10.) Dennis Hopper as Shooter in Hoosiers (1986)
Hoosiers is a classic sports movie about a small town Indiana high school basketball team's journey to the state title. Hopper's character Shooter, the town drunk, is offered the assistant coaching job, but must sober up first. He holds things together for a while, but his old drinking ways resurface and he stumbles into a gym and onto the court to yell at a referee. Shortly after this escapade he is found passed out and drunk in the middle of the woods. He spends the rest of the movie rehabilitating in a hospital, but it appears that he has finally turned the corner.
Memorable lines:
Shooter: Alright, boys, this is the last shot we got. We're gonna run the picket fence at 'em.
Shooter: I know everything there is to know about the greatest game ever invented.
Shooter(drunk): You're out of position to make the call!
9.) Marissa Tomei as Mona Lisa Vito in My Cousin Vinny (1992)
Well in order to appease my female readership, I figured I'd throw in a token female supporting performance. Tomei won an Academy Award for this role as the fiance of a wanna-be lawyer. Vito's brash New York attitude comes to life in a number of arguments that she has with her fiance, Vincent Gambini, played by Joe Pesci. Vito ends up being the key witness in the case because of her knowledge of the auto industry.
Memorable lines:
Mona Lisa Vito: Imagine you're a deer. You're prancing along, you get thirsty, you spot a little brook, you put your little deer lips down to the cool clear water... BAM! A fuckin' bullet rips off part of your head! Your brains are laying on the ground in little bloody pieces! Now I ask ya. Would you give a fuck what kind of pants the son of a bitch who shot you was wearing?
Mona Lisa Vito: I want a wedding in church with bridesmaids and flowers.
Vinny Gambini: Whoa. How many times did you say that spontaneous is romantic?
Lisa Vito: Hey, a burp is spontaneous. A burp is not romantic.
8.) Mark Wahlberg as Sergeant Dignam in The Departed (2006)
Wahlberg would be higher (actually I guess I mean lower) on this list, but it could be argued that Alec Baldwin's role as Ellerby was the better supporting performance. Either way, Wahlberg was in his element with this character. Dignam is a foul mouthed Boston guy with a chip on his shoulder. His heated exchanges with both Matt Damon's character and Leonardo Dicaprio's character were poignant moments in the film.
Memorable lines:
Dignam: I'm the guy that does my job. You must be the other guy.
Dignam: You were kind of a double kid, I bet, right? One kid with your old man. One kid with your mother. Upper middle class in the week, and then dropping your 'r's and hanging in the Southie projects with daddy the donkey on the weekends. I got that right? You have different accents? You did, didn't you.
Dignam: Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe fuck yourself. My theory on Feds is they're like mushrooms. Feed 'em shit and keep in the dark. You girls have a nice day.
Colin Sullivan: A problem?
Dignam: Yeah, I run rat rucks like you. I don't like them.
Colin Sullian: The day you wouldn't take a promotion, you let me know. And I wouldn't even have a job if you did yours.
Dignam: Fuck yourself.
Colin Sullivan: I need to know the identity of your undercovers.
Dignam: Blow me. Not literally, there's no promotion in it for ya.
7.) Christopher Walken as Frank Abagnale Sr. in Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Walken is the ultimate supporting actor. The thought of him playing a lead role is hard to even fathom. In this film, Walken plays the father of a high profile con man (played by Leonardo Dicaprio). Walken's character never stops trying to instill life lessons in his son, even when he knows there's no changing his fraudulent ways.
Memorable line:
6.) Joe Pesci as Tommy Devito in Goodfellas (1990)
Pesci won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the hot-headed gangster Tommy DeVito. Throughout the course of the film, DeVito becomes a psychotic murderer who acts on impulse and deals with the consequences later. His violent and explosive temper get him into trouble, but wouldn't you know that this personality type seems to bring out the best in Pesci.
Memorable lines:
5.) Edward Norton as Aaron Stampler in Primal Fear (1996)
Norton plays an altar boy accused of brutally murdering a high ranking Catholic Priest. His fate seems sealed until Richard Gere, who plays a hot shot lawyer, swoops in to defend the stuttering young Aaron. Gere later finds out that Aaron has a split personality. His alter ego is the highly aggressive Roy. The ending contains a nice twist and I don't want to ruin it for those of you that haven't seen it. Just know that this role was Norton's coming out party because of how he handled the two polar opposite personalities.
