The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1931-1932
1931-1932 is kind of the first year where a real “Academy” film took the top prize. Grand Hotel is about as Oscar as you can get. It makes sense they went with it. It’s also funny that it wasn’t nominated for anything except Best Picture. They really didn’t know what they were doing yet. It’s so funny.
Also this year, Best Director was Frank Borzage for Bad Girl, his second, which I talked about here, and Best Actor was a tie between Frederic March for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Wallace Beery for The Champ, which I talked about here. Which, is actually, all the other categories for this year. This is the last one. That’s weird.
As for this category — it’s a pretty cut and dry one. There’s really only one choice, and, the Academy made the right one. I like when categories go smoothly like this one.
BEST ACTRESS – 1931-1932
And the nominees were…
Marie Dressler, Emma
Helen Hayes, The Sin of Madelon Claudet
Lynn Fontanne, The Guardsman (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actress – 1972
This is the weakest Best Supporting Actress category I think I’ve ever seen. Seriously, it’s awful. There’s no one to vote for! But before we start looking for alternatives, let’s get the recap out of the way first.
The Godfather wins Best Picture, in a decision no one can deny. Marlon Brando wins Best Actor, which — of course. Bob Fosse wins Best Director for Cabaret (talked about here), which I don’t understand at all. Nor do I understand (though, I kinda do, sort of) Joel Grey winning Best Supporting Actor for the film (talked about here). I do, however, understand Liza Minnelli winning Best Actress for the film. She was by far the best decision in what was an incredibly weak category (1972 must have been a real bad year for female roles). So that’s 1972. 5 out of the 6 awards went to two films. And then there’s this category.
This is just awful. And, looking for alternatives, you can’t help but start with Talia Shire. How did she not get nominated for The Godfather? I think they nominated her for Part II as a way of making up for the snub here. Her being nominated would have really helped this category. That’s really the only glaring one I saw. Female roles seemed really weak this year. So I guess we’ll just deal with the piece of shit category.
EST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1972
And the nominees are…
Jeannie Berlin, The Heartbreak Kid
Eileen Heckart, Butterflies are Free
Geraldine Page, Pete ‘n’ Tillie
Susan Tyrrell, Fat City
Shelley Winters, The Poseidon Adventure (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1937
I hate 1937. It feels like such a waste. The Life of Emile Zola is just a weak, weak Best Picture choice. Good film, yes, but just a weak choice. I know a lot of people would say The Awful Truth was the best film this year, but, it’s a comedy, and that wasn’t gonna win. Really, the film that should have won was A Star is Born. It’s such an iconic story, how could they not give it to that? But I digress.
Best Director this year was Leo McCarey for The Awful Truth. This is regarded as a good decision, but for the wrong film. Even McCarey said that when he won. You see, he also directed a film called Make Way for Tomorrow this year, which is basically a film about old people, and how the young ignore them, and it’s kind of an “old people matter too!” film. It’s really great. Anyway, he won for the wrong film. Best Actor this year was Spencer Tracy for Captains Courageous, which, isn’t a great decision, but I can go with it, I guess. Best Actress was Luise Rainer for The Good Earth, which I haven’t fully made up my mind on yet. Soon though. I’ll let you know soon. And Best Supporting Actress was Alice Brady for In Old Chicago, which, as I said here, is an acceptable decision historically, but not a good one based on the category.
So that’s 1937. Weak Best Picture choice, the Best Director choice was for the wrong film, Best Actor is just a strange choice, Best Actress is fine, I guess, Best Supporting Actress is sort of fine, but also a bit weak, and this category is — well, let’s talk about it.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – 1937
And the nominees were…
Ralph Bellamy, The Awful Truth
Thomas Mitchell, The Hurricane
Joseph Schildkraut, The Life of Emile Zola
H.B. Warner, Lost Horizon
Roland Young, Topper (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1962
1962 is just one of those years. One of those years where, they did make the perfect decision, and yet — you just want them to have gone with something else. Lawrence of Arabia wins Best Picture, and who can blame them? The film is perfect. It’s a quintessential Best Picture film. It’s just — To Kill a Mockingbird was also up this year. And sentimentally — I love that film and I root for it. So while it wasn’t a bad decision (historically it’s an amazing decision) — I still do love To Kill a Mockingbird.
