Best and Worst Best Actress poll

[Damien]

The results of Edward Copeland's Best and Worst Best Actor Oscars are in.

Daniel, I love your comments on Art Carney and Kevin Spacey.

And, the winner of the Worst Best Actor Winner Ever citation is sweet.

Best Best Actor WInners:

10. GEORGE C. SCOTT (PATTON)
(55 POINTS)

9. ALEC GUINNESS (THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI)
(59 POINTS)

8. JAMES CAGNEY (YANKEE DOODLE DANDY)
(67 POINTS)

7. F. MURRAY ABRAHAM (AMADEUS)
(72 POINTS)

6. MARLON BRANDO (THE GODFATHER)
(95 POINTS)

5. DANIEL DAY-LEWIS (MY LEFT FOOT)
(96 POINTS)

4. GREGORY PECK (TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD)
(99 POINTS)

3. JACK NICHOLSON (ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST)
(111 POINTS)

2. ROBERT DE NIRO (RAGING BULL)
(201 POINTS)

1. MARLON BRANDO (ON THE WATERFRONT)
(241 POINTS)


Worst Best Actor Oscars:

10. DENZEL WASHINGTON (TRAINING DAY)
(40 POINTS) (TIE)

9. REX HARRISON (MY FAIR LADY)
(43 POINTS)

8. CLIFF ROBERTSON (CHARLY)
(52 POINTS)

7. JACK NICHOLSON (AS GOOD AS IT GETS)
(70 POINTS)

5. CHARLTON HESTON (BEN-HUR)
(97 POINTS) (TIE)

5. RUSSELL CROWE (GLADIATOR)
(97 POINTS) (TIE)

4. DUSTIN HOFFMAN (RAIN MAN)
(105 POINTS)

3. TOM HANKS (FORREST GUMP)
(133 POINTS)

2. AL PACINO (SCENT OF A WOMAN)
(186 POINTS)



1. ROBERTO BENIGNI (LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL)
(232 POINTS)


"There are no words."
Joshua Flower

"He stole Ian McKellen's Oscar. Justification enough for mentioning as the 'worst' even if the wooden performance wasn't."
Brooke

"The Greatest Arsehole to Win Any Award, Ever."
Ali Arikan

"I simply find him grating. In the right kind of movie he can make a positive mark Down by Law comes to mind), but in this script his schtick didn't work for me at all."
Scott Crichlow

"If anything proves Kate Winslet's dictum (voiced on the TV show Extras) that playing a Holocaust victim will nab you an Oscar, it's this performance. Most of the time, bad wins like this take a few years to really look like a mistake. This one looked it about three hours later."
David Gaffen

"I’m happy Hollywood’s love affair with Roberto Benigni ended after Life Is Beautiful. Too bad it had to start in the first place."
Mark White

"Once upon a time, there was a momentary lapse in the space/time continuum in which people briefly thought that Roberto Benigni was as charming and Chaplinesque as he thinks he is. Unfortunately, that time coincided with Oscar balloting. He ain’t Chaplin, he’s Charlie Callas." {DAMIEN SAYS THIS IS AN INSULT TO THE BRILLIANT CHARLIE CALLAS}
Daniel L.

{ This comment is hilarious: }
"Something very weird happened to award voters in the winter of 1998. It's one thing that they became entranced by a mediocre Italian comedian and his grossly superficial and sappy Holocaust comedy, but they also became really amused by what said Italian comedian would do if they kept giving him awards. It was like a psychotic babysitter thinking it was cool to give a six-year-old coffee and Pixie Stix knowing that the kid would be the parents' responsibility later. And, best/worst of all, Benigni willingly played monkey to Hollywood's elite, finding new ways of humiliating himself with each new ceremony, much to the ongoing terror of Helen Hunt, who had to keep presenting him with trophies. Meanwhile, Edward Norton (American History X), Nick Nolte (Affliction) and Ian McKellen (Gods and Monsters) had to keep watching this pea-brained Pagliacci urinate all over what should have been a competitive race just because his mere presence doubtlessly made Jack Nicholson giggle. I'd bet dollars to donuts that none of the people who voted for Benigni bothered to watch his Pinocchio, but they all should have been strapped to a chair for the full experience -- dubbed and undubbed."
Daniel Fienberg

