Order the Actors

[Charles Richter]

Choosing from:

Russell Crowe
Tom Hanks
Jack Nicholson
Dustin Hoffman
Robert De Niro

Which two or three do you think will be remembered as the best actors from 1980 - on? Or are already remembered as such?

You can consider that Hanks and Crowe may make another couple great films.

(Not saying these are the best actors, just a cool conversation topic).

[Charles Richter]

Also, just for fun, who are your favorite and least favorite actors from this list?

I would say my favorite is RDN and my least favorite is Hoffman.

[pryor15]

Nicholson
De Niro
Hoffman
Crowe
Hanks

[Moneyline]

Using the 1980 cutoff date:
1 Hanks
2 Niholson
3 De Niro
4 Crowe
5 Hoffman

If it was overall instead of post 1980 the list would look very different. Hoffman would be much higher since his career peaked in the 1970s and then kind of fell off a cliff for a while in the 80s. It's arguable whether or not Nicholson peaked in the 70s, but many of his most famous roles came in that decade (Chinatown, Cukoos Nest). Some of De Niro's most memorable work came pre-1980 as well, which is probably important to recognize since he has made very few good movies since Midnight Run, and no good movies post 2000 that I can think of.

Overall I'd say:
1 De Niro
2 Nicholson
3 Hoffman
4 Hanks
5 Crowe

[Charles Richter]

[ QUOTE ]
Hoffman would be much higher since his career peaked in the 1970s and then kind of fell off a cliff for a while in the 80s.

[/ QUOTE ]

He had some pretty big movies in the 80s.

[Gunny Highway]

Crowe
DeNiro
Nicholson
Hanks
Hoffman

[Moneyline]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Hoffman would be much higher since his career peaked in the 1970s and then kind of fell off a cliff for a while in the 80s.

[/ QUOTE ]

He had some pretty big movies in the 80s.

[/ QUOTE ]

He was only in 5 movies in the 80s according to the IMDB, and one of those was a TV movie. IMO that's a pretty big dropoff for a guy who was the biggest actor in Hollywood in the mid 70s. Don't get me wrong though, I think Hoffman is a great actor.

[Charles Richter]

I'm surprised he had that few movies, but I more was referring to quality over quantity. Although neither film is really that great IMO, he got huge praise for Rain Man and Tootsie.

I also thought Kramer vs. Kramer was in the 80s too, but it's '79. That would be a pretty sick batting average for the 80s if he had all 3 of them in there.

[Phoenix1010]

Pryor, could you expound on your decision to put Nicholson above DeNiro? Would you guess that that's the general opinion among filmies?

I like this thread idea btw.

[Charles Richter]

I think Nicholson's top 3 or 4 post-1980 roles outshine De Niro's. RDN clearly had a lot of 1990s success but much of that was in comedies which I'm not sure "count" in the discussion.