Best Actor this year was Gregory Peck for Mockingbird, and honestly, who can fault that one? It’s Atticus Fucking Finch. Best Actress this year was Anne Bancroft for The Miracle Worker, and Best Supporting Actress was Patty Duke, also for The Miracle Worker. Both were fantastic decisions. If you’ve seen the film — and you should — you’ll understand why both won. Especially Duke. And that’s coming from someone who really wanted to vote for Mary Badham as Scout Finch. The only decision this year I really disagree with is Best Supporting Actor, which Ed Begley (senior, not junior) won for Sweet Bird of Youth. I personally would have given it to Omar Sharif or Telly Savalas. But, with 5 out of 6 great decisions, it’s fine. The year is just incredible. I wish years could be even mostly as good as this one was, Oscar-wise. That’s without even mentioning how stacked this individual category is.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1962
And the nominees were…
Pietro Germi, Divorce, Italian Style
David Lean, Lawrence of Arabia
Robert Mulligan, To Kill a Mockingbird
Arthur Penn, The Miracle Worker
Frank Perry, David and Lisa (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1944
This year is the last year history was made. That is — Greer Garson is one of only two actresses to be nominated for Best Actress for five consecutive years. Can you believe that? Five consecutive years. Not even Brando did that, and not just because he was a male actor. The first person to do it was Bette Davis, which, ironically, her five years overlapped with Greer’s. And even more coincidental is, both were nominated for six out of seven as well. Bette Davis was nominated for five in a row, skipped a year at the end, then got a sixth nomination right after. Greer Garson got one nomination, skipped a year, then got five in a row. I love these types of coincidences.
For trivia purposes, Davis’s nominations were: 1938: Jezebel (won), 1939: Dark Victory: 1940: The Letter, 1941: The Little Foxes, and 1942: Now, Voyager. Then a skip year and in 1944: Mr. Skeffington. Garson’s nominations were: 1939: Goodbye, Mr. Chips, then a skip year, then, 1941: Blossoms in the Dust, 1942: Mrs. Miniver (won), 1943: Madame Curie, 1944: Mrs. Parkington, and 1945: The Valley of Decision. So, for the seven years between 1939 and 1945, Greer Garson and Bette Davis were two of the five Best Actress nominees in ’39, ’41, ’42, and ’44. And in 1944, their films were Mr. Skeffington and Mrs. Parkington. Eerie, right?
As for the rest of 1944, Going My Way wins Best Picture, Best Director for Leo McCarey (talked about here), Best Actor for Bing Crosby (talked about here) and Best Supporting Actor for Barry Fitzgerald (talked about here). And Ethel Barrymore wins Best Supporting Actress for None But the Lonely Heart. In all I think this is an okay year, but not as good as it could have been.
BEST ACTRESS – 1944
And the nominees were…
Ingrid Bergman, Gaslight
Claudette Colbert, Since You Went Away
Bette Davis, Mr. Skeffington
Greer Garson, Mrs. Parkington
Barbara Stanwyck, Double Indemnity (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1952
1952, as we all know, is a pretty infamous year. The Greatest Show on Earth beats High Noon for Best Picture, in one of the most controversial and beat upon decisions of all time. I talked about it a lot, I think, in the Best Actress 1952 category article here, which Shirley Booth won for Come Back, Little Sheba, so I won’t speak too much about it except — HUAC is going on, High Noon is an anti-Communist film, and the whole situation was very awkward for them, so they just avoided it and went with the innocuous choice. But, interestingly enough, it seems like a choice where — they wanted you to know: they didn’t vote for this film, they just didn’t vote for this other film.
Anyway, Best Director this year was John Ford, winning his fourth, for The Quiet Man. I don’t really like the decision, because, he didn’t need the fourth one, and I don’t see how the bias against the film extends to Fred Zinnemann (especially considering the result of this category), and because — Cecil B. DeMille directed The Greatest Show on Earth. How do you not give him the Oscar he’s earned over the course of his career? Then there’s Best Supporting Actor, which was Anthony Quinn for Viva Zapata!, which is fine. It was kind of a weak category. And then Best Supporting Actress was Gloria Grahame for The Bad and the Beautiful, which, I’m glad the film got some recognition.
So, that’s 1952. A strange year that’s not really a simple, like/don’t like, acceptable/not kind of year. And then there’s this category, which — is kind of okay, and yet, is tough to really judge. I’ll explain. Of course I’ll explain.
BEST ACTOR – 1952
And the nominees were…
Marlon Brando, Viva Zapata!
