The true downside in the last two decades is that the Supporting categories have frequently become the place where the "co-leads" are demoted. If one co-star has slightly lesser screen time, you can almost tell which one will get the boot from Lead.
However, this does lead to some rather weird examples. Even though Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara are both clearly lead in Carol, the latter got bumped to Supporting presumably because she was not as big a star as two-time winner Blanchett...and despite the fact she technically had more screen time than Blanchett.
So yes, I will be dealing with some category fraud when discussing some of these winners...but I am not really going to factor that into my selections in any negative way.
====================================
#89 - Gloria Grahame, The Bad & The Beautiful (1952)
Grahame only appears in about 9 minutes of the film, and yes, this is a Supporting category, and we will have far too many people who category frauded on this list. I certainly want to support actual supporting performances, but the difficulty with this is what is done with that time.
For example - Grahame is not the record holder for the shortest performance to win an Oscar. That person is also a fellow Supporting Actress winner, but if you happen to be reading this and aren't aware of who it is, I will keep it a surprise. It's sort of like recently with Isabella Rossellini in Conclave who was onscreen for roughly 7 minutes and while she made a good impression, I still don't know if it was truly enough for an Oscar nomination in the grand scheme.
Grahame's role in the film is the wife of a writer, who doesn't become a major focal point until an hour or so into the film. She comes in, plays his sort of doting and sort of unfulfilled wife, annoys him in a way that is admittedly endearing to the audience, but then she is gone.
I would say the only reason she won was due to the fact that 1952 was a banner year for Grahame in that she was featured in two other high-profile films: Sudden Fear which netted Joan Crawford a Best Actress nomination and that year's Best Picture The Greatest Show on Earth, and frankly...it almost would've made more sense to nominate her and give her the win for that film...not that it deserved more Oscar love however...
I think what makes this win truly sting more is that she beat out one of the most iconic comedic villains in cinema history. A performance that I find so indelible and delicious in its approach that it has to be on the Mount Rushmore of Oscar snubs: Jean Hagen, Singin' in the Rain.
The fact that Singin' in the Rain was mostly shoutout of many nominations that year was a true testament to how much the studio systems were willing to push other films for their own agenda as MGM head Louis B. Meyer lobbied for people to vote for their stuffy and overblown Ivanhoe adaptation for a nod instead.
When is the last time someone has actually watched that version of Ivanhoe? Is there a secret society of Ivanhoe fanatics I am not aware of?
But I digress...Grahame was clearly a wonderful actress, but I am not sure this was a role that truly stood out as being Oscar worthy.
_______________________________
#88 - Laura Dern, Marriage Story (2019)
I am sure some of you have seen Christopher Guest's film For Your Consideration, which satirizes the concept of awards buzz in Hollywood and how it sets up expectations for certain films and performances that don't always pay off.
I feel like with Laura Dern, there was already a ton of goodwill building up for her after her dazzling turn as Renata Klein on HBO's Big Little Lies and that summer, industry insiders and online pundits were saying that Dern's role in Marriage Story could likely be an Oscar player, and she would get to deliver a strong monologue in one scene.
By the time award season rolled around, Dern swept all the major precursors and yet, when I watched the film, I couldn't help but be disappointed.
Dern plays a lawyer named Nora, who is hired by Scarlett Johannsen's character Nicole to represent her in her divorce from her husband Charlie (Adam Driver).
Nora is the kind of woman who knows what she has to offer and isn't afraid to use it to curry favor in the courtroom, but at the end of the day, this is a very shallow role where we never truly see much about her inner life. It is all VERY surface level and just feels like a bit of a retread of her Big Little Lies character.
Oh, and that "strong monologue"?
I actually didn't like it. I don't think Baumbach's writing of it was bad or anything, but I feel like the way Dern ended up delivering it felt too forced and disingenuous when it was supposed to be a key point where we see some semblance of this Nora's values.
As for her fellow nominees, I think Florence Pugh's work as Amy in Little Women was the clear choice for me personally...but this was also the year that Academy embraced Parasite and yet none of its ensemble got acting nods.
Cho Yeo-jeong, Park So-dam, Lee Jung-eun, and Jang Hye-jin were all arguably more worthy of a nomination. You also had the truly lovely Zhao Shuzhen in The Farwell, a film that got completely shut out of the Oscars that year despite the fact I thought it was easily one of my 5 favorite films from 2019.
