Let´s remind people who is still missing

I had a bad feeling about someone i do hate her win a lot (just only for her win over another one) will make top 5...


Jane Darwell (i bet she will be on your top 10)
Josephine Hull (I know about your love to her, but i also though about any others...)
Kim Hunter (it is one of the everyone favourites performances... why not you...)
Rita Moreno (i have no idea, u know my opinion about her)
Patty Duke (we love to disagree on her... let see top 3?)
Lila Kedrova (top 1) i might be surprised about that
Sandy Dennis (see Kim Hunter)
Cloris Leachman (one of anyone loves...)
Linda Hunt (i love her)
Juliette Binoche (I know your love for that movie i hope a high position on your list)

I hope Cloris is not winning this, i have hopes for Lila and even PAtty to get over her...

quote:

Originally posted by JOSE:
Let´s remind people who is still missing

I had a bad feeling about someone i do hate her win a lot (just only for her win over another one) will make top 5...


I hope Cloris is not winning this, i have hopes for Lila and even PAtty to get over her...

Mmh, I think you hate Patty Duke because she won over Angela Lansbury but you hate Cloris more...am I right?

I hate only Patty Duke victory, not Patty Duke herself or her performance. I grow up lately, you know i am in my way of the new decade of my life.
On the other hand, i cant stand Cloris Leachman.

quote:

Originally posted by JOSE:
I hate only Patty Duke victory, not Patty Duke herself or her performance. I grow up lately, you know i am in my way of the new decade of my life.

Sooner or later everyone will see the light!

But am I right that Patty's performance is the one you don't want to be in the Top5 because she won over Angela? Or is that somebody else?

As i told you before, they are your picks and they will be well chosen.
And if we agree in everything, what a boring thing.

Fritz, loved the comment on zeta jones. yeah, her non musical scenes were equally brilliant (the last one before hot honey rag where she's trying to convince roxie to do a number with her is quite moving), especially the one you mentioned when roxie fakes the pregnancy and she goes "SH*T!"; the look on her face is priceless

10: Juliette Binoche as Hana in The English Patient


Another big upset happened in 1997 when Juliette Binoche took home what seemed destined to be Lauren Bacall’s Oscar. But just like it is the case with Marcia Gay Harden, it’s easy to see how Juliette pulled it off: By delivering one of the most powerful and stunning performance that every hit the screen.
In the first ten minutes of the movie Juliette has already more Oscar scenes than other people in a whole movie, when she has to suffer the death of her fiancé and her best friend while being a nurse in Italy in World War II.
Juliette Binoche has one of those beautiful faces that is made for close-ups and the actress’s ability to show so much with a smile or a look are used to great effect.
Hana is a woman who has suffered too many tragedies in her life and now needs a time-out for herself. So she and the English Patient stay back in a lonely monastery.
Despite her supporting status, Juliette Binoche dominates the “present parts” of “The English Patient.” Taking care of him, always with a smile, always charming despite grieving inside. In a fantastic scene we see her breaking down in the kitchen, telling that she is “in love with ghosts.”
Juliette Binoche’s warm and likeable appearance makes almost every scene she is in to something special. When she is reading poetry, saying “For the heart is an organ of fire…I love that…I believe that”, it’s a simple scene but Juliette Binoche shines.
And when Kip, who is looking for mines, joins the “gang” in the monastery, Hana’s life changes and Juliette Binoche’s has the chance to shine even more. I love it when she brings Kip some olive oil for his hair and uses the opportunity to check out his body. And the scene in the church is one big declaration of love to Juliette by Anthony Minghella: the look on her face, the score, the whole atmosphere of the scene are breathtaking.
Later, after they spend the night together, Kip has to take care of a bomb. Hana, full of fear, tells him “Don’t go, I’m frightened!” She appears like a child in that scene, showing that she fears that Kip might suffer the same fate as all the other people she loved (She thinks of herself as a curse).
It’s a performance that's simply breathtaking to watch. Hana may not be a very complicated woman, but it’s a very complex performance, always staying true to the simple feelings of Hana but also showing her deeper sides.
One of my favorite performances ever in my favorite movie ever.


