Best swan song - actors and actress

John Wayne in "The Shootist" jumped to my mind immediately. It so perfectly summed up his career and he was so good in it, I have to believe that was the best. Frankly, if Eastwood finished up with "Unforgiven," it would have been right on the same level. He just keeps going, and putting out great work, I'm glad he didn't make that his swan song.

Ledger and Cazale are both great picks, too. Some will scoff at Ledger because it was a comic book character, but goddamn he was great in Dark Knight.

James Dean in "Giant" is worth a mention. As is Bruce Lee in "Game of Death" (which he died during filming and they did a fantastic job of making it seem as though he was in all of it) or "Enter the Dragon," which is the last film he completed making. Some would throw in Brandon Lee in "The Crow," though I always thought that was overrated.

 

James Dean's performance in "Giant" was way overrated.

And the best part of Vic Morrow in "Twilight Zone" was left on the cutting-room floor.

 

Actually, Sellers final movie was something called "The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080731/

I only remember this because, as a kid, me and some friends decided to go see it because it was billed as Sellers' last movie. It wasn't good at all.

 

The Crow does NOT age well. Just watched it a few months ago and, boy, was the '90s grunge angst factor pretty overbearing for that one. ... And, dammit, I like '90s grunge angst.

 

It's funny you bring this movie up. I was just watching The Crow: City of Angels on Netflix because I remember liking it when I was younger and it came out.

That flick does not age well either. I've gotten about 20 minutes in and don't know if I'm going to continue or not.

I don't understand how this story hasn't been told in an Oscar-worthy film yet. It may be one of the most meaningful ideas I've ever come across in a graphic novel and it's just itching for someone to give it the Batman Begins treatment.

As for the thread at hand, I'm going with Ledger. He took a simple "comic book movie" and turned it into someone that has a serious shot of landing an Oscar nom. You can credit Bale, you can credit Nolan, but the fact remains that if Ledger had bitten the dust before shooting this flick, we wouldn't be talking about it right now.

 

Burt Lancaster, Field of Dreams.

Supporting part, but nicely done.

 

IATS

 

The Harder They Fall

Bogart.

Brutal -- in a great way.

 

Does Don Knotts' appearance as the TV Repairman in "Pleasantville" count for this list or would his TV appearances and voiceovers be considered his swan song?

 

Nicholas Colasanto as Coach in Cheers

Would Jackie Gleason's swan song with Tom Hanks in "Nothing in Common" make the list? I never the saw the movie... according to IMDB that was his swan song.

 

Gleason was tremendous in that.

But the all-timer has to be Tracy in "Guess Who's." Although it wasn't the last scene filmed in the movie, his monologue that ends the movie never fails to make the room awfully dusty. Not only is it an amazingly beyond-the-curve sentiment delivered as only one of the all-time greats could do it, watch Hepburn in the background, as her eyes get increasingly moist and you see a tear start falling down her cheek. He could have been telling all of this to her. And then he died two weeks later. Amazing.

 

Second that, Johnny Chan.

Knowing the off-screen background relationship of Tracy-Hepburn along with their series of movies back in the B&W days, his final speech has a lot of layers. And it one helluva speech; a great final at bat.