DaveyJoe

Carrie Fisher

Ash Ketchum

Hard to argue with this one. Sorry I didn't think of him before posting my choices.

I saw him speak at Film Forum and Japan Society some eight years ago.

jfoobar

I will say that the first name that popped into my head is Cate Blanchett. Tilda Swinton would probably also make my short list.

As for the men, DDL would certainly have to be on the short list.

Whiskey Warfield

Been dead awhile but you'll always have Rob Schneider.

The Infidel

Better check that research, Sherlock.

Whiskey Warfield

Hmm confused him for Rik Mayall.

Defiant1

Cate Blanchett and Tom Hanks.

Why So Blu?

I'm gonna have to track down a copy of Young Einstein now.

Count Dooku

Meryl Streep established her reputation as the greatest film actress of her generation by having a stretch of seven Best Actress Oscar nominations in one decade of work.

I appreciate that none of her films are masterpieces on the scale of The Godfather I and II (and once you throw in Annie Hall, it looks like Keaton is under-rated for her 70s work) but look at this list
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academ...s_and_nominees

Where are the outright masterpieces during the 1980s? Especially in the category of straight drama.

Streep suffers due to the reality that Hollywood favors male leads.

Count Dooku

Filliam H. Muffman

Ash Ketchum

I've always felt that Streep really excelled in comedy, much like Irene Dunne, a high-profile dramatic actress in the 1930s and '40s. Studios gave Dunne the chance to do plenty of comedy and plenty of drama. She was nominated for Best Actress five times from 1931 to 1949, three times for dramas, two times for comedies. The problem for Streep has been that no one's creating the kind of comedy she would excel at. She was excellent in POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE and SHE-DEVILS, although the latter was ruined by Roseanne Barr. But those are the only two outright comedies of hers I can think of. She could have been really funny--in a dark way--in THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE and I thought her scenes were the best in the film, but the ponderous script and direction ruined that one. (The original book was meant as a satire and the script for the first film version by George Axelrod had a sharp satirical edge, but the director didn't play up that angle.)

OldBoy

The Deer Hunter

Count Dooku

Streep, Glenn Close, and Sig Weaver are all adept at comedy but there were no great comedic leading roles for them during their primes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden..._Musical#1980s

Norm de Plume

And Kramer vs. Kramer is not quite a masterpiece, but close enough.

OldBoy

Sophie's Choice, loved Silkwood, Devil Wears Prada.

Mabuse

They're all merely good. Diane Keaton wins. She was in truly great films.

Defiant1

Meryl is brilliant in The Devil Wears Prada.

Shannon Nutt

It's Daniel Day Lewis and Meryl Streep.

The Infidel

Let me make sure I understand your logic...

You're saying that because Diane Keaton was in great films, or at least films you consider great, as opposed to Meryl Streep's movies which you think are just "merely good", that makes Diane Keaton the better actress?

I was always under the impression that actors were nominated for and won acting awards based on their performances, not what critics think of the movies they're in.

I say we look at the tally:



Looks to me like there are a lot of people who just think Meryl is a pretty damn good actress.

Ash Ketchum

Yes. I've always felt that her character should have been the heroine, the protagonist of that and Anne Hathaway's pissy little intern should have been the antagonist and met with a horrible comeuppance. And it should have been played more for laughs.

Count Dooku

What kind of fucked up story-telling is that supposed to be?

Oh . . . wait, you mean this

Mabuse

I wrote a lot in another Meryl Streep that we had before. But yes, acting is about choices, and among the choices you make is the decision of what to be in. Streep is a great actor who appears in movies that at best are very good. Movies that are in the canon of great filmmaking, the movies nearly everyone agrees are great, like the Godfather an Annie Hall. She doesn't have any on her resume.

William Fuld

You blew it, Streep, next time "choose" to be in more masterpieces!

Count Dooku

Since we're having this conversation, let's just lay it out clearly.

1978: Nominated for Best Supporting Actress for The Deer Hunter;
Won Best Actress Emmy for Holocaust

1979: Was in Manhattan (which is an actual cinematic masterpiece);
Won Supporting Actress Oscar for Kramer vs Kramer

I know that in 2016, Kramer is not considered a cinematic treasure, but it starred Dustin Hoffman and won the Best Picture Oscar, so let's give Streep some credit.

1981: The French Lieutenant's Woman
1982: Sophie's Choice
1983: Silkwood
1985: Plenty

3 Best Actress nominations with one win. But more than that, she is THE STAR of those movies. She is not just the female lead in a movie that is really about the male lead. She is the face on the poster.

1982: Still of the Night written and directed by Robert Benton who also wrote and directed Kramer
1984: Falling in Love with Robert DeNiro
1985: Out of Africa with Robert Redford, Best Picture Oscar
1986: Heartburn with Jack Nicholson
1988: Ironweed with Nicholson

So very clearly, Streep charted a course in the first decade of her career to either make film's where she (the female character) was the lead, was the star. Or she chose movies where she was on equal footing alongside actual icons.


In all fairness, it is true that during her 80s heyday when Streep was being anointed as the greatest working actress, she did not make movies that are considered enduring masterpieces.

Only one Streep film is on the AFI Top 100: Sophie's Choice

By comparison, Diane Keaton has three films on that list, but two of them are The Godfather I and II, and I don't think anyone considers those "Diane Keaton movies."
The other is Annie Hall.



Faye Dunaway is probably more deserving of consideration against Streep from among her contemporaries. Dunaway starred in Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown, and Network. Got three Oscar noms and won one.

So Dunaway was able to be great in great movies, but the rest of her filmography does not stand up in comparison to Streep's, and Dunaway has not had a post-prime career like Streep.

Cate Blanchett deserves to be in the conversation (to me) but she is 20 years younger than Streep, and would have to continue to put forward stellar performances for decades before she could actually be considered a serious competitor for the title.

I know that for many people, admitting that Meryl Streep is the greatest living film actress is like admitting that the potato is America's favorite vegetable. (Corn Syrup is not a vegetable.) It's so obvious a choice that one's inclination is to fight against it, but sometimes obvious things are also true things.

Plus I'm willing to take the word of every other actress in the world that Streep is their goddess.

OldBoy

The Deer Hunter is not on AFI's list? shame.