My Ranking of the 95 Best Actress Oscar Winners: Vol. 4 (40 -21)

We are inching ever closer to my top 20.

In this volume, I think you can see that I shift more towards a sense of reverence in how I feel about many of these performances...especially as we reach the 20s.

Let's get into the list and I will leave the rest of my thoughts for the end.

_____________________________________________

#40 - Holly Hunter, The Piano (1993) 

I feel like Holly Hunter's win for The Piano has aged rather well for myself and a lot of other critics...but I am still not entirely sure she should've won. I am more inclined to think that Angela Bassett should've won for her truly iconic turn as Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do With It? or Stockard Channing for duplicating her stage performance of Ouisa in John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation.

Much like Hunter's performance, I have also grown more fond of The Piano as I found it to be an obtuse bore when I saw it as a teenager. I consider it to be a truly haunting film these days and feel that Jane Campion's work on it was truly masterful.

Hunter doesn't speak in the film aside from narration...so the performance relies solely on her expressions. I feel like she does manage to succeed with what she is handed, but I often found myself more drawn to her younger co-star Anna Paquin (Oscar winner at 11 years old) who had such a fascinating screen presence and would often steal scenes.

It is nice to see Hunter getting an Oscar though, especially after losing for her magnificent breakout performance in Broadcast News 6 years earlier.

__________________________________

#39 - Ellen Burstyn, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)

Ellen Burstyn is another example of an actress who deserves an Oscar on her mantle and she managed to get it for a good performance...though not her best...and not the best in her category.

Burstyn managed to rebuild her legacy with younger moviegoers with her role as Sara Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream, which might be the best performance of her career. 

Her role of Alice mostly seems overshadowed these days by the fact that this story would be adapted into a sitcom starring Linda Lavin. 

Not to mention that this is the infamous year in which Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage was deemed ineligible for the Oscars as it had originally been a miniseries in Sweden...which meant Liv Ullman couldn't compete. 

Even without Ullman, this category still had an actress giving one of the greatest performances EVER captured on film: Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence. 

Trying to put aside my massive admiration for the snubbed Ullman and the ferociously brilliant Rowlands, I can commend Burstyn's work here as being feisty and memorable...and hey, ranking her at #37 is certainly nothing to scoff at. 

It is a vibrant performance and I think had the film come out the following year, she would've been an easy sweeper.

_________________________________

#38 - Barbra Streisand, Funny Girl (1968)

Streisand's win is simply due to the fact that she, more than likely, voted for herself.

Despite Funny Girl being her feature film debut and Academy protocols normally stating otherwise, the Academy President and Oscar winner Gregory Peck had pushed strongly (and honestly wisely) for new changes in Academy membership...especially in favor of fresh new blood.

With this in place, we managed to get our first and so far ONLY legit tie in an acting race (the 1931 Best Actor race was not a true tie). 

Streisand tied with Katharine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter (spoiler alert: you won't see her til the next and final volume), who had just won the year before for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? and now had 3 Oscars.

One of the things that greatly bothers me about Streisand in this film is something that Streisand herself has called out...and that is, I find her often to be a lot less engaged during songs when she is being made to lip-sync.

The vocal performance is obviously stellar, but the visual performance often feels disconnected...and THANKFULLY, she knew this so well that she insisted to William Wyler that first portion of "My Man" be done live and have that blend into a pre-recorded performance. 

The results of the lip-sync in that particular case are marginally more successful with the emotion already set in place...but even then, it does slip for me slightly.

It is a performance that is hurt mostly by filming conventions, but whenever she does overcome it, she is truly exceptional.

___________________________________

#37 - Julianne Moore, Still Alice (2015)

This win for Julianne Moore is another key example of an actress finally winning an overdue Oscar that should've already happened...and in her case, if we are strictly basing it off the actual Oscar nominations, she would've won in 1998 for Boogie Nights and in 2003 for Far From Heaven.

Is this an undeserved win? 

No. 

I would say that her performance in this is handled with a lot of care and is highly emotional. I do think the film around her isn't exactly as strong, which can often work against some performers.

I might've been more inclined to vote for Marion Cotillard in Two Days, One Night, but I think Moore winning for such a devastating and heartbreaking performance is a solid choice, to say the least.

____________________________________

#36 - Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)

We are quickly approaching awards season as I write this post, but as of this exact moment, Chastain is our most recent winner...and it is a win that both baffles me and makes me happy.

Last season's Best Actress race was all over the map. For a while, it seemed like Kristen Stewart was on track to win for her work as Princess Diana in Spencer, despite how divided many were on her and the quality of the film.

Then, when she managed to lose the Golden Globe and got snubbed at both SAG and BAFTA, it more or less erased her chances.

While this was all going on, Lady Gaga was doing the rounds to promote House of Gucci and making it known that she took a lot of method classes to the point where it just became a joke. Briefly, it seemed as though she was going to be the frontrunner when she was the only main contender to get nominated at every major precursor...only for her to get snubbed at the Oscars.

Quietly and stealthily, Jessica Chastain crept through the season despite the fact her film was a bomb and got middling reviews. She managed to win the SAG along with the Critic's Choice Award (which simply seemed like them doing their usual copycat routine because if they really were to represent the critics, then Stewart would've won there).

Chastain's performance got mocked by some as being hammy and brash.

Ummm....have people totally forgotten what Tammy Faye-Bakker-Messner was like as a person?

She was loud, she was emotional, she was passionate, and she wore lots of eye makeup and bronzer.

Sure, lily-white Chastain may have been buried under a ton of makeup and fits the bill of a cliche Oscar winner from a biopic but despite the film's sluggish quality, I think she did a very good job at capturing the spirt of this truly interesting woman.

It also doesn't hurt that Chastain is an actress who was truly overdue for this kind of recognition, so her having an Oscar does make everything seem right.

Of the nominees, I might've been inclined to vote for Penelope Cruz for Parallel Mothers.

Of the snubbed contenders, we have a few women who were far more worthy than most of the nominees:

Renate Reinsve, The Worst Person in the World

Tessa Thompson, Passing

Anamarie Vortolomei, Happening

Martha Plimpton, Mass

Tilda Swinton, Memoria

______________________________________

#35 - Glenda Jackson, Women in Love (1970)

I placed Glenda Jackson's second win in my second volume at the rather low ranking of 69. I didn't say much about my opinions of Jackson as an actress at that time, but that was mainly because I wanted to save my thoughts for this moment.

I find Glenda Jackson to be, despite these two Oscar wins, one of the more underrated actresses to come out of the British Renaissance of the 60s and 70s which included contemporaries like the Grande Dames of Julie Christie, Julie Andrews, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Helen Mirren, and Diana Rigg.

I actually see a lot of current British darling Olivia Colman in Jackson, but Jackson is her own unique being. The deep and vibrant timbre in her voice in which she can shake the rafters or chill you in the quiet moments is one of my favorites to ever grace a film.

Her political work, including her LEGENDARY takedown of Margaret Thatcher on the Parliament floor the day she passed, is truly honorable as well.

I think her work in Women in Love is fantastic, and her surreal energy matches up perfectly with the film itself...and if you've seen Women in Love...I think you already know that it is quite the trip...

_____________________________________________

#34 - Shirley Booth, Come Back Little Sheba (1952)

In a decade that was dominated by the glamorous Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, and Grace Kelly, the Academy managed to honor some truly remarkable character actresses with Best Actress honors. 

I will be talking about one of those in my final volume, but there is a certain joy in seeing a great character actress from the stage like Shirley Booth make her film debut in Come Back, Little Sheba and take a well-deserved Oscar.