Gary Cooper, High Noon
Kirk Douglas, The Bad and the Beautiful
José Ferrer, Moulin Rouge
Alec Guinness, The Lavender Hill Mob (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actress – 1991
I think we know 1991 pretty well. The Silence of the Lambs wins the big five: Best Picture, Best Director for Jonathan Demme (talked about here), Best Actor for Anthony Hopkins (talked about here), Best Actress for Jodie Foster, and also Best Adapted Screenplay. But we’re not dealing with screenplays here. At least not yet. The other decision that wasn’t this category was Jack Palance as Best Supporting Actor for City Slickers (which I talked about here). In all this was a really good year. (How could it not be, right?)
That brings us to this category. I don’t have a problem with the decision so much. It was actually the best decision they could have made in this category. My problem is with the nominees. It’s a really weak set. One of the weakest I’ve ever seen. So much so that I’m invoking my rule that if I disagree with three of the nominees (and I totally do), I look for alternatives that could have been nominated instead. It’s my way of coping with a shitty category. It helps if I can know there weren’t any better choices. So let’s look.
Yeah, I got nothing. Not really, anyway. And the only difference in the Globes category was Nicole Kidman being nominated for Billy Bathgate. I guess that’s better than Kate Nelligan. That nomination seems like a standard bullshit Academy nomination. Wow, this year sucked for supporting actress roles.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1991
And the nominees were…
Diane Ladd, Rambling Rose
Juliette Lewis, Cape Fear
Kate Nelligan, The Prince of Tides
Mercedes Ruehl, The Fisher King
Jessica Tandy, Fried Green Tomatoes (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1950
This one hurts. A lot. On the surface, you could look at this category and be like, “Oh, of course, All About Eve.” But if you look closer, you see it beat Sunset Boulevard and The Third Man. How could All About Eve have been a better directorial effort than those two? Especially the latter, which is considered one of the top ten or twenty (top five for me) best directorial efforts of all time? As you can see, I won’t even hide my contempt for this decision.
The rest of this year was — well, not very good. I don’t really like it all that much. All About Eve wins Best Picture, which I guess is okay. I prefer Sunset Boulevard, but, meh. Not gonna quibble that much. Best Actor was José Ferrer for Cyrano de Bergerac, a rather forgettable decision. Especially when you had William Holden in Sunset Boulevard and Jimmy Stewart in Harvey as the other choices. Best Actress was Judy Holliday for Born Yesterday, which, I liked as a performance, but am not totally sure about as a decision. After all, she beat Gloria Swanson for Sunset Boulevard (not to mention Bette Davis and Anne Baxter — more so Anne Baxter — for All About Eve). Best Supporting Actor was George Sanders for All About Eve, which is a pretty good decision (it was between him and Erich von Stroheim — a much more historical decision). And Best Supporting Actress was Josephine Hull for Harvey, which I think is pretty good.
So, in all, I find this to be a bad year. Even the okay decisions are very questionable, and it’s all topped by this horrendous cherry on top.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1950
And the nominees were…
George Cukor, Born Yesterday
John Huston, The Asphalt Jungle
Joseph L. Mankiewicz, All About Eve
Carol Reed, The Third Man
Billy Wilder, Sunset Boulevard (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1981
Oh, 1981. Chariots of Fire. I think we can leave that decision to speak for itself. Best Director this year was Warren Beatty (which I talked about here), which was better than the alternative of Hugh Hudson winning for Chariots of Fire. Best Actor this year was Henry Fonda, finally winning his long overdue Oscar for On Golden Pond (which I talked about here). Best Supporting Actor was John Gielgud, winning for his wonderful turn as Hobson in Arthur. And Best Supporting Actress was Maureen Stapleton, also winning for Reds.
So, in all — a good year for the acting decisions, but a terrible, terrible year for Best Picture. That’s really all there is to say about the year. As for this category — you know, I have to say, even though she had three of them already, this wasn’t a bad decision. There really wasn’t any other choice. Not really, anyway.
BEST ACTRESS – 1981
And the nominees were…
Katharine Hepburn, On Golden Pond
Diane Keaton, Reds
Marsha Mason, Only When I Laugh
Susan Sarandon, Atlantic City
Meryl Streep, The French Lieutenant’s Woman (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1944
1944. Don’t love it. Like Going My Way a lot, don’t like it as a Best Picture winner. Double Indemnity was a much better film and choice. Bing Crosby as Best Actor (which I talked about here) I like as a decision. Leo McCarey as Best Director for the film (which I talked about here), I do not like.
Ingrid Bergman winning Best Actress for Gaslight is a choice I think had to happen. I, personally, would have went with Barbara Stanwyck, but, as a decision in and of itself, it makes sense. Ethel Barrymore as Best Supporting Actress for None But the Lonely Heart — it is what it is. Veteran Oscar. Don’t like it, but, what can you do? So, the year is pretty ho-hum for me. It’s just kind of there.
