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The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1967
1967 is a landmark year made corporate, in my mind. In a year with Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate, and even Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, truly landmark films that mark the big break from classical Hollywood tradition, they go with In the Heat of the Night for Best Picture, which feels like the Hollywood version of one of those films. That’s just my own personal opinion on the matter.
Rod Steiger also won Best Actor for the film, which is cool. I wouldn’t necessarily vote for him, but he was good enough to win for The Pawnbroker, and this I look at as kind of a makeup Oscar. Best Actress was Katharine Hepburn for Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, which is fine. I don’t think she beat anyone else who needed to win. Sure, I’d have voted differently, but it’s not that bad, because her competition also won Oscars. Best Supporting Actress was Estelle Parsons for Bonnie and Clyde, which was a fantastic decision. She was incredible. And Best Director (talked about here) was Mike Nichols for The Graduate. Fantastic decision.
The Best Picture decision does actually feel softened by the fact that the wealth was spread around very well, but still, that’s the one that gets remembered. And then there’s this category, which silently adds another great and classic film to the shared wealth. And I fucking love that.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – 1967
And the nominees were…
John Cassavetes, The Dirty Dozen
Gene Hackman, Bonnie and Clyde
Cecil Kellaway, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
George Kennedy, Cool Hand Luke
Michael J. Pollard, Bonnie and Clyde Read the rest of this page »
The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1943
1943. Great year. Hard to argue when your Best Picture is Casablanca and Michael Curtiz also wins Best Director for it (talked about here). But you know what? Complaints can be made here. Complaints that Casablanca didn’t win more.
Best Actress this year was Jennifer Jones for The Song of Bernadette (talked about here). I’m sort of okay with this, because Ingrid Bergman was nominated for the wrong film. Best Supporting Actor was Charles Coburn for The More the Merrier (talked about here), which was a fine decision, and a great performance, but I personally think Claude Rains should have won for Casablanca. And Best Supporting Actress was Katina Paxinou for For Whom the Bell Tolls, which was in one of the weakest Best Supporting Actress categories of all time (and there was no Casablanca nomination there), so it was okay.
And then there’s this category. One of the top five worst Best Actor decisions of all time. One of the bottom three worst Best Actor-winning performances of all time. This is just a shitty decision all around. I actually went back to watch this film again to double check that it was so bad. It was.
BEST ACTOR – 1943
And the nominees were…
Humphrey Bogart, Casablanca
Gary Cooper, For Whom the Bell Tolls
Paul Lukas, Watch on the Rhine
Walter Pidgeon, Madame Curie
Mickey Rooney, The Human Comedy Read the rest of this page »
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1940
1940 is a year that I always say is good, but possibly not as good as it could have been (yet, it still ranks as a solid year). Rebecca wins Best Picture, beating The Grapes of Wrath. Maybe not the best decision, historically, but it’s still a solid film. Plus, there was this category to even it out. So it actually kind of works.
Jimmy Stewart won Best Actor for The Philadelphia Story (talked about here), which is the most blatant makeup Oscar of all time. They were clearly giving it to him for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington the year before. Henry Fonda or Charlie Chaplin really should have won that one. Best Actress was Ginger Rogers for Kitty Foyle, which I love, since it was the only time they could really reward her, and Joan Fontaine, who probably should have won, won the year after this, so it worked out. Best Supporting Actor was Walter Brennan for The Westerner (talked about here), which, despite it being his third, I feel actually was a good decision. And Best Supporting Actress was Jane Darwell for The Grapes of Wrath (talked about here), which makes perfect sense, because she’s “Ma.”
And then there’s this category, which, aside from the fact that Hitchcock never won an Oscar (not this category’s fault, really), is a fantastic decision.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1940
And the nominees were…
George Cukor, The Philadelphia Story
John Ford, The Grapes of Wrath
Alfred Hitchcock, Rebecca
Sam Wood, Kitty Foyle
William Wyler, The Letter Read the rest of this page »
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actress – 1964
1964 is a year that you can’t do anything about, so it’s better to just enjoy it. My Fair Lady wins Best Picture, and as much as people love Dr. Strangelove, it was never gonna beat My Fair Lady. It just wasn’t. George Cukor finally wins his well-deserved Best Director statue for the film, and Rex Harrison also wins Best Actor for it (talked about here). I’m cool with the Cukor win, and the Harrison one too, just because I know that Strangelove never really had a shot at anything.
Best Actress this year was Julie Andrews for Mary Poppins, which is cool. The category didn’t really have a definitive winner, and Julie Andrews was gonna win one at some point anyway. Worked out just fine here. And Best Supporting Actor was Peter Ustinov for Topkapi (talked about here). I’m cool with it. The category was really bad. So it’s fine that he won.
And that’s pretty much 1964. Overall, good, as long as you realize what was and wasn’t possible. And then this category, which — meh, it sucked. I don’t really care what happened here. To an extent. I still have an opinion, though.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1964
And the nominees were…
Gladys Cooper, My Fair Lady
Edith Evans, The Chalk Garden
Grayson Hall, The Night of the Iguana
Lila Kedrova, Zorba the Greek
Agnes Moorehead, Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte Read the rest of this page »
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1938
I don’t much like 1938 as an Oscar year. It feels like a series of cop outs and weak choices. Almost like them saying, “We don’t know what we should do, so let’s do what we did before. That worked.”
Example 1: You Can’t Take It With You wins Best Picture out of a relatively weak set of nominees. It seems like the Academy, when faced with a French (Grand Illusion) and British (Pygmalion) film as potential winners (those two were clearly just as good, if not better, choices), they got nervous and said, “Well, It Happened One Night was a good choice, let’s do it again!” They also gave Frank Capra Best Director (talked about here), which makes sense, considering the Best Picture choice.
Example 2: Best Actor was Spencer Tracy for Boys Town (talked about here). It seems, faced with giving this to James Cagney for a performance in a gangster film (or Leslie Howard for Pygmalion), they balked and said, “Well, we gave it to Spencer Tracy last year, let’s do it again!” (This is the single worst Best Actor-winning performance of all time.)
Example 3: Best Actress was Bette Davis for Jezebel (talked about here). It seems, when faced with giving Wendy Hiller an Oscar (or Norma Shearer a second one), they decided, “We gave one to Bette Davis. That worked. Let’s do it again!”
And then Best Supporting Actress was Fay Bainter, also for Jezebel, and this was actually a good decision. Bainter was nominated for Best Actress as well, and was a well-respected actress. That one worked. And then there’s this category, which, again, feels like them not knowing what to do, and going, “Well, we gave it to Walter Brennan once before. That worked. Let’s do it again!”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – 1938
And the nominees were…
Walter Brennan, Kentucky
John Garfield, Four Daughters
Gene Lockhart, Algiers
Robert Morley, Marie Antoinette
Basil Rathbone, If I Were King Read the rest of this page »
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