Best and Worst Best Actress poll

[Sabin]

I agree, dws. Who do you think would've been a better fit for the role?

Steve Martin.

[ITALIANO]

My ballot was:


BEST

1. Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend (1945)
(The best portrayal of an alcoholic ever because Milland conveyed, very subtly, the devastating self-loathing of the character.)

2. Art Carney in Harry & Tonto
(Often ludicrously lambasted because it defeated Nicholson and Pacino, this performance is nuanced, multi-textured, sagacious and completely lovely.)

3. Bing Crosby in Going My Way
(Portraying "niceness" convincingly is incredibly difficult, but Crosby's natural acting style is just perfect for Father O'Malley)

4. Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen

5. Clark Gable in It Happened One Night


WORST

1. Roberto Benigni in Life Is Beautiful (An embarrassment the Academy will never live down, And he won not for his performance on screen, but for his channeling of Mischa Auer and performing like a trained monkey at multitudinous Hollywood events during Oscar season that year.)

2. Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man (Johnny One Note, and a dull note at that.)

3. Geoffrey Rush in Shine (See Dustin Hoffman above)

4. Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Capote (Not only did he beat the eminently superior Heath Ledger and David Strathairn, but Toby Jones was a much more convincing Truman Capote a year later in Infamous.)

5. Kevin Spacey in American Beauty

Typical of someone who is, well, let's just say not very young, to think that all the best winning performances are in the distant past, and the worst in the recent years, isn't it?

But at least old age isn't a fault - we must respect it. What I find more pathetic is this attempt to rewrite history by tiresomely repeating that "he won not for his performance"...

Well, we won Damien, and you lost. Accept it once for all, and you will live better. Maybe.

[Big Magilla]

I had planned on participating in this survey but couldn't come up with enough good perforamcnes to list beyond Robert Donat in Goodbye, Mr. Chips or enough bad ones to list beyond Jack Lemmon in Save the Tiger.

The "best" choices aren't bad though I would prefer to see Donat, and Fredric March (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) and Charles Laughton (The Private Life of Henry VIII) there instead of De Niro, Abraham and Brando (The Godfather).

None of the so-called "worst" are that bad.

Benigni is too easy a target. I think it's his playing the fool at award show after award show and his subsequent career tanking that have caused many to second guess his winning performance, which was much liked at the time even if McKellen and Nolte gave what many of us considered stronger performances even then.

I don't think Crowe's performance was worthy of a nomination, but it wasn't bad. All of the others at least deserved a nomination, including Washington, who next to Crowe is the weakest on the list.



Edited By Big Magilla on 1202358236

[Damien]

My ballot was:


BEST

1. Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend (1945)
(The best portrayal of an alcoholic ever because Milland conveyed, very subtly, the devastating self-loathing of the character.)

2. Art Carney in Harry & Tonto
(Often ludicrously lambasted because it defeated Nicholson and Pacino, this performance is nuanced, multi-textured, sagacious and completely lovely.)

3. Bing Crosby in Going My Way
(Portraying "niceness" convincingly is incredibly difficult, but Crosby's natural acting style is just perfect for Father O'Malley)

4. Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen

5. Clark Gable in It Happened One Night


WORST

1. Roberto Benigni in Life Is Beautiful (An embarrassment the Academy will never live down, And he won not for his performance on screen, but for his channeling of Mischa Auer and performing like a trained monkey at multitudinous Hollywood events during Oscar season that year.)

2. Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man (Johnny One Note, and a dull note at that.)

3. Geoffrey Rush in Shine (See Dustin Hoffman above)

4. Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Capote (Not only did he beat the eminently superior Heath Ledger and David Strathairn, but Toby Jones was a much more convincing Truman Capote a year later in Infamous.)

5. Kevin Spacey in American Beauty

[Damien]

I always thought Jeff Bridges would have been the ideal actor to play Lester Burnham. The movie wouldn't have been any less fatuous, but at least the lead character might have made more sense and have been at least a little affecting.

And Daniel, bravo to your Art Carney comments. I think on quality alone he deserved the award (marginally over Nicholson but he's light years beyond Pacino).

[FilmFan720]

Yeah, I know. I only got quoted once

Payback for the way you trashed Jennifer Jones last year. :laugh:

LOL.

[flipp525]

I agree, dws. Who do you think would've been a better fit for the role?

[dws1982]

My main problem with Spacey in American Beauty--which Damien also touched on in Inside Oscar--is that I think he was badly miscast and nothing in the performance overcomes the miscasting. He always brings the snarky, smug, misanthropic persona to everything he plays, and while that can work sometimes (L.A. Confidential), I think it's the wrong way to play Lester Burnham. Lester Burnham only makes sense to me as a regular guy who just got fed up and went over the edge. I thought that Spacey didn't make him believable as someone who would've spent two decades trapped in a loveless marriage and in a dead-end office job. The character Spacey played seemed more like the type of guy who would have been through two or three marriages and a couple of careers.



Edited By dws1982 on 1202356777

[Okri]

Worst:
1- Kevin Spacey

At the time, consensus didn't deem this such a heinous choice, but nowadays I feel pretty alone in liking, even loving, this performance. (For what it's worth, I would have also cheered for wins for the fantastic performances by Crowe and Farnsworth that year.) I mean, I wouldn't put Spacey on any list of the BEST Best Actor winners, but I still think it's impressive work.

I'll back you on that one, BJ. It doesn't help that Spacey's career since then (excluding stage work) has been utterly embarassing. But I really like his performance in American Beauty and have no problem with the win. I would've voted for Farnsworth in a heartbeat, though.

[The Original BJ]

Worst:
1- Kevin Spacey

At the time, consensus didn't deem this such a heinous choice, but nowadays I feel pretty alone in liking, even loving, this performance. (For what it's worth, I would have also cheered for wins for the fantastic performances by Crowe and Farnsworth that year.) I mean, I wouldn't put Spacey on any list of the BEST Best Actor winners, but I still think it's impressive work.

[dws1982]

Yeah, I know. I only got quoted once

Payback for the way you trashed Jennifer Jones last year. :laugh:

[FilmFan720]

I was kind of surprised I got quoted so many times.

Yeah, I know. I only got quoted once

[dws1982]

I was kind of surprised I got quoted so many times.

My ballot for the best:
1- Ray Milland
2- Adrien Brody
3- F. Murray Abraham (one of the first Best Actor winners I remember seeing; it still impresses me in new ways every time I see it again.)
4- Art Carney (I'm still convinced that most of the people who criticize this win as one of the worst ever haven't even seen it. Even though he beat Nicholson/Hoffman/Pacino in iconic roles, it's still a performance well worth recognition.)
5- Robert Donat (this was a sentimental choice for me, but I love that performance)

- those quotes in parentheses above are just thoughts I had while typing them out now; they weren't included in my comments on my ballot and left out or anything when he posted my comments.

Worst:
1- Kevin Spacey
2- Richard Dreyfuss
3- Jack Lemmon
4- Russell Crowe
5- Cliff Robertson

The worst was hardest for me, because I also wanted to include Benigni, Rush, and Hanks (either time), but I also didn't want to be one of those people whose list (either best or worst) was top heavy with recent winners. I also flirted with including Daniel Day-Lewis for the exact reason the comment said: "The viewer is constantly aware that 'great acting' is going on. That, of course, is easy to do and as such does not deserve the Oscar." And Ernest Borgnine, Gary Cooper (High Noon), and James Cagney I also considered.

[FilmFan720]

Nice to see even more board members participating this year. Brian and Damien, I also enjoyed your quotes.

[The Original BJ]

Here we go again...