Johnny Depp Be Good

I managed to miss Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest when it stormed its way into theatres earlier this summer. I will not be making the same mistake on DVD. Anyway, I thought this would be a good time to look at my five favorite Johnny Depp performances. Now I'm going to have to be pretty merciless here. Only five slots for a pretty big resume of great performances. I loved his tender, funny turn in Edward Scissorhands. Not on this list. He was one of the few things I loved in the abysmal Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Not on this list. You get the picture. He is an actor with a tendency to create characters you will never forget. Here are my favorites.

Of all the wonderfully bizarre performances in Depp's resume, this is probably my favorite. Ed Wood, the movie, works because of Depp, plain and simple. He plays a completely delusional person, but you can't help but love and root for the guy because of his consistently sunny perspective. To see him ordering around his production crew wearing an angora sweater, smiling with genuine zest ... you not only accept Ed Wood, the character, you love him for his eccentricities. This is what makes Johnny Depp so special. I'd like to remind the members of the Academy he was not nominated for this film.

In another collaboration with Tim Burton, Depp once again displays his gift for comedy. His expressions in this movie always make me bust a gut. My favorite scene is a curled up Ichabod Crane with a bed sheet up to his nose exclaiming, "It was a headless horseman! ... It was a horseman, a dead one. Headless!" This is one of the greatest scaredy-cat heroes ever.

This is Depp channelling Hunter S. Thompson by way of Bugs Bunny and a whole lot of chemical enhancements. Even for a risk-taker like Depp, this was a huge gamble, so credit Depp, Benicio Del Toro and director Terry Gilliam for making a good deal of this work. I never tire of watching Depp's insect-like walk, particularly when he is attempting to swat hallucinatory bats with a fly swatter. Stay away from the ether, kiddos.

His Oscar-nominated performance is a no-brainer. I'm not a huge fan of this movie, to be honest. I think it's way too long, with one too many episodes. But I've watched it about four or five times because I can't get enough of Depp's Captain Jack. Depp was once strictly a movie geek's actor, someone who would never get any respect from the mainstream. This is the movie that started the Johnny Depp bandwagon once and for all.

Al Pacino (in probably his most underrated role) gives the best performance in the movie, but make no mistake, Depp is fantastic here and it's because of the nuances. This isn't one of his loud, eccentric characters. This is a guy who keeps everything very close to his vest. That's why his obvious devotion to Pacino's Lefty is the film's most moving aspect.

That makes five. I know I left out a lot of favorites. I know it's criminal. Hate me if you must.

Dre Rivas
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Dre writes five times a week for Film.com, covering Movies and DVD with his Floridian flare.
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