Best Supporting Actor 1983

[mlrg]

Jack Nicholson - Terms of Endearment

[koook160]

In my opinion, the Best Supporting Actor of 1983 was Darren McGavin in A Christmas Story. It was a perfect blend of humor and heart. I'd go as far as to declare it one of the finest comdeic performances ever. Feel free to disagree.

[Reza]

We've discussed Jack Nicholson so often in these threads you'd think there'd be nothing more to say about him. But perhaps there is something to be noted about his Terms of Endearment performance in context. Following Cuckoo's Nest, Jack had gone into a bit of an ebb. The Missouri Breaks was a what-were-they-doing? flop, Goin' South of no consequence except for the discovery of Mary Steenburgen. With The Shining and The Postman Always Rings Twice, he seemed to be slipping into a period of what a friend of mine called plate-in-his-head performances: he was crazed and recessive at the same time, with not a hint of the joyous actor we'd glimpsed in The Last Detail and Cuckoo's Nest. Even his better work, in The Border and Reds, was of a low-key variety. At this point, of course, we treasure that low-key stuff, because we know the extroverted actor re-emerged and, in fact, devoured Nicholon's career. But at the time Term of Endearment opened, it was fresher, and an umitigiated pleasure to simply see Jack operate at full throttle like this. It wasn't a deep performance, of course...and I've have voted for Quaid over him, no question. But it was a hugely enjoyable thing to watch, with touching moments (like his airport farewell to Shirley MacLaine), and, in this motley crew, he's my clear choice.

I agree and it's because of this Nicholson's performance feels so fresh. Apart from the hilarious slapstick moments he was also very good in some of the rare quieter moments in Terms.

My picks for 1983:

1. Jack Nicholson, Terms of Endearment
2. Jerry Lewis, The King of Comedy
3. Shashi Kapoor, Heat and Dust
4. Kurt Russell, Silkwood
5. John Lithgow, Terms of Endearment

The 6th Spot: Gene Hackman, Under Fire

[Mister Tee]

Still, I really can't vote for Jack Nicholson again, and obviously not for Terms of Endearment (I wonder, by the way, how can anyone NOT vote for him in Reds and then vote for him here).

You answered it yourself: the level of competition.

This slate has always baffled me. It's not only sub-par -- clearing the way for Nicholson the way the GOP primaries were cleared for Romney -- but sub-par in an un-Academy-like way, with obscurities and flops (To Be or Not to Be and Cross Creek) yielding nominations even while contenders from more race-centric films were ignored.

My biggest gripe was the omission of Dennis Quaid, for a breakthrough performance in The Right Stuff that I thought was easily the most impressive in the film (and central: the bloody thing ended focused on him), and the year's best. I see here everybody's all over the map on who's their favorite actor from the film, which probably helps explain why it was Sam Shepard, already a Name (thanks to his day job), who got the Academy's nod. But, at the time, everyone I talked to thought Quaid was the clear standout. (Regarding Ed Harris, I actually like his smaller but dynamic work in Under Fire that year better)

But there were other folk from multi-nominated films who also should have taken slots: Kurt Russell (who I generally can't stand, either as actor or ostentatiously right-wing personality, but who easily holds his own with Streep and Cher in Silkwood), Jeff Goldblum (the funniest element in The Big Chill) or Mandy Patinkin, who gives his best screen performance in Yentl.

Instead, we got Charles Durning for the utterly unnecessary To Be or Not To Be remake, and Rip Torn, presumably a career nod for a movie that came and went in a flash in Fall '83.

John Lithgow was in something of a golden period post-Garp, and he did very touching work in Terms of Endearment that had been singled out by critics. But the role was ludicrously small compared to the omittees I've mentioned or his co-nominee, something Lithgow himself essentially owned up to: asked on Entertainment Tonight if he thought he could win, he replied "Only if everyone decides to pull a big practical joke on Jack Nicholson".

Sam Shepard had received a good deal of the advance publicity for The Right Stuff -- not only because he was a famous (already Pulitzer-winning) playwright, but because readers of the book looked on Chuck Yeager as the iconic element of the story. Shepard did well enough playing this icon, but I can't say I'd describe what he did as acting. It was more like Kaufman posed him against the sky -- used his craggy American looks to embody Wolfe's themes -- and Shepard filled the bill without effort. The Right Stuff, on the whole, is, like much of Kaufman's work, a movie with greatness in it that hobbles itself with lame elements (such as the worst LBJ caricature imaginable). I've heard it described as the last major movie of the 70s boom, and, flaws and all, I think that's apt.

