1968-1977 Best Actor Winners
Re: 1968-1977 Best Actor Winners
Just saw Patton. Haven't seen Charly but I've yet to hear anyone call him the best of any year or decade so I can vote for Jack Nicholson. I could make the case for Marlon Brando being more iconic or Gene Hackman being the better actor, but Jack Nicholson was the actor of the decade.
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CalWilliam
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Re: 1968-1977 Best Actor Winners
Brando is more iconic than great in The Godfather.
George C. Scott and Gene Hackman are the only others I would consider voting, but the best is very easily Jack Nicholson.
Cliff Robertson, John Wayne and Jack Lemmon won undeserved Oscars over much more memorable performances.
Art Carney, Peter Finch and Richard Dreyfuss were very solid winners.
George C. Scott and Gene Hackman are the only others I would consider voting, but the best is very easily Jack Nicholson.
Cliff Robertson, John Wayne and Jack Lemmon won undeserved Oscars over much more memorable performances.
Art Carney, Peter Finch and Richard Dreyfuss were very solid winners.
"Rage, rage against the dying of the light". - Dylan Thomas
Re: 1968-1977 Best Actor Winners
Voted for Nicholson but Dreyfuss is a very close second for me.
Followed by Hackman, Finch and then Scott.
Don't like any of the other winning performances.
Can't believe Robertson won over O'Toole.
Glad Wayne has an Oscar but it should have gone that year to Hoffman or Voight.
Pacino should have been nominated in the lead for The Godfather and won it. Brando should have won in the supporting category where he belonged.
Lemmon deserved an Oscar in the lead category but not for the film he won it for. Brando or Pacino were both better that year.
A crime that Nicholson lost for Chinatown.
Glad Finch won finally although he should have won years before for The Trial of Oscar Wilde (not nominated). Strong list of nominees.
Dreyfuss deserved the win although Travolta is also very good - a performance that still holds up remarkably well. I was pleasantly surprised to see recently how good Saturday Night Fever is and not only because of its music.
Followed by Hackman, Finch and then Scott.
Don't like any of the other winning performances.
Can't believe Robertson won over O'Toole.
Glad Wayne has an Oscar but it should have gone that year to Hoffman or Voight.
Pacino should have been nominated in the lead for The Godfather and won it. Brando should have won in the supporting category where he belonged.
Lemmon deserved an Oscar in the lead category but not for the film he won it for. Brando or Pacino were both better that year.
A crime that Nicholson lost for Chinatown.
Glad Finch won finally although he should have won years before for The Trial of Oscar Wilde (not nominated). Strong list of nominees.
Dreyfuss deserved the win although Travolta is also very good - a performance that still holds up remarkably well. I was pleasantly surprised to see recently how good Saturday Night Fever is and not only because of its music.
Re: 1968-1977 Best Actor Winners
As much as iconic as Brando is, I voted for Nicholson in a performance for the ages.
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Big Magilla
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1968-1977 Best Actor Winners
While there were some extraordinary wins by their female counterparts this decade, the best actor wins were mostly ho-hum. In only two instances, were the winners clearly the best of the nominees.
Cliff Robertson was a prime example of a win by campaign. Although he was perfectly fine in Charly, he was nowhere nearly as good as either Peter O'Toole in The Lion in Winter or Alan Arkin in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.
John Wayne's win for True Grit was a perfect example of a career win for the actor who hadn't been nearly as good since 1956's The Searchers but whose performance was left in the dust by Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy.
George C. Scott is an actor I hadn't liked before Patton and haven't liked in anything since, but in that one performance, perfectly capturing his own ego and arrogance, he gave one as close to perfection as we have ever seen.
Gene Hackman was a fine character actor even when playing starring roles, and in my opinion, should have already won a supporting actor Oscar for Bonnie and Clyde but this year's best actors were Peter Finch in Sunday Bloody Sunday and the non-nominated Malcolm McDowall in A Clockwork Orange and Long Ago, Tomorrow aka The Raging Moon.