_______________________________
#87 - Margaret Rutherford, The V.I.P.s (1963)
1963 was actually a pretty dire year for Hollywood all around. If you look a lot of the nominees, so many of them don't stand the test of time. It makes me wish they had the wherewithal to nominate Fellini's 8 1/2 and then we would've had our first film to win that was international.
Even more bizarrely from that year was that they gave Hud a Best Director nomination and TWO acting wins, and it still got snubbed for Best Picture when it was clearly the strongest offering to come out of the Hollywood system that year.
#86 - Ingrid Bergman, Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
However, it is the comments that Bergman would make about her fellow nominee Valentina Cortese that resonate with me more. Bergman knew what was up, and that was the fact that Cortese's performance in Day for Night (one of my favorite films of the 1970s, which is saying something) was easily the best performance in that category and should've won in a cakewalk.
As for Bergman herself, this is a case of yet another small performance in an ensemble film that benefits to having an actress behind it giving her role a little more oomph but...does that mean it warrants an Oscar?
The role of Greta is mostly confined to an interrogation scene where her own self-proclaimed "born backwards" personality is on full display. She is a woman who is still deeply affected by her past to the point where she is brought to tears when talking about her parents.
And yet...it just doesn't feel like it was much of a challenge or that she did enough that made me think this was the finest Supporting work of that year...even when simply judging it on its own standards.
_______________________________
#85 - Helen Hayes, Airport (1970)
So much of Hayes' legend is linked around the theatre that we simply cannot know about her performances beyond written accounts. Her film work is minimal in comparison, but it is clear that she was a performer who was adept at being a lead or a character actress, to say the very least.
Much like Margaret Rutherford, Helen Hayes is tasked at being the comic relief of Airport, the film that truly set off the Disaster film craze of the 1970s and that I frankly find to be a bit of a bloated piece of fluff.
There is a reason why I adore a film parody like Airplane! because it truly captures the lunacy of a film such as Airport. Melodrama can be richly entertaining, but I don't think that is something Airport ended up achieving.
Hayes plays Ada, an elderly woman who is a caught as a stowaway on a flight but despite being the film's comic relief, the scene that really stands out as the most memorable is when they use her to help stage a scene to try to get closer to a bomber who is on the flight.
The extremes of the scene, complete with the stewardess slapping Hayes for effect, work because Hayes sells it very well...but it is still not quite enough yet again. It just felt like a way to give a legend like Hayes a second Oscar nearly 40 years after her first.
I would've voted for Lee Grant in The Landlord, which I will bring up more when I discuss the role Lee Grant actually won for.
_________________________________
#84 - Renee Zellweger, Cold Mountain (2003)
No one really talks about Cold Mountain anymore, and for good reason. Prior to its release, it was seen as a bit of a hopeful Oscar contender as it was being helmed by the late Anthony Minghella who had won an Oscar for directing The English Patient.
Despite some nominations here and there from various precursors, Cold Mountain managed to get snubbed for a Best Picture nomination. I just think it is one of those stuffy and dull period pieces that people tend to think of when they think of the kinds of films that used to win Oscars.
Zellweger is, to continue a theme, supposed to be something of comic relief in this dreary film but it ends up coming across as way too brash and tonally out of place despite what the goal was supposed to be. She is supposed to be illiterate and uneducated but have a bit a common sense when it comes to dealing with the film's lead Ada, who just happened to be played by Nicole Kidman.
I actually do like Renee Zellweger and wish she would get more consistent opportunities from Hollywood, but it is a shame that her two Oscar wins are for performances that don't represent her finest work. I am not sure I would vote for her in any given year, but I DO really love her in the original Bridget Jones' Diary, and she was very fetching in Jerry Maguire.
As for who should've won, the answer is clear as day in my book: Shohreh Aghdashloo in House of Sand & Fog.
_______________________________
#83 - Melissa Leo, The Fighter (2011)
You get what they are going for: a strong broad who is tough as nails and fits the Boston vibe to a tee...and it doesn't feel unique or original. Instead, it just feels one-note and over-the-top...which is to be expected considering this is an offering from one of my least favorite filmmakers of all time who seems to still make films that will get Oscar attention from time-to-time: David O'Russell.
