Acting is a profession of fine measures, with its outcome and appreciation being very subjective in nature. That being said, there often is a clear difference between good performances and bad ones. What often seems to be a matter of contention is whether an actor’s over-the-top performance is warranted by the characters emotional needs. Since acting isn’t an outright, technical medium where you can quantify the actors efforts, the results of the performance often lie in the hands of the viewer. Here’s a look at some of the most Over-the-Top performances of all time, ranked.

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8 R. Lee Ermey as Sergeant Hartman - Full Metal Jacket

     Columbia PicturesWarner BrosCannon Films

Keeping true to the ideal image of a Marine, Sergeant Hartman is the opposite of kind and empathetic. The Sergeant is a loud, foul-mouthed officer who takes pleasure in bullying his recruits, with a certain Private Pyle being his favorite target, often times referring to him as a “disgusting fatbody”. Hartman is so aggressive and direct in his degradation of his cadets, that after a point, his entire presence on screen becomes a cause for disgust and repulsion.

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7 Dennis Hopper as American Photographer - Apocalypse Now

     Warner Bros. 

There are a few notable performances in Francis Ford Coppola’s modern day war epic, Apocalypse Now. Apart from the staple genius of Brando’s Colonel Kurtz and Martin Sheen’s Captain Willard, Dennis Hopper’s portrayal of the photojournalist among Kurtz’s tribe often doesn’t get the acclaim it deserves. Hopper breathes eccentricity into the photojournalist, who happens to be an ardent admirer of Kurtz’s genius while also being completely insane in his own way.

6 Al Pacino as Sonny Wortzik - Dog Day Afternoon

     Warner Bros.

Directed by the legendary Sidney Lumet, Dog Day Afternoon is a biographical crime film that stars Al Pacino as a bank robber, who’s in need to raise some money for his lover’s sex change operation. Since the film is inspired by real life events, Pacino modeled his mannerisms based on the real life John Wojtowicz, who apparently was crazier in real life than he was portrayed on screen.

5 Willem Dafoe as Thomas Wake - The Lighthouse

     A24

Over the years, Willem Dafoe has turned out to be a real dark horse in comparison to the other, more mainstream actors. With a steady flow of commendable performances, the veteran actor took the world by storm with his mind-blowing performance in Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse. In the film, Dafoe plays an elderly lighthouse keeper, who along with a junior colleague (Robert Pattinson), struggles to maintain their sanity while living on a mysterious island in the late 18th century. As the two men fall deeper into the darkness of their own psyches, they start seeing haunting visions, fueling their descent into madness.

4 Gary Oldman as Stansfield - Léon: The Professional

     Gaumont Buena Vista International

When it comes to acting, there isn’t much Gary Oldman cannot do. In a film that’s entirely made up on the bond of a little girl whose recently found love and belonging in the form of an older assassin, Oldman’s evil portrayal of a corrupt DEA agent, Stansfield leaves a mark on the mind of the viewer. Stansfield is cruel, cunning, and deceptively vicious, stirring an instant dislike whenever he appears on-screen.

3 Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance - The Shining

Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is one of the few films that captures a man’s descent into madness with such vigor and rawness. Based on Stephen King’s bestselling novel, The Shining tells the tale of Jack Torrance, a writer who accepts the position of caretaker of an isolated hotel during the peak of winter. Jack moves in with his son and wife and soon starts succumbing to his own mind, thereby making him question his own sanity. The Shining is a terrifying watch, with Kubrick’s atmospheric treatment and Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of a man possessed by his own acting as a perfect hotbed for horror to thrive in.

2 Al Pacino as Tony Montana - Scarface

     Universal Pictures

Scarface as a film is as loud and obnoxious as they come. Everything from the narrative structure to the pace scream indulgence. If the visual execution wasn’t enough, Al Pacino himself brings an almost inevitable eccentricity to Tony Montana, almost giving the character a caricature-like feel. After a certain point, director Brian De Palma’s intention for excess becomes clear, but by then the appreciation of the film becomes a subjective matter of taste and preference.

1 Daniel Day-Lewis as Bill the Butcher - Gangs of New York

     Miramax Films

Based on Herbert Asbury’s 1927 book of the same name, Gangs of New York follows Amsterdam (Leonardo DiCaprio), as he sets out to avenge the death of his father who was killed by crime lord Bill ‘The Butcher’ (Daniel Day-Lewis). Day-Lewis portrays ‘The Butcher’ as a succinctly creepy, self-glorified, knife-throwing, mustachioed sociopath who lords over the slums of Lower Manhattan.