not a one off. It's an example of the work he does lately.

Bang the Drum Slowly, Mean Streets, A Bronx Tale, Taxi Driver, Falling in Love, all great showcases for De Niro. I even enjoyed Meet the Fockers. I thought he was great as the priest in Sleepers, which for me showcased another incredible acting Icon, Vittorio Gassman. Brilliant work. But I just don't think De Niro has done anything serious in the past ten or 15 years.

So that was my thinking as I considered my response to OP.

Oh. I think Robert Downey Jr. has to be included in any discussion that includes Sean Penn and DDL.

R80 I'm not sure why you're referring to Scorsese in relation to The Godfather. Francis Ford Coppola directed. Scorsese was not involved.

Pacino is uniformly excellent? Yes, he was outstanding in the Adam Sandler classic "Jack and Jill". He's had his crap moments.

I don't think these guys do shitty films for the pay check, I think they do it because they enjoy working and there's limited roles in their age group. I don't begrudge any of them the odd shitfest considering their body of work. The point is, they've all done stinkers.

Of the four, I think DeNiro had the most range as a screen actor, but his one outing on Broadway fizzled. He's still capable of fine work when well-directed, but as others noted, he's done a lot of crap.

Pacino peaked in the 70's but even in his early non-GODFATHER performances you could tell there was a ham threatening to burst out. And it did, starting with ...AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. He's been very uneven since then - like him best in DONNIE BRASCO, THE INSIDER, and ANGELS IN AMERICA. I've seen him on stage a few times (RICHARD III, SALOME) and thought he was good but not brilliant. But I give him credit for coming back to the stage repeatedly.

There's a smugness about Hoffman that I always found off-putting, in spite of his talent.

Nicholson has a more impressive resume that most people generally believe, but he's done some crap work too.

In addition to Hackman, Robert Duvall has done excellent work too, even if he did turn out to be a right-wing curmudgeon.

Downey Jr actually would be a good third for the DDL/Penn group. Who'd be a fourth?

R83, Philip Seymour Hoffman if he were still alive.

R83 There's probably not another obvious two that stand out with Penn and DDL. It could be a number of actors. Those mentioned above, Russell Crowe, Gary Oldman. There's a few choices.

"And you would be wrong about that, R57. DeNiro is very talented as are Hoffman and Nicholson. Pacino blows them all off the stage and the screen."

No, he doesn't. You sound like some kind of nut with a hardon for Pacino and the Godfather movies. An obsessed fan.

DeNiro had the best hair

And nails

They're all short

DeNiro and Nicholson are 5'10"

Pacino is 5'7"

Hoffman is 5'6"

Dustin Hoffman for me.

He can do anything and always brilliantly so. I'm more into actresses than actors, but I'll watch Hoffman in anything.

At first when reading the title, I thought OP mean Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who by the way, was better than all of them.

All four had fantastic careers. I would have to choose DeNiro as the best of four.

Bump

PSH was a great loss in that we won't be able to judge his career in entirety, from youth to senior status. He could have been one of the greats up there with the Big Four mentioned here.

In terms of the 'next generation' of greats, obviously DDL makes the top of the list. Denzel should nearly be there too at this point. After those two its a wider choice: Penn, Hanks, Oldman, Colin Firth perhaps. Russell Crowe had a great start but has been so uneven of late.

A case can be made for RDJ and DiCaprio as they age and continue to deliver consistently. Ditto Fassbender, Gosling and perhaps Bale and McCounaghey but again time will sort that out. There's a whole mass of forty-something actors making their reps now who could be elevated by a great performance or series of.

Id give the thinnest-of-thin margin to Nicholson, if for only one reason: he can do stunning comedy & drama within the same film (even in the same scene). Or comedic films. Or dramatic films.

The other three dont seem to do that crossover as successfully.

But every single one has an unbelievable filmography. Great discussion topic & some very impressive posts.

R83 Gary Oldman or Tim Robbins. PSH though, hands down, were he still alive. Never a sub par performance.

Robbins in THE HUDSUCKER PROXY, SHAWSHANK & MYSTIC RIVER. His turn in Mystic was one of the most heart-wrenching Ive ever seen & he was brilliant in it. He nearly stole the movie from Sean Penn, IMO.

Oldman (and Molina) were fantastic in PRICK UP YOUR EARS. Oldman was magnetic in ROMEO IS BLEEDING & SID AND NANCY.

PSH would beat them both if he were still alive.

Pacino

At one point it was Deniro, Nicholson, Hoffman, Pacino

now it's

Pacino, Hoffman, Nicholson, DeNiro

De Niro has tons of mediocre and bad performances

He was only good when he was young and a method actor

Pacino, by considerable distance. He's the greatest actor of all-time and should have at least 4 oscars instead of only 1 for Scent of A Woman.

DeNiro's last good movie was in 1995. His peak was 1973-1984. He has done a lot of JUNK since then.

I voted for Dustin Hoffman. I like the fact that both he and Deniro can do comedy. I think that Pacino has become a parody of himself. And I have never liked Nicholson.