Of course, Booth's film career didn't exactly take off and following her win, she seems most remembered for playing the titular maid on the sitcom Hazel. 

Come Back, Little Sheba is a movie that is melodramatic to its detriment; the kind of movie that makes me roll my eyes when I think about the supposed Golden Age of Hollywood.

However, for what it is, I find it to be rather enjoyable and I think Booth manages to sell the material very well...even if the script makes her say "daddy" far too often to the point it almost seems comical.

Booth deserves to be talked about more as a performer, and I think in many ways, what she brought to the table could be seen as being a little ahead of its time. 

__________________________________________

#33 - Louise Fletcher, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

When Louise Fletcher graced the stage of the Dorothy Chandler Pavillon, it felt a bit like divine justice. 

After her falling out with director Robert Altman, Fletcher left the movie Nashville and the role of Linnea Reese, which had been created just for her. Even after Lily Tomlin took the role, they kept the ASL/Deaf children angle, which was closely linked to her own life as Fletcher was a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults).

Fletcher's acceptance speech also included her performing ASL to her parents (although the camera takes far too long to zoom out to show what she is saying), which makes for an emotional and important moment.

1975 was a year which still stands out as being rather weak for strong female roles. Fletcher did benefit strongly from this as she is a case of someone who probably belonged in Supporting.

I do think her fellow nominee Isabel Adjani truthfully may have been the right choice for her work in The Story of Adele H. but you can't deny the iconic power of Fletcher as Nurse Ratched.

As an actress, I feel like Fletcher was never able to escape Ratched's shadow sort of in the same vein that Anthony Perkins couldn't escape Norman Bates...but what a legendary performance.

______________________________________

#32 - Jane Fonda, Klute (1971)

There was a small span from the late 60s/early 70s where it seemed like Jane Fonda was going to escape the bombshell/Barbarella era of her career and become an acclaimed and prestige actress.

With the release of Klute, she gave us what may be the best performance of her career.

And right after winning the Oscar, she became "Hanoi Jane" and she was "cancelled".

Why cancelled? She was photographed seated on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun and the result was seen as a betrayal to many Americans. Her career stalled and between the span of 1972-1976, she only made appearances in documentaries and in Jean-Luc Godard's Tout Va Bien. It wasn't until 1977 that she made a big comeback in Fun with Dick & Jane and Julia...along with simply a few years of reevaluation after the failure of the Vietnam War and also the disgraced administration of Nixon. 

As Johnny Carson put it before she got interviewed on The Tonight Show, "she was right". 

Fonda is an actress that I admittedly respect her political ideals more than I do a lot of her performances, but when she does manage to settle into a role, she can do wonders with it.

Her Bree is a truly compelling creation, and Klute stands out as one of the best films of 1971 as well.

_________________________________________

#31 - Frances McDormand, Fargo (1996)

For her 1st win (already discussed the third and we still have the 2nd win coming), I think McDormand achieving a victory for Fargo is one of the more inspired wins in Oscar history.

On one hand, even though Marge Gunderson is a major and pivotal character in Fargo, she almost feels like a supporting character in terms of screen time...which is even more baffling when you consider that her co-star William H. Macy was nominated for Supporting Actor and is arguably the real lead of the film.

The kind of thing happens all the time, so I will just let it go. It is a topic for another time.

Marge Gunderson is a perky and quirky sheriff of a small Minnesota town. She is happily married and approaching the due date of her first child. 

With a thick Minnesotan accent and truly charming screen presence, it is hard to avoid using a word like "iconic" when discussing this performance.

Considering the fact she beat very dramatic performances by the likes of Brenda Blethyn, Emily Watson, and Kristin Scott Thomas, I can't help but feel like this is a rare example where the Oscar voters embraced a quirky indie favorite at the expense of a more bombastic or dramatic performance.

Having said that, I am still not sure I would've voted for her in this lineup. Of the names I mentioned above, both Blethyn and Watson would battle it out for my vote. 

Strangely enough, much like McDormand, I think Kristin Scott Thomas was more Supporting than her winning co-star Juliette Binoche. It felt like Bincohe and Macy were more lead than McDormand and Thomas were. 

Nevertheless, I celebrate this win because it does feel truly unique.

_____________________________

#30 - Geraldine Page, The Trip to Bountiful (1985)

My introduction to Geraldine Page was her voiceover work as Madame Medusa in one of my favorite Disney movies of all time: The Rescuers.

As a kid, there were certain performers I had such a strong attraction to for their work that I would often ask my mother about them, and I can distinctly remember being very entranced by Page simpy due to her voice alone.

When I got older, I discovered her work in other films. In Woody Allen's Interiors, a movie which is in a constant battle from being pretentious and intriguing, Page's Eve is a neurotic mess that becomes so compelling to watch...and I am convinced that in a lesser actress' hands, that role would've been a colossal failure.

She was also splendid in films like Summer & Smoke and in lighter fare like Pete n' Tillie. 

Nowadays, we hear about actresses like Amy Adams who have yet to win an Oscar, but it took Geraldine Page until her 8th nomination to win.

Many film buffs will debate whether this Oscar was deserved, especially due to the fact she beat Whoopi Goldberg in her iconic debut role as Celie in The Color Purple.

I am torn. I don't care as much for The Color Purple, but Goldberg was splendid in it.

When it comes to Page, I can't say that The Trip to Bountiful is a remarkable movie, but I think she equally as splendid in other ways.

There is a scene closer to the end of the film when Page is at a bus depot and it looks as though her journey back to see her childhood home is about to be thwarted and she starts to cry.

When watching this scene for the first time, I immediately said "Okay, she deserved this".

I think Goldberg and Page were both worthy.

As for some snubbed contenders that year:

WHERE IN GOD'S NAME WAS CHER IN MASK?!?!

Also, a quick shoutout to Mia Farrow in The Purple Rose of Cairo and Norma Aleandro in The Official Story.

______________________________

#29 - Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

-

When Michelle Yeoh stepped onto the stage at the 95th Annual Academy Awards, I was thrilled...and the honest truth is that it might be one of the best examples of me being equally happy for someone even if I may have voted for one of their competitors.

In the grand scheme of things, I did prefer Cate Blanchett's performance in Tar. However, there is no denying how much passion and warmth and all-around badass energy Michelle Yeoh brought to the table.

As someone who has been a big fan and champion of Asian cinema for most of my life, I am also thrilled that we FINALLY have an Asian performer winning in Lead. 

Yeoh became only the second woman of color and first Asian woman to win a Lead Oscar...and it has been 21 years since Halle Berry stood on that same stage accepting the honor. It is crazy to think it took this long considering that since then, we've had Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, and Will Smith all win in Lead Actor. 

This was a performance that managed to feel right in line with so many compassionate Best Actress winning roles...but it also felt so unique at the same time.

I might not have been as enamored with the film as many others were, but there is also a lot to admire about the film...and I think Yeoh is MAJOR driving force behind that. 

_______________________________________

#28 - Hilary Swank, Boys Don't Cry (1999)

The 72nd Annual Academy Awards were essentially viewed as the coronation ceremony for American Beauty. The amount of praise and adoration that movie received at the time still, to this day, feels as strong as any movie to have come out in my lifetime. What makes it all the more remarkable is how much that adoration has waned in recent years...and perhaps I am biased because I have never found that movie to be the masterpiece that many claimed it was.

I bring up American Beauty because going into that ceremony, many expected it would become the 4th film to sweep the Big 5 Oscars: Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor, and Actress.