Best performance of the movie: Juliette Binoche

My own choice for the win that year: Juliette Binoche

9: Josephine Hull as Veta Louise Simmons in Harvey


In 1950, the Academy forgot its love for dramatic performances and awarded two of my favorite comedy-performances ever: the amazing Judy Holliday in “Born Yesterday” and the equally fantastic Josephine Hull in “Harvey”.
The performance by Josephine Hull may easily be one of the funniest I ever saw in my entire life. The whole time she is on-screen, I can’t stop laughing. No matter how depressed I may be, Josephine always cheers me up.
She totally steals the show as the exhausted, eccentric and totally loveable Veta Louise, the sister of Elwood P. Dowd, who ruins Veta’s and her daughter Myrtle’s social life by introducing everyone this his invisible friend Harvey, a big white rabbit. For me, Josephine Hull’s parts are the only ones worth watching. I don’t like the rest of the movie, most of the characters are completely annoying and the whole thing with the rabbit just doesn’t do it for me.
Anyway, Josephine Hull’s performance is a firework of comedy from beginning to the end. She makes even most banal lines hilarious:
”Oh Myrtle, it’s a wonderful feeling to have your relative out of the house before the company comes!”
“Oh, we can go in now!”
“You said that name! You promised you wouldn’t say that name and you said it!”
“Myrtle Mae, see who the stranger is in the bathtub!”
“That is NOT my mother!”
Also, the way she always looks is simple to funny to be true. Especially when she is watching the soprano singer…
Or how she is on the phone and then greets her guests with a high-pitched voice…
Basically, everything about her is perfect! I can’t comment on every funny scene with her because that would be every scene but she is especially funny with the bully Mr. Wilson, when she hits him with her hand-bag and yells “Don’t you touch me, you white slaver you!” or when she runs up the stairs, yelling “Knock him down, judge! Kick him, kick him!”
But she is also very touching, particularly in the end when she has to decide if she wants her brother to be weird but kind or sane and mean.
It’s easily one of my most favorite comedy performances ever and I am so glad that Academy recognized this incredibly talented woman!


Best performance of the movie: Josephine Hull

My own choice for the win that year: Josephine Hull

8: Rita Moreno as Anita in West Side Story


The role of Anita was the reason that the Oscar was invented. Basically, all that Anita has to do is this: come, steal the movie and leave. And Rita Moreno does this with full force!
I have seen “West Side Story” on the stage already a few times and yes, there were Anitas who would sing better (and to make it clear once and for all: Rita Moreno didn’t sing “A Boy like that” but she did the rest of the singing herself) and there were Anitas who could dance better; but there was never an Anita who had the same acting talent and energy that Rita Moreno brought to the part.
This is a true scene-stealer if there ever was one. Even when she is dancing in a group, you can’t take your eyes off her.
Rita Moreno is a supporting actress who both supports and carries the movie. I mean, Richard Beymer is horrible, Natalie Wood is good but Richard takes her down with him and the other supporting players are good but it is Rita Moreno who makes West Side Story the classic it is today.
Of course, West Side Story also holds a special place in my heart. When I saw it as a child for the first time, it started my interest in movies, musicals and Oscars. And even before I knew that Rita Moreno had won an Oscar for her part, her scenes were always the ones I watched over and over again.
“America” alone is enough to award Rita Moreno. As I said, there is so much energy in her performance, the way she moves, dances and sings. (“You forget I’m in America!”) The character of Anita is a real show-case for any actress with musical talents and Rita Moreno has set the standard at an all-time high because not only her dancing but also her acting is out of this world!
In the bridal shop she shows all the worries Anita has about Tony and Maria with one look and turns her character from a happy party-girl into a great friend and deep woman.
And all her later scenes are simply outstanding: grieving and worried and even if she doesn’t sing “A Boy Like that”, her acting is still so intense here that you don’t care about that.
And then there is her scene in Doc’s store, one of the best acted scenes ever and I never saw an Anita on-stage you could pull that scene off in the same devestating way Rita did.
So, one of the greatest Musical performances of all time and one of the most deserving Oscar winners, too!


Best performance of the movie: Rita Moreno

My own choice for the win that year: Rita Moreno

Sandy Dennis for #1!!!!!

I hope Patty Duke or Linda Hunt is not number one!!

I'd be fine with Lila Kedrova or Jane Darwell or Cloris Leachman.. Maybe Dennis. Was hoping MGH would crack the top ten, she certainly would for me!

quote:

Originally posted by dannyboy:
I hope Patty Duke or Linda Hunt is not number one!!

