Yeah I made it, I’m the world’s greatest

Last night I saw a trailer for some crazy horror/thriller/nature-is-where-the-devil-lives trailer starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe called Antichrist from Lars von Trier (thanks Annie). The movie looked good, but it got me thinking about the topic of my favorite actors of all time. I can safely say that Bill Murray is my favorite actor, but what I wanted to be able to do was round out a solid top five list. I started this post last night, but wanted to do some research and give it some further thought today. So here it is, while I am mildly concerned that I may have left someone off or not given them or their video library enough consideration, but this is where I ended up:

Bill Murray – I don’t know if I can say that there was a Bill Murray movie I didn’t like (even Osmosis Jones). From his early works in the classics (Caddyshack, Stripes and Ghostbusters) to his more pensive roles (Lost in Translation, Broken Flowers) and his genius work with Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic) Mr. Murray is the complete package, even if he is a grumpy, reclusive diva now.

Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.
Mayor: What do you mean, “biblical”?
Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of God type stuff.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly.
Dr Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!
Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes…
Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave!
Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together…mass hysteria!

Bonus points due to the fact that he is playing a zombie in Zombieland, which leads me to…

Woody Harrelson – He always reminded me of my uncle Todd, possibly due to the fact that my dad and uncle used to play basketball together in the early 90’s and this is around the same time I saw Harrelson for one of the first times I remember in White Men Can’t Jump, which is still my favorite work of his to date (but Zombieland could take it’s place). I was never a Cheers fanatic, but looking back, I should be due to my love of Ted “Silver Fox” Danson and, of course, Woody Harrelson. From vigilante cowboy (No Country For Old Men) to train robber (Money Train) to psychotic serial murderer (Natural Born Killers) to Roy Munson, Woody is the man.

Sidney Deane: Hey hey man, what’s the score? Yo! Chump! I’m talking to you! I’m talking to the fucking air.
Billy Hoyle: My name ain’t chump, it’s Billy Hoyle.
Sidney Deane: Billy Hoyle. BILLY HOYLE. Billy Hoyle. Okay Billy… can you count to ten, Billy?
Billy Hoyle: Yeah.
Sidney Deane: Good. What’s the score… Billy?
Billy Hoyle: I don’t know.
Sidney Deane: Then you’re a chump.
Billy Hoyle: I may be a chump, I just said that wasn’t my name.

Willem Dafoe – Maybe it’s the snarly drawl or his innate ability to look both warmly inviting and mildly crazy at the same time, Dafoe has been a dynamo in his versatile collection of roles. Platoon is my personal favorite war movie created, and obviously his role in everyone’s favorite cult hit, Boondock Saints. I even liked him as a cackling closet lunatic Norman Osborne in Spiderman. Of course, my favorite role is his part as Klaus Daimler in The Life Aquatic.

Sgt. Elias: What happened today was just the beginning. We’re gonna lose this war.
Chris Taylor: Come on! You really think so? Us?
Sgt. Elias: We’ve been kicking other peoples asses for so long I figured it’s time we got ours kicked.

Humphrey Bogart – What needs to be said about the legend that is Humphrey Bogart? In the golden age of film, when actors signed contracts with studios to produce absurd amounts of cinematic work (Bogart appeared in 28 films from 1936 to 1940) Bogart was the quintessential man’s man. Dashing and debonnaire whether playing Sam Spade, Rick Blaine or Sgt. Joe Gunn, Bogie was often a hard-boiled cynic; the tough guy fighting the good fight in a corrupt world. Obviously long before my time, but his work is legendary.

Bryan: Who killed Thursby?
Sam Spade: I don’t know.
Bryan: Perhaps you don’t, but you could make an excellent guess.
Sam Spade: My guess might be excellent or it might be crummy, but Mrs. Spade didn’t raise any children dippy enough to make guesses in front of a district attorney, and an assistant district attorney and a stenographer.
Bryan: Why shouldn’t you, if you have nothing to conceal?
Sam Spade: Everybody has something to conceal.
Bryan: I’m a sworn officer of the law, 24 hours a day, and neither formality nor informality justifies you withholding evidence of crime from me. Except, of course, on constitutional grounds.
Sam Spade: Now, both you and the police have as much as accused me of being mixed up in the other night’s murders. Well, I’ve had trouble with both of you before. And as far as I can see my best chance of clearing myself of the trouble you’re trying to make for me, is by bringing in the murderers all tied up. And the only chance I’ve got of catching them, and tying them up, and bringing them in, is by staying as far away as possible from you and the police, because you’d only gum up the works.
[turns to stenographer]
Sam Spade: You getting this all right, son, or am I goin’ too fast for ya?
Stenographer: No, sir, I’m getting it all right.
Sam Spade: Good work.

Eddie Murphy – Let’s start by disregarding the majority of his work over the last 10 years and he still makes the list. His work in the 80s and early 90s comedies and action-comedies is second to none, with Trading Places being potentially my favorite comedy of all-time. Coming to America, The Golden Child, Beverly Hills Cop I,II, & III, 48 Hours and Another 48 Hours, as well as his stand-up shows with Raw and Delirious, Eddie is definitely on the list, despite attempts to remove himself with Norbit and The Adventures of Pluto Nash.

Randolph Duke: Exactly why do you think the price of pork bellies is going to keep going down, William?
Billy Ray Valentine: Okay, pork belly prices have been dropping all morning, which means that everybody is waiting for it to hit rock bottom, so they can buy low. Which means that the people who own the pork belly contracts are saying, “Hey, we’re losing all our damn money, and Christmas is around the corner, and I ain’t gonna have no money to buy my son the G.I. Joe with the kung-fu grip! And my wife ain’t gonna f… my wife ain’t gonna make love to me if I got no money!” So they’re panicking right now, they’re screaming “SELL! SELL!” to get out before the price keeps dropping. They’re panicking out there right now, I can feel it.

Honorable Mention: Jeff Goldblum (Brundlefly almost got him a spot alone), Chevy Chase (he was in a movie with Tupac for cripes’ sake, not too mention Fletch, National Lampoon’s, Three Amigos, etc, etc.), Steve Martin (a hybrid of Eddie Murphy syndrome for recent flicks mixed with classics comparable to Murray and Chase), Owen Wilson (maybe a corny pick, but call me a sucker for never getting tired of him playing the same character), RZA (legitimately good actor, unintentionally hilarious speech impediment), James Franco (should have won an Oscar for playing Saul Silver), Jack Nicholson (another legend), Gael Garcia Bernal (boyish good looks and charm) and Paul Rust (someday…).