Denzel Washington top 20 all-time?

[No Count Pup]

On all-time best actor lists you have the usual suspects. They include Marlon Brando, Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, James Stewart, Kirk Douglas, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Tom Hanks. You may get honorable mentions like Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman, and John Wayne. So where does Denzel Washington fit on the list?

Is Denzel a top 20 all-time actor?

Would guys like Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, Sidney Poitier, Joe Pesci, Robert Duvall, Gene Hackman, Ray Liotta, Don Cheadle, and Leonardo DiCaprio knock him off the list? Certainly not. The 2-time Oscar winner is an actor's actor par excellence.

His memorable roles in Philadelphia, Crimson Tide, Malcom X, The Manchurian Candidate, and Flight portrayed an actor highly skilled in dramatic prose. He has been no stranger to acclaimed thrillers, starring in Training Day, The Siege, Man on Fire, Pelican Brief, and American Gangster. Who can forget Denzel in sports classics Remember the Titans and He Got Game? And which channel surfer can resist watching John Q on those rainy Saturday afternoons?

What is your view? Is Denzel Washington a top 20 all-time film actor?

 

[jmt225]

Pretty hard to argue.

I mean, when you look at his films success in both box office drawing power and also critical acclaim, he has a tremendous track record.

Denzel Washington is one of the very few actors of our time where people will see a movie just because he's the star. Doesn't matter what the plot is or how the trailers look... people hear the name Denzel and they're buying a ticket.

He's had duds here and there, but I love the fact that he's not stingy with his roles and is always looking for work. And plus he's a guy who can turn chicken shit into chicken salad. John Q for example could have easily came across as a melodramatic, original Lifetime movie if it weren't for Denzel's great performance.

So yeah... I'm not really up to compiling a list of 20 actors right now, but it's hard for me to imagine that if I did that Denzel wouldn't make it. He's the man.

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[Hollywood Naitch]

YES, Denzel Washington is my favourite actor of all time. I have never seen him perform a role badly, the guy is absolutely world class in pretty much everything he's ever done.

"Training Day" (my faovurite film of all time), "Man On Fire", "Crimson Tide", "Remember The Titans", "Flight" "American Gangster" and a personal favourite of mine "Deja-Vu", are all magnificent films, and I really enjoyed his recent outing in "The Equaliser". The OP is correct in saying that Denzel is a man who's name makes people buy a ticket to see the film.

You could put his track record up against pretty much any other modern actor. I'm not familiar with the works of Bogart, Poitier and Heston....but against the likes of modern-day greats like Hanks, De Niro, Pacino, Di Caprio etc...I'd say he's definitely comparable. The guy is absolutely top class.

I love Denzel, and this thread has convinced me to watch one of his movies tonight after work...I'm thinking "American Gangster", as I haven't seen that in a while.


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This scene in Training Day is phenomenal, I think Denzel is at his absolute best here, it's his expressions not just what he says. You can see the panic he's feeling, knowing that his power is crumbling and he's going to get what he deserves. You can't teach that, it's just pure talent.