The Best Actor nominees this year were all nominated at the Golden Globes for Best Actor in a Drama. That includes, among the other previously discussed and soon-to-be-discussed films, The Great White Hope, a compelling drama about a black boxer who becomes a target of the US government not just because of his becoming heavyweight champion of the world over all the white competitors, but because of his relationship with a white woman. Thoughtfully written, perfectly cast (in addition to nominees James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander, the ensemble boasts Lou Gilbert, Beah Richards, Marlene Warfield and Hal Holbrook), with an eye for detail and a scale of design on par with most epics.
But there were no Comedy/Musical Globe nominees! Just straight-faced misses. That means the Oscars skipped out on:
Richard Benjamin for Diary of a Mad Housewife. As the ambitious husband pressuring his wife to help him surpass the Joneses, Benjamin is obnoxious, thoughtless, amusing. He's also supporting Carrie Snodgress, and supporting is where he belongs!
Albert Finney for Scrooge, a musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Finney was in his early 30s when he took the role of 50+ Ebenezer Scrooge. Despite winning the Golden Globe and already being a nominee for Best Actor, he missed out...though he'd eventually return to the Academy's good graces. I'm glad they didn't. He's...miscast.
Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland for MASH. As Trapper John, M.D., and Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce, respectively, Gould and Sutherland anchor the anarchy. Gould was nominated the year before for Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice; Sutherland is still waiting.
Jack Lemmon for The Out-of-Towners. Lemmon's everyman routine gets an edge. Visiting NYC for a business meeting that he hoped to parlay into a getaway with his wife, the domino effect of just terrible mishaps that greet them quickly take him from harried businessman to entitled asshole. It is hostile and the best.
Why 1961? A few reasons: With all the talk of Steven Spielberg's West Side Story remake, I wanted to revisit the original. There were a number of classics I needed to catch up with, such as Judgment at Nuremberg and The Hustler. And it marked the release of Road to Eternity, the second chapter of Masaki Kobayashi's The Human Condition, so, you know, why not?
We start with the nominees for Best Supporting Actor, after the jump...
Now that we've honored The Nun's Story for its lead actress and score, Porgy and Bess for its orchestrations, and Wild Strawberries for its screenplay, its time to let another film into the fold. And we'll do that by looking at the nominees for Best Supporting Actor, made of four first-timers, only two of whom would be back for more.
Hugh Griffith in Ben-Hur
***
Notes: First of two nominations, first and only win; National Board of Review Winner for Supporting Actor
An unlikely winner, Griffith's Sheik Ilderim is just a dash less broad than you think it is. He has a fantastic scene where he entices Stephen Boyd's Messala to take a very rich gamble on the chariot race. And he's a good time entertaining Judah Ben-Hur in his tent, trying to get him to belch in appreciation of the fine dining. It's some welcome comic relief that goes beyond the dye job, but I'm still shocked this is the performance from Ben-Hur that got nominated.
Arthur O'Connell in Anatomy of a Murder
***
Notes: Second of two nominations
Folksy alcoholic attorney whose arc from mess who can't get hired to unexpected hero of the hour plays more or less in the background, subtly. It helps that his second chance comes up within the first thirty minutes of the movie. O'Connell, to his credit, does not overplay a moment. Not the drunkenness, not the career rehab, not the chemistry with James Stewart: it's all natural.
George C. Scott in Anatomy of a Murder
*****
Notes: First of four nominations
Much like the character, a performance that sneaks up on you. Quiet at first, with a respectfully condescending manner that grates - Scott even gives him an odd highfalutin' accent: something about his vowels sounds practiced, a great choice that makes Claude Dancer's distance from this small town even more deliberate. And when he fights, he fights hard: the sweaty, clobbering evisceration he attempts on Mary Pilant; the quiet, confident redirection he gives the local DA; his "embarrassed" manipulation of Laura Manion's rape accusations - this guy plays to win.
Robert Vaughn in The Young Philadelphians
**
Notes: First and only nomination; Golden Globe Nominee for Supporting Actor
Mind-boggling. How is this the sole performance to be honored by the Globes and the Oscars? He's solid, delivers witticisms with the appropriate drollness, plays pathetic drunkenness at the just the right pitch for this kind of movie, but that's it. It's not especially unique or revelatory - it just...is.
Ed Wynn in The Diary of Anne Frank
***
Notes: First and only nomination
Wynn is convincing as the oft-annoyed, doom-and-gloom dentist who can't stand the close quarters of the attic. He annoys you to the brink of insanity, but then there's this hopelessness in his slackened face and downcast eyes. He's our last hint of what's happening outside, and it's not pretty. Wynn, mostly known as a comic actor, delivers the goods.