This category in particular — there was really no other option. It was pretty weak, and you had a lead role going supporting, one that was really good at that — there was no other choice.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – 1944
And the nominees were…
Hume Cronyn, The Seventh Cross
Barry Fitzgerald, Going My Way
Claude Rains, Mr. Skeffington
Clifton Webb, Laura
Monty Woolley, Since You Went Away (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1960
I do not want to talk about this category. I want to skip over it and leave it as is. I can’t win no matter what I do here. On one hand, Billy Wilder wins this category for a film that, along with Some Like It Hot, defines his career. On the other hand, Alfred Hitchcock directed Psycho. Wilder had an Oscar (three, in fact) already. He won for directing The Lost Weekend and producing it (it won Best Picture). Then he won Best Screenplay for Sunset Boulevard. He also won Best Screenplay this year as well. So in all he won 6 Oscars. Hitchcock won zero. And yet, The Apartment is probably one of my top ten or twenty favorite films of all time. So I can’t win no matter what I do. I hate that.
As for the rest of 1960, The Apartment wins Best Picture, which, I feel is one of the best decisions of all time (but, I’m biased. Still, I think most people can agree that it’s a very good decision). Best Actor was Burt Lancaster, for his fantastic turn in Elmer Gantry. Shirley Jones also won Best Supporting Actress for the film. Best Actress was Elizabeth Taylor in BUtterfield 8, which is one of the more — controversial Best Actress decisions of all time. Most people acknowledge that Liz won because they thought she was dying and that Shirley MacLaine really should have won. Best Supporting Actor this year was Peter Ustinov for Spartacus.
So, overall, I think this is a pretty good year. I personally would have went another way on Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress — and then there’s the matter of this category — but overall, I think this is a very successful year. This feels like a strong 4/5 movie. And I like that.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1960
And the nominees were…
Jack Cardiff, Sons and Lovers
Jules Dassin, Never on Sunday
Alfred Hitchcock, Psycho
Billy Wilder, The Apartment
Fred Zinnemann, The Sundowners (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actress – 1953
And the final of the 1953 categories (at least, as of how the articles are being posted now. Much later down the road, this will only serve to confuse people. And that amuses me). There’s almost nothing to say about the year as a whole now, because it’s all been done before. I love it.
From Here to Eternity basically sweeps most of the awards. It wins Best Picture, Best Director for Fred Zinnemann (talked about here), Best Supporting Actor for Frank Sinatra (talked about here) and this award. Four out of six is pretty good. The other two awards were William Holden for Best Actor (talked about here) Audrey Hepburn for Best Actress (talked about here). As you can see by the winners, this is a very strong year.
As for this category, it’s probably the weakest in bunch in terms of nominees. But, Best Supporting Actress has historically been the category with the weakest set of nominees. Look at most Oscar years, and I bet if you had to pick the weakest category, it would, the majority of the time, be Best Supporting Actress. In this one in particular, there were really only two choices, and of the two, one made the most sense because — well, I’ll let you know when we get to My Thoughts on the matter. Still — this makes a lot of sense.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1953
And the nominees were…
Grace Kelly, Mogambo
Geraldine Page, Hondo
Marjorie Rambeau, Torch Song
Donna Reed, From Here to Eternity
Thelma Ritter, Pickup on South Street (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1930-1931
This is one of the exciting years. You see, I assume that most people aren’t familiar with the Oscars. Why would you? That’s what I’m here for. And even if someone does have some knowledge about the categories, like who won Best Supporting Actress in 1985 (Anjelica Huston), I can be pretty certain that there’s an even smaller percentage of those people who really know about the 1927-1933 years. Again, why would you?
1930-1931 is kind of the second real definitive Oscar year. That is, the first year was Wings, and that was an establishing year. Then the second year was a mess, because they were dealing with shifting over to sound, so The Broadway Melody won, since it was the biggest film that used sound the best. Then 1929-1930 was All Quiet on the Western Front. That was the real first year where they chose an “Academy” decision. That film is just wonderfully made. And this year, Cimarron won Best Picture, which is an epic western, based on a bestselling novel — a prestige picture. Of course it was going to win. It’s a pretty good film. I personally prefer the film that won Best Director this year, Skippy. Norman Taurog directed the hell out of it, and I’ll further discuss my love for the film shortly.