Memorable line: (Spoiler Alert)
Well, good for you, Marty. I was gonna let it go. You were looking so happy just now. I was thinking...To tell you the truth, I'm glad you figured it. 'Cause I have been dying to tell you. I just didn't know who you'd wanna hear it from. Aaron or Roy, Roy or Aaron. Well, I'll let you in on a client- attorney-privilege type of secret. It don't matter who you hear it from. It's the same story. I j-j-just...had to kill Linda, Mr Vail. That cunt just got what she deserved. But...cutting up that son of a bitch Rushman......that was just a fucking work of art.
4.) Kevin Spacey as Roger "Verbal" Kint in The Usual Suspects (1995)
Spacey won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, but he was basically the lead. In the film, he plays a crippled criminal who is in a police station recounting his memories after a bloody heist of a ship's cargo. His character has immunity so a little bit of a cat and mouse game arises between he and the police investigator (played by Chazz Palminteri, who is best known for his role as Sonny in A Bronx Tale). Spacey's character seems to be very forthright with what he knows, but the police investigator has a feeling that he is withholding something. He can't quite put it all together, but must before time runs out.
Memorable Line:
Verbal: Who is Keyser Soze? He is supposed to be Turkish. Some say his father was German. Nobody believed he was real. Nobody ever saw him or knew anybody that ever worked directly for him, but to hear Kobayashi tell it, anybody could have worked for Soze. You never knew. That was his power. The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And like that, poof. He's gone.
3.) Cuba Gooding Jr. as Rod Tidwell in Jerry Maguire (1996)
First things first, who knew that Tidwell was just Anquan Boldin before Anquan Boldin? Same team. Same position. Same type of player. Both looking for a big contract. The similarities are startling.
In the film, Gooding Jr. plays a star wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals that wants his agent Jerry Maguire, played by Tom Cruise, to get him the big time contract that he thinks he deserves. In fact, his most famous line is of course, "Show me the money." As the movie progresses we learn that there is actually a genuine person behind the animated receiver. Tidwell, ego aside, ends up teaching Maguire a lot about loyalty, friendship, and family. Gooding Jr's. performance was recognized with the Oscar in 1997.
Memorable lines:
Rod Tidwell: I am a valuable commodity! I go across the middle! I see a dude coming at me, trying to kill me, I tell myself "Get killed. Catch the ball!' BOO YA! Touchdown! I make miracles happen!
Rod Tidwell: You're hanging by a very thin thread, dude. And I dig that about you.
Rod Tidwell: See, man, that's the difference between us. You think we're fighting, I think we're finally talking!
2.) Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight (2008)
As we all know, this role won Ledger the Oscar, but it also cost him his life. He was outstanding as The Joker. He literally stole the movie. His personality, mannerisms, and downright lunacy had me rooting for him instead of the bland and uninspiring Christian Bale Batman. It's truly a tragedy to think that ramped drug use heavily influenced this prolific performance, but then took the life of the actor shortly thereafter.
Memorable lines:
The Joker: Oh, you. You just couldn't let me go, could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You are truly incorruptible, aren't you? Huh? You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness. And I won't kill you because you're just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever
The Joker: Do you want to know why I use a knife? Guns are too quick. You can't savor all the... little emotions. In... you see, in their last moments, people show you who they really are. So in a way, I know your friends better than you ever did. Would you like to know which of them were cowards?
The Joker: It wasn't hard. You see, madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little push.
1.) Jack Nicholson as Colonel Nathan R. Jessep in A Few Good Men (1992)
The fact that Nicholson didn't win the Academy Award back in 1993 is an absolute travesty (Gene Hackman won for his performance in Unforgiven). The role of Jessep, an arrogant Army Colonel, was perfect for Nicholson. When I see him sitting court side at Laker games, I imagine that his off screen personality is just like that of Colonel Nathan R. Jessep's. There's been some great court room moments in the history of film, but I don't think any are as powerful as when Jessep takes the stand. In fact, I would argue that is one of the best scenes of all time. Whenever I catch this movie, and especially this scene, on television I get sucked in and watch it until the end.
Memorable Lines:
Because that list was rather uninspired (all of them were Oscar nominated), I'll also throw out a few more great supporting performances. Clive Owen in Inside Man (2006), Will Ferrel in Wedding Crashers (2005), Gene Hackman in Enemy of the State (1998), Rob Corddry in What Happens in Vegas (2008), Willem Dafoe in Platoon (1985) and Brad Pitt in Fight Club (1999).
Feel free to let me know if you think of any others.
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