It got the first 4, but Annette Bening lost Actress to Hilary Swank for Boys Don't Cry.

At the time, this wasn't exactly an upset. It seemed very possible that it would occur, and looking back on it, the transformation angle fits squarely into the Oscar winner motif.

I actually feel Swank was the better choice and I also think Swank has never managed to find the kind of role to showcase this kind of talent again...and yes, I say that knowing full well that she won a second Oscar...and if you recall, I didn't exactly rank that win too high.

Boys Don't Cry is a brutal movie. It is not an easy watch. I recently made a comment about the movie Till and how I felt that maybe a movie dealing with a truly horrendous racial crime didn't need to be made. Did we also really need to see this trans man get brutally assaulted and murdered?

That is always going to be a major debate.

 You also have the fact that they cast a cis woman to play a trans male...but looking past that, I feel like the manner in which Swank committed to the part is truly commendable. 

I do want to acknowledge a major snub in this category though, because I still think that Reese Witherspoon was utter perfection in Election. 

Rhyme pun not intended.

______________________________

#27 - Liza Minnelli, Cabaret (1972)

This win by Liza Minnelli is a prime example of  how something can simultaneously be both well-deserved and a mixed bag all at once.

I think Cabaret as a movie also aptly fits a similar description, because it is truly its own beast compared to its source material.

Despite the darker edges of the film, it loses a lot of its luster compared to the Tony Award winning stage production that had opened on Broadway six years prior...particularly how it handled the subtext of the relationship between Minnelli's character Sally Bowles and her lover Cliff (Michael York)…not to mention the erasure of subplots involving Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz. 

So the film might be great in its own right, but it is also very different in terms of its final product. Within the world of the film, Minnelli shines and is truly wonderful.

However, a lot of the dramatic weight that is often brimming under this character is lost. This is especially apparent after you watch other interpretations by such actresses as Natasha Richardson, Jessie Buckley, or Amy Lennox. 

    As a song, the titular number sounds cheerful and reads as cheerful but in the stage show, it comes along at a crucial moment where Sally performs it but realizes that the life she thought she wanted was a shame and that she would rather abort the baby she is pregnant with and resume a life of "pills and liquor". 

In the movie, the song basically reads exactly as the lyrics suggest. Perhaps it is unfair, but this is what makes me feel like I can fully embrace the performance as my favorite of that year.

She may have been more supporting but I did adore the nominated work of Cicely Tyson in Sounder and also Liv Ullman in The Emigrants, one of the few times she made a mark in the US not making an Ingmar Bergman film.

___________________________________________

#26 - Brie Larson, Room (2015)

I finally watched Room a lot later than many, because it came out at a time when I was basically checked out of not just following movie award season but following movies in general.

I do find it to be a very good movie and one that was highly emotional, but perhaps it was slightly overhyped for me.

I do support this win for Larson...even if I might've been more inclined to vote for Cate Blanchett in Carol. This is a truly powerful performance and was a great breakthrough for her.

I also think it is truly shameful that young Jacob Tremblay didn't get nominated for his performance as he not only worked very well with Larson, but his work was in contention of being the best performance by a young child performer in a film ever. 

Thinking about Larson now makes me want to revisit the film...and to be honest, the more I thought about her, the more I moved her up the list. She was originally going to be in the 30s, but I shifted her up nearly 10 spots. Maybe she will keep inching up more after a second viewing.

______________________________________

    #25 - Patricia Neal, Hud (1963)

1963 was a relatively abysmal year for American cinema and the Oscars as a whole. 

It was also the year that the true British obsession began with the Best Picture selection of Tom Jones, one of the weakest winners possible. 

However, one of the best American films from 1963 was Hud, which contained great performances by Paul Newman and Melvyn Douglas. Then you get Patricia Neal...who could sort of be the Best Actress equivalent of Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs.

Okay, that sounds like a ridiculous comparison, but just hear me out.

Much like Hopkins, Neal is not technically lead when it comes to screen time. She might be the only real female to have significant screentime in Hud (around 20-25 minutes), but it does feel more like a supporting performance.

Having said that, her competition wasn't exactly the strongest and much like Hopkins, she dominates the movie.

This is a great example of an actress making an impression with such little screen time, but a lot of what works so well about this performance is how "lived in" it is. 

Neal's Alma feels like such a living breathing real-life person, and the weary but sensual energy is palpable. Director Martin Ritt insisted she play this part and much like he would years later with Sally Field in Norma Rae, he was able to see what an actress would be capable of that many in Hollywood wouldn't have realized.

_______________________________________

#24 - Olivia de Havilland, The Heiress (1949)

It is nice to be able to talk about Olivia de Havilland again; one of the greatest actresses to come out of the old Hollywood system...and to think we only recently lost her at the age of 104.

I think that her work in The Heiress might be the best performance of her career, or at least closely tied with her work in The Snake Pit the year prior.

I think what works so well with her performance, aside from the fact that she was directed by William Wyler (one of the best of that era), is what she does with her character arc.

The film is such a blistering take on the suffocating hold of the patriarchy, and we watch this very shy and sweet woman gradually change with her arc throughout the movie.

She lacks confidence and as that does grow within her, her body language changes, her vocal pitch changes, she becomes stronger but also colder emotionally. 

When it comes to watching a character's emotional state change in a carefully modulated descent/ascent, I think this performance is a prime example of a "master class".

______________________________________

#23 - Natalie Portman, Black Swan (2010)

I actually sort of have a weird history with this win. 

Very few Oscar wins seemed as universally beloved or as supporting as this one...and I felt like I was in the smallest vocal minority possible for not being as wowed by Portman as the rest of the world.

Over time, my love for her and the film itself have grown considerably.

Simply put, Black Swan has aged very well and so has Portman's committed performance, which has one of the strongest final acts of any film/performance since the 2000s.

I am not sure I have much else to say about it. Due to its relative recency, I feel like many have written about it and analyzed it to the death. 

Go check out the film if you haven't, because it does represent some of the best work of both Portman and Aronofsky.

Also - shout out to Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder who both gave truly wonderful performances in the film and deserved more attention than that of Mila Kunis, who got most of the nominations that year.

_______________________________________

#22 - Frances McDormand, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

FilmTwitter loves to debate over whether or not Sally Hawkins or Margot Robbie or Saoirse Ronan should've beaten Frances McDormand for this performance.

Frankly, I loved her in this movie and I also loved the movie itself, which did seem to polarize some people...certainly moreso than McDonagh's most recent outing as of this writing, The Banshees of Inisherin. 

Those three other actresses I mentioned about were all great in their films, but I am choosing to celebrate McDormand here. 

When Martin McDonagh wrote the film, he stated that this was a part meant for McDormand and that if she wouldn't do it, he would never have made the movie.

The part does seem tailor-made for her. It even allows her a couple of moments to go bigger as McDormand is usually an actress of subtlety. Even those big moments, like when the billboards are on fire and she screams at her son, it happens quickly but the effect of it is so powerful.

As is the case with McDonagh, his work is usually dark but dripping with wit. Considering this is a woman who is mourning the rape/death of her daughter and the fruitless search of finding the assailant(s), it is remarkable how much of that deadpan wit McDonagh incoporates into the film and how well McDormand navigates it. 

She also acts extremely well with her ensemble that includes the truly brilliant Sam Rockwell, who won a very deserved Oscar for his performance, Woody Harrelson, Lucas Hedges, and Peter Dinklage.

A truly dynamic and intriguing character and one of my favorite acting wins in recent years.

_______________________________________

#21 - Anne Bancroft, The Miracle Worker (1962)

Anne Bancroft is one of those actresses who is closely linked to one particular role these days and it seems like many forget the rest of her filmography. 

