Top 50 Actors Project: Overview

When I decided to do the Top 50 Actresses Project, I figured I’d show the men some love by also doing the Top 50 Actors.

As with the actresses, I culled this list from AMC. They provided the list of actors, but I’m the one who chose the movie to watch for each actor. Since this list is voted on by the public, it appears that it can change over time. To avoid confusion, below I’m posting the list as it stood when I copied it down, along with the movies I chose for each actor.

A few notes about this project:

My main concern was that I wanted to make sure none of these films were movies that I previously reviewed, an issue I ran up against during both the AFI Top 100 and the Sci Fi Top 100.

So my general rule was that, if the actor won a Best Actor (not Best Supporting) Academy Award for a role, that is the movie I chose to review unless I previously reviewed it. If he won more than one, I chose which of those movies to review based on personal preference.

If I already reviewed one or all of his Award-winning performances OR if he hasn’t won a Best Actor Academy Award, then I looked at his acting credits and chose one of his movies to review. My choices were largely based on IMDB ratings (typically I chose something in the 7s or higher), coupled with my interest in the film based on its description. I avoided movies from the 1970s as much as possible. I've discovered that I'm not a big fan of 1970s film making.

Very occasionally, I have vetoed an Award-winning film simply because I don’t want to watch it. After watching lots of films I had little to no interest in, I wanted to give myself some leeway. Also, the list is subject to change. Some of these films are surprisingly difficult to get one’s hands on, despite the fact that I have access to an astounding number of ways to see films. Sometimes I may decide last-minute that I just don’t feel like watching the film I previously chose (this happened a few times with the actresses).

Since the focus of this project is more on performances rather than the films themselves, I’ll include a section about that with each review. Additionally, where applicable, I will provide links to other movies of that performer's that I’ve reviewed.

As usual, I will watch the list from the bottom up, beginning with #50 and making my way to #1. At the end of the project, I will provide a master list of reviews & some final thoughts. Here is the list of Top 50 Actors:

1.  Tom Hanks - Philadelphia
2.  Henry Fonda - 12 Angry Men
3.  Humphrey Bogart - The Caine Mutiny
4.  Laurence Olivier - Sleuth
5.  James Stewart - Anatomy of a Murder
6.  Gregory Peck - Twelve O’Clock High
7.  Marlon Brando - The Men
8.  Jack Lemmon - Missing
9.  William Holden - Stalag 17
10. Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
11. Orson Welles - Touch of Evil
12. Paul Newman - Cool Hand Luke
13. Anthony Hopkins - The Elephant Man
14. James Mason - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
15. Jack Nicholson - The Shining
16. Spencer Tracy - Captains Courageous
17. Cary Grant - Arsenic and Old Lace
18. Peter Sellers - The Return of the Pink Panther
19. Clark Gable - Run Silent, Run Deep
20. Dustin Hoffman - All the President’s Men
21. William Powell - My Man Godfrey
22. Gary Cooper - Sergeant York
23. Michael Caine - The Italian Job
24. George C. Scott - The Hospital
25. Sean Connery - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
26. Charles Chaplin - The Great Dictator
27. Richard Burton - Becket
28. Burt Lancaster - Elmer Gantry
29. John Wayne - True Grit (1969)
30. Sean Penn - Mystic River
31. Sidney Poitier - Lilies of the Field
32. Steve McQueen - The Great Escape
33. Kirk Douglas - Spartacus
34. Russell Crowe - L.A. Confidential
35. Robert Mitchum - Out of the Past
36. Al Pacino - Scent of a Woman
37. Edward G. Robinson - Key Largo
38. Robert DeNiro - Once Upon a Time in America
39. Errol Flynn - The Adventures of Robin Hood
40. James Dean - East of Eden
41. Gene Kelly - On the Town
42. Fred Astaire - Top Hat
43. Buster Keaton - The General
44. Groucho Marx - Animal Crackers
45. Gene Hackman - Mississippi Burning
46. Morgan Freeman - The Shawshank Redemption
47. Denzel Washington - Training Day
48. James Cagney - White Heat
49. Clint Eastwood - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
50. Johnny Depp - Ed Wood