Quentin Tarantino reveals the best acting performance he has ever seen: “It knocked me out”
When appearing on the Video Archives podcast with Roger Avery, Quentin Tarantino discusses some of the greatest films we may have never seen. After all, Tarantino has arguably the most extensive knowledge of cinema history and certainly knows movies of all ages and all genres.
In a recent episode of the podcast, Tarantino named the best acting performance he has ever seen. It arrived in Arthur Hiller’s 1971 satirical movie The Hospital, starring George C. Scott in the lead role of Dr. Herbert Bock alongside Dame Diana Rigg and Robert Walden. It was Scott’s performance that drew Tarantino’s acclaim.
“I thought The Hospital was just fantastic,” he said. “It knocked me out. I’ve seen it before, but watching it with you [Avery] was really special. I think that George C. Scott gives one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s just one of the best performances I’ve ever seen.”
Tarantino continued: “One on hand, even though I didn’t know what he was talking about, I think I understood that as a little boy. Now, watching it as an older man… There’s a quote, ‘Most men end their lives in anguish’, and I think that is actually true. I think most men do end their lives in anguish.”
The film was written by Paddy Chayefsky, who was granted the 1972 Academy Award for ‘Best Original Screenplay’. The Hospital focuses on Dr. Bock, whose life is a complete mess. His marriage has come to an end, and his children refuse to speak to him. To make matters worse, the hospital he works in is in disarray, and two doctors and a nurse have suddenly died.
It’s the fact that Dr. Bock is so tragic in his older age that struck a chord with Tarantino, who further noted, “I think there is something to George C. Scott’s character, into his id, that he reveals that once you get older, it’s just kind of devastating. I see something of myself in him at this age, alright.”
“There is an anguish there that I wouldn’t have related to at any other time of my life,” he added. “But now I’m at the right age… I think it’s one of the best characters I’ve ever seen in my life and one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in my life.”
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