The Onion Picks 19 One-Scene Wonders
I'm a little jealous that I didn't think of doing something like this first. The Onion AV Club has a new list entitled "Little more than a cameo: 19 stellar cinematic one-scene wonders." It's a list of great performances by actors who only showed up for one scene, and it's hard to argue with their top choice: Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross. His electrifying diatribe is a masterpiece of profanity, testosterone, and all-out awesomeness, perfectly encapsulating the feel of the movie. The rest of the Onion's top five includes Ray Charles in The Blues Brothers, Pamela Anderson in Borat, Dean Stockwell in Blue Velvet, and Janeane Garofalo in The Cable Guy. And if you're like the people who have been commenting on the article, you're already wondering: Where the hell is Christopher Walken in Pulp Fiction?! As one person pointed out, they could do a separate list just for great Walken cameos, including Pulp Fiction, True Romance, and Annie Hall for starters.
If you scroll down, you'll find Onion writer Nathan Rabin conceding that they "dropped the ball" on Walken, as well as on Alfred Molina in Boogie Nights. I'm glad he said that. I'd much rather think they simply forgot something than that they considered it and didn't think it was worthy.
But who else are they missing? That's the real fun part of these lists, of course. Fire away!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-23-2008 @ 5:44PM
Mr.R said...
I hate it when Youtube is forced to take down some of these, the Pamela Anderson one was taken down. This dumb ass suits in Hollywood don't get the importance of promoting this movies, how could one clip be bad to their annoying copyright stiffness?
Anyway, good list but I wish they would have included Bob Barker in Happy Gilmore. I know it's a bad movie amongst some of this great ones but I loved the guy and he pulled off a great moment.
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6-23-2008 @ 6:09PM
Matt said...
i always enjoyed alice cooper's backstage scene in wayne's world. first, he spews obscure knowledge about native american languages and then capitulates to the worship of his adoring fans. awesome.
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6-23-2008 @ 6:15PM
Mike said...
River Phoenix in "Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade"
Made him first choice when casting young Indy for the TV series (though he declined).
Ben Affleck in "Boiler Room"
Along the lines of Baldwin in Glengarry, but I think Affleck does briefly appear again later.
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6-23-2008 @ 7:54PM
lw said...
I think the Chris Walken and Dennis Hopper scene in True Romance is classic. You know it is going to end badly for Hopper but you can't turn away. Best scene in the movie.
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6-23-2008 @ 8:58PM
soulpopped said...
lw, as far as that's concerned, I think what they mention in Samuel L. Jackson's write-up is that Walken is basically an actor for those kind of roles, so to include him in this would almost require you to dedicate a handful of entries to him. Jackson's in KB2 was small enough to warrant mentioning, though.
What I liked was that there were two from David Lynch movies - I guess if you're an actor, want minimal work and the chance for a big payoff, talk to Mr. Lynch.
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6-24-2008 @ 10:54AM
Gino Falve said...
Donald Sutherland in "JFK".
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6-24-2008 @ 4:18PM
lw said...
I seem to be stuck on True Romance, but I would say also that Gary Oldman and Brad Pitt in their limited appearances go a long way to stealing the movie. Likewise Val Kilmer, who we can hear but not really see too clearly, as a crazy Elvis mentor to Christian Slater.
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