1984: Best Actress

This was the year Sally Field won her second Academy Award and made her (in)famous "You like me" speech:

The film in question was Places in the Heart, a Best Picture nominee that we have discussed at least thrice before, and one of just three rural-based films nominated in the Best Actress category. The others were The River, where Sissy Spacek cedes most of the narrative to Mel Gibson, and Country, a Jessica Lange vehicle - both films openly critical of then-current policies that saw the small-time farmer being pushed out of home and work, eagerly bought up by corporations and the banks. President Reagan even wrote about Country being propaganda, though all three take a look at government opportunism and the impact on communities, disaster relief, even other communities and occupations outside. 

The other nominees were Judy Davis (the only first-time nominee and only non-winner) from A Passage to India, another Best Picture nominee we've discussed before, and Vanessa Redgrave from The Bostonians, a Merchant-Ivory adaptation of Henry James' novel about turn-of-the-century feminists and the young woman who comes between two cousins (of opposite genders!), slow even by their standards. 

The nominees:

Oscar '85: Geraldine Page and Best Actress

Best Actress! A lineup of three winners, a newcomer, and a perennial bridesmaid on her eighth nomination. Finally, a nomination that turned to a win:

There's hope yet, Glenn Close! The nominees are:

All the Lies I Have Told: Actress, 1982

Meryl Streep famously won her second Academy Award for Sophie's Choice:

It's not hard to see why. The movie saw her speaking three languages, all in a Polish accent, while also physically transforming into both a starving concentration camp inmate and the heartbreakingly beautiful object of lust for the main character, called Stingo (the movie is, frankly, ridiculous). It's de-glam and sexy - something for everyone!

If there is an equivalent today, I have to believe it's Margot Robbie. For I, Tonya, the native Australian beauty affects an American accent, wears braces, dons a variety of wigs for unflattering frizz, and goes from ice princess to female boxer, with some age de-glam thrown in. It's a transformation, and Oscar loves that.

Thirty-five years later, Meryl Streep is back. Today she's a veteran whose Best Actress nomination is, increasingly, more reliable than tomorrow's sunrise. This year, fortunately, she got some of the best reviews of her career for The Post. I'm not sure who is the 1982 equivalent, but I think Sissy Spacek comes closest. Though Missing is only her third Oscar nomination, she was coming off a win for Coal Miner's Daughter and dominated the 1980s. There's a reason this is the fourth retrospective in a year to feature Spacek: girl was prolific.

Another veteran, and one very likely to take the prize this year, is Frances McDormand in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri. A friend of mine explained the appeal of the performance this way: "Frances McDormand was an avatar for the cauterizing power of rage." Ok! I have to think that was part of the appeal of Jessica Lange's performance in Frances, too - beyond "just" being a biopic, Lange gives us fire and fury as a woman who doesn't behave as prescribed, and gets branded as crazy because of it. Do not underestimate a fearsome female.

Nor a romantic one. The high school comedy and the romantic drama are not the most respected of genres, regarded as being more "slight" (read: female-driven) than others. But sometimes there comes a movie, and a performance, that's so perfect, its worthiness is undeniable. This year, Saoirse Ronan helped lead Lady Bird to five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture; in 1982, Debra Winger helped make An Officer and a Gentleman into the third highest-grossing movie of the year (even Richard Gere admits she stole the show!).

Where does that leave The Shape of Water's Sally Hawkins and Victor/Victoria's Julie Andrews? These ladies landed their nods thanks to physicality, expressiveness, and their voice - or lack thereof. Hawkins plays a mute janitor, but you don't need subtitles to know what she's thinking; it's there on her face, in her posture. Andrews is anything but mute, but the way she adjusts the timbre of her voice and body language to appear more masculine, the way she fights and dances, make for an impressive showcase. These ladies are limber!

Enough of now, let's talk then. The 1982 nominees, after the jump....

Women on the Side: Supporting Actress, 1982

When trying to name nominees for a given year off the top of my head, Supporting Actress comes easiest to me. It's consistently the most interesting lineup, even in a dizzy year like 1980, a place to honor mothers, lovers, veteran character actresses, even singers making their acting breakthrough. It's also, famously, a place to award leading ladies who probably wouldn't have even been nominated in Best Actress, but for some reason, Supporting is seen as slumming it, so here we are. 2017 has no such controversy this year; 1982 did, with many taking exception to Jessica Lange's nomination and eventual win for playing the romantic interest in Tootsie (she's borderline enough, in my eyes, to belong here, but then I felt the same way about Viola Davis in Fences). The more things change, etc.

