One of the best selections ever. Even the least interesting of these five - Spencer Tracy - is unsurprisingly solid in Inherit the Wind; the four others are very, very good.
I should see Sons and Lovers again to decide if Trevor Howard belongs to Leading or Supporting; but the performance itself is flawless, a believable, uncompromising portrayal of a hard-working man, bitter, tough, yet very human. Every time I (re-)read the novel, I realize how perfect Howard is in the role.
Jack Lemmon is wonderful.
But if I have to choose one, it's between Lancaster and Olivier. Olivier is at his best - and in his case this means alot - as Archie Rice, a complex, unlikable, challenging role, one that only a great actor at the height of his maturity and experience can explore in all its subtle emotional ramifications; it's also probably his best non-Shakespearean role.
Still, as I have voted three times already for him, I feel free to pick Burt Lancaster this time. It's probably true that his role in this movie still belongs to his "extroverted" period, but Lancaster was already a subtle and nuanced performer by then; I wouldn't say that his more delicate side suddenly manifested itself in the 80s - it was a slow process but already evident in the 60s (The Leopard especially) and in the 70s. He was probably a complex human being and he had reached now the point in his life and in his career when he didn't have to hide this complexity; it became his strength, this being vulnerable deep inside, and it made this most American of American actors, and a former circus acrobat, a favorite of Europeans and of European directors. Lancaster's Elmer Gantry isn't The Rainmaker or Alvaro Mangiacavallo anymore. Is it his best performance ever? No, that may be The Leopard or Conversation Piece or, of course, Atlantic City for which he will certainly win a second time here. But it's a mature piece of acting and, as Mister Tee says, a genuine tour-de-force.
Best Actor 1960
I haven't seen Sons and Lovers, but I'm going to vote anyway. And I'm going to do so for C.C. Baxter, in HIS performance. When I think of Jack Lemmon, I don't think of him in a dress deliriously singing with his maracas, I don't think of him with his back thrown out, I think of basically every single moment he traipses through The Apartment. And considering I'm going to vote for Lancaster for Atlantic City, it's something of a no-brainer.
Edited By Sabin on 1303835953
Edited By Sabin on 1303835953
"How's the despair?"
You see, this is why I don't contribute much lately to these debates – by the time I come to them somebody has already seems to convey whichever point I was about to make - and seldom as precisely as you, Tee, do here regarding Olivier's overall career and this particular performance, which I believe is his most personal one ever. I enthusiastically add my vote to him.Mister Tee wrote:Which leaves me free to vote, for the first time, for Laurence Olivier, for what I find his free-est, least affected film performance in The Entertainer. I've always admired Olivier's work, from Wuthering Heights and Rebecca through the Shakespeares, but there were only a few occasions on which he reached me at a human level. Carrie was one, and The Entertainer is the other, best example. His Archie Rice is a portrait of a man drowning in his own self-disgust -- he knows he's set himself out to do something second-rate, and only turned out a second-rater at even that (just compared to his dad). This is the most intuitive performance I've think I've ever seen Olivier give; there are moments in it that take my breath away.
And that is enough to get him my vote for best actor of 1960.
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Mister Tee
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Of those left out, Anthony Perkins is the most glaring. As far as Alec Guinness -- though I like his work in Tunes of Glory, it's his Our Man in Havana performance I prize most highly.
Spencer Tracy for me is the strongest candidate for elimination -- not for anything he particularly does wrong, but because of the even-by-Stanley-Kramer-standards heavy-handedness of his vehicle. I have alot of affection for Inherit the Wind -- I remember a very good Hallmark Hall of Fame production in the 60s, with Melvyn Douglas and Ed Begley. But Kramer so squarely and broadly lines up the sides -- liberals vs. yahoos -- that the film comes off totally flat.
Trevor Howard is his usual solid self, and I hardly begrudge him this career nomination. But the part isn't that large, and I can't help thinking, why him and not Wendy Hiller?
It's hard to imagine The Apartment without the stellar contributions of Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. This is a clearly deserved nomination. But it's not quite in the same ballpark as the Some Like It Hot nod, and Jack doesn't deserve the win two times running.
It's easy to see why Burt Lancaster won. Elmer Gantry is the quintessential part for the Lancaster we knew in 1960 -- a brute-force actor who could sell snow the Eskimos. It's a definite tour de force, Oscar bait par excellence, but worthy in spite of that. And, if I didn't know that Lancaster would become a startlingly more delicate actor as he grew older -- that he would be the rare actor to lose his broad strokes and turn in performances in the 80s that the 60s Lancaster couldn't even conceive -- I'd probably vote for him here. But I do know what's coming, and what I'll have a chance to endorse down the line, so I'll hold off.
Which leaves me free to vote, for the first time, for Laurence Olivier, for what I find his free-est, least affected film performance in The Entertainer. I've always admired Olivier's work, from Wuthering Heights and Rebecca through the Shakespeares, but there were only a few occasions on which he reached me at a human level. Carrie was one, and The Entertainer is the other, best example. His Archie Rice is a portrait of a man drowning in his own self-disgust -- he knows he's set himself out to do something second-rate, and only turned out a second-rater at even that (just compared to his dad). This is the most intuitive performance I've think I've ever seen Olivier give; there are moments in it that take my breath away.
