Best Actor 1992

[MovieFan]

Easily Denzel Washington- Malcolm X. Im glad Rea has gathered some votes though, easily the best performance and the best thing about the overrated Crying Game, it always baffled me that Davidson got so much praise for the film for what is essentially a gimmick

[ITALIANO]

Anyway, hopefully Marco will not disapprove me cosigning his spot on evaluations.

Disapprove? It makes me proud.

[Uri]

Pacino himself was not proud of his work here – he referred to this role as an actor proof one. He should get a credit for this at least.

Anyway, hopefully Marco will not disapprove me cosigning his spot on evaluations. I vote for Rea too. I guess I would vote for Robins had he been nominated.

[ITALIANO]

Al Pacino HAD to win an Oscar. If he hadn't, it would have been considered a major, unforgivable oversight and the Academy knew that - this was, after all, one of the most original American actors of the last decades, and a big star. The problem was - unlike, say, Hoffman or Nicholson Pacino had a somewhat darker screen persona, and while he had done mainstream movies, his potential Oscar vehicles - like Bobby Deerfield or Author! Author! - had been flops. So when Scent of a Woman came out, and it proved to be, if not a big hit, certainly a popular movie (and one in which Pacino played a blind person), the Academy took the chance and made it his Oscar winning movie. It didn't matter that the performance was conventional and the movie was forgettable - Pacino was now an Oscar winner, and the Academy had made one more historical mistake. Scent of a Woman, by the way, is based on a famous, and Oscar-nominated, Italian film of the 70s - the original is not only tougher but very cynical, and the blind man - very well played by Vittorio Gassman - an odious character from beginning to end.

Denzel Washington is certainly a star and possesses a charismatic screen presence, but I'm not sure he should have an Oscar (let alone two). He's good as Malcolm X, but still he isn't Malcom X.

Downey jr is better as Chaplin, but the movie itself is unworthy of the man it tries to portray - an episodic, softened biopic, done without much depth.

I'm glad that an Italian actor did finally get nominated, but Unforgiven is more a triumph for Eastwood as a director; plus, I've recently seen again The Crying Game, and I was not only pleased with the movie itself, but I've found Stephen Rea's performance a beautiful, subtle, absolutely not narcissistic turn - if the movie works, and it still does, and if its narrative devices and twists are so believable and at times affecting, it's also because of this - back then more or less unknown - actor's strong yet shy, elusive presence. He's my winner here.

[Big Magilla]

I actually liked Pacino's performance in Scent of a Woman more than I did his other nominated performance. The irony here was that in my estimation Pacino should have won for Serpico in 1973 when Jack Lemmon won for the horrid Save the Tiger, while this year Lemmon should have won for Glengarry Glen Ross and wasn't even nominated yet Pacino, who was nowhere near as good as Lemmon in the film gets a second nod for that as well.

Denzel Washington is the best of the nominees and is my second overall choice behind Lemmon. I also thought there should have been room for Tim Robbins in The Player.

Of the remaining three., Robert Downey, Jr.'s virtuoso performance in Chaplin is probably most deserving of the nod. Clint Eastwood's direction of Unforgiven is his most assured but Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman act circles around him in the film. Ditto Stephen Rea, who is good in The Crying Game, but eclipsed by Jaye Davidson and Miranda Richardson.

[Reza]

At the time I was glad Pacino finally won the Oscar after losing so many times in the past. After seeing the film I was horrified. He gives a lousy, incredibly hammy performance.....playing to the gallery and shouting constantly. But then sadly, post-Scarface, that has been his acting style all along. Rea was merely ok in his film while Eastwood and Downey deserved their nods but weren't good enough to win. I'm surprised Jack Lemmon's anguished performance in Glengarry Glen Ross wasn't nominated. This is the film Washington should have won for but at the end of the day Pacino was due.

Voted here for Denzel Washington.

My picks for 1992:

Denzel Washington, Malcolm X
Harvey Keitel, Bad Lieutenant
Jack Lemmon, Glengarry Glen Ross
Robert Downey Jr., Chaplin
Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven

The 6th Spot: Tim Robbins, The Player

[ksrymy]

I like all the nominees from this year. I'd probably replace Pacino with Tim Robbins in The Player though and Rea with Jack Lemmon in Glengarry Glen Ross.

Pacino's win seemed sentimental this year. I'd much rather have seen him win for Glengarry Glen Ross but Pacino is much more a leading man than support so his swan song win seemed only more appropriate in this category. I feel that if you play a sassy blind man you'll get a nomination hands-down. Nothing special here.

I absolutely adore Chaplin and Downey, Jr.'s performance but really how can you not get a nomination for playing the greatest person to ever contribute to cinema?

Rea was fine in The Crying Game but the other outshine him.

Clint Eastwood is one of my all-time favorite movie stars. I think Unforgiven is one of the best Westerns ever. I think he's very subtle in what he does here but what really sticks out to me are his rain-soaked monologues at the end of the film when he shoots his way to Little Bill through Big Whiskey.

But how can you not give it to Denzel? This is easily his greatest role. This role was made for him. Yes, he has a lot of flashy speeches but he executes them perfectly. I really don't know what else to say. I know you all will say it better though.