Well, now we've brought it up: what has changed? What does it take now to get the Oscar nomination compared to then? As always, the Academy seems attracted to certain types, but one has to stretch a bit to draw direct parallels between the past and present.

One type that's always been a sure thing: the Monster Momma. She's hateful, she's crass, she's the chief antagonist in her daughter's life. Kim Stanley, previously nominated in Lead for Seance on a Wet Afternoon, took the Monster Momma slot in 1982; in 2017, it's Allison Janney for I, Tonya - unlike Stanley, she's the favorite the win.

Then there's the character who's almost a second lead, the emotional core of the entire movie. The aforementioned Jessica Lange takes on this role in Tootsie, as the woman who teaches Dustin Hoffman how to be a better man as a woman, while Laurie Metcalf has the honor in Lady Bird, as the exhausted mom whose tough love and concern come from genuine worry and love.

There's the character you miss whenever she's off-screen, whether it's Teri Garr filling Tootsie with her comic brilliance or Lesley Manville deepening our understanding of Phantom Thread's world. On the other hand, there are also enjoyable characters who don't draw so much focus but are still warmly received whenever they appear, like Lesley Ann Warren in Victor/Victoria or Octavia Spencer in The Shape of Water.

Then there's the fun narrative of The Established Performer Breaking Through in Films. Glenn Close was already a respected, eight-year Broadway veteran and Tony Award nominee when she made her film debut in The World According to Garp, netting wins from LAFCA and the National Board of Review and nominations from the National Society of Film Critics, NYFCC, and the Academy. Meanwhile, Mary J. Blige, a music legend with nine Grammy Awards, is no stranger to film and television, but her previous performances have capitalized on her reputation as a singer, and hile Mudbound may include an original song by her in the credits, her work in the film hinges on delivering serious thesping. And, like Close, she's been a frequent face at precursors, with
Critics' Choice Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.

That's the legacy, now on to the legends - the nominees of 1982, after the jump...

Casting Coup Tuesdays: Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte

With the success of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were hot commodities once again and psycho-biddy films were born. And Hollywood being, in the end, all about the green, you know they had to have a sequel of some sort for the Oscar-winning, fourth highest-grossing picture of 1962. Of course, the way Baby Jane ends, a direct sequel would be impossible, not to mention anticlimactic.

Luckily, source novelist Henry Farrell had another gem in paperback: What Ever Happened to Cousin Charlotte?. It's another faded beauty gem, this time set in a dying plantation in Louisiana, where mad Charlotte Hollis has been living for forty years. Haunted by the mysterious murder of her married lover John Mayhew in 1926, a crime which she was suspected of but never convicted for, Charlotte's only company is poor white trash companion Velma and the workers trying to demolish her home to make way for the new highway. Charlotte loves Velma; the workers, on the other hand, she fires at with her daddy's shotguns. Desperate to save the place, she calls upon citified cousin Miriam to help her keep the place -- but Miriam is more interested in the vast wealth of the estate, wealth that would be hers if she can successfully have Charlotte committed. And with the help of former lover Dr. Drew Bayliss, she may get her way...

Once again, Lukas Heller adapted (this time with some help from Farrell), Robert Aldrich directed, and Bette Davis and Joan Crawford acted opposite each other. This time, Crawford was to play the cunning manipulator to Davis's shut-in, though of course the latter was getting the juicier role. Alas, the first publicity still featuring the two divas on location is all we'll see of the Crawford-Davis version: the animosity between them finally came to a head, and Joanie walked off the picture. Davis recommended her friend, fellow two-time Oscar-winner Olivia de Havilland...and surprise of surprises, her subtler, more insidious performance almost steals the show from Davis's histrionics!

Once again, audiences responded: the film was the ninth highest-grossing flick of 1964, ahead of A Hard Day's Night and right behind Viva Las Vegas!. And although it didn't bring home the gold come Oscar night, the film was still graced with seven Academy Award nominations: Best Supporting Actress for Agnes Moorehead as Velma; Best Film Editing (Michael Luciano); Best Original Score (Frank De Vol); the black-and-white categories for Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design (Norma Koch) and Best Cinematography (Joseph Biroc); and Best Original Song.