Could be...who knows...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Fritz,

7: Cloris Leachman as Ruth Popper in The Last Picture Show


It’s not easy to stand out in an ensemble movie (I’m looking at you, Dianne Wiest!), but if anyone ever did it, it’s Cloris Leachman who plays Ruth Popper, the sad and neglected wife of the local football coach (who prefers to spend his time with his boys from the team) and who starts an affair with Sonny, the main character of the movie.
Cloris Leachman is one of those women who can tell the whole story of their life with her face. When she opens her door and Sonny tells her that he will be driving her and not her husband, we see in her reaction that this is no surprise for her, just another humiliation.
And when she breaks down at the kitchen table, it’s an incredibly moving moment, especially when she sees that Sonny tries to cheer up – that’s probably the first time in years someone cares about her.
What I also like so much is that Timothy Bottoms and Cloris Leachman make such a great pair – it never seems awkward to see the two together, they have a sweet chemistry and they simply work.
Cloris Leachman also does a great job when her character blossoms up – she doesn’t overdo it, she’s not an ugly ducking who turns into a beautiful swan, she’s not one of the girls from those Teenie-movies who takes off her glasses and becomes the hottest girl in school. She simply becomes more relaxed, more open, her happiness shows on her face, but that inner beauty is not enough for a young man like Sonny and so it’s nor surprise when he leaves her.
With only a handful of scenes Cloris Leachman has shown how her character changed from sad and lonely to loving and sweet and has made the viewer care about her. Even when she walks out of the hospital (after Sonny didn’t want to see her), she beaks your heart despite the fact that we don’t see her because she is shot from a long distance. But Cloris has made the audience love the character and her sad fate is just too much…
And then it all comes to her final scene – maybe the single greatest scene ever when all her anger, all her frustration that has build up inside her for years and years break out and instead of accepting her fate, she shouts what she always wanted to say. It’s a chilling scene that should be studied in acting classes. From her loud moments (“Three months I’ve been apologizing…”) she goes to heartbreaking quiet moments (“See? You shouldn’t have come here”) to an incredibly moving finale (“Never you mind, honey. Never you mind…”).
Acting at its best and one of the great performance in this category!


Best performance of the movie: Cloris Leachman

My own choice for the win that year: Cloris Leachman

6: Lila Kedrova as Madame Hortense in Zorba, the Greek


First of all, I want to warn you that I’m gonna use the word “heartbreaking” a lot of times in this review.
Lila Kedrova plays Madame Hortense, the owner of a little hotel on a Greek island. In some ways, Madame Hortense is a little like Blanche in “A Streetcar named Desire”: an aging, former beauty with a scandalous pasts, still dreaming of those days.
Madame Hortense loves to tell the story of her “four admirals” with whom she had affairs, sometimes at the same time.
At the beginning, we feel about Madame Hortense like Alan Bates’s character: we laugh about her and find her ridiculous. Her extravagant behavior, her way of talking and her weird stories just seem stupid – but when she catches him laughing, she immediately breaks your heart when she says, with disbelieve and a tragic voice “You are laughing…at me?” It’s this moment that turns Madame Hortense into one of the most tragic characters ever – never taken seriously, always too over-the-top, but incredibly heartbreaking in her loneliness.
Madame Hortense is a woman who is past her prime and knows it – at a Christmas Party she has fun with Zorba but then slips and falls and says “You see…it is too late” referring to her age. And Lila Kedrova simply says all her lines in the most heartbreaking way possible.
When Zorba leaves, she begs to him “Don’t forget me!” and when Alan Bates tries to cheer her up, telling her “He’ll be back”, she says “They all say that…”with a sad voice, thinking about her four admirals and how they left her.
Her best scene is when Zorba writes a letter, telling Alan Bates that he met another woman – Madame Hortense wants to know what's in the letter and Alan tells her “Read it yourself”. Madame Hortense looks as it, but then says “I can’t read it…my eyes”. We don’t know if she is honest or if she has read about Zorba being unfaithful…But it seems that she knows the truth and decided to live in her own fantasy world. The whole scene is incredibly heartbreaking, just like another scene later when she begs Zorba to marry him. Moves me to tears…
And her final scene is too much, when she lays in bed, praying quietly, hallucinating…again, the most heartbreaking performance I have ever seen!


