If you want your film to have a touch of class, with intelligence, beauty, power and humanity at its heart, who are you gonna call? Whether it is a woman of strength and dignity in a supporting role, or an everywomen figure of hope and sensitivity fighting against an injustice in a dynamic lead role, it is the one and only Meryl Streep that is the first name on the list. For over 40 years she has pretty much nailed every type of female character it is possible to play. Her versatility and commitment to a role is second to none!
Welcome to the fifth induction into my Hall of Fame, which celebrates one the absolute best screen actresses in the history of the medium. She has been nominated for 21 Oscars to date, winning 3, for Kramer Vs Kramer, Sophie’s Choice and The Iron Lady – and right there you can see it: 3 more different roles it would be hard to find! And she played them all with what seemed like an effortless ease most actresses would give 10 years of there careers for.
When thinking about which actress to include as the first inductee in that category, there really was a very short list of women that ticked all the boxes of ability, craft, longevity and likability. Perhaps that is because rather than being pigeonholed by a patriarchal Hollywood into a type based on looks and age, Streep has laid out a career path that all other women in the industry (and every other person in the world) must look at and give a standing ovation to. She is almost entirely in a league of her own that can only be admired and wondered at!
It feels as if she has been around for a lot longer than she has, too. Is that because she came on the scene in the late 70s in the most conspicuous way possible – right at the top of the game, as Linda in The Deer Hunter, receiving her first Oscar nomination in 1978 for what was more or less her debut role, although Julia (1977) and the miniseries Holocaust (1978) came first chronologically, the former film was the first seen in cinemas worldwide.
For me, she has always been there and always been great. There was no learning or settling in period – bam, she arrived on the scene and suddenly everything she touched for a decade was gold! As can be seen from my top 5, it is that first period between ’78 and ’88 that was the most consistently strong. Since then there have been some major highlights, of course, but a lot more average film fare that perhaps let her down more than she let the film down. Even in a dodgy film she seems to be giving her best – and is nearly always something new! Which is her most incredible trait: the ability to change and invent in continually fresh ways. It allows us to believe she is a real person, even in the most fantastical of roles.
Add to that what a wonderful, charming, genuine, generous and humble person she appears to be in real life and you have nothing short of a genuine… legend! I forgive the long list of dull or misfiring films she has chosen in recent years, because for every couple of those there is something remarkable like August: Osage County or The Post right around the corner. When looking at her movie rolecall of 65 films to date, I counted at least 25 I would happily watch again any time, and of those at least a dozen that I consider all time classics.
This top 5 was relatively easy for me, but probably won’t be everyone’s top 5. I think 3 are obvious, and 2 less so… Silkwood is the one film I insist casual Streep fans go back and watch, because it perhaps isn’t her best known role, but certainly one of her definite best. And Adaptation is simply my favourite of her 21st century work – I think it is a joyous, funny, touching and deeply layered performance from a virtuoso of the artform. Here is my list…
Meryl Streep Top 5 Films:
1. The Deer Hunter (1978)
2. Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979)
3. Sophie’s Choice (1982)
4. Silkwood (1983)
5. Adaptation (2002)
Thanks again for dropping by the Hall of Fame on The Wasteland. See you next Monday for inductee #6. Which will be someone from the world of TV shows…
The Wasteland 