Why is he considered great? I don't get it.

Yet they're all vastly more dynamic and capable than bean head.

Lol, a mental defective who thinks dynamic brilliance like Dafoe, Oldman and Rockwell are "awful", and who rates a by-the-numbers "movie star" as the GOAT.

And who's this "William Dafoe" you keep referring to? Heck, you barely even know of the actors you're dismissing as awful.

I suppose I shouldn't be picking on someone with a single-digit IQ.

And then, history -- just like , hey -- SPENCER TRACY -- Tom Hanks won the Best Actor Oscar back to back, two years running, first for a "switch to drama" -- and playing gay -- and dying -- in Philadelphia; and then playing an iconic role in a super blockbuster, Forrest Gump. THAT did it. Hanks was launched for the rest of the 90s and an almost unbroken string of 100 milliion grossing(in the US) hits -- back when that was a big number:

Forrest Gump(well, 300 milliion actually)
Apollo 13
Toy Story(voice only)
Saving Private Ryan
You've Got Mail
The Green Mile

and in 2000: Cast Away

..things finally started to slow down in the 00s for Hanks as a superstar but he remained viable.

Now, the REAL Key to most of the hits of Tom Hanks, simplified down to one sentence:

"Tom Hanks makes you cry."

Oh yes he does. Or DID. A movie director named William Friedkin(The French Connection, The Exorcist) said "people go to the movies for one of three reasons: to laugh, to scream, or to cry." At least that's why they go to hits. Tom Hanks made us laugh a few times, but by the end of his movies, he made us cry. Look(SPOILERS FOR ALL)

Big (the man becomes a boy again, helped by sad music, we cry.)
Turner and Hooch (the dog dies saving Hanks life, Hanks cries.)
A League of Their Own(Hanks is dead of natural causes by the end.)
Philadelphia(Hanks dies of AIDs.)
Forrest Gump(everybody ELSE dies and Forrest meets his little son.)
Saving Private Ryan(Hanks dies and then we hit an even bigger tearjerking ending with modern-day Ryan for the end.)
You've Got Mail(the romance finally connects with a kiss-- all the way after Sleepless in Seattle -- and everybody cries.)
Cast Away(Hanks survives the island and is rescued but comes back to find his woman married to another man , and with a baby.)

I saw a sneak preview rough cut of Cast Away where folks didn't cry at the end. Hanks(I guess) had it re-shot and it became a big boo-hoo with the new scenes.)

CONT