The other award this year that wasn’t this one (remember, no Supporting categories until 1936) was Marie Dressler winning Best Actress for Min and Bill. This decision makes a lot of sense, because Min Dressler, at age 62, was the biggest star in Hollywood at the time. Her winning Best Actress was a way of validating the category. The same thing happened in this category. Lionel Barrymore was, at this time, what Laurence Olivier was in the 50s. Which is why, no matter how I feel about who should have won, this decision ultimately was the right one.
BEST ACTOR – 1930-1931
And the nominees were…
Lionel Barrymore, A Free Soul
Jackie Cooper, Skippy
Richard Dix, Cimarron
Frederic March, The Royal Family of Broadway
Adolphe Menjou, The Front Page (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actress – 1994
1994 is a very contentious year among people my age. More so than the Shakespeare in Love/Saving Private Ryan thing. The reason for that is — Forrest Gump, The Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction. All three great films. Everyone has their preference. And even if you don’t, everyone recoils and is like, “Ooh…yeah. That’s tough.” I’m not getting into which was best here (I always take Quentin. Just saying.), but I’ll leave it at, Forrest Gump wins Best Picture, Best Director for Robert Zemeckis, and Best Actor for Tom Hanks, his second in a row, and the one of the two I actually think is a good decision.
Also this year, Jessica Lange finally wins her overdue Best Actress award for Blue Sky, mostly because her category was really weak, and her only competition was from Jodie Foster, who clearly gave the best performance in the category, but won twice already within the past seven years, and, she went full retard. Trust me, both things were factors. That’s why Lange won. And Best Supporting Actor this year was Martin Landau for Ed Wood. A great performance. It also beat Sam Jackson for Pulp Fiction and Gary Sinise for Forrest Gump. Mostly Sam Jackson. That was a tough pill to swallow, even though I love Landau’s performance there.
Anyway, that does it for everything else. Now, here — I hate this category. Hate it. I completely disagree with two of the nominees, and one film got nominated twice. So I count that as three, and I’m looking for alternatives. Guess what? There aren’t any. Unless we want to nominate Sally Field for Forrest Gump. We could stretch it and nominate Robin Wright Penn for it instead of Sally, but, Penn was clearly in the “lead” type role. But hey, they were possibilities. People seem to love Heavenly Creatures. How about nominating one of those two? Hell, give me something interesting. This is such a lifeless category.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1994
And the nominees were…
Rosemary Harris, Tom & Viv
Helen Mirren, The Madness of King George
Uma Thurman, Pulp Fiction
Jennifer Tilly, Bullets over Broadway
Diane Wiest, Bullets over Broadway (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1974
1974. The Godfather Part II wins Best Picture. Francis Ford Coppola wins Best Director for it after not winning for the first one (which I talked about here). And Robert De Niro wins Best Supporting Actor for the film as well (talked about here). Art Carney wins Best Actor for Harry and Tonto, a decision I consider the single worst Best Actor decision of all time (which I bemoaned here). And Ingrid Bergman wins Best Supporting Actress for Murder on the Orient Express (talked about here). Which means two things. One, aside from one terrible decision and one poor one, this was a rather stellar year. And two, this is actually the last category from this year I’ve yet to discuss. This might be a first for me.
Anyway, this particular category is the most interesting of the bunch (even more so than the abortion that was Best Actor this year), mostly because there were three legit competitors this year. Like, legit contenders. You have Faye Dunaway, who pretty much cemented her overdue status with this performance. In a way, she was building toward her Network performance that eventually won her the award. But still, she was good enough to win here. Then there was Gena Rowlands, who delivered a tour de force performance in A Woman Under the Influence, which, even though she wasn’t due, she did deliver the strongest performance in the category. And then there was Ellen Burstyn, who delivers a very good performance and was overdue. You see, the year before this (talked about here), she probably should have won Best Actress for The Exorcist (it wouldn’t have been a sexy decision, but it was the right one, I feel). Her not winning there basically assured she’d win here. But for me — I have to choose between these three performances. I have my work cut out for me, don’t I?
BEST ACTRESS – 1974
And the nominees were…
Ellen Burstyn, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
Diahann Carroll, Claudine
Faye Dunaway, Chinatown
Valerie Perrine, Lenny
Gena Rowlands, A Woman Under the Influence (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1938
1938 is such a weak year. It’s like the Academy, having the chance to make bold choices, got nervous and went with the sure thing. How can it be falling into its own stereotype when it’s only 11 years old? You Can’t Take It With You wins Best Picture. It’s a fine film, a really great one, but is definitely not a Best Picture winner. Frank Capra wins his third Best Director trophy in five years. 1934, 1936, and this one. Did he need it? Absolutely not. I talked about it here. It’s really strange the Academy went with the film, especially when The Adventures of Robin Hood, Pygmalion and especially Grand Illusion were also up for Best Picture.
