A couple years ago I posted a topic on Mobius devoted to the "Most Outrageous, Extreme Female Performances of All Time" where I asked people to talk about their favorite bizarre and memorable performances by an actress. Such classic performances like Anita Ekberg in KILLER NUN, Ruth Roman in THE BABY, Shirley Stoler in THE HONEYMOON KILLERS were mentioned, as well as other demented roles like Grace Zabriskie in WILD AT HEART and Isabelle Adjani in POSSESSION amongst many other delightfully berserk films.

This leads me to wanting to post a similar post for "The Most Twisted, Strange and/or Extreme Male Performance" - The seed of this post comes from my viewing of the intense DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE over the weekend and being particularly fascinated by Nicholas Worth's powerhouse, emotional (and certainly EXTREME) role as "The Killer". This performance, I would imagine, would rank very high on the list of most bizarre/extreme performances ever put on film.

A couple others that come to mind, include Wings Hauser in VICE SQUAD and Sydney Lassick in THE UNSEEN.

What are some of YOUR favorite performances?

Nicholas Cage in VAMPIRE'S KISS. :wacko:

Billy Drago in Miike's MOH entry, IMPRINT.

Jack Palance in MARQUIS DE SADE'S JUSTINE.

A few of the strangest/most intense I've seen (and really enjoy) are:

Dennis Hopper in BLUE VELVET.

Joe Spinell in MANIAC.

Robert De Niro in MEAN STREETS.

David Patrick Kelly in the WARRIORS (especially when he freaks out at the girl working at the news stand...).

Herve Villachaize in FORBIDDEN ZONE.

Harry Dean Stanton in REPO MAN.

Robert Downey, Jr. in LESS THAN ZERO.

And, for he sheer dumbness of it all - Judd Nelson in THE BREAKFAST CLUB (not intense but certainly strange).

Stephen Macht in GRAVEYARD SHIFT, arguably winning a crazy-acting contest against Brad Dourif.

Helmut Berger: BEAST WITH A GUN

Massimo Foschi: JUNGLE HOLOCAUST

Charles Bronson: take your pick

Edit: Somehow I missed Eric's criterion that the performances must be bizarre. While all three of these actors definitely had "extreme" performances, I don't think any of them could be considered bizarre in relation to the film.

Now that I understand the criteria, I'd probably have to jump on the bandwagon for Jack Palance in MARQUIS DE SADE: JUSTINE aka DEADLY SANCTUARY. Tomas Milian gets an honorable mention for ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON.

Christopher Walken in the director's cut of Donald Cammell's WILD SIDE. He's like a slightly more benevolent Frank Booth.

William Shatner, IMPULSE (1974).
Nicolas Cage, DEADFALL (1993).

Interestingly, both these performance rely heavily on toupees.

I have to second Tim's mention of Jack Palance in MARQUIS DE SADE'S JUSTINE. I've told several of my film-fan friends that they haven't seen "over the top" until they've seen Palance in this film.

Some worthy mentions on the list so far. I don't know about "extreme," but one of the most bizarre I've seen is Gary Oldman in LEON/THE PROFESSIONAL, and to some extent since it seems clearly influenced by Oldman's work in said film, Willem Dafoe in THE BOONDOCK SAINTS.

John Steiner in SINBAD OF THE SEVEN SEAS ("Haaaaaa!")

Rod Steiger in THE AMITYVILLE HORROR

Klaus Kinski in pretty much anything.

Richard Burton in CANDY.

Marlon Brando in CANDY.

Pretty much any male in CANDY.

Michael Ironside in VISITING HOURS.

Richard Lynch in THE NINTH CONFIGURATION.

What, no Crispin Glover? His turn in RIVER'S EDGE was pretty off-the-map, though he may have paled in comparison to Dennis Hopper's lovedoll-loving character (though that may have been more the role Hopper was playing than any stop-pulling on his part). And would his infamous "Letterman" appearance count?

I'd also vote for Aubrey Morris in LIFEFORCE, with honorable mention to everyone else who had anything to do with that marvelous movie.