DeNiro is the one who became a parody of himself. Pacino was becoming a parody of himself in the 1980s but he did a lot of good stuff since then, unlike DeNiro.

Hoffman is the most nuanced performer. I've never like Nicholson although some roles have been excellent, it just seems his performance of being Jack overshadows everything. Pacino has a powerful presence, very charismatic but sometimes that can be a bit much, like a huge sofa in a small room.

I've always liked De Niro and he was a surprise at comedy, he's far more versatile than I knew. On balance I'd say Hoffman just because he's good at everything. He can be the charismatic focal, he can blend into the background, he can do funny, menacing, whatever is called for he's got it.

Nicholson and Pacino always play themselves. DeNiro had some good roles early on, but has been phoning it in for years.

Hoffman has played the most varied parts, enjoys challenges and always sinks his teeth into the role, so...

DeNiro has been phoning it in for years.

*decades

None of the above

De Niro cause he was also such a hot piece

De Niro was a hot piece? When?

For example, in The Godfather.

Hoffman's toupee now disqualifies him.

Comedy is trickier than drama. Of the four, only Hoffman has consistently displayed convincing comedic ability. De Niro does, on occasion, but he's often playing the straight man (Midnight Run) or the role's a parody of his tough guy image. De Niro, however, gets evil better than any of them.

Pacino is a ham, though as someone upthread noted, a very charismatic and watchable one. Jack too is immensely watchable but after Terms, he stayed in one well-worn lane, save for a few films like The Departed where he is absolutely grotesque.

I voted for Al, but my answer is really Anyone But Jack.

I think Hoffman has given the fewest bad performances.

De Niro (note the proper spelling) showed cock in at least one movie - 1976's "Novecento (1900)". Have the others?

De Niro really isn't very good at comedy, even though lately he has been cast in it. In "Analyze This "at one point he is supposed to be crying, and he just "indicates" like "hey I'm a macho guy and I'm supposed to be crying now, look at me crying". Yech. Otherwise, he's usually playing an attitude like that macho guy in "Meet the Fockers" -- actually Dustin Hoffman and Streisand's scenes are wonderful because they are good at comedy. DeNiro's has really been coasting for many years. Pacino could also do comedy, back to some scenes of "Dog Day Afternoon", and Nicholson had a wonderful sense of humor, though he did infuse his own personality into most of his roles. Hoffman also had a whiny delivery of some lines that would usually manifest itself in nearly every film, though he generally showed a lot of range. Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall were usually dependably terrific. I don't know what happened to Jon Voigt who started off terrifically then kind of fell off the map.

De Niro and Gerard Depardieu were both fully nude (and the prostitute they are in bed with takes DeNiro's hand to touch Depardieu's penis for a second). Hoffman is briefly nude (with a bit of towel slippage in "Straight Time" and I think his pubes are on display in "Lenny" when he's found [spoiler] dead on the toilet. Nicholson showed his ass in that comedy with Diane Keaton through his hospital gown. I don't know if Pacino did any nudity in films that showed anything.

Pacino's career was truly dead in the water before Sea of Love his comeback. Had he not been able to make a major comeback like that what do you think his legacy would be? Would he still be considered one of the big 4?

I don't think so. By the late 80s he was all but forgotten.

I know I am in a very small minority, but I loved Dirty Grandpa and I thought DeNiro was hilarious.

bobbie! he's the best of the best!

What big4 u idiots. Where is robert redford ?

Robert Duvall should be on there too

[quote]I just watched Scarface and boy, was that a bravura performance!

I saw that in the theater when I was in high school and even then I knew he was chewing the scenery

[quote]Who's the sexiest?

I had the hots for the younger Pacino, he was really good looking. The others to me had charisma but not looks.

Scarface must be one of the most overrated films ever. Straight guys love it. It's a dude film....which means it's totally overblown in its cinematic importance.

Hoffman is obviously the best actor. He can do comedy and drama, he is more nuanced, he can inhabit characters better and change his physiognomy to suit a role. Nicholson, while entertaining to watch, has become typecast since OFOTCN he is a scenery chewer the male Bette Davis. Pacino is always Pacino. Robert de Niro is great but over the last 30 years hasn't done much of note and like pacino became a characature who picks the same kinds of roles.

I remember watching MTV cribs as a kid and all the rappers' houses had posters of scarface.

Why did Pacino do that awful Adam Sandler movie 'Jack and Jill'? He can't need the money that bad.

Anyone who ever even thought of working with Sandler should be automatically disqualified.

Gene Hackman

"Where is robert redford ?"

Are you insane? Redford is a bloodless stiff who managed to get two or three good, not great, performances in. Yes, he was better than the average handsome actor, but not much. Redford's not in the same league as Hoffman, De Niro or Pacino, Nicholson, Hackman, Duvall, even Newman. His name belongs on the list that includes Burt Reynolds.

R127, both Nicholson (2003’s “Anger Management”) and Hoffman (Noah Baumbach’s upcoming “The Meyerowitz Stories”) have worked with Sandler as well.

The only one of the four who hasn’t is De Niro, despite doing anything that pays.

