re: Is Tom Hanks the GOAT?

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If it's like GOAT actor, master class of acting, uh no. Not even in the ballpark. Top 100 or so, maybe.

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you're out of your mind. It wasn't just enough to disagree?

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Jim said it well:

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Is the competition open only to men? I think Meryl Streep is better than Hanks, and I love Hanks.

Hanks' best quality is his likeability. His Hanksness shine through in every role. He certainly can deliver quality characters, but you don't see him go too far outside of himself.

To me, he's about on par with Paul Newman, maybe better by a nose, but not much.

Lots of other actors are a little better at providing riveting unique performances where the actor disappears and the character emerges, but they may not have that star quality.

John Torturro is one of many who most readily comes to mind. Of course, he's not a leading man type, but his performances are amazing, movie after movie. The Coens really know how to use this guy!

I think that of the leading man type actors, I still wouldn't put Hanks above Brando or even Hoffman. As great as Hanks is, has he performed a role better than Brando in On the Water Front, or A Streetcar Named Desire, or The Godfather? Or better than Hoffman in The Graduate, Tootsie, or Midnight Cowboy?

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I'm not. And I view it like this, in tiers.

There are probably about 5-10 actors who are just out of this world good; I'm talking your Brando's, Mifune's, Daniel Day-Lewis, Kinski, Streep etc. I'd take those guys and girls over Hanks, and there aren't that many at this tier.

Then, there is a large group of actor's actors and method actors. Nicholson, Hoffman, and Seymour-Hoffman, O'Toole, Olivier, Fonda, Hepburn, Stewart, Hopkins, etc. That's a big group, probably another 30-60 actors. This also includes your great side-man. There's a reason John Tuturro (mentioned above) is great. Still, in terms of

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GOAT actor, master class of acting,

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all better than Hanks. He's in the third group another 40-100 total of really really good actors who don't stray too far from the center. They are the Hollywood's, they get by on their likability mostly and rarely go outside of that. Hanks, Cruise, Grant, Eastwood, Depp, Crowe, DiCaprio, Costner, Denzel, Bogart etc.

So when you think of:
5-10 untouchables
30-60 actor's actors
40-100 Hollywood's

Hanks is somewhere near the top of the Hollywood group, comfortably within the Top 100 most likely. That's just a rough estimate purely in terms of skill. He's certainly one of the most successful actors to ever walk the planet, but it isn't strictly BECAUSE of his acting ability, merely his ability to be likable to an audience in any and every role.

Make more sense?