Category: Best Acting

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The Sundowners (1960)

Perhaps confusing this with the 1950 film of the same name, I really expected this to be an American Western. Instead this is a flick about a family of Australian sheep drovers in the 1920s. I’m not so sure what to think about the unevenness in the accents of Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr, but they do have a lot of chemistry as the married couple. The story itself is an inoffensive romp where the couple tries to come to a compromise when one partner wants to settle down while the other experiences wanderlust. Amongst the new friends they meet along the way are characters played wonderfully by Peter Ustinov and Glynis Johns.   Best Picture Nomination

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actress in a Leading Role; Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

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Carnal Knowledge (1971)

That title is a clunker; I forget what movie it’s referring to every time I read it. It’s odd to say, but maybe I’m too young to really feel shock and surprise over discussions of people’s sex lives. Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel play college roommates who spend 25 years treating women awfully and talking to each other about it. Not surprisingly, their characters are incredibly dislikable. The women on the other hand are interesting characters and played well by the likes of Candace Bergen, Ann-Margaret, Carol Kane, and Rita Moreno.

Oscar Nomination: Best Actress in a Supporting Role

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The Sand Pebbles (1966)

War films are generally not my thing, often overly long and filled with misguided notions. This film, about US naval patrols on the Yangtse River, was both of those things, but still held my interest through most of its three hour runtime. Steve McQueen and Candace Bergen brought their typical flair to their roles, though their romance felt forced. Richard Attenborough was incredibly sympathetic though a bit simple-minded as Frenchy, have a hard time getting used to him looking much younger than Dr. Hammond. I had a hard time figuring out the actual attitudes the film was conveying with regards to the Asian cast. Maybe it was trying to be accurate of the time frame of the setting, but at times, the film portrayed them as hard-working, moral, and quick learning while the white cast treated them and interacted with them in appallingly racist ways.  Best Picture Nomination  War

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actor in a Leading Role; Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Best Cinematography, Color; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color; Best Sound; Best Film Editing; Best Music, Original Music Score

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Broken Arrow (1950)

The number of Westerns I subject myself to as an Oscar completionist and a James Stewart fan is numerous. Luckily this one is covered by both of those umbrellas. Despite the grievances of many a child of the 1950s who would prefer a simplistic good guys-bad guys narrative, I have a soft spot for those Westerns that make some attempts toward nuance in their portrayals of Native Americans. Aside from that, this film following Stewart’s attempts at brokering a peace deal between Cochise and the Army, after saving an Apache boy and finding sympathy for the ways of the Apache, is mostly forgettable.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Best Writing, Screenplay; Best Cinematography, Color

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The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

Everyone hates film producer Kirk Douglas, but they also all want to make movies with him. Creatively told almost completely in flashbacks, Lana Turner, Dick Powell, and Barry Sullivan are gathered together by Walter Pidgeon to explain the very good reasons why they all hate Douglas. The story is an intriguing examination of how movies are made and the people who make them.

Oscar Wins: Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Writing, Screenplay; Best Cinematography, Black-and-White; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White; Best Costume Design, Black-and-White

Oscar Nomination: Best Actor in a Leading Role

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The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)

As a light, but exceptionally long, rendering of the well-known story of the Frank family and their companions hiding from the Nazis, this film is adequate. It gives a good view of the crampedness of the quarters they shared and some of the harrowing events that occurred while they were there. But it is told in a relatively breezy way. Aside from going through the motions to keep from being found, there’s not as much of a sense of both the danger and tedium that had to exist for such a long period of time together. Millie Perkins is not particularly believable as a young teenager, a bit too cute and precious. On the other hand, Joseph Schildkraut as Otto Frank and Shelley Winters as Petronella Van Dam bring real emotion to their roles, the former as a father trying to keep everyone safe and the latter trying to hold on to life as she once knew it.   Best Picture Nomination

Oscar Wins: Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Cinematography, Black-and-White; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Best Director; Best Costume Design, Black-and-White; Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture

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The Great Santini (1979)

Seeing the DVD cover for this film, I wrongfully assumed it was a war, or at least military focused movie. Instead it is the story of an asshole father who would rather flying planes than treat his family, especially his oldest son, with any kindness. There is also a shoehorned in story of the son’s black friend being harassed by racist rednecks, as if the main story didn’t have enough weight to hold a film by itself. Despite my dislike for the story itself, the cast particularly Robert Duvall and Michael O’Keefe as the father and son respectively work wonders with the material. Even though Julie Anne Haddock was little utilized as the younger daughter, I also have a soft spot for the season 1 Facts of Life cast.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actor in a Leading Role; Best Actor in a Supporting Role

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Auntie Mame (1958)

It’s hard to talk about Auntie Mame without comparing it to the musical Mame, particularly the Lucille Ball 1974 movie version. Both stories follow the adventures of Mame Dennis, a single middle aged woman who is suddenly granted the guardianship of her orphaned nephew. After seeing the musical, I expect the character to possess a lot more zaniness than Rosalind Russell brings to the role. The supporting cast also didn’t bring as much to the plate. What does bring a beautiful wackiness to the production is the constant changes over the years in Mame’s apartment and costuming.   Best Picture Nomination

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actress in a Leading Role; Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Cinematography, Color; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White or Color; Best Film Editing

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Vicki Christina Barcelona (2008)

Stupid Oscars compulsion making me watch more Woody Allen films. This one is filled with unlikeable characters: unlikable crazy Spaniards and the extremely unlikable pretentious Americans who invade their country and their lives for the summer. This has Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Chris Messina, and Patricia Clarkson. There are dozens of better films to watch them in.

Oscar Win: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

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