William Petersen; greatest actor of our time.

This is a small clip from a relatively unheard of film from around 1995 called "In the Kingdom of the Blind the Man with One Eye is King." It's a cop/mob movie and unfortunately, it didn't make it very big at the box office. It was relatively low budget. It didn't have buckets of blood or 20-minute-long gun battles or epic car chases or much of anything that makes movies really huge.

But in my opinion, it is one of the best dramatic movies ever. And this clip is one of the best cinematic performances you will ever see. This is William Petersen (CSI) playing the part of Tony C. He is a mid level crime boss in NYC, and he has found out that the brother of his direct superior has been murdered in his home. This scene is Tony C telling an old cop friend from his youth that he suspects the cop's brother was in on the murder and how he plans to resolve the situation.

In modern cinema, there are not many extended monologues. For one actor to have the stage for longer than thirty seconds is unusual in today's attention-deficit society.

But this performance is a 5 minute monologue. Petersen is absolutely brilliant. The performance is riveting and incredibly convincing. He varies the emotion level over and over again, bringing it up and taking it back down as he delivers, until finally he reaches the climax of the scene, and then, with an ice-cold glare, looks at Al, the cop, and says: "nobody is gonna be safe." Chilling!

Buy this movie, rent this movie, steal this movie. You need to see this one! Enjoy!

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• kingdom
• blind
• man
• one
• eye
• king
• william
• petersen
• tony
• neon
• deion
• movie
• acting
• performance
• wiseguy
• mob
• cop
• brother
• honor
• respect
• organized
• crime

[jwklbm326]

soul416, you're a nasty dude. Why the meanness? I'm comfortable with my knowledge of acting from years of performing and serious education in the craft. So I don't value your comments at all. If I cranked out a scene like this, my teachers would have beat me up on many, many points. You just don't see it. Try it for your self, go and spend some years in acting school. Learn how to do it first, then comment.

[mickeydougal]

@jwklbm326 try playing to your audience instead of trying to please your teachers. Based on his career, I'd say Petersen's audience has been quite pleased, no matter what you or your teachers might think. It sounds like just a bit of envy in your criticism.

[jwklbm326]

Of course William is a fine actor. But here I'm seeing him play mostly anger and it's calculated. Playing one emotion can be exciting in moments, but not as a constant and is a limiting trap. The anger is revved up, slowed down, idles here and there, revs up again. I would want more depth and color, personal history, pathos, humor. He doesn't need to be charging through his words, losing his breath or violent to be in control or threatening.

[mickeydougal]

@jwklbm326 Next time I see him, I'll pass on your acting advice to him.

[BornXinXcostaXrica]

i think this film is rather crap

the only good bit is when billys on screen

and the end credits it's not realy that long

but there are bits that just go too long in my opinon it on of william petersens worst films ...i don't mean performance wise i just mean the film choice

[mickeydougal]

@BornXinXcostaXrica definitely not a blockbuster film. But a good story nevertheless. Hardly "crap." Could easily take awards at Sundance or Cannes.

[TomClark2]

It's really well acted and presented but his voice doesn't vary enough through it. It seemed way too smooth when his face was litteraly red. I'd of expected a little more break in his voice.

Just my opinion, still a great scene. Will have to hunt down the film.

[WatchMyAwesomeVideos]

@paolacifu Bill's the man but is it true that Michael Biehn's character is such a small part?

[bacdorbetty]

My thinking is he good in most everything he does, My pick of his best is : "To Live And Die In L.A.", good movie he played his role damm good...!!!

[gladehatch]

A solid performance. Would I call it the best acting of our time? Absolutely not. I agree with the other comments that say this performance is really only different levels of anger. It's actually a very stereotypical angry gangster performance. I could mention half a dozen other actors that do twice the job of being a mobster. Also, I must disagree with your comment in the description about actors today not taking the screen for more than thirty seconds, it confuses me actually.

[soul416]

@mickeydougal I have a low-tolerance for stupidity & pain (a result of watching bad acting), so I can't watch a lot of the actors from my own generation much. And if all this clown saw was simply repeated anger, then he needs his eyes checked. He had freakin' tears in his eyes and that's someone who's not just angry about the situation but also sad about it and trying to cover it up.

[soul416]

@mickeydougal You're being facetious right? @jwklbm326 knows nothing about acting, if he did then he wouldn't complain about William knowing how to show emotion (which is 95% of acting anyway) & that William's great at multi-tasking his scenes. William is hands-down 1 of the best actors I've ever seen & I'm half his age plus I'm from a pretty jaded generation.

[soul416]

@jwklbm326 This is ONE scene from ONE film, of course it'll be 1 constant emotion - that's the point of knowing how to act & that's why you know zip about it. I want you to have taste & brains but that's not going to happen. Retard, he's showing REAL EMOTION. What else would you have him do? Stand there like a stunned beast like Katherine Heigl or Johnny Depp? What you know about acting you can fit on the head of a small pin, the same pin that you should use to let the air out of your head with.