“There are few performances that fill me with more hateful spewing bile than this one. I cannot stand to see something as horrific and cataclysmic as the Holocaust presented as a feel good story between father and son in which rather than give his son a true chance at survival by exposing him to reality (which worked out quite well for Eli Wiesel and his survival Roberto) he turns it all into a game to win a tank. And then before he dies he makes his kid laugh one more time. Awwww. It never occurs to Benigni that in reality his son would be in much greater danger thinking it was a game. Kids get bored with games and you have to keep them going (as he does in the movie) but I have kids and I can tell you this: They're not nearly as dumb as Benigni thinks they are. If you tell them to stop doing this or that annoying behavior or go play this or that game they may or may not. They are strong willed and intelligent, children. But in the few instances where there have been emergencies in my house or with our family, you give them the story straight and by God they come through without missing a step. That's why no one tried to tell Eli Wiesel it was a game. His best chance at survival was knowing exactly what was going on and knowing where he stood. As a parent this film is insulting. As a friend of a Holocaust survivor this film is revolting. I hate this film and I hate Benigni's smarmy repulsive performance. Should I ever meet him I shall punch him squarely in the face.”
Jonathan Lapper

“The guy is hilarious in his films with Jim Jarmusch, especially his turn in Night on Earth. I even liked his earlier Italian films, and would like to see what he did with Fellini. But a win over Sir Ian? Even Nick Nolte or Edward Norton would have been better.”
PS Nellhaus

"Not just because the movie itself is a despicable act of Holocaust denial. But that helps."
Jim Emerson

“This has to be the Academy's biggest embarrassment. I'm sure voters today are still scratching their heads, asking, 'What were we thinking?' What's more, Ian McKellen was nominated that year for the sublime Gods and Monsters.”
Jeffrey M. Anderson

"There can be no other choice for worst of the worst."
Dan Callahan

“Benigni's performance is enjoyable for the first two minutes of the film. After this, it starts giving nauseas. The chances of throwing up highly increases during the movie when he is on scene. By the way, if you see him in any of his other movies, he will be acting the same way.”
Benjamin Braddock

"The Siren left the movie with her lace hanky soaked to the hem with her tears, ready to snatch Roberto Benigni bald-headed for this nauseating exercise in audience manipulation. The man has an enormous talent for slapstick but no taste whatsoever. He's so busy being touching and humane and the endearing character whose comic eccentricity makes him the island of sanity in an ocean of madness that he can't be bothered to React to anyone, including his beautiful, ghost-eyed son."
Campaspe

"Execrable. Enough said."
David Cassan

"A pig-ignorant movie, made as bearable as it is by Benigni's clowning - but in this sort of setting, trying to be poignant behind the antics, you notice just what an egotistical jackass he can be. Everything in the film is about validating what a wonderful performer he (and his character) is - the first half has his wife standing around oohing and ahing about how wonderful he is, the second half has that little kid oohing and ahhing. Bah. Then factor in who he beat - no."
Stephen Mullen

"Wait a minute…an actor impersonating Chaplin’s Tramp character in a slapstick take on the Holocaust won the Oscar over Edward Norton and Sir Ian McKellan? There is obviously no justice in the world."
James Henry

“I thought the nomination was a joke and was simply infuriated when he won.”
Svanur Pétursson

“Nice guy. But, that was a serious heavyweight of a year, all of the other top 4 were winner-worthy in any given year; Norton, McKellan, Hanks, Nolte all gave stellar performances. Benigni is a great performer in his own right, but, some on, not in that group, not with those performances.”
Milton

“Mugging his way throu
gh the Holocaust - Ugh!”
Robert Schlueter

“The classic choice. Mugging, overwrought and insensitive, it's easy- and justifiable- to blame Benigni for the horrific nature of the whole damn film.”
Dave

“Annoying as all get out.”
Bob Turnbull

"Hated, hated, hated this movie, and particularly this central performance."
Tina

“An embarrassment the Academy will never live down, And he won not for his performance on screen, but for his channeling of Mischa Auer and performing like a trained monkey at multitudinous Hollywood events during Oscar season that year.”
DBONA

“William Goldman has become one of the people Oscar prognosticators love to hate in recent years, but he had it right on this movie, which is an utter piece of treacly horseshit from back in the day when Miramax could hornswaggle you into thinking you'd seen something profound through its marketing. My understanding is that Benigni is a beloved clown from his other work, but this movie just makes him seem like an insensitive jackass. It doesn't help that the four performances he beat were all miles better than his goofy schtick, even Edward Norton's totally committed work in American History X (not a very good film, but Norton is terrific). There's also a weird undercurrent of xenophobia to Benigni's wins, which made it seem like the Academy was glad to award foreigners so long as they knew their place and played their role as wacky stereotype.”
Todd VanDerWerff

"Hey, I love a Holocaust comedy as much as the next gal..."
Susan Merrill


"This one is so bad.
It actually made me
root for the Nazis."
Isaac Bickerstaff


Full details can be accessed at http://eddieonfilm.blogspot.com



Edited By Damien on 1202358190

[FilmFan720]

I am looking forward to voting again...I voted in both this and the Best Foreign Films of all time poll he did this summer, and there is something fun in seeing your name and quotes in print! However, this one looks to be a little more difficult. No one is popping out at me yet.