Marlon Brando hadn't given an Oscar caliber performance since 1954's On the Waterfront, despite a subsequent underserved nomination for Sayonara three years later, but he was still the acting god many of the younger generation of actors looked up to. That fact, plus his subsequent film and future Oscar nominated performance in Last Tango in Paris having already been seen by most voters, made him the prohibitive favorite in the Oscar race. It should really have gone to Laurence Olivier for his hammy perfection in Sleuth.
Jack Lemmon campaigned for a win for the sour Save the Tiger even longer than Cliff Robertson and deserved the win even less. It should have gone to Al Pacino for Serpico. Ironically, it was Lemmon who should have won for Glengarry Glen Ross 19 years later when Pacino finally took home an Oscar for Scent of a Woman. Lemmon not only wasn't nominated for Ross, but Pacino was, pulling off a supporting actor nomination in addition to his leading one, the first time a performer nominated in both categories won for their role in lead.
Art Carney, previously known as a great TV and stage actor, wowed everyone with his performance in Harry & Tonto, a role originally intended for James Cagney. He is certainly good in it, but was he better than Jack Nicolson in Chinatown and Al Pacino in The Godfather: Part II?
I don't think so.
Jack Nicolson finally won his first of three Oscars on his fifth nomination for One Flew Ove the Cuckoo's Nest, a win that wellwas deserved.
Peter Finch, who should have won five years earlier, finally won posthumously forNetwork, but that one should have gone to Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver.
Richard Dreyfuss was petty much an also-ran in the 1977 contest in which John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever and overdue Richard Burton in Equus were favored. Personally, this is where I would have awarded Art Carney for The Late Show for which he was overlooked in favor of Woody Allen playing himself in Annie Hall.
I voted for Nicholson.
Cliff Robertson was a prime example of a win by campaign. Although he was perfectly fine in Charly, he was nowhere nearly as good as either Peter O'Toole in The Lion in Winter or Alan Arkin in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.
John Wayne's win for True Grit was a perfect example of a career win for the actor who hadn't been nearly as good since 1956's The Searchers but whose performance was left in the dust by Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy.
George C. Scott is an actor I hadn't liked before Patton and haven't liked in anything since, but in that one performance, perfectly capturing his own ego and arrogance, he gave one as close to perfection as we have ever seen.
Gene Hackman was a fine character actor even when playing starring roles, and in my opinion, should have already won a supporting actor Oscar for Bonnie and Clyde but this year's best actors were Peter Finch in Sunday Bloody Sunday and the non-nominated Malcolm McDowall in A Clockwork Orange and Long Ago, Tomorrow aka The Raging Moon.
Marlon Brando hadn't given an Oscar caliber performance since 1954's On the Waterfront, despite a subsequent underserved nomination for Sayonara three years later, but he was still the acting god many of the younger generation of actors looked up to. That fact, plus his subsequent film and future Oscar nominated performance in Last Tango in Paris having already been seen by most voters, made him the prohibitive favorite in the Oscar race. It should really have gone to Laurence Olivier for his hammy perfection in Sleuth.
Jack Lemmon campaigned for a win for the sour Save the Tiger even longer than Cliff Robertson and deserved the win even less. It should have gone to Al Pacino for Serpico. Ironically, it was Lemmon who should have won for Glengarry Glen Ross 19 years later when Pacino finally took home an Oscar for Scent of a Woman. Lemmon not only wasn't nominated for Ross, but Pacino was, pulling off a supporting actor nomination in addition to his leading one, the first time a performer nominated in both categories won for their role in lead.
Art Carney, previously known as a great TV and stage actor, wowed everyone with his performance in Harry & Tonto, a role originally intended for James Cagney. He is certainly good in it, but was he better than Jack Nicolson in Chinatown and Al Pacino in The Godfather: Part II?
I don't think so.
Jack Nicolson finally won his first of three Oscars on his fifth nomination for One Flew Ove the Cuckoo's Nest, a win that wellwas deserved.
Peter Finch, who should have won five years earlier, finally won posthumously forNetwork, but that one should have gone to Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver.
Richard Dreyfuss was petty much an also-ran in the 1977 contest in which John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever and overdue Richard Burton in Equus were favored. Personally, this is where I would have awarded Art Carney for The Late Show for which he was overlooked in favor of Woody Allen playing himself in Annie Hall.
I voted for Nicholson.