Mayhap it would just be easier to rank the “bad” Tom Hanks movies. I’ve never seen Bonfire of the Vanities, but I’ve not heard good things.
What else?
Mazes and Monsters is pretty bad.
Bad Tom Hanks movies, perhaps they exist but as long as he is on the screen they are least watchable.
Two of his most recent movies are pretty meh, and would never be nominated as classic, but see above.
Finch is basically, Castaway reimagined, except for he is cast opposite a robot instead of a volleyball. It is completely derivative of every post-apocalyptic movie, but Tom makes it tolerable.
Otto is a remake of a classic Swedish film not nearly as well done as the original. Tom plays a grumpy old man, in the same mold as Eastwood in Grand Turino. There are no surprises in the movie, and the dialogue is nowhere near as clever as Grand Turino, Tom is on screen virtually the entire film, which is good because he completely carries the movie.
There it is! I was waiting for his debut to show up. There’s definitely a pre-comedy and post-comedy Hanks (which movie was the break point?) and I enjoyed him in both, but Comedy Hanks was maybe a high B low A type of thing, roughly Will Farrell level. Big made him famous as strong comedy actor, Forrest Gump blurred the line, Philadelphia was his big dramatic turn, and it feels like they weren’t that separated by time.
Looking at his IMDB page, I think Bonfires might have been the thing that made him figure it out. It wasn’t a great movie and it was close to a lot of other not-great movies, but there’s a 2 year gap from that to him getting serious. League, Sleepless, Philadelphia, and Gump all happened in the next 3 years.
The Ladykillers wasn’t a great showcase of his abilities, more like an average showcase.
I found his stretch of movies where he embodied Americana sainthood – Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks, Fred “Mister” Rogers in A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood, and maybe Sully and Captain Phillips and Colonel Parker – to be… not awful, especially in each individual performance, but maybe a little pretentious. When is he going to play George Washington, Thomas Edison, Jonas Salk, and Mark Twain?
But he gave us David S. Pumpkins and, for that, much can be forgiven.
The Terminal?
Wait, what? To put Tom Hanks in the same PARAGRAPH as Ferrell is a criminal ofense.
Bachelor Party and Old School are roughly the same movie. So there.
In thr fullest expression of my little used gossipy SoCal paparazzi personality, but I’d say SPR saved and elevated Tom Hanks’ career beyond the dreams of avarice. He was nearly an 80s star that faded away, like Dabney Coleman, Judge Reinhold or even Eddie Murphy. He did have some pretty good for time time more serous films in the 90s that kept him on the marquee, but not necessarily elevated above other actors into being America’s Favorite.
He’d already won two best acting oscars before Saving Private Ryan, so… I guess I disagree with that?
If Tom Hanks would star in a remake of Cloak & Dagger, he could finally achieve Full Dabney Coleman
Back to back, no less.
EDIT: Wow, that was a hell of a decade.
There have been plenty of people have played George Washington so probably no need for Hanks to play him. Edison and Salk would be interesting with the right script.
But Tom Hanks playing Mark Twain would be epic. Hanks is about the same age as Twain when he toured the US doing his comedy. Hal Holbrook famously did a one-man play on Mark Twain.
Hanks is a vastly better comedic actor than Mr Holbrook, and I’m thinking a movie about a roady touring group, ala Spinal Tap, would be incredible. Any screenwriters lurking, (I know we have a least one) you are free to use this idea.
Don’t ruin my hot take TMZ narrative! ;)
Hah! Well, there’s certainly a good argument for Saving Private Ryan being the climax of his career, at least.
Video link in first post is broken but here’s a fix
Well, that’s just awesome. Good on them for raising $$$ for a food bank.
Trivia: As a teenager, Tom Hanks used to live in Alameda, CA where I now live. How do I know? There’s a letter in the Smithsonian from him to some actor that he wrote as a teenager and it shows the complete letter plus the envelope with the return address… it’s a street here in Alameda.
Also, the sno-cone and popsicle and bow tie were all invented in Alameda. You’re welcome.