Various film forums have commented on certain performances over the years where it seems as though you have to heavily emote in order to be close to Oscar glory. One such variation of this is destroying various items, such as plates, in a scene. I think this mostly began when Sissy Spacek broke a plate during her Best Actress nominated performance in In the Bedroom but here, Leo has a scene where she goes to town on some plates and all I can think during that kind of acting is "I am gunning for that Oscar!!"
The sad truth is that Melissa Leo is a wonderful actress, as evidenced by her Lead-nominated performance in 2008's Frozen River in which she gave such a heartfelt and beautifully subtle performance.
It is nice to see Leo with an Oscar, but this is a win that just makes me shudder a bit.
_______________________________
#82 - Mary Astor, The Great Lie (1941)
I would put Mary Astor in that same group. When I think of her, the first role that comes to mind due to it being the first thing I ever saw her in was 1949 adaptation of Little Women where she played Marmee opposite June Allyson's Jo.
However, when actors play against type, it can sometimes lead to glorious results. Despite Astor winning this, I don't consider this to be one of those times.
In The Great Lie, Astor plays Sandra, a highly respected concert pianist who also happens to be a temperamental diva. She was the former spouse of pilot Peter Van Allen (George Brent) who discovered that their marriage was invalid. Peter marries Maggie (Bette Davis) but soon after is suspected to have perished in a plane crash. Like clockwork, Sandra discovers she is pregnant with his child, and this leads Maggie to offer to raise it in exchange for financial assistance. Things take a turn when Sandra leaves for a world tour and then Peter turns up alive.
This is a film that is very melodramatic and pulpy, mainly elevated by the presence of Bette Davis and Mary Astor but that is only saying so much.
I talked about "types" earlier but the catch here is that Astor's role of the diva was not within her usual wheelhouse while Davis plays the more sympathetic and doting archetype.
Astor isn't exactly BAD in the role, but her diva antics do come across as a way too theatrical and melodramatic which in turn makes Davis, of all actresses, look almost dull by comparison as she is saddled in the kind of role that was honestly beneath her talents. The only reason she took the role was due to fan mail that encouraged her to try to take on "nice" female characters. She admitted later that the role didn't excite her and it felt too close to her in reality to devote much energy to it.
Astor does at least try, but I am not sure she convinced. Her quieter moments are a lot more compelling. The real solution here? They should've swapped out the films. Astor also happened to be in the legendary film noir The Maltese Falcon that same year...give her the win for that film instead!
______________________________
#81 - Geena Davis, The Accidental Tourist (1988)
I could see Emma Stone excelling in a role like this if I were to use a more modern-day example.
Here's the problem though: The Accidental Tourist is one of the most bizarre film experiences in that it is so clearly supposed to be one thing and yet that doesn't translate onscreen.
Yes, this film does have the tragedy of William Hurt's character Macon dealing with his marriage ending when their 12-year-old son tragically dies, but it is also a romantic dramedy where an unlikely pairing ends up leading to a spark.
The Accidental Tourist is void of spark. It has a borderline lifeless energy at time as if director Lawrence Kasdan was like "Make this scene feel so real but as if you don't want to emote TOO much".
While we do get flashes here and there of energy, but is that a goal a film should aspire to have? It's not like Kasdan was making a film that was supposed to invoke the dreary philosophical nature of Ingmar Bergman...but those films had a different kind of energy.
Davis can act, but I almost feel like this win is for the idea of the character rather than how successful the character was portrayed. If I were to cast my vote for one of the other nominees that year, I likely would've given it to Michelle Pfieffer for Dangerous Liaisons.
_______________________________
#80 - Alice Brady, In Old Chicago (1937)
Just the year prior, Brady was nominated for My Man Godfrey but lost. Conveniently enough, the Academy had an opportunity to make up for it the next year.
In Old Chiago is not a good film and in it, Brady plays Mrs. O'Leary, the woman whose cow starts The Great Chicago Fire. Despite such a silly topic, the film manages to be rather droll and not overly compelling.
Brady does fine with what she is given, but it isn't overly remarkable. However, what really ends up making me rank her so low is her rather unfortunate final scene.
