Richard Dreyfuss Whatcha Think ?

Night Falls on Manhattan (1997) .... Sam Vigoda
Mad Dog Time (1996) .... Vic
Mr. Holland's Opus (1995) .... Glenn Holland
American President, The (1995) .... Senator Bob Rumson
Silent Fall (1994) .... Jake Rainer
Another Stakeout (1993) .... Chris Lecce
What About Bob? (1991) .... Leo Marvin, M.D.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990) .... The Player
Let It Ride (1989) .... Jay Trotter
Moon Over Parador (1988) .... Jack Noah/Alphonse Simms Dictator of Parador
Stakeout (1987) .... Chris Lecce
Tin Men (1987) .... Bill 'BB' Babowsky
Stand by Me (1986) .... Gordon Lachance (Adult)/Narrator
Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986) .... David 'Dave' Whiteman
Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981) .... Ken Harrison
Big Fix, The (1978) .... Moses Wine
Goodbye Girl, The (1977) .... Elliot Garfield
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) .... Roy Neary
Jaws (1975) .... Matt Hooper
American Graffiti (1973)

First things First, I think he's a terrific actor not in my top 25 thou but up there with some of the best. these are most if not all the movies I've seen with him in so far. I'd say if you can get The Big Fix, it's so unknown but it rocks he plays a detective and uses the CLUE gameboard to touch up on his detecting skills, drive a volkswagan and has a cast around his around the whole movie if I can remeber rightly. it's one of those great little films I suggest you try to find before a lot of his other stuff.

It's a tie between Down and Out in Beverly Hills & The Goodbye Girl for my favorite performance. Jaws ranks pretty high up there and what makes Stakeout so good is him a Emilio Estevez there chemistry together I hold so high on the plateau of other great cinema teams such as Abbott and Costello, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, Alan Arkin and Peter Falk and others.

Whose Life Is It Anyway? is another surprisingly great little movie which Dreyfuss is able to command with greatness. His character gets in a car accident and is paralyzed once a great artist know he is unable to create and only able to talk Such that he is in a deep depression and only wants to die. John Badham's best movie in many ways.

Let It Ride is one of the smartest comedies to come out of the 80's which not to many people recongnize as beingning. Mr. Holland's Opus is very touching and quite well done also. American Graffiti,Tin Men & Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead really speak for themselves and his Performance in them. I adore his Voiceover in Stand by me and his bit part at the beginning and end which give the movie a timeless and enduring quality to it.

I could go on and on about Dreyfuss he's an amazing actor and has always brought his game to the films his acted in, made the best of what he had not a lot of his Perfromances I can say are not so good and that's what makes him great.




Crew, The (2000) .... Bobby Bartellemeo
Fail Safe (2000) (TV) .... President
Lansky (1999) (TV) .... Meyer Lansky
Krippendorf's Tribe (1998) .... James Krippendorf
Night Falls on Manhattan (1997) .... Sam Vigoda
Mad Dog Time (1996) .... Vic
James and the Giant Peach (1996) (voice) .... Centipede
Mr. Holland's Opus (1995) .... Glenn Holland
American President, The (1995) .... Senator Bob Rumson
Last Word, The (1994) .... Larry
Silent Fall (1994) .... Jake Rainer
Another Stakeout (1993) .... Chris Lecce
Lost in Yonkers (1993) .... Uncle Louie
What About Bob? (1991) .... Leo Marvin, M.D.
Once Around (1991) .... Sam Sharpe
Postcards from the Edge (1990) .... Doctor Frankenthal
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990) .... The Player
Always (1989) .... Pete Sandich
Let It Ride (1989) .... Jay Trotter
Moon Over Parador (1988) .... Jack Noah/Alphonse Simms Dictator of Parador
Nuts (1987) .... Aaron Levinsky
Stakeout (1987) .... Chris Lecce
Tin Men (1987) .... Bill 'BB' Babowsky
Stand by Me (1986) .... Gordon Lachance (Adult)/Narrator
Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986) .... David 'Dave' Whiteman
Buddy System, The (1984) .... Joe
Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981) .... Ken Harrison
Competition, The (1980) .... Paul Dietrich
Big Fix, The (1978) .... Moses Wine
Goodbye Girl, The (1977) .... Elliot Garfield
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) .... Roy Neary
Jaws (1975) .... Matt Hooper
Inserts (1975) .... Boy Wonder
Second Coming of Suzanne, The (1974) .... Clavius
Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, The (1974) .... Duddy
title)
Dillinger (1973) .... Baby Face Nelson
American Graffiti (1973)

I have seen

Lost In Yonkers
What About Bob?
Mr. Holland's Opus
Jaws
Close Encounters of the Third Kind

I thought that, excluding Lost in Yonkers simply because it's been a while since I've seen it and it's not very clear in my head, they were very well done by Dreyfuss.

