My Favorite Michael Keaton Performances
 

https://cdn.britannica.com/45/188645...0&h=300&c=crop

He came out of nowhere during the 1980's as one of the screen's most charismatic comic presences, but it only took a few years for him to prove himself as one of the most versatile and inventive actors in the business. His career took a bit of a dip in the early 2000's but he is enjoying a wonderful renaissance in his career now that has earned him renewed acclaim and his first Oscar nomination. He has a way of commanding the screen without stealing a co-star's thunder and always brings more to the role than the screenplay provides. Get ready for my favorite performances of the ridiculously talented Michael Keaton:

Re: My Favorite Michael Keaton Performances
 

Clean & Sober for number one!

20.
President Mackenzie, First Daughter

https://the-hollywood-gossip-res.clo...first-daughter

Keaton was the best thing about this lightweight comedy about a fictional POTUS (Keaton) trying to do what he can to provide a normal existence for his teenage daughter (Katie Holmes).

19.

V A Vandevere, Dumbo (2019)

https://i.insider.com/5c92b48ddd0861...jpeg&auto=webp

Keaton was wondefully over the top in this live action remake of the Disney classic playing the slightly crazed circus owner trying to procure the title animal for his circus.

18.

Artie Lewis, One Good Cop

https://c8.alamy.com/comp/BPE0F0/mic...991-BPE0F0.jpg

One of Keaton's least remembered films found him playing a police detective whose partner is murdered and agrees to take custody of his three young daughters.

17.

Adrian Toomes/The Vulture, Spiderman Homecoming

https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod...1557213661.jpg

Keaton went the Marvel movie route playing the ordinary guy with a wife and kids who, unknown to them, leaves the house to become a supervillian named The Vulture who is out take down Spiderman (Tom Holland). This was the first Marvel villian I've ever seen who had a wife and kids.

It's been a long time since I saw the movie, but I remember being very impressed with Michael Keaton in One Good Cop because prior to seeing it, my favorites of his movies were the comedies Mr. Mom and Night Shift. I hadn't seen him in this type of a drama yet.

One of my favourite actors.

I put him right there with Tom Hanks, Robin Williams & Jim Carrey. Success from goofy comedy to becoming a top shelf actor.

Re: My Favorite Michael Keaton Performances
 

His acceptance speech for Dopesick was pretty great and emotional.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK-_rYYqBYM

16.

Johnny Dangerously, Johnny Dangerously

http://pre-code.com/wp-content/uploa...gerously27.png

Keaton is all kinds of fun in this spoof of 30's gangsters movies playing a guy forced into a life of crime in order to pay for his mother's medical bills.

15.

Henry Hackett, The Paper

https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.roge...03180306AR.jpg

Keaton managed to hold his own with an impressive all-star cast in this glossy drama about a reporter caught between retirement and the biggest story of his career.

Re: My Favorite Michael Keaton Performances
 

I don't think I've ever seen Keaton not be one of the highlights of any film he's in.

Hoping for some Other Guys love.


"Don't go chasing waterfalls."

Patience, Rockatansky

I so love ”Johnny Dangerously”. Not just Keaton, but that entire cast.

For the comedy showdown, this is a most excellent one-pointer.

14.

Hunter Stevenson, Gung Ho

https://motionstatereview.files.word...-1986-01-g.jpg

In this underrated comedy directed by Ron Howard, Keaton plays a labor union at an auto manfacturing plant who is chosen to be the liaison between between his ocmpany and the Japanes conglomerate who recently purchased the company.

13.

Captain Gene Mauch, The Other Guys

https://static3.srcdn.com/wordpress/...&h=500&dpr=1.5

Keaton plays the commanding officer of a couple of rogue detectives (Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg) who is obsessed with musical group TLC.

12.

Bill Blazejowski, Night Shift

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fa/b7...7c34898ee3.jpg


Again under the direction of Ron Howard, Keaton made his feature length film debut playing a two-bit hustler who convinces a bookish morgue attendant (Henry Winkler) to operate a prostitution ring out of the morgue.

Too low, yo!

11.

Doug Kinney, Multiplicity

https://www.dailynews.com/wp-content...RNK.jpg?w=1024

Keaton was given an opportunity to show some versatility in this Harold Ramis comedy playing a stressed-out contractor who decides the solution to helping with his stress and his marriage (to Andie McDowell) is to have himself cloned. The clone frees up so much time for Doug that he gets greedy and three more clones are created. Keaton does create four different Dougs here and #4 is kind of retarded, but I loved #2...a fussbudget/neatnick who loves to cook, a la Felix Unger.

