Philip Seymour Hoffman performances was, without a doubt, one of the greatest American actors of all time. He began his career with a string of outstanding supporting roles before establishing himself as one of the most talented leading men of his generation. Hoffman died tragically in 2014, yet his legacy lives on. Hoffman contributed a particular humanity to every character he played. From Doubt to Moneyball, and it shines through whenever he’s on-screen. There are numerous excellent roles throughout an incredibly breathtaking career, but we have selected seven of the best.
1. Moneyball (2011)
Director- Bennett Miller
Billy Beane, a former major league superstar who is now the general manager of the Oakland Athletics. A team that is poise to lose three of its finest players to free agency. Because the organisation can’t afford to spend as much as perennial powerhouses like the Yankees and Red Sox. Beane recognises he’ll have to adjust the way he assesses what players can provide to the team. Beane feels he’s found the man who knows how to disrupt the nearly century-old method of evaluating athletes after meeting Peter Brand, . He is an Ivy League economics major working as an executive assistant for scouting on another team.
However, the duo begins to acquire players who appear to be too old, wounded, or inept to play major-league baseball. They get meet with heavy opposition from both the A’s longtime scouts and manager Art Howe. They flatly refuses to let Beane’s more unconventional acquisitions play. When Billy is sacked for his conduct, Peter Brand takes over as General Manager and becomes the best General Manager in history.
2. Scent Of A Woman (1992)
Director- Martin Brest
Charlie Simms attends the Baird School in New Hampshire, an all-boys boarding school with demanding classes and a high tuition. The naive Simms accepts a job “babysitting” at a nearby household, desperate for income from a part-time job. So he may return to his family in Oregon for the forthcoming Christmas Break. The position isn’t what he expected, as he’s been assigned to keep an eye on an unlikable, obnoxious blind ex-colonel named Slade, who has a knack for picking his aides. Charlie accepts the job because of his empathetic and integral personality. Simms is unexpectedly transported to New York City with the colonel. There the ex-military man has various agendas, before he can even find his level of comfort in the position.
3. 25th Hour (2002)
Director- Spike Lee
Monty Brogan is about to enter his final day of freedom before surrendering to authorities and receiving a seven-year sentence for narcotics trafficking. He’s a nice young guy who has always wanted to be a fireman, following in his father’s working-class footsteps, who has had to put up his Queens bar as a bond to keep his son out of jail until his sentence begins. Monty, who is named after Montgomery Clift, has no idea how he ended up in this situation. You’ll sympathise with this young man who has managed to kill his own dream of courtside seats at Madison Square Garden since it was easy money with so many rewards.
Monty, on the other hand, wants to spend one more night out on the town with his two best pals before heading to prison. Frank Slattery is a bond trader and one of the best and most effective risk takers in a high-risk industry. The other is Jakob Elinsky, an English teacher who envies his friends’ lifestyles but who, despite the disillusionment of teaching high school children in a difficult school, has no intention of ever quitting his work for the easy money. The three young men dine, drink, and tour the town’s best spots late into the night. Monty has a plan that neither Frank nor Jacob are aware of, and it’s a miserable night for him.
4. Charlie Wilson’s War (2007)
Director- Mike Nicholas
Charlie Wilson is a womanising US congressional representative from Texas in the early 1980s who appears to be in the minor leagues except for his membership on two big foreign policy and covert-ops committees. Wilson learns about the situation of the people in the terrible Soviet occupation of Afghanistan after being urged by his most ardent conservative supporter, Houston socialite Joanne Herring. Wilson devotes his cunning political efforts to providing the Afghan mujahideen with the weaponry and support they need to combat the Soviet Union, with the help of the maverick CIA spy Gustav “Gust” Avrakotos. However, Charlie Wilson finds that, while military triumph is possible, there are other costs and consequences to the struggle that are overlooked, much to everyone’s dismay.
5. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Director- Anthony Minghella
The 1950s. Tom Ripley, a Manhattan bathroom attendant, borrows a Princeton blazer in order to play piano at a garden party. When the affluent father of a recent Princeton graduate approaches Tom, Tom claims to know the son and is quickly offered $1,000 to travel to Italy and persuade Dickie Greenleaf to return home. Tom bonds with Dickie and Marge, Dickie’s intellectual fiancée, in Italy, claiming to adore jazz and harbouring homoerotic fantasies while soaking up the luxury. Tom’s skills include forging and impressions, but when the gorgeous and confident Dickie tyres of Tom and dismisses him as a bore, Tom goes to great lengths to claim Greenleaf’s privileges.
6. Red Dragon (2002)
Director- Brett Ratner
Will Graham, the now-retired and emotionally scarred FBI agent, returns to duty after narrowly avoiding death while on the hunt for the elusive psychopath, Dr. Hannibal Lecter. As yet another terrible serial killer known as “The Tooth Fairy” terrorises Baltimore, Graham reluctantly goes to Lecter, the wicked mastermind who’s been locked up for three years, for help in this difficult and time-sensitive case. But, in order to dive deeply into a killer’s deranged mind, one must first confront his inner demons, and Will already knows that his insanely imprisoned assistant is a skilled manipulator.
7. The Big Lebowski (1998)
Director- Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Jeffrey Lebowski is the name of two men. One is a sluggish, pot-smoking, White Russian-drinking hippie known as ‘the dude.’ The other is a self-made multimillionaire and war veteran who, due to his disability, lives in a mansion with a full-time aide. When the millionaire’s trophy wife owes money to a known pornographer and is held in lieu of repayment, their paths cross. The thugs hired by this pornographer confronted the man at first because they didn’t realise they had the same name. The man hunts out the rich Lebowski for retribution for his now-destroyed rug. What follows is a mission filled of intrigue, kidnapping, pornography, nihilists, White Russians, and more White Russians for the dude and his bowling mates Walter and Donnie.
The movie industry lost one of its biggest talents when Philip Seymour Hoffman passed away in 2014. He was only forty-six, and he left behind a legacy filled with films both dramatic and comedic. With that being said, he has been a part of some really great movies, which means picking the best Philip Seymour Hoffman performances out there is quite the daunting task.
