Thursday, January 31, 2008

How Can You Have a "100 Greatest Performances" List Without the Greatest of Them All, Premiere Magazine?

I was surfing the Internet yesterday morning and I ran across this list from Premiere Magazine a couple of years ago: The 100 Greatest Performances of All Time. I'm a sucker for lists like these, so I quickly devoured it, hoping to find all of my favorites on it. Immediately, I find some of the old stand-by's that you would expect to see on a list like this because of their sheer amazingness: Brando in On the Waterfront, Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice, Bette Davis in All About Eve. But, there was one performance in particular I was looking for that I just didn't see in the Top 10. "Hmmmm," I thought, "That's strange. They can't have put Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein above her. Those silly editors, she must be just outside the Top 10. No? Top 50, then. Still, no? Well, she has to be on here somewhere. I must have missed her; I'll do a quick search of the page. WHAT?! THESE DUMBASS EDITORS LEFT OFF THE GREATEST PERFORMANCE OF ALL TIME?!" And what performance am I referring to, you ask?

The incomparable Miss Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind, of course. How is it that Vivien Leigh, who had to carry an entire four hour epic all on her shoulders (if she didn't work, the film definitely wouldn't) and did it better than anyone in Hollywood could have done at that time, was passed over in favor of such middling performances like Tom Hanks in Big, Robert Duvall in Tender Mercies (really?) or Jamie fucking Foxx in Ray? I simply don't understand it. Who did she piss off to not even get mentioned on this list?

4 comments:

Jhonatan E. Primón said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
J.D. said...

That is a stupid, stupid movie. Hell, the list is stupid, stupid.

Also, I know I'm the only person who considers the performance I consider the greatest the greatest, and that's kinda awesome. :D

Dame James said...

Are you calling "Gone With the Wind" a stupid movie? Because if you are, I don't know if I can associate with you anymore

:P Just kidding. But if you are, what don't you like about it?

J.D. said...

Oh, damn it! I meant to say "move". [laughs uncontrollably]

No, the movie's pretty much perfect, as is she. It's Premiere that's bad.

I don't proofread well. :)