Best performance of the movie: Lila Kedrova

My own choice for the win that year: Lila Kedrova

5: Jane Darwell as Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath


The first time I saw “The Grapes of Wrath” I was determined to hate Jane Darwell’s performance because she had beaten one of my all-time favorites, Judith Anderson in “Rebecca”. Well, when I was finished with the movie, I sat in front of the TV, silent, until I finally said: “Okay, she deserved it.”
And by “deserved it”, I mean that Jane Darwell is absolutely outstanding and delivers one of the best performances ever, one that is monumental and very private at the same time. Her Ma Joad is the center of the family, the one that keeps everyone going (as her husband says it).
You can see that contract-player Jane Darwell does all the things that the role requires but she is able to make so much more of it. Her face can speak more than tons of dialogue, her moving voice brings tears to the viewers eyes.
Jane Darwell also has a wonderful chemistry with Henry Fonda. These two are the outstanding actors in an otherwise over-the-top, “the Hill-Billys go West” cast.
From the first time Jane Darwell appears onscreen, she gets the viewers attention. When she says “Oh thank God, thank God” when she sees her son for the first time in years, it’s the first of many moving moments that Jane Darwell delivers to perfection. Her famous scene with her earrings (definitely one of the best acted scenes ever), her dignity when she leaves her home and doesn’t want to look back, her determination when Grandma is dying and Ma Joad tells her: “We have to get across. The family’s got to get across!” Every scene is played to perfection!
And who can forget her monologue when she asks Tom to stay with his family (“Stay and help, Tommy. Help me…”) This speech and the look on her face when they are dancing is everything that Tom needs to stay.
And just like Rod Steiger is an important part of Marlo Brando’s famous “I could have been a contender”-speech, Jane Darwell is just as essential to the Henry Fonda’s “I’ll be there”-speech. It’s incredibly moving when she says goodbye to her son, telling him “Tommy, we ain’t the kissing type, but…” and her final heartbreaking “Tommy…”
The only thing that doesn’t really work is her final speech but that’s not because of Jane Darwell’s acting which is still marvelous but rather because it is totally out of place. But when Jane Darwell finishes “We’ll go on forever, Pa, ‘cause…we’re the people” I can’t help but nod in agreement.
A totally astonishing performance!


Best performance of the movie: Henry Fonda and Jane Darwell

My own choice for the win that year: Jane Darwell

4: Kim Hunter as Stella Kowalski in A Streetcar named Desire


Never before has walking down a stair been so sexy. I think that Kim Hunter would even be in my Top 5 if that would have been her only scene. The way she looks at Marlon Brando, with so much lust and passion…no wonder this scene was censored in the 50s…
But apart from that chilling scene, Kim Hunter has a showy and wonderfully written part which she plays to perfection. Her chemistry with Marlon Brando is simply outstanding, they both have so much fire and lust between them, even during their many fights. They are just totally real…
Also, Kim Hunter wonderfully shows the conflict of Stella, torn between her husband and her sister. In so many great scenes we see this confusion, we see how she is worried about Blanche but it is impossible for her to leave Stanley (personally, it never bothered me that the ending of the movie was changed because I am sure that Stella will be back with Stanley in 5 minutes, no matter what she says).
Immediately in her first scenes she shows her feelings for Stanley, telling Blanche “I can hardly stand when he’s away for a night…when he’s away for a week, I nearly go wild…When he comes back, I cry in his lap like a baby…” and later she tells Blanche that Stanley is the only one in his business who will achieve anything – there is an unquestioning faith in her that Kim Hunter shows perfectly.
Also I love it how she is not afraid to show those side of lust that Stella has – the way she lies in her bed after she returned to him in the night, the way she tells Blanche “I was sort of thrilled by it…” and, of course, right at the beginning when the first thing she tells Blanche about her husband “Isn’t he wonderful looking?”
It’s a strong and totally believable performance and Kim Hunter is able to capture all the necessary emotions perfectly and she also never slides in the background – she holds her own against Marlon Brando’s and Vivien Leigh’s powerhouse performances and that is no small feat.


Best performance of the movie: Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh

My own choice for the win that year: Kim Hunter

3: Sandy Dennis as Honey in Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?


