Hell yea!
Yojimbo and
Sanjuro are two movies in my top 20 of all time.
Rashomon is a top 5 of all-time for me. Mifune just brings such an incredible presence to any movie he's in. On top of that, his collaboration with Kurosawa
has to be the most critically/artistically successful Director-Actor duo in all of cinema. (The string of collaborations between Scorcese/De Niro from
Mean Streets all the way to
Casino comes close, but not quite.)
As for me, in addition to Mifune:
Dead/retired/actors no longer in their prime:
Betty Davis: My absolute favorite actress of all time, by a wide country mile. I joke to my friends that she's the "hottest ugly chick" in golden age Hollywood; she wasn't conventionally attractive, but her screen presence towered over almost anyone else. Also, she was exceptionally good at playing unappealing/troubled/evil/tortured characters. The best of the best.
Humphrey Bogart: If it was a 3-hour movie of nothing but tap dancing, I would still watch it if Humphrey Bogart was in it.
Casablanca is amazing, but overrated.
The Maltese Falcon is amazing, and underrated.
Robert De Niro: Practically everything he was in between
Godfather Part II and
Casino was amazing, and a lot of that was because of him. He started becoming a bit of a joke in his
Meet the Parents stage in the late 90s, and hasn't quite recovered since. But anything in his prime, I would watch, no questions asked. Underrated absolute gem:
The King of Comedy (1983).
Al Pacino: Same as De Niro but his prime ended a bit earlier; he had a dry spell in the 80s after
Scarface, but came back in force with
Godfather Part III and
GlenGarry Glen Ross (I found
Scent of a Woman to be overrated, and his "pity" Oscar, not to mention that it gave him his "HOO-HAH!" caricature that he hasn't recovered from, to this day)
Orson Welles: I like him better as a Director, but he was also really good as an actor. Watch
Touch of Evil, and see what I mean.
Marcello Mastroianni: He's in two movies I really love,
La Dolce Vita, and what is possibly my favorite film of all time,
8 1/2. I mean those movies are the sum of their parts, but one of those key parts is Mastroianni himself. I have a goal to watch more stuff with him going forward.
Daniel Day-Lewis: I first saw him in
Gangs of New York as "Bill the Butcher" and he blew me away. Started watching his stuff in either direction (past works, and currently released movies). The guy is an absolute master at his craft.
Current actors:
Denzel Washington: Quite possibly the most [on-screen] charismatic actor in all of Hollywood today.
Adam Driver: I've seen a few movies he's in, and the guy has never let me down. Even in crappy Star Wars, to me he's the highlight of those movies. I was particular impressed with his work in
The BlackkKlansman and especially
Marriage Story).
LMAO my post is long enough, I think I'll stop there.