We've discussed Jack Nicholson so often in these threads you'd think there'd be nothing more to say about him. But perhaps there is something to be noted about his Terms of Endearment performance in context. Following Cuckoo's Nest, Jack had gone into a bit of an ebb. The Missouri Breaks was a what-were-they-doing? flop, Goin' South of no consequence except for the discovery of Mary Steenburgen. With The Shining and The Postman Always Rings Twice, he seemed to be slipping into a period of what a friend of mine called plate-in-his-head performances: he was crazed and recessive at the same time, with not a hint of the joyous actor we'd glimpsed in The Last Detail and Cuckoo's Nest. Even his better work, in The Border and Reds, was of a low-key variety. At this point, of course, we treasure that low-key stuff, because we know the extroverted actor re-emerged and, in fact, devoured Nicholon's career. But at the time Term of Endearment opened, it was fresher, and an umitigiated pleasure to simply see Jack operate at full throttle like this. It wasn't a deep performance, of course...and I've have voted for Quaid over him, no question. But it was a hugely enjoyable thing to watch, with touching moments (like his airport farewell to Shirley MacLaine), and, in this motley crew, he's my clear choice.

[ITALIANO]

When I voted for Jack Nicholson in Reds very recently I said to myself that that would have been the last time - that I wouldn't vote again for him, certainly not for Terms of Endearment, where is he enjoyable maybe, but also very Nicholson-ish, which isn't necessarily a good thing. It's an expert but quite mannered performance.

What I didn't remember a few days ago was that the other nominees, in 1983, seem to have been chosen just to make him triumph more easily. It definitely isn't a very exciting group. Still, I really can't vote for Jack Nicholson again, and obviously not for Terms of Endearment (I wonder, by the way, how can anyone NOT vote for him in Reds and then vote for him here).

The other four aren't bad but are admittedly not very impressive. Lithgow has a nice little role in Terms, for example, but it's really VERY little. And both To Be or not to Be and Cross Creek are flawed though not completely negligible movies.

This leaves us with Sam Shepard, who at the time was, a bit too optimistically, hailed as the new Gary Cooper for his turn in The Right Stuff. This is also a far from perfect movie, but there are lots of interesting things in it, and it's generally well acted. Shepard - who later didn't do much as a film actor, honestly - had a role which probably didnt need a Marlon Brando or a Robert De Niro, but which worked on an iconic level, and he gave it an appropriate presence and a very American, almost heroic sense of integrity. This year, it's enough to get my vote.

[Sabin]

Because I have not seen Cross Creek or To Be or Not To Be, I cannot inevitably vote for Nicholson. I haven't seen Terms in ages, but I recall Lithgow being incredibly sweet in the film. Was he widely predicted?

[Big Magilla]

Jack Nichlson was the best of the best in Terms of Endearmentand deserved what was surprisingly only his second Oscar at the time - it should have been his third or fourth. His co-star John Lithgow was right behind him with Sam Shepard in The right Stuff also a deserving nominee.

Rip Torn in Cross Creekis marginal and Charles Durning had no business being near an Oscar for Mel Brooks' version of To Be or Not to Be.

Lots of others to consider this year inlcuding Kurt Russell in Silkwood; Steven Bauer in Scarface; Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, Scott Glenn and Fred Ward in The Right Stuff and Takeshi Kitano in Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.

[Precious Doll]

This is a respectable line-up but I have always been partial to the ensemble cast of The Right Stuff.

I think had The King of Comedy been better received at the time and had done big business Jerry Lewis may have gotten a much deserved nomination.

My choices:

1. Sam Shepard for The Right Stuff
2. Jerry Lewis for The King of Comedy
3. Ed Harris for The Right Stuff
4. Scott Glenn for The Right Stuff
5. Fred Ward for The Right Stuff

It goes without saying that if there was room for one more it would be Denis Quaid for The Right Stuff.

[ksrymy]

The only one I haven't seen is Cross Creek.

Charles Durning is a marvelous character actor but his performance here can never amount to what Sig Ruman did in the original.

Sam Shepard is one of the greatest playwrights of the postmodern era. Buried Child being one of my all-time favorite plays ever. His regretful Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff is wonderfully done, but the best supporting performer in that film is the ever-fabulous Ed Harris.

But it's between the Terms men, and it can only go to an obvious one.

With what I expect to be the biggest blowout in these races so far, Jack Nicholson gets my enthusiastic vote. It's funny that the best astronaut of the year wasn't in The Right Stuff.

My picks
________________
1) Jack Nicholson - Terms of Endearment
2) Jeff Daniels - Terms of Endearment
3) John Lithgow - Terms of Endearment
4) Jeff Goldblum - The Big Chill
5) Ed Harris - The Right Stuff

6) Sam Shepard - The Right Stuff