And no, this isn't the role. The role in question is Mrs. Robinson from The Graduate.

However, I do think Anne Sullivan in The Miracle Worker is probably her second most famous role.

Much like Judy Holliday winning over Bette Davis and Gloria Swanson, I think Bancroft's win here is a bit overshadowed by Bette Davis once again...except not so much with an additional nominee, but a person who was snubbed.

This was the year of the infamous Bette Davis/Joan Crawford battle for attention after they made Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

As the story goes, and any true film fan should know it...or you know the gist of it if you watched Ryan Murphy's Feud...Joan Crawford was not nominated while Bette Davis was campaigning hard to become the first actress to win a 3rd Oscar. Crawford, sensing a chance to try to get exposure, asked the other Best Actress nominees if she could accept on their behalf. In the case of Bancroft and Geraldine Page, both were on Broadway and at the time, that was usually considered a sound reason to skip the awards.

As a side note, Crawford also snagged a chance to present Best Director just in case Bette Davis DID win...but Bancroft did and that gave Crawford a moment in borrowed sunlight.

At any rate though, even if I might've voted for Davis or perhaps Katharine Hepburn for Long Day's Journey Into Night, I do support this win for Bancoft.

The Miracle Worker is a good piece and I think it translated well to film...and it is obvious how well Bancroft worked with her co-star Patty Duke. Their commitment to the physicality of the roles was certainly worth praising, and it felt really bold and brash seeing that kind of energy on display in an American film from the early 60s...a time for American cinema that was, in the grand scheme, a rather meek and docile time.

I think this race was truly too close to call, but Bancroft deserved it regardless of who I might've voted for in the end.

__________________________________

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I am very happy that I am finally a lot closer to completing this project.

I truthfully didn't realize how hard it would be to try to rank these performances. I also didn't realize how many of them actually stand up on their own as very good work when for many years, I often thought to myself how so many of them weren't deserving to win awards.

That is always going to be the problem, though. Awards create an unfair precedent...as do rankings like this if I am being honest. In the grand scheme of things, a lot of these performances so far have been truly admirable efforts.

A lot of these actresses also have not gotten the kind of attention and respect they deserve, so I am happy to shine a spotlight on them...no matter how small of a spotlight I am able to provide.

I will see you next time for Volume 5, in which I will FINALLY be revealing my ranking for my 20 favorite winners.

For my previous rankings, please use the links below:

Volume 1 - #94 - 80

Volume 2 - #79-60

Volume 3 - #59-40

*Volume 5 - #20-1* (coming soon)

My Quick Review of Chinonye Chukwu's TILL - Starring Danielle Deadwyler

 

"They're lucky that black people are looking for equality and not revenge".

-Kimberly Latrice Jones, following the uproar/protests due to the murder of George Floyd in 2020

When I think back a lot on my life, I think a lot about how I have responded to the idea of "revenge" towards people who deserve it. 

Even to this day, despite having grown out of the conservative upbringing I had and embracing a leftist (or should I say, "woke") ideology, I still have a very strong attachment to the idea of bad people getting the comeuppance they deserve.

When I think of the story of Emmett Till, one of the most infuriating and despicable aspects is that the two men who abducted and murdered him, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, were acquitted. That isn't to say that it was unexpected...it was the south in the 1950s... all-white jury. Of course, they were going to let them go free.

In 1992, Till's mother Mamie had the opportunity to listen to Roy Bryant speak about his involvement in her son's lynching to which he said "Emmett Till is dead. I don't know why he can't just stay dead" and further elaborated that the whole situation ruined his life. 

Bryant died of cancer in 1994, while Milam had died of natural causes in 1980. 

In case you aren't aware, Bryant and Milam murdered Till because the wife of Bryant, Carolyn (who is still alive by the way as of this writing approaching 90 years of age). She claimed that Till whistled at her and was trying to sexualize her. 

There is often a debate over the morality of fighting violence with violence...and perhaps this makes me a bad leftist, but I am left truly appalled by the fact that these two men faced no serious repercussions for what they did prior to their deaths.

They both deserved a miserable life...and I sincerely hope they all suffered in their illnesses. As for Carolyn Bryant, she also deserves a special place in hell and I do feel shame that a Grand Jury did not further proceed with an indictment last August. 

The story of Emmett Till is one of many, many, many, many grave injustices that have occurred in this country towards the African American community. Everyone should know this story, everyone should learn more about the life of Mamie Till-Mobley, everyone should see the pictures of Emmett Till's body just as his mother wished for the country to do.

I hate our country in many ways...and the sad truth is so much of what is infuriating about this actual event is still highly relevant in today's society. 

So, having said that, is making a movie about this story coming perilously close to being exploitative?

Is making a movie like this similar to that of making a mini-series about Jeffrey Dahmer or a movie focused on the horrors of the Holocaust?

I do have my own opinions about the Dahmer miniseries (which, ugh...typical Ryan Murphy schlock...), but Till is a movie that I think is highly important, but it also walks a very precarious tight rope. 

Not all movies need to be feel-good experiences, so I do appreciate that a movie such as this does exist.

However, I found Till to be a movie that did dive into making you feel disturbed and upset about the act, but it also tried so hard to be a movie that wanted to be very polished and uplifting by the end...and for this to be a very Hollywoodized movie was a WRONG choice.

Who exactly is this movie for?

Do we really think that any racist white person sitting in the south...or anywhere...is going to sit down and watch this movie and, better yet, suddenly change their minds?

A movie like Till, despite the great efforts of Mamie Till-Mobley as an activist following these events, should not make you feel uplifted at the end. 

The film ends with an intertitle celebrating the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, which only recently got passed by Congress. 

Obviously, yes...it is great that such a bill exists...but should we really be celebrating that it took nearly 70 years after the events of the film for this bill to be passed?

Writer/Director Chinonye Chukwu did state in an interview that she really didn't want to "re-traumatize" audiences but wanted to take them on an emotional journey through Mamie and had hoped to show the "joy and love at the root of the narrative.".

Despite her intentions seeming sincere, I just don't think I can fully get behind this movie as a source of entertainment. I can fully understand why many in the African American community are opposed to seeing it because it just feels like it is digging up the turmoil that didn't need to be dug up. If anything, I am not even sure you could say this was buried to begin with...we are STILL dealing with these kinds of horrendous stories to this day.

The movie was successful at making me feel uncomfortable in the moments where it needed to, but I also felt uncomfortable in the uplifting shifts it took as it progressed...and that in turn made me feel even more uncomfortable.

Imagine if they made a movie about the murder of Matthew Shepard where we really dug into the night of its occurrence (even if we don't see Till's murder occur onscreen, just from a distance with some of the sound). Shepard's death was because he was gay...and for anyone who is reading this who identifies as LGBTQ+, can you honestly say you'd want to see THAT as a movie?

Sure, we have The Laramie Project but that focused a lot on the aftermath...and yes, so does Till but I think even The Laramie Project, despite its importance, also walked a similar precarious tightrope. 

There you have it. I think the film is rather erratic in how it presents itself, and I question if we truly needed to see the bulk of its subject matter depicted.

Through it all, however, is Danielle Deadwyler.

If there is any reason for you to see this movie, it is her performance.

The story of Emmett Till needs to be known, but I am not sure it needed to be in this manner. Deadwyler manages to hold a lot of it together due to immense commitment to the dark emotions she needs to convey. 

I think it is a crime that she is not more seriously in the awards discussion, but I think a lot of that falls on the content of the film itself...and there is the Catch-22. 