Also in the conversation:
Fred Astaire, On the Beach (Golden Globe Nominee for Supporting Actor) - A surprise snub, though maybe his come-and-go "British" accent was a hurdle. His scientist-turned-lush is a welcome change of pace: cynical, straight, but not without heart. *****
Stephen Boyd, Ben-Hur (Globe Winner for Supporting Actor) - As Messala, the villain and object of Ben-Hur's obsessive revenge quest, Boyd is, surprisingly, the film's beating heart. There is always something going on just beneath the surface. You can't take your eyes off him. *****
Peter Finch, The Nun's Story (BAFTA Award Nominee for British Actor) - BAFTA had no lead/supporting distinctions, but he's probably in less than 15 minutes of the movie; still, he has a great impact, and you miss him...much like Hepburn's nun. *****
Laurence Olivier, The Devil's Disciple (BAFTA Award Nominee for British Actor) - A scream as a British commander during the Revolutionary War. No villain; indeed, he's almost comic relief, in an already light film! ****
Tony Randall, Pillow Talk (Golden Globe Nominee for Supporting Actor) - Funny; delivers dick jokes with class. ***
Joseph N. Welch, Anatomy of a Murder (Golden Globe Nominee for Supporting Actor) - As the out-of-town judge with the Huckleberry Hound voice, Welch steals the movie with aw-shucks comic timing and dignity. *****
Donald Wolfit, Room at the Top (BAFTA Award Nominee for British Actor) - Chummy, commanding, polite even when seething. ****
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Griffith benefited from the Ben-Hur sweep.
But I just don't see it. In fact, I only see one nominee that comes close to deserving the Oscar...
GEORGE C. SCOTT
for
ANATOMY OF A MURDER
In our next adventure, we'll look at Best Director: Jack Clayton (Room at the Top), George Stevens (The Diary of Anne Frank), Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot), William Wyler (Ben-Hur), and Fred Zinnemann (The Nun's Story).
It is interesting, I think, when one looks at this year's crop of Best Actor compared to 1971's, to notice the surprising similarities among the nominees. After more than 40 years, there will always be a certain type of role, or performance, or actor, that attracts Oscar's attention.
Birdman and The Hospital
Michael Keaton (also a Hollmann Award Nominee) brings terrific subtlety to the role of Riggan Thomson, a washed-up actor literally staging his comeback, constantly questioning and doubting himself,surrounded by an ensemble of crazies with their own insecurities and hang-ups, in a beautifully-realized dark comedy about the theatre. George C. Scott is more bellowy and blowsy as Dr. Herbert Bock, a doctor at the end of his rope, constantly questioning and doubting himself, surrounded by an ensemble of crazies with their own insecurities and incompetencies, in a so-so dark comedy about the medical establishment. Oscar, it seems, loves sweaty, drunken monologuing.
The Imitation Gameand The French Connection
Benedict Cumberbatch is superb as the real-life mathematician Alan Turing, portrayed in this film as a super genius who must prove to an increasingly hostile Establishment that his ideas and instincts are not only correct, but the only thing standing in the way of a great evil -- Herr Hitler. Gene Hackman is superb as Popeye Doyle, based on real-life cop Eddie Egan, portrayed in this film as a cocky-but-honest cop who must prove to an increasingly hostile Establishment that his instincts are not only correct, but the only thing standing in the way of a great evil -- heroin trafficked in from France. Oscar, it seems, loves the smartest guy in the room, especially when he has to defy his superiors, man!
American Sniper and Fiddler on the Roof
Bradley Cooper bulked up to play Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, unwavering in his conviction that the Iraq War, and his part in it, are necessary to preserve the United States -- at times, he's absolutely frightening in his black-and-white certainty. Topol greyed up to play middle-aged milkman Tevye, but while Chris Kyle holds firm to what he believes to be true, Tevye is starting to look with curiosity, and maybe a little excitement, at the changing world around him -- he holds on to his traditions, yes, but he's beginning to adapt. Oscar, it seems, loves a man with strong beliefs.
The Theory of Everything and Sunday Bloody Sunday
Eddie Redmayne is the great quantum physicist Stephen Hawking, conveying warmth, strained patience, uncertainty, and eventual acceptance in an unconventional love story -- forget the ALS, it's the odd triangle between Stephen, wife Jane, and friend/church choir leader Jonathan Hellyer Jones, that's the real draw. Peter Finch is Dr. Daniel Hirsh, conveying warmth, strained patience, insecurity, and willful self-delusion in an unconventional love story -- Daniel, his young lover Bob, and Bob's female lover Alex. Oscar, it seems, loves to check "It's Complicated."
Foxcatcher and Kotch
What on earth could Steve Carell's performance as John du Pont possibly have in common with Walter Matthau's performance as Kotch? Honey, I don't even know why these people got nominated. Oscar, it seems, loves grey toupees.
For a further look at the performances of 1971, please continue after the jump.
