Best Supporting Actor 1960

1927/28 through 1997
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Best Supporting Actor 1960

Peter Falk - Murder, Inc.
2
9%
Jack Kruschen - The Apartment
1
4%
Sal Mineo - Exodus
8
35%
Peter Ustinov - Spartacus
11
48%
Chill Wills - The Alamo
1
4%
 
Total votes: 23

Big Magilla
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 1960

Post by Big Magilla »

Sabin wrote:Apropos of watching The Apartment silently in a coffee shop, do you think Fred MacMurray would have a viable shot at the supporting actor had he been pushed in that category?
Had he been so pushed, he probably would have taken the place of Jack Kruschen, but then Trevor Howard would probably have been pushed and nominated in the same category for Sons and Lovers with a stronger shot at winning.
Sabin
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 1960

Post by Sabin »

Apropos of watching The Apartment silently in a coffee shop, do you think Fred MacMurray would have a viable shot at the supporting actor had he been pushed in that category?
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 1960

Post by ITALIANO »

Being a bit busier than usual makes these threads seem to come out faster than they actually do - and, of course, writing in a foreign language takes time. So I will have to be short.

I have finally seen Murder, Inc., an actually interesting movie, if only because, while produced by 20th Century Fox and shot in Cinemascope, it has the look and feel of a B-movie, which isn't necessarily a terrible thing. At least it's never boring and it has a certain rhythm - though, while set in the 30s, everything in it, except the cars, but including clothes, hairstyles, etc, looks so ridiculously late-50s. Anyway, Peter Falk is good, and it doesn't happen often that a (then) unknown actor is nominated in the Supporting category for such a minor movie - it used to happen a bit more often for women, but not that often either. I guess his role was so violent - by 1960 standards - that he couldn't be easily ignored.

So yes, he's good, but at least Ustinov and Mineo are better, and considering that Ustinov will lose in these polls for Topkapi, I've finally decided to pick him here. He certainly deserves at least one Oscar.
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 1960

Post by Sabin »

Haven't seen Falk, Mineo, and likely never Wills, so I obviously won't be voting. I'll just note that the minute Jack Krushen was nominated everyone involved with The Apartment must have known they had it in the bag. His is the kind of coattail nomination that only comes with a winner. It also helps that his is the kind of wonderful character performance that we always want to see nominated and seldom does -- at least anymore. He is the unassuming moral voice in the film, and I always love watching him in the film.
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 1960

Post by ITALIANO »

I haven't seen Murder, Inc., so I will use this as a (very convenient) excuse not to vote, at least now (by coincidence, it will be on Italian tv soon). Peter Falk was, after all, a good actor, and this seems to be an intriguing, uncliched role for him.

Plus, I'm not sure, really. The best actor in this list is, by far, Peter Ustinov, and I will enthusiastically vote for him on his next nomination (one of the absolute best performances to win the Best Supporting Actor trophy, in my opinion). But as far as I remember his role in Spartacus isn't much more profound than, say, Hugh Griffith's in Ben Hur.

I'm not even considering Chill Wills. I could be tempted to vote for Jack Krushen - if only because his movie is so much better than those nominated here. As for Sal Mineo - he's the standout in that boring, un-epic (despite its scale and ambitions) movie, Exodus, and the only one with a remotely interesting character... but unfortunately Mister Tee is right (right, I mean, on Mineo's career, which except for these two justly nominated performances wasn't an especially distinguished one): I like Mineo, but voting for him twice just wouldn't be fair.

So no vote from me for the moment.
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 1960

Post by Mister Tee »

Another ho-hum year.

Nothing connected with The Alamo gets considered by me. A dreary white elephant.

Exodus isn't a whole lot better. What's with the Sal Mineo fan club here? A minor career at best, but he's close to a two-time winner in our balloting.

The amazing thing about Peter Falk's performance in Murder, Inc. is how un-Peter Falk it is. None of the wry comic timing we came to expect of him is on display (though it would burst forth in his nomination the following year). The performance in fact is very reminiscent of early Brando -- which shows what an impact Brando had on actors of the period, that one so distinctive as Falk would do close to an unconscious imitation of him.

Jack Kruschen is as solid as anything in the wonderful The Apartment. It's nice for a character actor like him to have had a shot at a truly memorable part like this.

But Peter Ustinov is the clear class of the field, and for Spartacus, not the twee The Sundowners. Kubrick's film is the only one of the unfortunate class of Biblical epics to offer anything like believable characters and wit. Ustinov has great dialogue and an amusing presence throughout that dominates this modest group.
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 1960

Post by Reza »

Voted for Ustinov.

My picks for 1960:

1. Trevor Howard, Sons and Lovers
2. Peter Ustinov, Spartacus
3. Fred MacMurray, The Apartment
4. Sal Mineo, Exodus
5. Charles Laughton, Spartacus

The 6th Spot: George Peppard, Home from the Hill
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Re: Best Supporting Actor 1960

Post by Big Magilla »

Peter Falk has a second nomination for 1961's Pocketful of Miracles. Murder, Inc. was a minor film but Falk is good in it in a role that anticipates Joe Pesci in GoodFellas. Still, I wouldn't have nominated him. Columbo it isn't.

The Alamo is a not a very good movie and Chill Wills is not exceptional in it. His best role remains the voice of Francis the Talking Mule opposite Donald O'Connor in a series of early 1950s films.

I always preferred Peter Ustinov's work in The Sundowners to his work in Spartacus. Although Fred MacMurray gives a more memorable performance in The Apartment than Jack Kruschen, MacMurray was likely listed as lead by United Artists making a nomination impossible so they opted for little known, and sadly little remmebered, Kruschen instead, Trevor Howard, who should have been in this category, actually managed a lead actor nomination over some pretty impressive non-nominees as has been discussed in the Best Actor thread.

Sal Mineo is the best thing about Exodus aside from Ernest Gold's great Oscar winning score and the ony possible choice for me here.

Also of note this year: George Peppard and George Hamilton in Home from the Hill; Arthur Kennedy and Dean Jagger in Elmer Gantry and Lee Kinsolving in The Dark at the Top of the Stairs.
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Best Supporting Actor 1960

Post by ksrymy »

I haven't seen Murder, Inc. but really should since it was Falk's only nomination.

From what I remember about The Alamo is that it's one of the few films in which John Wayne dies and it was a successful Western but not really great on an artistic, cinematic level. I do remember Chill Wills' role as "Beekeeper" though and have read that he had one of the most shameless, aggressive campaigns ever even so much that John Wayne publicly apologized for Wills. Not worthy of a nomination though.

Jack Kruschen was great as the conservative doctor next door in The Apartment and he is quite good in most of his scenes but Fred MacMurray was miles ahead of him in the same film.

Peter Ustinov did give one of the five best supporting male performances of the year but it wasn't for his nominated film; it should have been for The Sundowners.

This leaves me with a default choice of Sal Mineo.

My picks

1.) Gene Kelly - Inherit the Wind/Trevor Howard - Sons and Lovers (for what may be the most borderline lead/supporting performance ever)
2.) Fred MacMurray - The Apartment
3.) Sal Mino - Exodus
4.) Peter Ustinov - The Sundowners
5.) Arthur Kennedy - Elmer Gantry

6.) Peter Sellers - I'm Alright Jack
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