After the fire, O'Leary gives a big speech about how she and her family will persevere despite the fact they are responsible for the city burning down. As a monologue, it is written extremely poorly. As a staged scene, it was like Brady received no direction and she was trying so hard to remember the monologue from memory.
It has to be one of the worst scenes ever in an Oscar nominated film and especially for an Oscar winning performance.
______________________________
#79 - Shelley Winters, A Patch of Blue (1965)
_______________________________
#78 - Kim Basinger, L.A. Confidential (1997)
The first Oscar ceremony that I have a vivid memory of watching was the 70th Annual Academy Awards, which was the year Titanic swept.
However, that film managed to build up its haul thanks to the tech categories. The acting and screenplay categories belonged to the other BP nominees such as As Good as It Gets, Good Will Hunting, and L.A. Confidential.
Going into the ceremony, I feel like there was a lot of buzz around honoring Gloria Stuart for Titanic for sentimental reasons. However, all people had to do was look at the year prior when supposed "lock for the ages" Lauren Bacall lost the Oscar to Juliette Binoche.
In this case, they gave it to Kim Basinger...even though Julianne Moore and Joan Cusack were right there.
Basinger's win does seem a little strange in hindsight, but I suppose it was a way to honor the movie. I do think Basinger gives off an alluring screen presence, but at the same time, it just feels like something is missing.
I have never exactly considered Basinger to be a great actress, and I have to wonder what this role would've been with a different actress.
She is essentially supposed to be the femme fatale, but she feels a lot more aloof in the role as opposed to some of the more famous and legendary actresses who played roles like this in the past such as Barbara Stanwyck and Lauren Bacall.
While maybe a tad more successful in the energy department than Geena Davis, I do feel like she sort of suffers from a similar kind of issue...especially when you put her next to the stellar ensemble she works with. I just don't see where the desire was to rush to give her this win.
Then again, apparently my desires are not valid since it was enough to net her an Oscar meanwhile Julianne Moore is killing at as Amber Waves and Joan Cusack is outside a bar wearing a wedding dress screaming "Is everybody gay?!?!"
________________________________
#77 - Teresa Wright, Mrs. Miniver (1942)
#76 - Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
I can consider this to be one of the most bizarre and out-of-nowhere Oscar wins in quite some time. It wasn't enough that a truly out-there film such as Everything Everywhere All at Once ended up going all the way with its groundbreaking sweep of 6 major categories, but that the high-profile campaigning and divided race that also included Kerry Condon from The Banshees of Inisherin and Angela Bassett for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever led to Jamie Lee Curtis getting swept up in the fever after winning SAG at the last minute.
The online discourse was mostly anti-Curtis taking it as her fellow co-star Stephanie Hsu clearly gave the more complex and interesting performance. This isn't to say I was necessarily anti-Curtis, but I will say over the last couple of years...and even the night of that ceremony...it almost felt like Curtis winning was an unreal event. THAT performance won an Oscar. It was a bit weird and comedic and campy, but it just seemed like a clear case of someone knowing how to work the room while campaigning plus having the added benefit of being in a film with immense passion behind it.
It was nice to see Curtis get this kind of recognition as she was always on the brink of Oscar consideration for mostly unexpecting comedic or genre projects like Trading Places, A Fish Called Wanda, True Lies, and even Freaky Friday.
Despite really enjoying what she brought to the table with this one, especially her scenes in the Hot Dog Universe, I just don't think it was a performance that warranted Oscar consideration. If they wanted to go the career route, I think Angela Bassett would've made a lot more sense as she at least had one truly powerful scene that impressed me greatly in her film.
#75 - Miyoshi Umeki, Sayonara (1957)
I feel bad ranking this performance so low because of its historical importance, but it is just yet another case where I don't think the role really had enough to it to make for a great showcase.
Having said that, what Umeki does have going for her is the emotional impact. Due to the tragic ending of her character, she certainly does linger with you. Plus, she does have two small moments that stand out, like when she is crying to her husband (played by Red Buttons) over wanting to get surgery on her eyes or while she watches a play with him and she gets taken in by the story.
It is just a very brief performance, but somehow, she manages to stand out and become the best aspect of the film. It just isn't necessarily enough for me to consider it an Oscar worthy performance.
I still love that the win happened because it was such a huge push towards rewarding performers of color...granted no other Asian actress would win until Youn Yuh-jung 63 years later...and spoiler alert...her win won't be discussed on here for a little while.