Re: My Favorite Michael Keaton Performances
 

Absolutely love him, every time I see him I'm hooked.

Looking forward to seeing the top 10, I expect Birdman to feature highly.

He was also recently in a super under rated action movie called the Protege. He was great in that as well.

The first one that comes to my mind is the movie "My Life" where he plays a lawyer fighting with cancer. I was in the same age of his character when the movie came out and it really inspired me. It's an excellent movie to watch with friends because you'll laugh and cry.

So glad that someone saw My Life besides me. No one ever talks about it around here and it's definitely coming on this list.

10.

Walter "Robby" Robinson, Spotlight

https://static.onecms.io/wp-content/...ael-keaton.jpg

Keaton commanded the screen in this 2015 Best Picture winner as the head of a four member investigative reporting team beginning an in depth examination of priest molestation.

9.

Ray Kroc, The Founder

https://www.irishtimes.com/polopoly_..._620/image.jpg

Keaton turned in one of his most ferocious performances as Ray Kroc, the former milkshake machine salesman who meets the brothers who founded McDonald's and cons the guys out of their franchise, making it his own.

Think that "The Founder" is my favorite role of his.

Re: My Favorite Michael Keaton Performances
 

I forgot he was in the founder, another stellar performance.

You gotta creep....creep....

Re: My Favorite Michael Keaton Performances
 

I wasn't aware that he played the Batman

He played Batman in the late 80s, early 90s. They were directed by Tim Burton.

Oh, I don't watch old movies.

I think it's pretty cool.

It's not that old.

8.

Bruce Wayne/Batman, Batman (1989)

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QitVrtY9-v8/maxresdefault.jpg

Keaton brought a surprising intensity to the dual role of an enigmatic millionaire and his superhero alter ego who finds himself squaring off with Jack Napier AKA The Joker (Jack Nicholson).

7.

Bob Jones, My Life

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/q9ck2g9_b2E/hqdefault.jpg

Keaton gave an unforgettable performance in one of his most forgotten films playing a man who almost simltaneously finds out that he is going to be a father and that he's dying from a terminal disease.

6.

Carter Hayes, Pacific Heights

https://images.static-bluray.com/reviews/19264_1.jpg

Keaton was bone-chilling in this contemporary thriller playing a dangerous psychopath who cons a couple (Matthew Modine, Melanie Griffith) into renting him an apartment without paying a dime of rent and then terrorizes the couple.

5.

Ray Nicolette, Jackie Brown

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7_ip79SGVLo/maxresdefault.jpg

Keaton gave a standout performance in this Quentin Tarantino crime drama playing a slick and smart detective assigned to the case when they believe a stewardess (Pam Grier) is working with a known arms dealer (Samuel L Jackson).

4.

Betelgeuse, Beetlejuice

https://static.independent.co.uk/s3f...jpg?width=1200

Despite limited screentime. Keaton completely anchors Tim Burton's ghoulish black comedy about a recently deceased married couple (Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis) who hire a malicious bio-exorcist (Keaton) to help drive the new owners out of their home.

3.

Riggan Thompsn, Birdman (Or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

https://www.indiewire.com/wp-content...11/birdman.jpg

After 30 years of making movies, Keaton received his first and only Oscar nomination to date playing a former Hollywood actor who made a career playing a superhero in a bird costume who is now attempting a comeback by producing his first appearance in a Broadway play. As opening night approaches, Riggan finds himself dealing with backstage troubles, personal demons, and trying to repair his relationship with his drug addict daughter (Emma Stone).

Member berry time - 'member when they announced Michael as Batman and the uproar it caused? It was the height of Ahnold and Sly, big, beefy action guy era and they cast this guy as Batman? Really? Gotta be honest, I didn't think it would work either but...he's my Batman.

His introduction in Beetlejuice is one of my fav intro's ever. He's obnoxious, offensive, hilarious. I saw it in the theater on first run and when he rips off his qualifications - "...I lived through the Black Plague and had a pretty good time during that. I've seen the EXORCIST ABOUT A HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN TIMES, AND IT KEEPS GETTING FUNNIER EVERY SINGLE TIME I SEE IT..." the audience was rolling in the aisles. As we were walking out of the theater almost everybody was wishing he had more screen time.