Of course, we've covered most of this before: last year, I did a retrospective of the year 1964, and I did profiles for five of those categories. So strong were the technical categories that year, I couldn't even give my personal vote to Score or Song, both of which I play repeatedly on my iTunes. My own Hollmann Awards could only fit Moorehead in -- and once you've seen the performance, you'll understand why.

I expect interest in this film, which has never really weakened, to come on still stronger in the near future. People will want to check out the Bette Davis Psycho-Biddy Double Feature that started it all once Walter Hill's remake of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is completed. And if they want to give the same treatment to Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte...well, shouldn't they stop here for a look first?

SHERIFF LUKE STANDISH

Who is He: Local sheriff, knows and respects the Hollis family, tries to reason with Charlotte but more or less knows its fruitless.

Originally played by:

Wesley Addy (Tora! Tora! Tora!, Network)

My Choice: SAG Award Nominee for Best Ensemble (Dreamgirls)

Hinton Battle (Foreign Student, TV's Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story)

BIG SAM HOLLIS

Who is He: Charlotte's daddy, a wealthy man who sought to separate his daughter from the married John Mayhew. It was his party that played host to murder, with his gazebo as the star.

Originally played by: Academy Award/Golden Globe Nominee for Best Supporting Actor (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?)

Victor Buono (The Greatest Story Ever Told, Beneath the Planet of the Apes)

My Choice:

Ken Howard (1776, J. Edgar)

HARRY WILLIS

Who is He: An insurance investigator posing as a journalist, he's poking about for the truth behind John Mayhew's decades-old murder.

Originally played by: Academy Award Nominee for Best Supporting Actor (The Luck of the Irish, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?)

Cecil Kellaway (The Postman Always Rings Twice, Harvey)

My Choice: Golden Globe Nominee for Best Actor - Drama (Wilde), SAG Award Winner for Best Ensemble (Gosford Park)

Stephen Fry (Tales of the Riverbank, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows)

DR. DREW BAYLISS

Who is He: A local doctor and old friend of the Hollis family, he courted Miriam as a young man but left her after the murder of John Mayhew. Now that Miriam's back in town, single, and close to a fortune, Bayliss is more than happy to pick up where they left off.

Originally played by:

Joseph Cotten (Citizen Kane, The Third Man)

My Choice: Academy Award/Golden Globe Winner/BAFTA Award Nominee for Best Supporting Actor (Adaptation), SAG Award Winner for Best Ensemble (American Beauty)

Chris Cooper (The Town, The Muppets)
Can bring a slick Southern charm, and also nail the sleazier aspects. Cooper's a master, of course, and I dare say he'd find a more nuanced approach than Cotten (and don't get me wrong: I adore Cotten).

JOHN MAYHEW

Who is He: The husband of Jewel Mayhew, he was going to elope with Charlotte Hollis the night of Big Sam's party. Instead of marital bliss, a hatchet to his hand and head saw to it that he enjoyed a honeydoom.

Originally played by: Hollmann Award/Golden Globe Nominee for Best Supporting Actor (The Great Gatsby), Academy Award/Golden Globe Nominee for Best Supporting Actor (Coming Home)

Bruce Dern (They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, The Driver)

My Choice: SAG Award Nominee for Best Supporting Actor (J. Edgar) and Best Ensemble (The Social Network)

Armie Hammer (Billy: The Early Years, Mirror Mirror)

MRS. JEWEL MAYHEW

Who is She: John's widow, respected in the community, still in mourning-dress, more reclusive. Oddly, she seems to bear little ill will for Charlotte; it's Miriam who sticks in her craw.

Originally played by: Academy Award Winner for Best Supporting Actress (The Great Lie)

Mary Astor (Dodsworth, The Maltese Falcon)

My Choice:

Morgan Fairchild (Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge, TV's Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady)
The first to be cast, actually. I was thinking, "Who could pull off the small but important role of widow Jewel Mayhew? Who could do it but not be so distracting as to take away from the film?" Diane Keaton? No, something didn't sit right with that. Morgan Fairchild? But of course! She could bring the aging beauty queen thing into it, the former belle who's still got the confidence to hurl a metaphorical loogie in Miriam's face.