I do have issues with the film, but there is no denying the truly magnificent and emotionally charged performance of Danielle Deadwyler. 

She truly elevated the film, no question.

RATING: ***

THE FABLEMANS: A Pleasant Thoroughfare - And That's It (PLUS: A Spielberg Discussion)

 

While writing this blog often brings me joy, there are times when my life sort of prevents me from being able to focus on it. Usually, when this happens, I try to write multiple posts that strike my fancy and then bounce around between them until something clicks and then I post it.

Other times, I will write multiple posts in the span of a few weeks if I have a hot streak going. In the past, that happened when I did my "Best of the Decades" film series, for example.

Then you have cases where I really do sincerely want to post content, especially when it comes to movie reviews this time of year, but very few films give me any kind of desire to write about them.

I watched The Fablemans on the day after Christmas, and I tried for about a period of 3 days to write a review only to finally delete everything I wrote around New Years.

I originally decided I would just not post anything about it, but apparently, I changed my mind since you are reading this right now.

Being at a loss for words in how to convey how you feel could be an immensely positive thing, but I think the unfortunate news here is that I am more at a loss for words because I feel like I don't really have much that I feel compelled to say about The Fabelmans.

When it comes to a director like Spielberg, he made his mark by making big blockbuster films that would excite kids and adults alike...such as Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, and Jurassic Park. 

However, starting in the 80s, he did try to delve into more serious fare but with much more erratic results. I still think he was the absolutely wrong choice of filmmaker to bring The Color Purple to the screen even though that film still has passionate supporters.

He did do very well with movies like Empire of the Sun, Saving Private Ryan, and especially Schindler's List, but at their core, I often find that there is just a sugary polish to his films. 

Spielberg can make movies, but aside from a couple of efforts, I have never found any of his work to be overly daring or risky or that deep. This is especially true when you put him next to other filmmakers who came up in the New Hollywood Renaissance of the 1970s like Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, or even a more erratic director like Brian de Palma (because a movie like Blow Out alone deserves some praise sent his way).

Spielberg has gotten some flack in recent years...and I kind of understand why...for having a rather narrow-minded mentality about filmmaking. In theory, his idea of wanting to save movie theaters at the expense of streaming services is incredibly valid because I think any real film lover would want to keep movie theaters alive.

My major problem with how he has presented himself is his openness at tearing down films that have agreed to be streamed on a platform as opposed to opening only in theaters for a few months. Spielberg said in an interview that he voted for Green Book as Best Picture because he simply didn't want Roma to win as it was streaming on Netflix.

I do want to state that I have no affinity to Roma. I actually found it to be rather boring aside from a few particular moments...BUT I also respected what Alfonso Cuarón was doing as it was a deeply personal film to him and the final results were a very well-made film.

If anything, I think The Favourite was the only film amongst those nominees that even deserved to be nominated so it should've been the winner rather handily.

It seems rather fitting that the man who is railing against new conventions would end up voting for a film that was so flaccid and old-fashioned and treacly in its approach to a racism story.

Since COVID, Spielberg has released West Side Story and The Fabelmans.

Despite movies like Dune and Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water making huge Box Office numbers (with Dune managing to do it even while streaming on HBOMax), Spielberg's two films managed to bomb.

In the case of The Fabelmans, it is the worst performing film of his career. Even a movie like Always performed better, so that is a rather sobering thought. 

There truly is a problem with the movie world at the moment...and I think COVID truly aided to a bigger disconnect than what was happening before.

So often, a lot of these awards movies don't play in Middle America, nor do they get a lot of promotion. I feel like unless you are actively looking for these films, no one is really going to know about them.

Even last awards season, I recall multiple times posting about the Oscars and having friends say, "I haven't even heard of most of these films". The question here is how well has a movie like The Fabelmans been promoted or is it simply that is a story that no one cares to watch despite the fact it is essentially the story of Spielberg's burgeoning interest in becoming a filmmaker?

I don't think The Fabelmans is a bad movie. 

Far from it.

However, it isn't a great movie, either. It also isn't a very good movie.

I would say it is good and solid, with some elements that are interesting.

Movies about children growing up surrounded by their families are all over the place in film history, like Amarcord, Hope & Glory, Radio Days, Yi Yi, and even more recently Belfast. 

Or you have a movie like Cinema Paradiso, which tells the story of a young Italian boy who develops a passion for film when he meets an older man who works a theater projectionist.

There are elements from all of these films that come into play with The Fabelmans so despite some elements that maybe felt a little unique, I didn't consider the movie to feel that fresh.

I already knew a little bit about Spielberg's life as a kid based on previous interviews and articles, but even elements I didn't know, I somehow saw them coming a mile away.

Spielberg's counterpart in the movie is Sammy Fabelman, and when the movie begins, his parents Burt (Paul Dano) and Mitzi (Michelle Williams) are taking him to see Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth, the 1952 winner of Best Picture...and already I cringe as that film is easily one of the worst to ever win the top prize.

The film's big epic train crash leaves young Sammy stunned, and he asks for a train set for Hanukkah. Not long after, he tries to create the train crash which upsets Burt while Mitzi gets what he wanted to do and has him stage the crash one more time so he can film it on her Brownie camera. 

This sets up the stage of Mitzi being the artsy and free-spirited mother while Burt is the more stoic figure who lives a life by rigid rules and an interest in science.

Spielberg had wanted to make this movie for years and actually worked on a script with his sister Anne back in 1999 following his work on Saving Private Ryan. Despite his interest, he knew that he couldn't make this film while his parents were still alive.

So, following the passing of his mother Leah in 2017 and his father Arnold in 2020, Spielberg approached Tony Kushner, with whom he worked with on multiple projects, and asked if he would help dust off the script and rewrite it with him.

The reason for the concern was Spielberg's mother developed romantic feelings for her husband's colleague and eventually they divorced, and she married him.

Young Spielberg actually picked up on this and briefly hated his mother for betraying his father. 

The really bizarre thing about this film is how it made me constantly question how I felt about these parental figures. I certainly don't judge them from the standpoint of simply falling out of love as that is something that is far more accepting these days; Even my own parents got divorced over a decade ago.

There is an energy surrounding Dano and Williams that felt a bit erratic and I never really sure I cared much about their battles or even how it affected the family. I also think there is a particularly lesser focus on Dano as Burt that keeps him at arm's length...and perhaps that was intentional on Spielberg's part considering how his father viewed his ambitions at that time. I just don't think Dano was able to overcome this and was left with an uncompelling character.

Michelle Williams, on the other hand, comes across as more vibrant but also suffers from emotional blowups that read as too brash for the screen and a fight, she has with teenage Sammy comes across as sloppily acted, staged, and edited.

I feel like Michelle Williams is one of those actresses who seems to be either really loved or really hated...and a lot of that stems back to her love of emoting. She's very bold though in her choices. I can recall seeing her onstage in the play Blackbird opposite Jeff Daniels and you could tell she really dug deep into that character's (a victim of sexual assault as a child) neuroses. 

Here, I think she does teeter on the brink of being a bit much at time, but honestly, for the majority of the film, she gave us some truly nice moments.

I think young Gabriel LaBelle, who plays Sammy as a teenager through young adulthood, manages to give the film enough of the heart and charm it needs to succeed in anyway. I can see why Spielberg was drawn to him, and I think he has the potential to become a bigger star.

I do want to single out two more things really quickly.