_____________________________________
#74 - Shelley Winters, The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
Sorry to rank you so low again, Ms. Winters...but alas, here we are.
This is just an example of another performance where I am little surprised that it got singled out for this kind of recognition.
It isn't that Winters was bad, but I just feel there wasn't as much for her to do. She did have a couple of key moments, like when she lashes out at Anne calling her a "clumsy fool" for ruining her coat and also her response to when the Frank family discovers Hans has been stealing food and she has to defend him.
Petronella is a character who is also kind of unsympathetic at times and seems to be far more willing to take advantage of the Franks despite the truly dangerous and risky arrangement they are currently in. I think Winters DOES excel well at playing these types of characters, but unlike her work in A Patch of Blue, I think Petronella is a more of a fleshed-out character...and yes, she did actually exist but as written in film form, she does work and I think Winters does all she can with her.
It is just simply another case where I can't say the work is particularly Oscar worthy.
_____________________________________
#73 - Lee Grant, Shampoo (1975)
Yet another comedic winner and as much as I love Lee Grant, I just don't think this was a performance that warranted an Oscar.
After having been blacklisted and making a comeback in the 1970 film The Landlord, which would've been a better film for her to win for, Grant finally got the Oscar and the gratification that all of the blacklisting turmoil she went through was now a blight on the past.
Sidenote, The Landlord is about a guy who obtains a property in a Brooklyn neighborhood and is an early example of the concept of gentrification. Even more hilarious, the neighborhood is Park Slope. PARK. SLOPE.
Anyway, Grant plays Felicia Carr, a wife of a politician who is mostly unhappy and bored with her life, so she starts sleeping with her hairdresser, played by Warren Beatty.
She manages to make the most of her role, ringing out the juice of every line and stealing every moment she is in... but it still just doesn't feel like there is much to the role.
She gets some nice moments and is, perhaps, the best thing about the movie but it still just doesn't feel like there is much to really connect with.
I am kind of amazed how many of the performances so far just feel like surface-level pieces that don't offer much depth in any way.
At any rate, I am glad Lee Grant nabbed an Oscar...but let us take a moment to acknowledge Ronee Blakley in Nashville. Although, if I am being honest, they should've put Louise Fletcher here for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and given her the win.
__________________________________
#72 - Ethel Barrymore, None but the Lonely Heart (1944)
#71 - Gale Sondergaard, Anthony Adverse (1936)
Two little facts: Gale Sondergaard is perhaps best known these days as being the original actress they approached to play The Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. The first approach with that role was they wanted to model the character after the Queen in Snow White & the Seven Dwarves, but then after decision was made to make her ugly, Sondergaard did not want to do "ugly" onscreen and that led us to get the legendary Margaret Hamilton.
#70 - Anne Revere, National Velvet (1945)
I already made a reference to Anne Revere when I was talking about archetypes and how they can have varying results when you stay from them. In this case, we have someone who managed to win an Oscar staying within the wheelhouse they were truly known for.
#69 - Judi Dench, Shakespeare in Love (1998)
I have already brought up the case of Judi Dench, and it is a shame. It just goes to show how much a "makeup" mentality and getting swept up in the coattails of your film can lead you to win for a performance that is not remarkable.
I don't think I have to prove to anyone that Judi Dench is a stellar actress...and I think that she should've won the Oscar the year before for Mrs. Brown, in which she played Queen Victoria.
A lot was said at the time about the brevity of Dench's performance, including Dench herself when she won, and this may be a slight paraphrase: "I feel for 8 minutes I'm on the screen; I think I should get a little bit of him".
The 8-minute role was that of Queen Elizabeth I, and she gets three scenes and provides moments of dry wit and wisdom. I particularly do love the moment when she leaves one of Shakespeare's plays and encounters a puddle. The men around her are too busy bowing to notice she wants them to cover the puddle...but she plows through it: "Too late, too late..."
It is a role that does require great presence...which goes without saying...and Dench certainly provides that. Still though, there just isn't that much there. Just because Dench was able to make the most of a decently written role shouldn't be warranting the placement of an Oscar on your mantle.
_____________________________________
THOUGHTS ON THE RANKING SO FAR:
No comments:
Post a Comment