Top Guy
1) Ghost World (2001)
Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson turn in outstanding performances, but there’s not another actor that could have pulled off the sad-sack audiophile who gets duped into a fake date as well as Buscemi does in this movie. As a side note, the Blues Hammer/old bluesman scene is one the funniest, saddest and most spot-on set pieces in the history of film.
2) The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
This list could have been populated entirely by Coen Brothers films because Buscemi also acted in Barton Fink, Miller’s Crossing and the Big Lebowski, as well as Fargo, which is next on the list. He only has a small role in The Hudsucker Proxy as a Beatnik bartender in a watering hole frequented by Amy Archer (Jennifer Jason Lee), but this gets my nod because it’s my favorite Coen Brothers movie.
3) Fargo (1996)
Two years after The Hudsucker Proxy, the Coen Brothers gave Buscemi a much meatier role as a kidnapper-turned-murderer and later murder victim. The role was written specifically for Buscemi, who turns in a star-making performance despite being upstaged by Frances McDormand. One piece of trivia: The film isn’t actually based on a true story.
4) Billy Madison (1995)
Buscemi is perfect in small roles, and this might be his smallest. He’s onscreen only long enough to put down a shotgun, smear some lipstick on his face and cross Adam Sandler’s name off of a hit list. Despite his short time on screen, he gets the film’s biggest laugh.
5) Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Mr. Pink is an unfortunate name, but he has the good fortune to be the only major character to survive—he’s most likely arrested at the end. Mr. Pink’s best lines are at the film’s beginning, when he debates the meaning of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” and gives an anti-tipping monologue.
Top Lady
1) Fargo
Probably the performance that most people remember—especially since Steve ends up in a wood chipper. I bet he still gets people referring to him as a “funny lookin’ little guy.”
2) Ghost World
If he’s impossible to forget in Fargo, most people have to be reminded that Steve is also in Ghost World (and, in fact, has the third-largest role after the two girls). His roles often get described as “eccentric” but his personification of Seymour makes him into an eccentric who is actually trying to adjust and be a little more normal. His femme fatale is Thora Birch’s Enid, who obsesses, seduces, uses, discards, wins back, and then loses him.
3) Pulp Fiction
OK, so he only has a bit part as a waiter in this one, but it’s a memorable scene (at the diner, where Uma Thurman and John Travolta win the dance-off) in a movie that is basically a composite of memorable scenes.
4) Art School Confidential
This film begins as a satire on the level of “P.C.U.” but, midway through, turns truly dark and pessimistic. Co-written by Dan Clowes, this film is a nice counterpart to Ghost World, and is genuinely funny, especially when John Malkovich, as an art teacher, sighs with frustration while looking at his “greatest works”—paintings of solid triangles. Steve plays a coffee shop owner in this one.
5) Barton Fink
A Top 5 Steve Buscemi list could easily double as a Top 5 Coen Brothers list, so I tried to be selective. No, Barton Fink isn’t as good as The Big Lebowski or even Blood Simple, but (with the exception of Adaptation), it’s portrayal of how the process of writing can drive someone insane is unparalleled. Steve plays a bellhop named “CHET!”
1) Ghost World (2001)
Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson turn in outstanding performances, but there’s not another actor that could have pulled off the sad-sack audiophile who gets duped into a fake date as well as Buscemi does in this movie. As a side note, the Blues Hammer/old bluesman scene is one the funniest, saddest and most spot-on set pieces in the history of film.
2) The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
This list could have been populated entirely by Coen Brothers films because Buscemi also acted in Barton Fink, Miller’s Crossing and the Big Lebowski, as well as Fargo, which is next on the list. He only has a small role in The Hudsucker Proxy as a Beatnik bartender in a watering hole frequented by Amy Archer (Jennifer Jason Lee), but this gets my nod because it’s my favorite Coen Brothers movie.
3) Fargo (1996)
Two years after The Hudsucker Proxy, the Coen Brothers gave Buscemi a much meatier role as a kidnapper-turned-murderer and later murder victim. The role was written specifically for Buscemi, who turns in a star-making performance despite being upstaged by Frances McDormand. One piece of trivia: The film isn’t actually based on a true story.
4) Billy Madison (1995)
Buscemi is perfect in small roles, and this might be his smallest. He’s onscreen only long enough to put down a shotgun, smear some lipstick on his face and cross Adam Sandler’s name off of a hit list. Despite his short time on screen, he gets the film’s biggest laugh.
5) Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Mr. Pink is an unfortunate name, but he has the good fortune to be the only major character to survive—he’s most likely arrested at the end. Mr. Pink’s best lines are at the film’s beginning, when he debates the meaning of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” and gives an anti-tipping monologue.
Top Lady
1) Fargo
Probably the performance that most people remember—especially since Steve ends up in a wood chipper. I bet he still gets people referring to him as a “funny lookin’ little guy.”
2) Ghost World
If he’s impossible to forget in Fargo, most people have to be reminded that Steve is also in Ghost World (and, in fact, has the third-largest role after the two girls). His roles often get described as “eccentric” but his personification of Seymour makes him into an eccentric who is actually trying to adjust and be a little more normal. His femme fatale is Thora Birch’s Enid, who obsesses, seduces, uses, discards, wins back, and then loses him.
3) Pulp Fiction
OK, so he only has a bit part as a waiter in this one, but it’s a memorable scene (at the diner, where Uma Thurman and John Travolta win the dance-off) in a movie that is basically a composite of memorable scenes.
4) Art School Confidential
This film begins as a satire on the level of “P.C.U.” but, midway through, turns truly dark and pessimistic. Co-written by Dan Clowes, this film is a nice counterpart to Ghost World, and is genuinely funny, especially when John Malkovich, as an art teacher, sighs with frustration while looking at his “greatest works”—paintings of solid triangles. Steve plays a coffee shop owner in this one.
5) Barton Fink
A Top 5 Steve Buscemi list could easily double as a Top 5 Coen Brothers list, so I tried to be selective. No, Barton Fink isn’t as good as The Big Lebowski or even Blood Simple, but (with the exception of Adaptation), it’s portrayal of how the process of writing can drive someone insane is unparalleled. Steve plays a bellhop named “CHET!”
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