First up is Judd Hirsch. Mostly known for his role on the TV series Taxi and his very wonderful turn as Dr. Berger in Ordinary People, Hirsch plays an irascible Great Uncle to Sammy who shows up in the film nearly an hour into it, bellows about the horrors of working in the film industry (which he had in the silent era), and then leaves after 10 minutes. 

There has been talk of him being an outside possibility of an Oscar nomination. Not sure if I would go that far, but this is one of those performances that show what a truly great actor can do in just a few moments of screentime.

The other thing is David Lynch.

It has been said that Kushner's husband Mark Harris made the suggestion that David Lynch should play legendary director John Ford, the filmmaker that was the biggest inspiration to Spielberg and who would be the driving force of the film's big final scene.

Lynch is one of the few directors these days that is truly a personality. You could argue that some like Tarantino or Spike Lee fit this bill, but Lynch is someone who is so uniquely him that he is about as iconic as Alfred Hitchcock.

Lynch has made cameos as an actor over the years, most famously as Gordon Cole on his own Twin Peaks or as network production exec Jack Dall on Louie, but there was always that sense that Lynch was essentially playing himself.

JOHN FORD

DAVID LYNCH

Ford was a truly irascible figure too and rather rough around the edges. Despite Lynch being known for being a rather warm and inviting...though quirky...figure that isn't as harsh as some of his films might suggest, he does seem like and proved to be the right choice to play Ford here.

He partakes of advice on how to properly film a horizon and then bellows for Sammy to "get the fuck out of my office".

And Sammy leaves on cloud nine and walks out of the studio...complete with Spielberg breaking the fourth wall by going against Ford's proclamation by filming the horizon his own way...and then changing his mind and filming it like Ford suggested.

Great artists steal, as they say.

I feel like I am a little harsh on Spielberg, but I have to be in the right mindset to truly appreciate him. I will never consider him to be on par with directors like Kubrick or Bergman or Scorsese or Varda or Akerman, but he does show a certain flair for film. 

I still think a movie like Jaws, which truly put him on the map, shows he can make a truly great exciting film that also has truly interesting character types. 

I just don't think he always quite gets to that kind of level anymore...and despite some of its charm, I think The Fabelmans falls short.

RATING: ***1/2 out *****

My Ranking of the Best Actress Oscar Winners - Vol. 3 (59-40)

I am very behind on this.

I posted the two previous volumes earlier this year (with the most recent being way back in June), and have had trouble finding the drive to pick it back up.

In the past few months, I have sort of been gradually preparing this list and shifted around some of the names but this is where a lot of my problems were coming from.

As fun as making lists are, there just comes a point where it becomes hard to necessarily compare something like performances...especially so many of them are pretty good and on what I would consider to be an equal level.

Also, it becomes a matter of sorting out performances of varying styles whether they be bigger or subtler, from the 30s or from the 2010s.

We are entering a portion of the ranking where I find myself having varying opinions and not necessarily immense passion for the performances as a whole, but they are good performances. Some made for solid Oscar wins, some were what I would consider a slight waste...but on their own, they represent solid or even very good work.

So, maybe this list would look different if I revisited some of these films back to back again...but for now, here come my selections for #59-40.

____________________________________

#59 - Marie Dressler, Min & Bill (1931)

In one of the earliest performances to win an Oscar, you can easily say that Marie Dressler was something of an anomaly.

The ageist attitudes of Hollywood have always been present and the fact that an actress of Dressler's age/stature won this award...and for pretty much a comedy no less...is quite the accomplishment. 

Very few actresses had the kind of command and presence of Dressler...who could make Beatrice Arthur look relatively demure by comparison.

Min & Bill is a very brief film and not overly remarkable, but it would be worth seeing for Dressler. These days, Dressler is better remembered for being a part of the famous Ma & Pa Kettle film series.

_________________________________

#58 - Katharine Hepburn, On Golden Pond (1981)

Going into the Oscars that evening, many pundits felt that Best Actress was between Diane Keaton for Reds and Meryl Streep for The French Lieutenant's Woman. 

Katharine Hepburn's win was considered a major shock. It was also historic as this was her 4th win, something no other performer has duplicated.

There is no denying the memorable nature of her performance or her chemistry with Henry Fonda. Her most famous scene where she refers to Fonda as her "knight in shining armor" is easily the highlight of the film. 

I don't think too much of the film, but Hepburn and Fonda were both lovely and I appreciate that their wins along with Supporting winners Maureen Stapleton and Sir John Gielgud gave us the oldest average age of winners to date. 

Who would I have given it to, though? I actually think Susan Sarandon was truly luminous in Atlantic City and would've loved to see her and Burt Lancaster win for that film. I also would've gladly supported a win for Diane Keaton in Reds.

_________________________________

#57 - Joan Crawford, Mildred Pierce (1945)

Very few performers of any gender are as iconic and infamous as Joan Crawford...which might have a lot to do with her hatred for wire hangers.

Crawford also seems to polarize a lot of people, famous or not, that question if she truly was as psychotic as her adopted daughter Christina claimed.

Beyond that, I am going to refrain from going further into that discussion and instead focus on Crawford as an actress.

Her co-star from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, Bette Davis, was not a fan of Crawford...and the feeling was mutual, but Davis could also admit the truth.

Davis was once quoted in an interview as saying Crawford was "a consummate professional" in that she was always punctual and knew her lines and was pretty much no-nonsense.

There is no denying Crawford's meticulous nature helped her achieve great success as an actress, but I have also never taken to her much in that arena.

I do think Mildred Pierce was essentially "lightning in a bottle" for Crawford...and this Oscar served not just as deserving acknowledgment for her work in the film, but as a career award as she had yet to receive even a nomination despite a pretty successful 20-year career dating back to silent films.

*Side note: Had supporting categories existed in 1933, I would have to assume she would've been an easy winner as Flaemmchen, the stenographer in Grand Hotel*

I am inclined to say that this win was perfectly acceptable as it seemed very attuned to the exact skills that Crawford was able to excel at.

_________________________________

#56 - Susan Sarandon, Dead Man Walking (1995)

Following 4 nominations, with 3 happening over the span of 4 year, Susan Sarandon won on her 5th nomination for her performance as Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking, a film based on the true story of a nun who ends up becoming a staunch protester of the death penalty when she encounters an innocent man who is on Death Row.

Directed by her then-partner Tim Robbins, Dead Man Walking is one of those rare examples of a Hollywood film that leans rather heavily into more leftist politics...and it was certainly far better than most of the actual Best Picture nominees that year.

I don't consider this to be Sarandon's best work (I am more of a fan of Atlantic City which I discussed under Hepburn's On Golden Pond win), but it is a very solid win for a performance that could've been a lot worse since it was practically an overdue selection at that point.

Of the nominees, I actually sort of preferred Elisabeth Shue from Leaving Las Vegas but a lot of my favorite performances that year were snubbed.

Nicole Kidman proved she was capable of brilliance in To Die For and should have won her first Oscar here. Another major snub (which was considered a longshot) was Kathy Bates in Delores Claiborne, a performance in a truly underrated film from one of the more underrated titles in the Stephen King canon.

_________________________________

#55 - Jessica Tandy, Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

I was very young when Jessica Tandy passed away in 1994, but she left something of an indelible impression on me as a kid because she is one of the few performers that I can vividly recall being among the first I acknowledged.

This had primarily been due to her performance in Fried Green Tomatoes, which was a big favorite to both my mother and grandmother. I do recall not long after seeing Driving Miss Daisy at my grandmother's house and the honest truth was that I actually liked the film.

It wasn't until I got older that I understood that the film was a rather mawkish and treacly affair about the concept of race...but despite that, Tandy did a nice job. 