When I watched this movie the first time, I only knew that Liz Taylor had won an Oscar and I never heard of Sandy Dennis before. But while I watched it, I became more and more fascinated with the performance by Sandy Dennis and it was Sandy who stayed in my mind and whom I wanted to see again. And even though I wouldn’t say that she stole the movie from the amazing Elizabeth Taylor, she hold her own against her and made her performance just as memorable as Liz did with hers.
I love it how Sandy makes Honey one neurotic mess, her laughs, her way of speaking and her inappropriate behavior.
I also have to say that, despite the fact that this is a drama, Sandy delivers one of the most funny scenes I have ever seen, especially when she’s drunk:
”He’s not a floozy, he can’t be a floozy, you’re a floozy!”
“Well, neither have I!”
And one of the most funny things I ever saw:
“Hump the hostess!”
But Sandy Dennis also fills her performance with so many wonderful moments: right at the beginning, when Liz yells “God damn you!” and Sandy gives her this superior look. Or when she is listening to George’s and Nick’s conversation on the stairs…
In the scene in the bar, she delivers a real tour de force: dancing like a crazy woman, then suddenly turning angry and yelling at her husband “Stop that! You are always at me when I’m having a good time!” Then we have her “Violence! Violence!”
Sandy makes Honey such a neurotic mass of crazy that everything she does seem right…no matter what Honey does, you never have the feeling it’s acting, it always feels real! And then, when George tells his little story, she suddenly becomes incredibly heartbreaking when she says to her husband “You couldn’t have told them! No, please! You couldn’t have told him!”
Then comes her scene with George outside the house and again she gives a powerhouse performance, shouting “You stay away from me!”
Also, when Liz Taylor has her breakdown, Sandy Dennis’s reaction is just as heartbreaking. It’s a very observing performance, Sandy only has two real big scenes, most of the time she stays in the background, watching or making small-talk but despite this she completely disappears in the character and gives on the all-time great performances.


Best performance of the movie: Elizabeth Taylor

My own choice for the win that year: Sandy Dennis

2: Linda Hunt as Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously


To be honest, I didn’t expect to like Linda Hunt’s performance when I watched this movie the first time. I always thought that she probably only won because she played a man and for nothing else. And I didn’t want to give her any credit for that because, let’s face it, if they wanted someone to be a convincing man, why not cast a man???
But boy, was I wrong! First of all, despite the fact that I didn’t want to give Linda Hunt a bonus for playing a man, I can’t help but be stunned at her convincing role-play. Every movement, every line delivery, her whole behavior with the rest of the cast is totally and absolutely overwhelming. But it is not only that: her Billy Kwan is a very complex and deep character and Linda Hunt pulls off every single aspect of that part amazingly. Now I can understand why it was so hard to find the perfect actor for that part: it’s a very difficult role that demanded a lot of talent and in the end, Linda Hunt was the one to offer that amount of talent. If they had found a man for the part, he probably would have won Best Supporting Actor if the had played the role as good.
So yes, Linda Hunt gives without a doubt, one of the best performances of all time, one that shows you what actors and actresses can do, one that shows you what great acting is all about. A total disappearance of one person into another.
Despite the supporting status, Billy Kwan is also the center of “The Year of Living Dangerously”. He narrates the story, he is the Insider with the contacts, but he’s even more: he sees himself as a ‘puppet master’, the man who controls the story and the players from behind. He is the one who takes care of Guy (Mel Gibson), a journalist from Australia and shows him his new home, leading him into the slums: there Billy tells him his views, quoting a question once asked by Tolstoy about the poverty in the world: “What then must we do?” This is also the question Billy asks: he sees the poverty and believes that everyone should do what he can to help the people around him.
Billy also believes in the country’s new political leader, calling him a genius who really wants to do something for his people.
In the end, it is Billy who helps Guy to get contacts, to get stories and achieve something. But Billy has more plans for Guy: he wants to bring him together with Jill, an English friend who works at the embassy. Billy himself once asked her to marry him but she turned him down. In one amazing scene Billy is outside his house and inside are Guy and Jill – Billy knows that he achieved his goal, they are together now but we can see that Billy is not happy about it because he loves Jill, too – Linda Hunt perfectly shows the expressions of a person who has achieved what he wanted but isn’t sure if he is happy about it.
Linda Hunt’s really stunning scenes come later when Billy realizes that his believes in the country’s leaders were wrong – he feels betrayed, he questions his whole believes. And he does feel betrayed by Guy, too. In an exceptional scene, they argue and Billy tells “I thought you were a man of light…that’s why I gave you those stories…I made you feel something about what is right…I gave you my trust…I created you.” It’s a chilling scene and Linda Hunt is beyond incredible. Even more so in the next scene when Billy looks at the pictures he took of the poor people in his country, feeling helpless and asking over and over again “What then must we do?”
This is maybe the greatest performance of the 80s and one of the most impressive performances ever captured.


Best performance of the movie: Linda Hunt

My own choice for the win that year: Linda Hunt

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Fritz,