Jackie Brown is my favorite Tarantino film and he's really good in it, everybody is, but Jackie Brown, Pam steals that one.

Birdman, yeah, that's the best performance I've ever seen from him.

I guess that means Mr. Mom is top 2? "220, 221, whatever it takes."

I'm not a big fan of Keaton's Batman movies, but I loved him as Bruce Wayne.

2.

Daryl Pointer, Clean and Sober

https://www.goldderby.com/wp-content...ober.jpg?w=620

Keaton was robbed of an Oscar nomination for this brilliant performance as a drug addict on the run from the police after a girl overdoses in his bed. He makes the fatalistic decision of hiding out in a rehab facility because of their policies regarding anonymity. It's not long before he realizes he is exactly where he needs to be. Keaton has rarely commanded the screen the way he does here.

Well, that's # 2, I was originally going to include a couple of honorable mentions, but I have re-thought that and am just going to wrap this up...and now, my favorite Michael Keaton performance:

Re: My Favorite Michael Keaton Performances
 

Outstanding performance. 100% should have been nominated for best actor but the Academy still had a thing against comedic actors in serious roles back then, or so it seemed to me. That's a solid choice. Mr. Mom No. 1. Whodathunkit....

1.

Jack Butler, Mr. Mom

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/...2ODc@._V1_.jpg


Make fun of me if you want, but this was the performance where I officially fell in love with Michael Keaton. Keaton lights up the screen as an automotive engineer who gets laid off his job and has trouble landing another job. His wife, Caroline (Teri Garr), goes out and gets a job in 20 minutes and it is up to Jack to step up at home with the house and the kids. I love this performance. It's the perfect combination of warm, funny, and sexy.








Hope someone enjoyed the list.

****ing A


Go out on a high note. Loved the list!

Birdman is a masterpiece of technical filmmaking and a tour de force performance at the center of it that should have won Keaton his Oscar. He should have been nominated decades before for Clean & Sober, a still somewhat underrated movie that also features a fantastic early performance by Morgan Freeman. Beetlejuice simply would not be what it is without Keaton's interpretation of that character. The Founder is another strong dramatic performance, playing both the charmingly optimistic and ruthlessly driven sides of Ray Croc in expanding and then controlling McDonalds. I had known Keaton from his two early, short-lived sitcoms ("Working Stiffs" and "Report to Murphy") but from the second he walks through the door in Night Shift it is clear there is a comedic genius and movie star being born to the masses. Game 6 is a little indie nobody saw but Keaton knocks it out of the park as a troubled NYC playwright and Red Sox fan emotionally embroiled in the historic collapse versus the Mets in the 1986 World Series. Spotlight is an ensemble for sure, but Keaton's role especially his scenes with Jamey Sheridan, are some of Oscar's Best Picture's most compelling moments. The persona Keaton created in Mr. Mom was replicated in subsequent films (Gung Ho, Multiplicity), but the template he established the first time out is still perfection. One Good Cop is fairly predictable but elevated by Keaton's strong performance as he makes a desperate play to secure the future for his dead partner's children. The Dream Team is the kind of comedy Keaton could have made two dozen of if he wasn't more interested in mixing up the types of material he accepted, but he is effortlessly funny and humorously dangerous. The Merry Gentleman is another underseen indie, and while the plot is a little convoluted Keaton's work in it is wonderful and matched by Kelly Macdonald. Speechless shows the kind of RomCom career he might have had, a predictable film in genre terms but elevated by Keaton's gifts and his chemistry with Geena Davis. Plus a fun supporting role for Christopher Reeve, the only pairing of that generation's Batman and Superman (or at least Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent).

Thanks Frederick

I haven't heard of The Merry Gentleman and Speechless, but I added them to my watchlist because Michael Keaton is always worth watching.

I'm glad to see that Mr. Mom made it to your #1 spot. I love him in this movie.


I always enjoy your lists, but this was one of my favorites. :up:

Re: My Favorite Michael Keaton Performances
 

Desperate Measures is an underrated Keaton performance. He's having a lot of fun with that one.

If I had done it after all, Desperate Measures would have been an honorable mention.

Re: My Favorite Michael Keaton Performances