Friday Top Five: Dustin Hoffman

Yesterday was the 76th birthday of one of our greatest living actors - Dustin Hoffman. Hoffman came into popularity around the same time as Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, but somehow when people talk about great acting, Hoffman seems to pale in comparison to those two. I don't understand why. Hoffman is just as good, if not better. There were almost too many good roles to choose from when I was making this list and I didn't even see All The President's Men or his Oscar winning turn in Kramer vs. Kramer (which has been on my Netflix queue FOREVER, so I'll get around to it eventually). Until that maybe knocks something off my list, here is my top five.

05. Bernard in I Heart Huckabees - 2004 (David O. Russell)
I Heart Huckabees is sort of this ridiculous slap stick comedy but the performances and dialogue definitely elevate this movie to another level. As Bernard, an existential detective, Hoffman all but steals the show away from his mostly much younger co-stars. He is sweet and good-natured and quirky and odd in all the right ways.
Best Quote: "If you look close enough you can't tell where my nose ends and space begins."

04. Ratso in Midnight Cowboy - 1969 (John Schlesinger)
Hoffman's performance as the sicky con man is absolutely everything you can want out of an acting performance. It is absolutely fearless and brave in every possible way. Hoffman is nearly unrecognizable as Ratso, a man who befriends and manipulates Jon Voight's male prostitute. He absolutely and completely becomes this character and it is truly remarkable.
Best Quote: "The two basic items necessary to sustain life, are sunshine and coconut milk... didya know that?"

03. Ben Braddock in The Graduate - 1967 (Mike Nichols)
Probably Hoffman's most iconic role in one of my personal favorite movies ever made, he stars as a new college graduate who manages to fall for his much older neighbor and her more age appropriate daughter. The ending of this movie will absolutely tear out your heart. This was Hoffman's first big role and instantly established him as a leading man and an acting force to be reckoned with.
Best Quote: "Oh no, Mrs. Robinson. I think, I think you're the most attractive of all my parents' friends. I mean that."

02. Michael Dorsey / Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie - 1982 (Sydney Pollack)
There are great performances and then there is Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie. Tootsie is this sort of masterclass in acting from Hoffman, who manages to play a macho male struggling actor and his alter ego - a female soap opera star. Hoffman is absolutely genius. In anyone else's career, this would be the shining star, a performance he could never match again. But this is Hoffman and there is an even better performance out there...
Best Quote: "But I was a better man with you, as a woman... than I ever was with a woman, as a man."

01. Raymond Babbitt in Rain Man - 1988 (Barry Levinson)
And then there is Rain Man - a sort of fearless, controlled, career defining role performance. Most actors would probably kill for a chance to play a role like this, and most actors probably couldn't do it. But Hoffman nails the autistic savant with that looks like so much ease that it is completely understandable why he won an Oscar for this performance. This performance may be the single best acting performance ever captured on film, that's how damn good it is.
Best Quote: "97X, bam! The future of rock 'n' roll. 97X, bam! The future of rock 'n' roll. 97X, bam! The future of rock 'n' roll."