Best Actress this year was Bette Davis for Jezebel, winning her second Best Actress trophy in four years. I’m a big opponent of this decision. I’ll talk about it eventually. Definitely not a fan. Fay Bainter wins Best Supporting Actress for the film, which is a very good decision, for both legitimizing the category and also because she was nominated for Best Actress this year, so that was a good choice. And Best Supporting Actor was — guess who — Walter Brennan for Kentucky. This was his second of three, winning every other year out of five, just like Frank Capra.
So, I consider 1938 a failed year. They had a chance to really do something interesting, then took the safe choice. We really shouldn’t be surprised. The Academy will often take the safe choice. Oh, and did I mention? I consider this specific category to be the SECOND WORST BEST ACTOR DECISION OF ALL TIME. How’s that for a lead in?
BEST ACTOR – 1938
And the nominees were…
Charles Boyer, Algiers
James Cagney, Angels with Dirty Faces
Robert Donat, The Citadel
Leslie Howard, Pygmalion
Spencer Tracy, Boys Town (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1969
1969 is the year 1967 really took effect. You see, 1967 is generally marked as the year where the Academy — and Hollywood in general — finally turned that corner and embraced more modern films. Bonnie and Clyde is the landmark film here. The depiction of violence was unheard of and was the start of those wonderful 70s films I (and a lot of people, I’d imagine) fetishize so much. But really, when you look at the Oscars — nothing really changed for two years. In the Heat of the Night wins in 1967, which, sure, it’s a look at racism, but, looking at the other four nominees that year, it was the second weakest choice in the bunch. Then 1968 was just a weak year in general (it was kind of like Hollywood releasing the excess water in the pipes while getting the good stuff ready for 1969), and then 1969, they finally went modern.
Midnight Cowboy wins Best Picture, Which was really the turning point for the next decade. Personally, I’d have picked Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but I can see why they went the way they did. Midnight Cowboy was written by a formerly blacklisted writer, and it was a kind of rejection of the old ways. I understand. John Schlesinger wins Best Director for the film, which makes sense. Best Actor was John Wayne for True Grit, perhaps the most acceptable career achievement Oscar ever. Best Actress was Maggie Smith for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which I talked about here. And Best Supporting Actress was Goldie Hawn for Cactus Flower.
In all, I’d consider 1969 a very good year. My preferences lean the other way for the major two awards, but, hey, it’s not like they made a bad decision. So, in all — a good year. A forbearer of (mostly) great things to come.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – 1969
And the nominees were…
Rupert Crosse, The Reivers
Elliott Gould, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Jack Nicholson, Easy Rider
Anthony Quayle, Anne of the Thousand Days
Gig Young, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1952
A person could talk for hours about 1952. This is the year High Noon, the consensus best picture of the year, loses Best Picture to The Greatest Show on Earth. Now, this is unintentionally one of the years that lead to the existence of this Oscar Quest. I unthinkingly said, “Wow, High Noon not winning Best Picture was such a crock of shit,” without actually having seen The Greatest Show on Earth. The rest is history. Now, having seen The Greatest Show on Earth, I can say pretty definitively — it’s not a bad film. It’s actually a very good film, and a very entertaining film. What it is, is — not even a bad choice — it’s a safe choice.
You see, HUAC was big during this time. That’s the House of Un-American Activities. If you don’t know what that is, you probably should have paid a bit more attention in history class. Seriously. Be better. And High Noon, written by a blacklisted writer, was nothing more than an allegory for what was going on in Hollywood at the time. And it was a very controversial film, naturally. So — the Academy, not having any balls, couldn’t bring themselves to vote the film for Best Picture. So they went with the easy choice. The question is — why?
It seems like they were so unsure of what to do (aside from not voting for High Noon), they went and fucked everything up in the most confusing way possible. The Greatest Show on Earth wins Best Picture, but not Best Director. Which is strange, since the director of the film was Cecil B. DeMille, a Hollywood legend (who never won a competitive Oscar. He was given a Thalberg award this same year, so perhaps that’s why they didn’t vote for him). Instead, they gave John Ford his fourth Best Director Oscar for The Quiet Man. Not a bad decision, but, he had three. I don’t think he needed it. So they vote one for Best Picture, another for Best Director. And making things even more confusing, they go and give Gary Cooper Best Actor for High Noon. What the fuck? I thought they hated it. Way to be contradictory, Academy. It would have made sense to go another way with it, so at least you can say he didn’t win because of the Citizen Kane-type bias. It makes no sense.
