Top Acting Chops, Daddy-O

[Johnny Cool]

Like dig it.

Here is my list of the top ten coolest acting gigs in the freaking history of movieland.

Henry Silva as Salvatore Giordano in Johnny Cool
Henry Silva as Billy Score in Sharkey’s Machine
Henry Silva as Mr. Moto in The Return of Mr. Moto
Henry Silva in every other flick the dude made an appearance because he is the baddest cat that ever trod old mother earth. All other actors are dragging their axels in waltz time next to the kahuna, dad.

Now to give my tome some variety:

Lawrence Lipton as King of the Beatniks in The Hypnotic Eye
Phillipa Fallon as the beatnik poet chick in High School Confidential
John Drew Barrymore as J.I. Coleridge in High School Confedential
Dick Miller as Walter Paisley in Bucket of Blood
Yvette Vickers as Liz Walker in Attack of the Giant Leeches
Harvey Lembek as Eric Von Zipper in The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini :cool:

[Phil Hall]

I liked Henry Silva as Ben Franklin in the film version of "1776."

Oh wait, that was Howard da Silva.

Eh, Henry or Howard -- same thing, no?

[Rory L. Aronsky]

Kind of, but Howard deserves the prestige by keeping his own name intact.

By the way, Phil, have you had a chance to see the "Restored Director's Cut" of 1776 on DVD? The film is even better now with the restoration of "Cool, Cool Considerate Men" and the distracting end credit music now ported over to the beginning, complete with opening credit titles that get everything out of the way so the movie simply ends somberly after 2 hours and 48 minutes. The impact of the men signing the Declaration of Independence at the end now has greater depth and importance.

And the little bits restored within the movie also make this new version a treat. For example, the sickly Cesar Rodney (William Hansen) now asks Dr. Lyman Hall (Jonathan Moore) what kind of doctor he is, and the portly...Samuel Chase, was it? If it is him, there's an amusing scene where he becomes stuck at his small desk as the men rush out to see the fire brigade in order to combat the boredom setting in with trivial issues.

[Phil Hall]

No, Rory. But I saw "1776" when it opened back in 1972 at Radio City Music Hall in New York. And it was a stunning experience on a BIG screen!

[judex]

I liked Howard Da Silva as the inspector in the remake of M. Any chance of that coming out on dvd soon, Phil?

[Phil Hall]

Nope, the "M" remake is not in line for an official commercial release. It is not hard to find on bootleg video (but, hey, that's another Forum discussion!). ;)