Best Supporting Actress 1983

[OscarGoesTwo]

Alfre Woodard gets my vote

Amy Irving in 2nd

Cher in 3rd

Linda Hunt in 4th

Glenn Close in 5th

[mayukh]

I have deep affection for Cher as an actress, but I can't for the life of me see the brilliance others see in her work here. It seemed one of those cases of an inexperienced actress underplaying so much that she didn't register at all.

Glenn Close is dependably good in The Big Chill, but the whole thing is just sort of phony.

Amy Irving I found very enchanting in Yentl.

Linda Hunt – astonishing, deep, moving.

I voted for Alfre Woodard here. She's a great actress in my book, and she's fantastic in Cross Creek. The movie is negligible but I can't forget those big, expressive eyes, so full of feeling and life whenever she's on screen.

[Hustler]

That was the year for Glenn Close, in spite the fact that I consider Hunt as a fair win.

[Big Magilla]

Speaking of the "only in the movies" pairing of Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal, has anyone here, or more importantly any of the critics or AMPAS voters seen Open Road? It was a flop released early last year in which Jeff Bridges gives the same performance he gave in Crazy Heart except that he was playing a washed up baseball player instead of a washed up singer and the love interest was left to Justin Timberlake playing his son. Bridges was more realistically paired opposite Mary Steenburgen as his ex-wife.

[Uri]

Don't forget that my father met you and never saw you THAT way, and he should know!

Don't ever underestimate us psychopaths.

Chandler? You do have a soft spot for wacko Jews.

[ITALIANO]

Don't forget that my father met you and never saw you THAT way, and he should know!

But I know about defense mechanism - and you'll see it when we do the Supporting Actors and we get to (I'm almost ashamed now) Jeff Chandler...

[Uri]

You're the psychiatrist's son, not me! It's called rationalization. But why should a healthy, balanced person like you know about defense mechanisms. A mess like me, on the other hand…

[ITALIANO]

In a way, it's a greater achievement to be able to convey the human complexity when given nothing to work with, like he does here, than do so with the Hamlets and the Lears of thespianity, isn't it?

Hehe... I SO knew that you'd say this! I don't know, I think that Hamlet and Lear are honestly more challenging roles than the drunk singer in Crazy Heart, but maybe it's the European in me. But he's better than movie itself, this I agree on.

[Uri]

My point was that she was favored not for being with him but for being wronged by him. He was just an ugly, nerdy Jewish midget dumping the half shikse for the full, blond one. Unforgiveable, certainly not when one is writing about it on Yom Kippur.

And don't you dare slight St. Jeff. In a way, it's a greater achievement to be able to convey the human complexity when given nothing to work with, like he does here, than do so with the Hamlets and the Lears of thespianity, isn't it? But yes, it was just another case of the familiar who-cares-about-the-actual-performance-as-long-as-we-get-the-chance-to-give-him/her-an-Oscar scenario. (And still, he is good in it).

[ITALIANO]

I don't know about Amy Irving, Uri - and by the way, the fact that she WASN'T married to Spielberg yet, especially since it's America we are talking about, isn't a minor one. I'd be tempted to say that her connection to a major director helped her, except that Spielberg himself wasn't at that time still as beloved by the Academy as he would be later. Maybe it was just her beauty, her doll-like face - things that, especially in this category, can make a difference.

But I agree with you about Gyllenhaal's totally undeserved nomination for Crazy Heart (not that Jeff Bridges's role was less cliched though...).

[Uri]

It's early 1984 and the speculations on what happened on the set of that Indiana Jones sequel between its director and his leading lady were probably the talk of the town. Poor, poor Amy.

Huh? Amy Irving wasn't married to Steven Spielberg until November, 1985, five months after the birth of their son. They divorced in early 1989 and he married Kate Capshaw (the leading lady in that Indiana Jones sequel) in 1991.

First – I never allow for the nitty gritty details to interfere with my elaborate theories.

Second – although it may comes as a shock to some people, from what I've heard, romantic and even, dare I say it, sexual entanglements between a man and a woman might occur outside the sanctity of matrimony. Irving and Spielberg had an on and off relationship since the early '80s and his and Capshaw's association, in one form or another, did start while making that movie. Am I 100% sure what I've said was true? Hell, no. But if there was some kind of probability it's enough for me. So yes, Hollywood child Irving might have had some sympathy on her side back then.

Speaking of theories, I've just finished watching Crazy Heart for the first time a few moments ago (wow, what a slight film). And like everything else about it, Gyllenhaal's nomination is so cliché ridden, it's almost like a parody of the kind of long time suffering, kind hearted supportive good women this category is stuffed with.



Edited By Uri on 1284798832

[Big Magilla]

It's early 1984 and the speculations on what happened on the set of that Indiana Jones sequel between its director and his leading lady were probably the talk of the town. Poor, poor Amy.

Huh? Amy Irving wasn't married to Steven Spielberg until November, 1985, five months after the birth of their son. They divorced in early 1989 and he married Kate Capshaw (the leading lady in that Indiana Jones sequel) in 1991.

[Uri]

As we say it time and again – never underestimate the wronged spouse electorate factor, especially when it comes to the supporting actress category, the official place for Hollywood wives to vend their frustrations.

And in Irving case, both the actress and the role were the perfect charity cases. It's early 1984 and the speculations on what happened on the set of that Indiana Jones sequel between its director and his leading lady were probably the talk of the town. Poor, poor Amy. And as we learned only 5 years ago with Maggie Smith's victory, the case of a woman married to a husband who's unqualified to fully attend to all her needs must be a familiar one in the film community. The gadgets may have become more elaborate than a candle, but the human spirit remains the same.

Anyway, over the years this category was all about honoring supporting, often sidelined, characters – and this year all five nominees played supportive people. They were all about being there for the lead (or in Close's case, being there for the group as a whole). And at the end we got a good lesson for life – he may be a dwarf, he may be a freak, he may even be an Asian(!), but if he's up against 4 females, the one with the penis, even a fictitious one, will turn out a winner.

But after all is said and done, Hunt's victory should really be undisputed.

[Big Magilla]

Remember, this was the day when the Razzie's didn't go for the obvious worst films of the year, but more of the most disappointing and ridiculous "respected" films

That's more a description of the Harvard Lampoon awards. The Razzies originally had two factions - those who wanted to poke fun at "respected" films as the Harvard Lampoons did and those who went for the obvious trash. Unfortunately the latter faction long ago won out and as a result the Razzies have pretty much become trash themselves.

[Big Magilla]

I agree with Flipp that Amy Irving's performance, while not really good enough to merit an Oscar nomination, wasn't really bad enough to warrant a Razzie nod either. The Razzies also nominated the film for Worst Actress and Worst Musical Score.

It should also be noted that Irving was the first Razzie winner for Worst Supporting Actress for Honeysuckle Rose three years earlier.

While she was the first actress nominated for both an Oscar and a Razzie for the same performance, she was not the first performer so nominated. James Coco earned that distinction with Only When I Laugh.

Talk about divisive, Faye Dunaway was runner-up to the New York Film Critics Award for Best Actress of 1981 for Mommie Dearest but was co-winner of he Worst Actress Award from the Razzies for the same performance, along with someone who truly was the worst actress of the year - Bo Derek in Tarzan the Ape Man.