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"I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work." - Mitch Hedberg

You forgot his cameo in The Graduate - his first role. It's very small, but it makes me chuckle every time.

"Will I call the cops?... I'll call the cops!"

Dreyfuss works best as a light leading man. I liked him best in Jaws, Mr. Holland's Opus and Stand By Me. He was delightful restrained in What About Bob? too which made Bill Murray all the funnier.

I'd like to see more of him.

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I couldn't believe that she knew my name. Some of my best friends didn't know my name.

I think I've seen less than half of the movies on that list, but I think Dreyfuss is phenomenal. My favorite performance of his was probably in The Goodbye Girl, but my favorite Dreyfuss movie is definately Jaws, which he delivered what is probably my second favorite performance of his.

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One of the biggest myths told is that being intelligent is the absence of the ability to do stupid things.

Nope. Actually, I've seen at least 11 of those. I had no idea I'd seen so many Dreyfuss films.

i know it's wrong to associate an actor with a character, but everytime i see dreyfuss he's playing a thoroughly irritating dork that i can't stand. he's such a nerd in every role i've seen him in.

the absolute funniest is darrell hammond's dreyfuss impression on snl. the liberal stance on politics, the nasal voice..... it's just a riot to watch.

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Wit is educated insolence - Aristotle

One thing that is obvious about Dreyfuss is how brilliant he is. If his I.Q. is lower than 150, I'd be very surprised.

you can tell from his movies?

Mostly, yeah. Wouldn't you be surprised if he was less intelligent than that?

I'd be surprised if it were THAT high. He's smart, no doubt (most decent actors are, I think)...but 150? Did you know George W. Bush has an IQ of around 115-120, assuming that I've heard correctly? I know someone who's IQ is in the 130s, but he's the smartest man I've ever made, and so eloquent that you'd be SURE he was a certified genius by any measure...so yeah, I'd say that things like attitude and mannerisms and speaking efficiency are misleading enough that 150 would surprise me.

Nah. I think that was people taking his SAT scores, and converting it to IQ. One thing about that is that someone as rich and important as Dubya was, it wasn't too difficult for him to have an SAT expert help him out bigtime. I'm guessing his IQ is about 105 or so. Anyways, the higher his IQ is, the higher Dreyfuss's has to be.



Sure, those things can certainly be misleading. Maybe I'm wrong about how smart he is. I certainly would love to find out what his IQ is. I also realize that IQ isn't everything. One could have a 130 IQ and be the most brilliant pianist around, while someone with 170 IQ might very well only be good at studying and stuff like that.

Well, I know a lot of people have made that mistake (converting his SAT...1200 I think it was...into IQ)...but that wasn't what I was thinking of. Anyway, it doesn't matter to me much. The two men with the highest recorded IQs in American history both amounted to absolutely nothing. I guess with that much potential, no job feels worthy of you,

It's kind of interesting to me that Einstein's IQ was in the 170's, but his intellect is generally more respected than people who had/have IQs around the 200 range.

Yeah, very. I do think there's such a thing as having an IQ that is TOO high. I remember reading about one guy who's IQ was roughly 220...he read newspapers at age 5. His parents encouraged the whole thing. What happened? He ended up working menial jobs all his life and writing books on the essence of time and space that nobody bought or read. If you're too good for anything, you do nothing, in a way. I'd rather have an IQ of 180 than of 200.

Speaking of which, whatcha think of an IQ thread? It'll allow some of us to gloat.

Well, I don't know if I'll post my IQ or not, but I wouldn't mind seeing what IQ other people have. I'll think about revealing mine, though.

That's exactly the way I feel. Though I doubt most of us have taken formal tests. Mine have all be casual...some of those online ones and such. Not terribly reliable...more of just a general number. It'd still be interesting to see where everyone stands. I'd bet the numbers would be surprising.

the average IQ is about 100 and the average celebrity is a dolt.

what the hell are you talking about? if he plays a scientist he MUST be smart!

Average celebrity? Maybe. Average ACTOR? Or any legitimate talent? No. The average actor (and no, Freddie Prinze Jr. does not bring down the average; he's not an actor), I think, is quite smart. You have to be to pick up on enough mannerisms to become someone else like that, IMO.

i think there is a difference between god-given ability and intelligence.

it may be true that a lot of actors are undeniably smart, but you have to be able to separate the two.

Well, to a degree. But I think the two go hand in hand. Intelligent people are better at a wide variety of things...and I think acting is one of them. Being smart automatically boosts your acting ability, IMO...you pick up on things that others would not, and more easily replicate them. That's my view, at least.