I'm a sucker for Anthony Perkins in CRIMES OF PASSION - possibly the sweatiest performance of all time.

No TOMAS MILIAN? His performance in Umberto Lenzi's ALMOST HUMAN is a classic unhinged turn.

Anthony Perkins and Orson Welles in THE TRIAL;

Michael Redgrave in MR. ARKADIN;

Akim Tamiroff and Dennis Weaver in TOUCH OF EVIL;

Rod Steiger (Mr. Joy Boy) in THE LOVED ONE;

Ray Milland in FROGS;

Sterling Hayden in DR. STRANGELOVE;

Alan Bates in THE SHOUT;

Jack Nance in ERASERHEAD;

Brad Dourif in WISEBLOOD;

Timothy Carey in THE WORLD's GREATEST SINNER;

Ben Gazzara in THE STRANGE ONE;

Udo Kier in FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN;

Peter Lorre in M;

Jack Nicholson in THE SHINING;

David Bowie in THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH;

Joe Dallesandro in THE GARDENER;

Mick Jagger and James Fox in PERFORMANCE;

Dirk Bogarde in THE SERVANT;

Gary Oldman and Christopher Lloyd in TRACK 29;

Peter Boyle in JOE;

Rip Torn in A STRANGER IS WATCHING;

Elisha Cook in PHANTOM LADY;

Percy Helton in KISS ME DEADLY;

Laird Cregar in I WAKE UP SCREAMING;

Jack Palance in MAN IN THE ATTIC;

Sal Mineo in WHO KILLED TEDDY BEAR;

Dean Stockwell in BLUE VELVET;

Harry Dean Stanton in PARIS, TEXAS;

Bruno K in EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF AND GOD AGAINST ALL;

Crispin Glover in WILD AT HEART;

Christopher Walken in ANNIE HALL;

Lary Tucker in SHOCK CORRIDOR;

Richard Widmark in KISS OF DEATH;

Jimmy Stewart in VERTIGO;

Edward G. Robinson in SCARLET STREET;

Terrence Stamp in TOBY DAMMIT;

Johnny Depp in ED WOOD;

Marlon Brando in REFLECTION IN A GOLDEN EYE;

Nicolas Cage in PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED;

Robert Preston in ODD MAN OUT;

Khigh Dhiegh in THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE;

Peter Greene in CLEAN, SHAVEN;

Penn Jillette in TOUGH GUYS DONT DANCE;

Sean Penn in THE FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN; and

Robert De Niro in THE KING OF COMEDY!

etc., etc., etc.

The entire US career of Peter Stormare.

There were men in LIFEFORCE? Huh...didn't notice.

Bill Moseley in THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE PART 2.

"Lick mah plate, you dog dick!"
"Bubba's got a girlfriend! Bubba's got a girlfriend! Bubba's got a girlfriend! Bubba's got a girlfriend!"
"NAM LAND!"
"Humble Pie!"
"Music is mah life!"

And Timothy Carey in ANYTHING.

Stormare's incredible overacting, complete with inexplicable accent that certainly didn't match the Italian mobster he was playing, was a great asset to PRISON BREAK. I couldn't decide whether his performance was terrible or great, but I certainly enjoyed it. Though I imagine I could say the same about many of the other performances listed in this thread. Is Nicholas Worth terrible or fantastic in DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE? I dunno, but he's entertaining for sure.

Or was that Robert Newton in MUSIC MAN? :D

James Mason in BIGGER THAN LIFE
Robert Walker in STRANGERS ON A TRAIN
Joseph Cotten in SHADOW OF A DOUBT
Everett Sloan in LADY FROM SHANGHAI
Lee J Cobb in MAN OF THE WEST

Oops! :blink:

Though, I'd pay to see Newton in THE MUSIC MAN, I was just seein' if folks was payin' attention.




....yeah, that's what I was doin.'

"...with a capital P and that rhymes with T and that stands for... Treasure!"