VELMA CRUTHER

Who is She: Charlotte's loyal cook, housemaid and companion, white trash from the bayou who'd do anything for her employer but talk down to her. She knows the truth about everything that goes on 'round these parts...if only she would keep her mouth shut!

 

Originally played by: Hollmann Award Nominee for Best Supporting Actress (Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte), Academy Award Nominee for Best Supporting Actress (The Magnificent Ambersons, Mrs. Parkington, Johnny Belinda, Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte), Golden Globe Winner for Best Supporting Actress (Mrs. Parkington, Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte)

Agnes Moorehead (Raintree County, The Singing Nun)

My Choice:

Beth Grant (Crazy Heart, The Artist)
A large role worthy of her talents, one that allows her to "LET IT RIP" as far as her dialect goes. She's played homely before, but rarely as central as this. You know I love her.

MIRIAM DEERING

Who is She: Charlotte's glamorous cousin from the city, still a beauty, who's come to town to take care of Charlotte and the estate. Like all beauties throughout history, however, Miriam is playing another, more manipulative game, one that ends with Charlotte in the madhouse and Miriam in a penthouse. She's a "vile, sorry little bitch".

Originally played by: Academy Award Winner for Best Actress (To Each His Own, The Heiress), Golden Globe Winner for Best Actress (The Heiress)

Olivia de Havilland (Gone with the Wind, The Swarm)

My Choice: Academy Award/Golden Globe Winner for Best Actress [Drama] (Blue Sky) and Best Supporting Actress (Tootsie), BAFTA Award Nominee for Best Actress (Tootsie), SAG Award Nominee for Best Actress (Blue Sky)

Jessica Lange (Broken Flowers, The Vow)
Still lovely, capable of a regal bearing, and great at playing controlling or sinister family members. Plus, she'd have great chemistry with my Charlotte.

CHARLOTTE HOLLIS

Who is She: Big Sam's impressionable daughter, she never got over the murder of her lover -- especially since she's the Number One Suspect! The kiddies sing, "Chop-chop, sweet Charlotte/Chop-chop 'til he's dead..." But Charlotte's miserable without him, her family, her riches, aging away in a dying plantation set for demolition, close to crazy already before Miriam and Bayliss get their hooks into her.

Originally played by: Academy Award Winner for Best Actress (Dangerous, Jezebel), BAFTA Award Nominee for Best Foreign Actress (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?), Golden Globe Nominee for Best Actress - Drama and Musical/Comedy (All About Eve, A Pocketful of Miracles, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?)

Bette Davis (The Nanny, Death on the Nile)

My Choice: Hollmann Award Nominee for Best Supporting Actress (Get Low), Academy Award Winner for Best Actress (Coal Miner's Daughter), BAFTA Award  Nominee for Best Actress (Coal Miner's Daughter, Missing, In the Bedroom), Golden Globe Winner for Best Actress - Musical/Comedy and Drama (Coal Miner's Daughter, Crimes of the Heart, In the Bedroom), SAG Award Winner for Best Ensemble (The Help)

Sissy Spacek (Carrie, An American Haunting)
 Could find the crazy and the lady, creating an entirely fresh performance out of a character we all think we know. I imagine something in the vein of her Crimes of the Heart character. And speaking of that film: she and Lange have been sisters before, so why not cousins this time around?

Southern Belles and What the Hell?

From the opening credits, I immediately felt some worry about Crimes of the Heart. As each actress's name comes up, a cartoon heart falls through each in place of the letter "a" in their names: Keaton, Lange, Spacek. And then it falls in place of the "a" in the title. My first, cynical thought was, "What, did they cast these gals just so they could do that?" Having finished the film, I am convinced that I must be partly right.

Based on the play by Beth Henley (who also wrote the screenplay), Crimes of the Heart follows three days in the lives of three sisters, brought together when the youngest shoots her husband. From the picturesque houses and dusty roads, we can tell we must be in the South, and man do those shrill accents start in fast and furious. You think you'll get used to them over the 1 hr. 44 mins. of fighting, laughing, gossiping, etc., but you don't. Not all of them.

