The More Things Change...: Best Actor, 1971

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 Game and 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.

Men of Dishonor: Actor, 1975

The nominees for Best Actor are:

Walter Matthau in The Sunshine Boys

***

Matthau's an odd duck when it comes to comedy. He can go completely deadpan and subtle, or he can go hammy and demand a laugh. Much of The Sunshine Boys is spent in the latter, which is appropriate for the hammy, old-fashioned Willie Clark, a vaudevillian who refuses to retire. It's annoying as hell, of course, but it is appropriate. It's an amusing performance that kills when paired with George Burns, but some of his interactions with the other cast members -- his nephew, his nurse -- come off as more forced, more "acted", if you will.

Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

*****

What, like I need to tell you what a great performance this is? I love how Nicholson never tries to make McMurphy smarter, kinder or more selfless than he really is; instead, the small ways in which he saves and inspires the people around him come almost by chance through his arrogance and self-aggrandizement. He's an uneducated, vulgar, manipulative man, but he believes in the patients' ability to help themselves and even delays his own escape to allow the happiness of one of them. From his narrating an imaginary World Series to wiping snot from his nose during a basketball game, Nicholson's deft handling of big moments and little details illustrate an uncomplicated yet somewhat complex human being.

Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon

*****

I love everything about this performance. Pacino gives Sonny a bizarre energy, like an easily-distracted child making his own rules to a game everyone else has played. His various forms of self-delusion and self-pity are fascinating to watch, particularly in his interactions with his "wife". The slow slide from energized media hero to exhausted Man is subtly charted, so that Pacino's eventual hopeless acceptance at the end is organic, disquieting, and inevitable.

Maximilian Schell in The Man in the Glass Booth

**

The film is a bizarre, pretentious, dull mess, based upon the stage play by great actor Robert Shaw: a Jewish sculptor living in New York is arrested and tried as, and confesses to being, a notorious concentration camp official. But is he? Half the film leads up to the arrest, exploring this odd millionaire with the uncomfortable, gallows humor; the second half is the trial. Schell's performance is mesmerizing at times, but it also plateaus a bit, as he shouts with a mad expression throughout much of the runtime. He's getting a kick out of playing this mysterious and eccentric character, but it's exhausting.

James Whitmore in Give 'Em Hell, Harry!

**

The one-man show starring Whitmore as President Truman is quite literally a taped stage performance, often stopping to accommodate laughter and applause. One could forgive this were it a more challenging role, yet Whitmore is given little more to do than channel GREAT and AMAZING and OH IF ONLY OL' HARRY WAS STILL AROUND, with some sideswipes at then-recently disgraced Nixon. Honestly, I kind of wanted to yell at him every time he stopped himself to go, "Now, wait, now, hold on, just a minute, there, HOLD ON!" It happens constantly, and comes off more as poor improv than scripted mannerism.

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In one of the most deserving Oscars ever received, Nicholson won the Academy Award. And yet....I have to give credit to the colorful, engaging, fearless performance from another great actor. My Oscar vote goes to:

AL PACINO

in

DOG DAY AFTERNOON