Hey, something had to balance out the "maybe if we work together, we can muster up at least one facial expression" acting styles of the show's two leads. Luckily, Stormare can overact enough for two men.

Henry Silva has always came across as one of those actors that need a heavy directorial hand upon the leash, otherwise he'd go lurching all over the set, eyes rolling and frothing at the mouth.

The best example is in Kinji Fukasaku's international trainwreck, Virus. While all the other actors were playing it somber and going out with a whimper, Silva was banging away like he was in a community theatre production of Dr. Strangelove.

Hell, he didn't need a leash...he needed a dog cone.

Another example of classic over-the-top Silva is when he's spitting out mouthfuls of coffee going after Trash in Enzo G. Castellari's ESCAPE FROM THE BRONX.

Glenn Anders is also completely bizarro & wacked :o in LADY FROM SHANGHAI.

Bullseye!

Guess you've been doing a little target practice, Michael. A little Taaar-get practice...

My thoughts immediately turned to Timothy Carey, who has been mentioned a few times already. His performance in HEAD is particularly peculiar and perplexing.

Arch Hall Jr in THE SADIST also springs to mind. He takes the angst-ridden juvenile delinquent of the James Dean era to a snickering, sociopathic, and Neanderthalic extreme.

I also love Jack Nance in WILD AT HEART: "My dog barks some..."

Nicolas Cage in Vampire's Kiss
Jack Palance in Franco's Justine
Joe Spinell in The Last Horror Movie (defeats his Maniac performance)
Cameron Mitchell in The Toolbox Murders

But the winners are:

Mal Arnold in Blood Feast

and

all of the three male leads in Dwain Esper's Maniac

"Don't never, buuut never, make fun of noooo cripple..." Great choice, that. And could there be anything more bumfuzzling to a tender youth than running across Timothy Carey in a Beach Party movie??? His dance during the insanely frenetic climax of BEACH BLANKET BINGO (coupled with his line readings) grabbed my attention at a young age, and I was a fan for life.

Val Avery in MINNIE AND MOSCOWITZ

It doesn't seem right that Lance Henriksen hasn't been named in this thread yet, but I haven't decided what film. HARD TARGET, maybe, or FACE THE EVIL or STONE COLD.

Come to think of it, STONE COLD's William Forsythe has to be immortalized here, but for OUT FOR JUSTICE, in which he is totally unhinged.

Mickey Rooney as Puck in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.

...or THE MANIPULATOR!!!

I also have to mention one of my favorites, Cameron Mitchell in FRANKENSTEIN ISLAND. In a movie filled with out-of-left-field moves, Mitchell as "the man from another movie" (seriously -- what time period is he supposed to be from? The movie takes place in the 1970s, but he's supposed to have inspired Poe?) is like getting hit in the face with a mackerel.

This performance was a great inspiration for nine-year-old Gore Vidal. Vidal writes about it at length in his book, "Screening History," one of the best books about film by a writer not normally given to writing about film.

Rooney and Buddy Lester in the godawful THE GODMOTHERS belongs here too. Particularly when they disguise themselves in enormous buck teeth to "pass" as waitresses in a Japanese restaurant. It makes Rooney's BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S turn look downright Willisian.

Benicio Del Toro in The Usual Suspects would certainly qualify as strange.

Gary Oldman in State of Grace, The Professional, or True Romance.

How about the odd, to say the least, voice that Nicolas Cage uses throughout Peggy Sue Got Married.

For Joe Spinell, I would add his deliciously over-the-top performance as Sylvester Stallone's superior in Nighthawks.

Malcolm McDowell as a British-accented, fascist-leaning American Army officer (in the Vietnam flashback sequences) turned government spook/helipcopter pilot (in the present-day sequences) in Blue Thunder.

Andy Robinson as Scorpio in Dirty Harry.

Thought of another I really like-- Ray Wise in TWIN PEAKS (tv and film).

Just about all of my choices have already been mentioned, but would add...

Willem Dafoe in THE BOONDOCK SAINTS
Joe Pilato in DAY OF THE DEAD
Jim Siedow in THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2