Sissy Spacek is the youngest sister, Babe, giving us the best performance in the film. Married at 18, Babe appears to have never grown out of her childhood, and even her costumes suggest the dresses of a child bride rather than the wardrobe of a senator's wife. Spacek has never been more lump-in-the-throat beautiful. While her co-stars make entrances and exits, Spacek strolls along, every movement completely fluid, every line flowing spontaneously. The girlishness she has after a meeting with her handsome lawyer is both touching and a little sad, and no matter how hard the script works against her, she manages to bring out the human being in Babe. Even though she shot her husband, even though she fooled around with a minor, even though she should probably be put in an asylum, we still manage to sympathize with her and hope for the best. Spacek was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and for now I can't argue with that.

Jessica Lange is the wild one, Meg, who went off to California to be a star. She is the only other believable, interesting character in the movie. Her accent ain't too bad, neither. When she and Spacek come together, the movie is easy to get through. Fortunately, most of the film is between these two, the "outsiders" bound by their spontaneity and beauty (though Lange almost suffers in this department thanks to the most unflattering hairdo I've ever seen on a woman). She's sexy, funny, and full of life! Yet she also lets us in on that sadness, never going full tilt into tears or anything, but hinting at it here and there. When she lies to her sick grandfather about her success, we know it's just as much for her as it is for him.

Tess Harper was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as busybody Chick, their cousin and next door neighbor. It's a small role, and I guess it's meant to be the comic relief, but Sissy and Jessica already give us both the laughs and the pathos, so in the end it feels like Tess is there merely to provide some exposition. I mean, she sells the role, and except for her last, strangely miscalculated scene, she's a welcome sight. But Judi Dench's work in A Room with a View was passed over in favor of this, and that cannot be forgiven.

No, the real weak link here is the horrifyingly miscast, head-scratchingly underwritten Lenny, played by Diane Keaton. I love my Diane, but dear Lord in Heaven, what in the blue blazes happened here? It's a shrill, scenery-chewing turn, as she screams, slams things around, whips her hair about, and even leaps off of her feet (!!!) a number of times. Her accent is atrocious, and she appears to be playing everything for the benefit of the rear orchestra -- there's none of the subtlety or nuance that her earlier comedies and dramas showcased. Even the script seems uninterested in her, and for much of the movie she is relegated to the background, tilling in the garden as her sisters talk out their lives and share plot developments with each other.

I can't believe this is based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning, Tony-nominated play. Beth Henley's characters are mostly whiny do-nothings, most of them amoral. A lot of it works, though, so obviously she knew what she was doing -- though so many inconsequential things occur, you'll wonder what THE POINT of it all is. I think the main problem here is director Bruce Beresford, who seems too entranced with the quaintness of The South to actually plumb the depths of despair and hurt Lange and Spacek are so desperate to explore. Sure, it's a comedy, but it's a DARK one, which means you can actually go for emotional truths and sincere moments. Tonally, it's a mess, going from dramedy to broad comedy to whatever movie Diane Keaton's in. Seriously, Spacek and Lange are the only people making sense, and that's probably because they have the only real characters.

Crimes of the Heart is not a terrible movie, but in the hands of a different director -- and with someone besides Keaton in the film -- it could've been largely enjoyable. It's half-interesting, half-forgettable. A real treat for Spacek fans, as I keep reiterating (she's just so good in this movie!), but it's not a must-see.

Academy Award Nominations
Best Actress - Sissy Spacek ***
Best Supporting Actress - Tess Harper **
Best Adapted Screenplay - Beth Henley **

Golden Globe Nominations
Best Picture - Musical/Comedy **
Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy - Sissy Spacek *** (WIN)

I'm a Dreamer, Aren't We All?

I had the weirdest dream the other night. We were at a film school to-do held at someone's house, and I was hanging out on the front porch with some classmates, Meryl Streep, and Jessica Lange. La Streep was in her Julia Child costume, while Lange was played by Harriet Walter.



In this alternate universe, Lange had just won the EMMY, making her a member of the triple-crowners. She and Meryl were both honored with such a title, and I asked them how it felt. Lange rolled her eyes, and Streep sighed.

"It really is meaningless. I hate that whole idea. The Oscar movie. I never want to do an Oscar movie. So many people just write Oscar scenes, and all I want is a good story. That's the only way to succeed."

Thanks Meryl! And thanks to Lange/Harriet Walter for sticking around.