Wasn't "Greatish Peformances" an occasional feature of Premiere magazine? And then, apparently, Michael Atkinson contributed some "Greatish Performance" content to Moviefone's pages.

The great thing about suggesting for consideration a "greatish" performance is that you really don't have to quantify it. It's a close cousin of an "overlooked" performance but more personal, I think. And it certainly shouldn't be another retread of "who got robbed".


Anyway, I'm throwing out there Ralph Macchio as Johnny Cade in Francis Coppola's The Outsiders, a movie an obvious debt to Rebel Without a Cause. Macchio here is about 60% Sal Mineo, 30% James Dean, 8% DiCaprio in Gilbert Grape, and 2% Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry -- and it's this last element, a jangling androgyny, that makes his performance so startlingly raw.
Macchio has many great moments, but he delivers a line after Johnny Boy recites the Robert Frost poem --

quote:

Where did you learn that? That's what I meant

that is a kind of perfect line readings you can go for years without coming across in a movie, and I don't care how many takes it took.

Ralph Macchio and Gary Grimes are such under-utilized talents.
For me, Gary Grimes was so spot-on as the teen who fell for the older woman in Summer of 42. It was a performance that i could totally identify with when i saw the movie as a teenager myself. And i so love his wistful parting line in the movie, easily one of my all-time favorites.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Vinny,