She also has wonderful chemistry with Morgan Freeman, who steals the film despite his caricature of an accent.

Tandy was certainly a sentimental favorite going into Oscar night, but she did manage to get the win over her biggest competition: Michelle Pfieffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys, who managed to win several critics wins plus the Drama Globe. 

___________________________________

#54 - Helen Hayes, The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1932)

The title of "First Lady of the American Theatre" has been given to a couple of different women, but the first person I ever heard referred to as such was Helen Hayes.

Much like other women who got the title (like Ethel Barrymore), Hayes never strayed far from the stage and only acted in films sporadically. 

While The Sin of Madelon Claudet benefits from being a pre-Code film, it also gets docked for its rather stuffy and offensive treatment of a woman who just made some bad choices in her life. In that regard, you could also see the glimmers of the Hays Code within it.

Hayes does come off as a little theatrical at times, but there is a humanity to her that feels very potent and alive which isn't always apparent in some of these films from the 30s.

Considering a lot of the performances that were getting honored at the time, I think Hayes' stands out as being rather solid.

___________________________________

#53 - Frances McDormand, Nomadland (2020)

I was admittedly a little bummed when McDormand won this Oscar...mainly because I didn't feel like it was a performance that felt undeniable or that warranted a third Academy Award for Lead Actress...something that only Katharine Hepburn has duplicated.

I also felt like Carey Mulligan had more than earned a win and she was truly dynamic in Promising Young Woman. 

I was not as in love with Nomadland as critics were and I did question its take on a company like Amazon, but I do admire the film and what Chloe Zhao achieved with it.

Considering most of the cast were non-actors who actually were living as nomads in real life, there is an authenticity to the film that feels so rich, but it doesn't feel forced. I think what is truly remarkable about an actress like McDormand is that she truly fits into this world. I honestly think no other actress (of her stature or fame) could ever have come close to capturing this kind of performance with these group of people. Having a scene partner like David Strathairn also helped greatly because he, too, blended very well into the environment.

As it stands, I am still not sure she would've made my lineup. 

My personal vote for Best Actress that year was the snubbed Jasna Duricic from Quo Vadis, Aida?, a film about the 1995 Bosnian genocide.

____________________________________

#52 - Olivia de Havilland, To Each His Own (1946)

To Each His Own is not a great film and it tends to sort of fall into some of the more melodramatic tropes of 40s Hollywood cinema...and it also isn't de Havilland's best work by any stretch.

However...this win was a great example of perseverance as de Havilland had fought the studio system over both the true structures of acting contracts and the quality of roles for women.

This didn't adhere to some of the major studio heads, but in her favor, the studio system hierarchy was approaching the last stretch of its heyday.

Olivia de Havilland won two Oscars (her 2nd win will be coming up later on), but I feel like perhaps she should've won her first Oscar for a different film.

In this particular year, I would've voted for Celia Johnson, whose truly delicate performance in Brief Encounter is a prime example of the true power of subtlety.   

___________________________________

#51 - Cher, Moonstruck (1987)

I like Cher very much...and I think her performance here is delightful.

Moonstruck is probably one of my favorite romantic comedies ever made; I also think John Patrick Shanley also helped make it fresh by adding a great subplot for Olympia Dukakis, who played Cher's mother, as she has to navigate the infidelity of her husband and ends up having a quick dinner with a younger man with a seemingly similar roving eye. 

This is an Oscar win I admire greatly on its own merits and I think there is no denying that Cher has natural acting talents...and any training she may have received from Lee Strasberg in the early 80s only solidified that.

I do want to recommend the movie Mask from 1985 (no relation to the Jim Carrey film), as it probably contains Cher's greatest performance, though Moonstruck is a close second.

However, 1987 truly belonged to two women:

Glenn Close, Fatal Attraction

Holly Hunter, Broadcast News

These performances are two polar opposites and while Close's borderlines a very problematic area in how it presents a scorned woman, there is no denying it is an iconic performance and a SUPERB performance.

Hunter's Jane Craig is a marvel, too. She is a strong but also vulnerable and flawed woman...I would go as far to say it may be the greatest character that James L. Brooks ever wrote, and it is easily the best film of his career.

__________________________________

#50 - Claudette Colbert, It Happened One Night (1934)

I think Claudette Colbert truly lucked out in a lot of ways. 

On one hand, it was obvious that the Academy loved her film as it became the first to win the top 5 big Oscars of the evening: Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay.

Colbert was a highlight and gave a truly lovely performance, but this was the infamous year that Bette Davis got snubbed for her rather visceral performance in Of Human Bondage, the film that sort of set up the expectation that this young actress would be a different kind of performer than any of her peers...and one who would not shy away from vile characters.

    I think on her own merits, Colbert is a worthy winner. Perhaps she doesn't match the same level of screwball comedy prowess that her peers of the era cultivated like Irene Dunne, Myrna Loy, Carole Lombard, or Jean Arthur...but she works well with Gable and brings great sophistication and wit to one of the last films to come out before the dreaded Hays Code ruined pretty much everything.

_______________________________________

#49 - Judy Holliday, Born Yesterday (1950)

This is an Oscar win that is often considered one of the most infamous because a major comedic performance managed to best Bette Davis in All About Eve and Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard. 

I can't say for certain what the consensus is, but while I supported the Best Picture win for All About Eve, I do think I would've voted for Swanson.

This isn't to say that Holliday is an undeserving winner. I do think maybe she appears a little green at times onscreen, but considering this role made her a Broadway sensation, she still manages to create a compelling onscreen persona.

I have expressed this before, but it seems like a very frustrating Catch-22 where a lot of people bemoan that not enough comedic performances (or any genre performances for that matter) are rewarded Oscars...and yet, whenever it seems to happen, they are often some of the most hated wins.

I don't even have the same passionate response to Davis and Swanson as other film historians do...but either way, I think Holliday doesn't deserve the intense hate she does often get.

_______________________________________

#48 - Susan Hayward. I Want to Live! (1958)

This is a performance that I actually struggled to rank, because I find myself both marveling at Hayward and cringing at the same time.

Hayward was an actress who loved to...well...emote. 

If I would compare her to any actress that is pretty well known to audiences of today, it would be Jessica Lange.

However, my problem with Hayward is that she often borders a campy melodramatic line that she never truly masters without falling into the pool.

I think I Want to Live! represents her finest performance if only for the fact that she didn't entirely fall into that overbearing melodrama like she did in films like I'll Cry Tomorrow (although that film does play differently when you realize how much it personally related to her) and by the end, she makes some truly subtle choices in moments of silence that show she might've been able to achieve balanced excellence if directors were more willing to reign her in. 

So I am okay with the win, but I wouldn't have been opposed to Rosalind Russell taking it for Auntie Mame or Elizabeth Taylor for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

______________________________________

#47 - Janet Gaynor, Sunrise/Seventh Heaven/Street Angel (1928)

So, yes, Janet Gaynor has the distinction of being not just the first Actress to win this award, but also being the only one to win it for multiple films.

In addition to this, Gaynor is the only actress to win this for Silent films. 

I have to admit that I have never seen Street Angel but I have seen Seventh Heaven and Sunrise. I think both of these films are actually quite good, especially Sunrise which I consider one of the best films to come out of the Silent era.

I think Gaynor does her best work in Seventh Heaven but is buoyed up more by the content of Sunrise.

Gaynor would later prove to be an equally strong actress once the talkies came along as she was the original actress to portray the Esther role in the now seemingly ongoing A Star is Born franchise...but she also worked so strongly in Silent films because she had that undeniable quality where she could express so much just with her eyes. 