Anyway, the other winners this year were Anthony Quinn as Best Supporting Actor for Viva Zapata!, and Gloria Grahame as Best Supporting Actress for The Bad and the Beautiful. It’s a very strange and confusing year. It’s like the puberty of the Academy. And on top of that, we have this category, which, isn’t terrible, but also — just strange. Just really strange. (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1949
1949. Good year, but not a great one. I like it, but don’t love it. All the King’s Men. A good film, but not really a great one. In another year, it probably wouldn’t win Best Picture. But this isn’t another year. Broderick Crawford wins Best Actor for the film, which I think is a great decision (as I’ve talked about here), and Mercedes McCambridge wins Best Supporting Actress for it as well. She was really the only choice. After that, Best Actress was Olivia de Havilland for The Heiress, which, even though it was her second one, was richly deserved. She was by far the best in the category. And Best Supporting Actor was Dean Jagger for Twelve O’Clock High, a decision I haven’t fully formulated an opinion on yet.
That’s it, really. Good decisions, but nothing outstanding. This category, however — introduces a real catch-22 in the history of the Best Director category. I’ll tell you what it is right now. Joseph L. Mankiewicz wins this. I don’t think he should have. I didn’t think his effort was that great. However, he also wins Best Director the year after this, for All About Eve. Which, is a good effort. Problem is, that year, he beat two films generally considered to be two of the the best directorial efforts of all time, Billy Wilder for Sunset Bouelvard and Carol Reed for The Third Man. And therein lies the catch-22. If Mankiewicz doesn’t win here, he definitely wins there, where he really shouldn’t have won. But he wins here, and he shouldn’t have. So what do you do? He should probably have a statue, but, I can’t (or won’t) vote for him in either of these years. So what do you do? See what I mean? How do you win? (You don’t. And that, ladies and gentleman, is the Academy Awards.)
BEST DIRECTOR – 1949
And the nominees were…
Joseph L. Mankiewicz, A Letter to Three Wives
Carol Reed, The Fallen Idol
Robert Rossen, All the King’s Men
William A. Wellman, Battleground
William Wyler, The Heiress (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actress – 1954
Let’s get the recap out of the way quickly, because I’ve got a bone to pick with these nominees. On the Waterfront wins Best Picture in one of the best Best Picture decisions of all time. Elia Kazan wins Best Director in a good decision that almost had to happen, but one that didn’t necessarily need to (I talked about it here). Best Actor was Marlon Brando, a top five decision of all time. Best Actress was the big Grace Kelly vs. Judy Garland debacle. People feel very strongly about this. Grace won for The Country Girl. I’ll divulge my opinion some time in the future. And Best Supporting Actor this year was Edmund O’Brien for The Barefoot Contessa, probably because of a vote split among the three Waterfront nominees. So, that’s the year. Pretty good overall.
Now — this category. What a weak fucking category. That’s not to say they didn’t make the right decision (category fraud will do that. But still, thank god for category fraud), but, seriously, this is awful. There’s only one out of five decent nominees. Two, if you want to include the historically significant one. Still, three I disagree with, and that means — look for alternatives. Is it the category or is it the year. Let’s see.
Other supporting actresses that could have been nominated: …yeah, I got nothing. Maybe Thelma Ritter for Rear Window would have given the category a boost by giving it a stronger film. Mercedes McCambridge for Johnny Guitar would have been a fun one. But otherwise — nothing. Wow, this year sucked for supporting female roles.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1954
And the nominees were…
Nina Foch, Executive Suite
Katy Jurado, Broken Lance
Eva Marie Saint, On the Waterfront
Jan Sterling, The High and the Mighty
Claire Trevor, The High and the Mighty (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1944
I used to really dislike 1944 as an Oscar year. I like Going My Way a lot, but I never liked it as a Best Picture choice, especially since Double Indemnity was also up for Best Picture that year. And even if it did win, Leo McCarey winning Best Director? Was that necessary? He had one already, and I think most people agree that Double Indemnity is the superior directorial effort. So much so that I think Billy Wilder got one of those Fred Zinnemann type makeup Oscars the year after this (he directed The Lost Weekend, which won Best Picture in ’45).
I also wondered why Going My Way also won Best Supporting Actor for Barry Fitzgerald (which, I kind of understood, but I hadn’t seen any of the other nominees yet, so I figured there must have been a better choice) and even this category. That’s four of the six major awards, for a film that’s nothing more than Boys Town with some music thrown in. Also, just to recap, Ingrid Bergman won a pseudo makeup Oscar for Gaslight this year, and Ethel Barrymore wins Best Supporting Actress for None But the Lonely Heart, a clear and obvious veteran win.