^ De Niro, FTW

Though I'd put Hoffman first, he has now done two movies with Sandler- Meyerowitz and The Cobbler. But at least, unlike Pacino, he didn't play Sandler's love interest.

Say what you will about Redford. He held his own, and more, with Paul Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Sting. He also was just as good as Hoffman in All the President's Men, and the movie only works because the two of them are so different (as Woodward and Bernstein are).

And Redford still works and goes out to do interviews on occasion. Good for him.

Pacino can be good - but he has very little subtelty - it seems to always be over the top, no matter what role.

Hoffmann first. I don't ever care about DeNiro in anything. Nicholson is a caricature.

Pacino was subtle as hell in 99% of Godfather & Godfather 2

R133, tell us what you think about Redford's current "hair issues."

The 50 Worst Actors In Hollywood History

49. Pacino

44. Robert De Niro

I'd love to see De Niro's version of Tootsie.

Up until this summer, I would've said Hoffman, but after seeing several of Pacino's early movies on a big screen this summer, I would put him slightly ahead. He had more diverse roles then and provided completely different characterizations that none of the others you've mentioned are able to summon. And I'm a big DeNiro fan, but he was never quite up to their level (before he went campy).

They've all, except Hoffman, played the devil.

DeNiro is big buddies with Harvey Weinstein

Never like DeNiro

John Cazale

I think they're dated and not relevant anymore. How many decades since any of them have done something substantial?

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Pacino, easily. Hoffman, Nicholson, followed by DeNiro. No one is a dud in this club.

DeNiro, Hoffman, Nicholson, Pacino--who's the best at sexual assault?

I felt it was a tie between DeNiro and Nicholson.

His work in King of Comedy was one of his best and I think he was robbed of an Oscar nod. Plus in 1900, New York New York, Awakenings, Silver Linings Playbook, etc. he showed real vulnerability and range.

That said, Nicholson in Chinatown and Reds are two of my favorite performances of all time. And I thought he showed more than what he's known for in Carnal Knowledge, the Last Detail, Easy Rider, Something's Gotta Give and even the otherwise off-putting As Good As It Gets.

Although, I knew this would come up r147, but if anyone's at risk of getting hammered on pushing sexual boundaries, it's probably Jack. Stories say he didn't just let Polanski use his house to bake cookies and he was lucky he wasn't there.

" I don't know if Pacino did any nudity in films that showed anything. "

My recollection of the horrible CRUISING is that there was one sequence where Pacino's detective character - posing as a gay man - goes home with a guy considered a suspect in the murders. Once his fellow officers don't hear from him after an allotted timeframe, they burst into the pick-up's apartment and Pacino is naked and hog-tied on a bed - face down so you see his butt.

There were some sex scenes in SEA OF LOVE, but I don't recall if Pacino showed any major skin.

Nicholson has the biggest ass.

Nicholson has had man boobs since he was 30.

I created the Gene Hackman appreciation thread awhile back; it got many interesting responses and I am pleased to see him mentioned here. I also mourn the loss of Philip Seymour Hoffman.

I love when threads like these really take off; I love all four and would probably go DeNiro, Nicholson, Hoffman and Pacino, although I really like Young Al - NEEDLE PARK, DOG DAY, and of course Michael. He and Hackman were great together in SCARECROWS. I think his last really great performance was as Ricky Roma in GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS. They all found such iconic roles early in their careers and they really are Mount Rushmore. Guys like Duvall and Bridges are great too but are just a notch below.

I cannot name four actors of today that would rival this group, both in terms of acting skill and longevity. Robert Downey Jr to me is no match for Robert DeNiro. Lots of good actors in this age group whose careers for one reason or another just weren't as BIG, like a Michael Keaton or John Heard. And please don't talk to me about Leonardo DiCaprio, much less Johnny Depp. Or Tom Cruise. I had hopes for Fassbender but he has gone nowhere IMO. DL faves Damon/Affleck? Clooney?

The prevalence of formulaic franchise films and voiceover roles have really taken the steam out of great stand alone performances, so it just gives me a greater appreciation of these actors. I'm glad I lived during all of their primes.

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Ralph Fiennes

Hoffman ist the least mannered and most natural actor of all of them, You never catch him acting.

You MUST be joking, R155. He is not.

De Niro likes to work. Great parts aren't exactly in abundance for an aging actor, no matter how talented. So he does a lot of stuff that's not Academy Award material. But he's obviously the best actor of the ones mentioned.

[quote]Hoffman ist the least mannered and most natural actor of all of them, You never catch him acting.

You can catch him acting his heart out in this scene with Gene Hackman, who comes across much better.

[quote]I pick Pacino, because in the same role he can turn your blood cold and break your heart.

I agree, and that's why he gets my vote.

Gene Hackman.

Gary Oldman. Too bad he's a dick. Val Kilmer was pretty amazing and if he'd had Steve Buscemi's face, we'd agree. Brendan Fraser too.

They all became awful as old men. Contrast that with Christopher Plummer and Max Von Sydow who just get better with age.