Not everyone succeeded when talkies came along (coughMaryPickfordcough), but Gaynor did...and she deserves more praise and discussion by today's film historians.

_______________________________________

#46 -Audrey Hepburn, Roman Holiday (1953)

Very few women are as truly iconic as Audrey Hepburn. 

In an era where feminine beauty was epitomized by the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Ava Gardner, Hepburn stood out as a different kind of beauty: svelte and sweet.

Considering Roman Holiday was her first real film role, Hepburn came out of the gate with guns blazing...and with a role that was truly suited to her sweet and genteel charms.

Hepburn would eventually prove herself to be a great dramatic actress in films like A Nun's Story and Wait Until Dark or Two for the Road...but there is no denying the true indelible charm and grace she exudes in this film and how well she works with Gregory Peck, an actor who wasn't always the most consistent scene partner a performer could have back then.

___________________________________

#45 - Ingrid Bergman, Gaslight (1944)

As the first of her 3 Oscar wins, I would say that Gaslight is easily the most deserved of Ingrid Bergman's wins and probably one of the best performances of her entire career. 

Many bemoan the fact that she beat out Barbara Stanwyck's legendary Femme Fatale in Double Indemnity, especially considering Stanwyck never ended up winning a competitive Oscar. I think that Bergman's win is pretty deserving in the grand scheme.

Gaslight may not be quite as strong as Double Indemnity, but it is pretty close. It works very well as a thriller, especially considering that it came out in 1944.

Bergman is so indelibly linked to Casablanca that it may be hard to forget that she had a pretty extensive career otherwise, but I think when looking at a film like Gaslight, you can tell she was able to bring a lot to the table.

____________________________________

#44 - Simone Signoret, Room at the Top (1959)

Often considered a win that is questionable, I think Simone Signoret suffers mostly from the debate over how much one might like the art of subtlety.

Room at the Top is a pretty prototypical 50s melodrama, but Signoret manages to anchor the film down quite beautifully. It is also a performance that I could easily see getting pushed down to Supporting by today's standards since "Supporting" tends to be the place where borderline performances are placed if they feel they may not have as best a shot in lead.

Signoret, the first French actress to win an Oscar, also comes off as quite naturalistic in the film. Despite some of its pulpy nature, it holds up a lot better than most films of its kind from that era and I think her work is a true testament to that.

I do think that if they had honored Audrey Hepburn for A Nun's Story that I would've also gladly accepted that, too.

_________________________________

#43 - Nicole Kidman, The Hours (2002)

I am no devotee to The Hours as a film, but I do acknowledge that the three female leads are simply fantastic. I do have to state that despite the fact that the film is split into 3 parts and the women have mostly equal screentime, I sort of feel like Kidman is the one who should've been in Supporting and not Julianne Moore. 

Although, the only reason that push occurred was because Moore had Far from Heaven that year in which she was the true lead of the film so for the sake of campaigning tactics, she got bumped to Supporting.

Kidman winning the Oscar almost felt like a coronation that Hollywood was dying to perform. Hot off the heels of her infamous divorce from Tom Cruise, sympathies seemed to fall in her favor and then she gave us the one-two punch of Moulin Rouge and The Others shortly thereafter. 

The Hours, in which she also infamously donned a fake nose which seemed to get just as much press as the impending War in Iraq at the time, was the seemingly perfect role to give the new IT girl her due...even though, as I mentioned, she should've won for To Die For 7 years prior.

As for her work as Virginia Woolf, I do have to commend her overall, but the only reason I placed her even this high was for what most film fanatics refer to as "The Train Station Scene", in which she fights with her husband Leonard. I still think one of the more emotionally powerful line deliveries I have heard in a film in the last 25 years was Kidman screaming "I am dying in this town!"

This scene alone is one of the best acted scenes by an actress ever.

Though I still probably would've given Moore the Oscar for Far from Heaven...and since she was technically eligible that year, my favorite performance might've been Isabelle Huppert for The Piano Teacher.

_______________________________

#42 - Julie Christie, Darling (1965)

Julie Christie doesn't get a lot of discussion these days. Even when she came THISCLOSE to winning another Oscar for Away from Her back in 2008, I feel like there wasn't as much passion surrounding her despite her relative legend. 

Many of her contemporaries are highly regarded and beloved by younger generations today like Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, and Helen Mirren...though Christie never seemed to seek that kind of stardom. 

Looking back her earlier films like Billy Budd and Darling, you can see how much she embodied the quirky persona that seemed to be linked with the swinging scene of London in the 60s. 

If you check out the great YouTube channel, BeKindRewind, she talks a lot about this particular race in particular and how Christie represented something of a new movement.

Here's a link to that video and check out the rest of her content...she is FANTASTIC!

I agree with her that Christie's performance in Darling plays more like something you'd see a male actor play in a 1970s film. She is essentially an anti-hero before that became the norm...and even though her character of Diana Scott does seem truly questionable thing, Christie somehow makes her compelling and the furthest thing from "one-note". 

A great example of an anti-hero in film before it took off as a beloved trend.

_______________________________

#41 - Bette Davis, Jezebel (1938)

When looking at the two Best Actress awards that Bette Davis has won, and we already covered her win for Dangerous, it may be a bit shocking to see that neither of her winning performances are that well known compared to her work in All About Eve, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Now Voyager, or The Little Foxes. 

I would say Jezebel does rank as a performance of hers that was on the top tier rather than the lower, but it really does feel like it is a step above being an imitation of Scarlett O'Hara before that iconic film came out a year later.

Much has been said about Bette Davis being passed over for Scarlett O'Hara, even though I still think she was not the right fit for that role. However, Davis does do well here and I think it is a way to toss her an easy win over a relatively meek lineup.

I think I would've been prone to give her an Oscar for Of Human Bondage and Jezebel, but I would strongly consider it for her in 1941 (The Little Foxes), 1942 (Now Voyager), and 1962 (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?) 

The woman should've had 3 or 4 Oscars on her mantle.

______________________________

#40 - Joanne Woodward, The Three Faces of Eve (1957)

The 1950s for American cinema were pretty pulpy. When we struck gold, we truly struck it but otherwise, a lot of the big films that the Academy honored in that era have not stood the test of time.

I think The Three Faces of Eve is a prime example of a film that is just simply too much of a cheesy and greasy affair, BUT...I do think Joanne Woodward makes the film watchable.

As a woman who suffers from what is now called Dissociative Identity Disorder, Woodward imbues her part with a lot of passion and verve...and it is a shame that everyone around her doesn't seem to want to match that sense of vitality.

She also benefitted greatly from relatively weaker competition that year, too...so this is a case of a rather good performance that looked towards the future in terms of acting styles (i.e. The Actor's Studio/Strasberg) that mostly suffered due to the quality of the film. I think Woodward made for a good choice nevertheless.

_________________________________

FINAL THOUGHTS:

As I mentioned before, this post was a LONG time coming. I found myself struggling with writing out this volume and swapped out multiple performances and moved many of these up and down through the ranking. 

It goes without saying that comparing many different styles of performances and acting methods can be rather difficult because one minute, I might be singing the praises of a beautifully subtle performance and then the next, I might find that another actress did very little with her role.

It can be a fascinating process to see how certain performances work for ourselves and how others perceive them as well.

I think my last two volumes should ignite a little more passion within me as we inch closer to some truly remarkable performances.

I feel confident that the next volume will come a lot sooner than this one did.

CHECK OUT THE OTHER VOLUMES:

94-80

79-60

Upcoming: 39-21

Upcoming: 20-1