So, with all of that — I saw no decisions I could get behind at all. It seemed like a bad year. Not terrible, just, bad. But now, after having seen many things, I’ve sort of come around on a few of the categories. I can at least either agree with or accept three of them, while still considering three of them bad decisions. But fortunately, though, one of the ones I agree with was this one, so, that’s good, right?
BEST ACTOR – 1944
And the nominees were…
Charles Boyer, Gaslight
Bing Crosby, Going My Way
Barry Fitzgerald, Going My Way
Cary Grant, None But the Lonely Heart
Alexander Knox, Wilson (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1957
1957 is one of those years that’s such an easy decision you just nod and move on. The Bridge on the River Kwai is one of those movie’s that so unquestionably good that you’re like — of course it won Best Picture. I mean, sure 12 Angry Men was up this year, but, when you think about which one is a “Best Picture” film — there’s really no comparison.
Alec Guinness wins Best Actor for it, which is a great (and also easy, especially when you see the category) choice. David Lean wins Best Director for it — also an easy decision (especially since he hadn’t won before this and should have, twice). Best Supporting Actor went to Red Buttons for Sayonara and Best Supporting Actress went to Miyoshi Umeki, also for Sayonara, neither of which I particularly understand. I’m going to watch the film again by the time I write up those categories, so I can try to find what the Academy saw in it to vote those two in.
But, as for this category — this one is as big a slam dunk as I’ve ever seen. It’s really just an easy decision to make. Which is great. I love those.
BEST ACTRESS – 1957
And the nominees were…
Deborah Kerr, Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison
Anna Magnani, Wild is the Wind
Elizabeth Taylor, Raintree County
Lana Turner, Peyton Place
Joanne Woodward, The Three Faces of Eve (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actress – 1973
This category always makes me perk up. It’s not that it’s a particularly strong category. It’s just that there are two nominees who were so amazingly good that they’d probably be easy winners in most years. And they’re both under the age of 15. That’s what’s so great about it. In case you didn’t know, I’m a sucker for child actor performances. Especially the precocious child role. I love when they give kids adult dialogue. It’s just so entertaining. And Tatum O’Neal in Paper Moon is the epitome of that type of performance. That’s why I love this category so much.
As for the rest of the year — it’s pretty great. The Sting wins Best Picture and (finally) Best Director for George Roy Hill (which I talked about here). Jack Lemmon wins a long overdue Best Actor for Save the Tiger, which was a great decision. Then Best Actress was Glenda Jackson for A Touch of Class, which in itself is not a terrible decision, but is terrible based on the fact that Glenda Jackson had already won Best Actress in 1970 in the worst Best Actress decision of all time. I talked about her ’73 win here. And finally, John Houseman wins Best Supporting Actor for The Paper Chase, which I consider a poor, but understandable decision. I talked about it here. So, in all, I consider 1973 an overall very good year, not the least of which is because of this category, which I consider a fantastic decision.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1973
And the nominees were…
Linda Blair, The Exorcist
Candy Clark, American Graffiti
Madeline Kahn, Paper Moon
Tatum O’Neal, Paper Moon
Sylvia Sidney, Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1986
1986 is, well, the year of Platoon. I don’t really know how to feel about this year because, while I like Platoon, I like The Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now more. And for some reason that taints my feeling of Platoon in a stand-alone Oscar year. I don’t really get it either.
Platoon wins Best Picture and Best Director for Oliver Stone. There wasn’t really a better choice to be made there, so I guess that makes it good. I mean, Children of a Lesser God is great, but — not Platoon. And Paul Newman finally wins his Best Actor for The Color of Money, playing the same character he should have won the Oscar for playing 25 years earlier in The Hustler. Marlee Matlin wins Best Actress for Children of a Lesser God, which is a great decision (because while Kathleen Turner and Sigourney Weaver were great, they were in Peggy Sue Got Married and Aliens. Did you really think they were gonna win Best Actress for those films?) And Best Supporting Actress was Dianne Wiest for Hannah and Her Sisters, because, well, there wasn’t really another choice (though naturally, I’d have gone another way).
So, I guess, in all, 1986 is a fine year. No real terrible decision to be made. Actually, I guess that would make it a good year. Wouldn’t it?
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – 1986
And the nominees were…
Tom Berenger, Platoon
Michael Caine, Hannah and Her Sisters
Willem Dafoe, Platoon
Denholm Elliott, A Room with a View
Dennis Hopper, Hoosiers (more…)
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