And that is enough to get him my vote for best actor of 1960.
Edited By Mister Tee on 1303793932
Spencer Tracy for me is the strongest candidate for elimination -- not for anything he particularly does wrong, but because of the even-by-Stanley-Kramer-standards heavy-handedness of his vehicle. I have alot of affection for Inherit the Wind -- I remember a very good Hallmark Hall of Fame production in the 60s, with Melvyn Douglas and Ed Begley. But Kramer so squarely and broadly lines up the sides -- liberals vs. yahoos -- that the film comes off totally flat.
Trevor Howard is his usual solid self, and I hardly begrudge him this career nomination. But the part isn't that large, and I can't help thinking, why him and not Wendy Hiller?
It's hard to imagine The Apartment without the stellar contributions of Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. This is a clearly deserved nomination. But it's not quite in the same ballpark as the Some Like It Hot nod, and Jack doesn't deserve the win two times running.
It's easy to see why Burt Lancaster won. Elmer Gantry is the quintessential part for the Lancaster we knew in 1960 -- a brute-force actor who could sell snow the Eskimos. It's a definite tour de force, Oscar bait par excellence, but worthy in spite of that. And, if I didn't know that Lancaster would become a startlingly more delicate actor as he grew older -- that he would be the rare actor to lose his broad strokes and turn in performances in the 80s that the 60s Lancaster couldn't even conceive -- I'd probably vote for him here. But I do know what's coming, and what I'll have a chance to endorse down the line, so I'll hold off.
Which leaves me free to vote, for the first time, for Laurence Olivier, for what I find his free-est, least affected film performance in The Entertainer. I've always admired Olivier's work, from Wuthering Heights and Rebecca through the Shakespeares, but there were only a few occasions on which he reached me at a human level. Carrie was one, and The Entertainer is the other, best example. His Archie Rice is a portrait of a man drowning in his own self-disgust -- he knows he's set himself out to do something second-rate, and only turned out a second-rater at even that (just compared to his dad). This is the most intuitive performance I've think I've ever seen Olivier give; there are moments in it that take my breath away.
And that is enough to get him my vote for best actor of 1960.
Edited By Mister Tee on 1303793932
Yes it was finally Lancaster's year. Those flashing teeth were born for this part. A well deserved win.
Trevor Howard (and Wendy Hiller) should have won in the supporting category.
My picks for 1960:
Burt Lancaster, Elmer Gantry
Jack Lemmon, The Apartment
Robert Mitchum, Home From the Hill
Ralph Bellamy, Sunrise at Campobello
Alec Guinness, Tunes of Glory
The 6th spot: Anthony Perkins, Psycho
Edited By Reza on 1303792939
Trevor Howard (and Wendy Hiller) should have won in the supporting category.
My picks for 1960:
Burt Lancaster, Elmer Gantry
Jack Lemmon, The Apartment
Robert Mitchum, Home From the Hill
Ralph Bellamy, Sunrise at Campobello
Alec Guinness, Tunes of Glory
The 6th spot: Anthony Perkins, Psycho
Edited By Reza on 1303792939
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Big Magilla
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One of the most competitive years ever, the list of those ignored may even be more impressive than those that made the cut. Among them were Robert Mitchum in Home from the Hill and The Sundowners; Anthony Perkins in Psycho; Dean Stockwell in Sons and Lovers; Fredric March in Inherit the Wind; John Mills and Alec Guinness in Tunes of Glory and Ralph Bellamy in Sunrise at Campobello.
Of the actual nominees, I thought Trevor Howard belonged in support where he could have easily won for his mean coal miner father in Sons and Lovers. Laurence Olivier, to me, hammed it up more than he needed to playing a hambone actor in The Entertainer. I would not have even thought of him this year.
The others were fine, although Tracy in Inherit the Wind without a nomination for March as his nemesis doesn't seem quite fair.
Lemmon may not have given a better performance than he did as C.C. Baxter, the insurance clerk who finds a unique way to climb the corprate ladder in The Apartment. He certainly never had a better vehicle, but I have to go along with Oscar's choice this year.
Burt Lancaster is mesmerizing in every scene as the phony evangelist in Elmer Gantry, vividly bringing Sinclair Lewis' character to life. It was the role he was born to paly and he plays it for all it's worth.
Of the actual nominees, I thought Trevor Howard belonged in support where he could have easily won for his mean coal miner father in Sons and Lovers. Laurence Olivier, to me, hammed it up more than he needed to playing a hambone actor in The Entertainer. I would not have even thought of him this year.
The others were fine, although Tracy in Inherit the Wind without a nomination for March as his nemesis doesn't seem quite fair.
Lemmon may not have given a better performance than he did as C.C. Baxter, the insurance clerk who finds a unique way to climb the corprate ladder in The Apartment. He certainly never had a better vehicle, but I have to go along with Oscar's choice this year.
Burt Lancaster is mesmerizing in every scene as the phony evangelist in Elmer Gantry, vividly bringing Sinclair Lewis' character to life. It was the role he was born to paly and he plays it for all it's worth.