Movies - TV
12 Best Performances In Martin Scorsese Movies
By JEREMY SMITH
12. Dunne: After Hours
In “After Hours,” how Griffin Dunne’s Paul Hackett comports himself over one nightmarish evening seems to be worthy of salvation or utter damnation in the eyes of God. Dunne is plenty affable, but he is a man baffled by the actions of an inexplicably angry god, and this is a queasy joy to behold.
11. Newman: Color of Money
25 years after the release of "The Hustler," Paul Newman imbues the older "Fast" Eddie Felson with a bitter vigorousness in “The Color of Money.” It's the game within the game that makes the movie so enthralling, as this is Newman schooling Tom Cruise in the fine art of motion-picture immortality.
10. DiCaprio: Wolf of Wall St.
Leonardo DiCaprio is a coked-up dervish as Jordan Belfort in “The Wolf of Wall Street,” a madly ambitious boiler-room broker who makes the quickest of killings on the stock market. DiCaprio’s bright-eyed boyishness that seduced the world in "Titanic" curdles into a quaalude-fueled con job under Scorsese's direction.
9. Burstyn: Alice
As a once-aspiring singer whose dreams have been cruelly thwarted by life, in “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” Ellen Burstyn conveys a tangible sadness. She holds the film together because we're never entirely sure Alice can hold it together.
8. Keitel: Mean Streets
Harvey Keitel's portrayal of the guilt-ridden Charlie Cappa lends “Mean Streets” its melancholy gravity. Charlie is boxed in, and Keitel thrusts us right into the pressure cooker that is his character's life, providing the film its soul.