[rain Bard]

After posting this I never responded because I was busy at Sundance at the time.

FilmFan720, I'm glad you liked my comment on Swank in BOYS DON'T CRY. Penelope, I liked yours on her in MILLION DOLLAR BABY.

Magilla, thanks for sharing your own picks with us here. I appreciate the sentiment of exempting me from the category of voters who haven't seen enough of the winners and nominees to make informed choices, but I'm not sure I deserve such an exemption; I'm sure I've seen more than some, at least when it comes to films made before I was born, since that's where a great deal of my viewing has been over the past several years. But I still have gaping gaps (as is evident in my contributions to Penelope's replacement game thread). For the Best Picture survey at least I'd seen all the winners if not all the nominees; for the Best Actress survey that wasn't even close to being so, which is probably one reason why I lashed out at Helen Mirren in THE QUEEN (more as an expression of my disgust with the groupthink that steamrolled her to her inevitable win, than any lasting disapproval with the performance, which was in fact perfectly serviceable for such an unambitious movie). If I'd actually seen COQUETTE (which I don't want to view until after I've got a healthier load of Pickford's silents under my belt) or BUTTERFIELD 8 I suspect there wouldn't have been room room on my list for that choice. I submitted my entry, gaps and all, because I figured the result was likely to skew recent anyway, and I might as well put in my two cents as a guy who's at least suffered through THE GREAT ZIEGFELD.

Anyway, the reason I'm resurrecting this thread is that Edward's calling for submissions for his new survey, on Best Actor Winners and maybe some of you will want to participate. I'll have fewer gaps here, though on the "Worst" side anyway I'm sure my list will skew strongly recent again, if only because I feel more passionately about the Academy's bad choices in this category in recent years.



Edited By rain Bard on 1199489900

[FilmFan720]

Brian, I love your quote on Hilary Swank.

[FilmFan720]

Now the best list is up.

[Eric]

It's not a bad performance, but it's in a film that does it absolutely no favors.

[Penelope]

I, too, loved Kathy Bates' performance in Misery; that year, it seemed to me the race was between Joanne Woodward, Angelica Huston and Julia Roberts, so when Bates unexpectedly won, I leapt to my feet cheering, and then started crying with joy. And she was criminally robbed of a nomination for the even better Dolores Claiborne (as was the magnificent Judy Parfitt).

[flipp525]

10. Kathy Bates in Misery. After years of playing little more than walk-on roles in films, Bates got her chance at playing a one-dimensional lead. Fortunately she has done much better work since, including the more finely nuanced lead in the superior Stephen King work, Dolores Claiborne.

Wow, I totally disagree, Magilla. Not only is Kathy Bates' performance in Misery, not one-dimensional, it's unnervingly multi-faceted. Going from an ecstatically adoring fan to a cold, cruel monster to depressive psychotic in the blink of an eye, her performance is completely assured. I was twelve years old when I saw this in the theater and it made quite an impression. Ten best worst? I think it represents one of the Academy's better choices.

I love her work around that time (Fried Green Tomatoes, A Home of Our Own, Dolores Claiborne) as well as, of course, her masterful supporting performances in later films such as Primary Colors, About Schmidt, and even Titanic. She'll undoubtedly win a supporting Oscar one of these days.



Edited By flipp525 on 1169420969

[Big Magilla]

And I'm quoted in the discussion of the 8th worst Best Actress of all time!

Yes, you are, and I recognized a few other names being quoted as well.

I refrained from taking part in this for the simple reason that most (not you, not Tripp, not Brian) of the participants haven't seen all the winners let alone the nominees in order to make informed choices so the results are skewered in favor (or disfavor) of the more "popular" choices.

A case in point, someone named Jenni with a missing "e" is all aflutter because Katharine Hepburn won for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner over Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde, Anne Bancroft in The Graduate and Audrey Hepburn in Wait Until Dark, while completely ignoring Edith Evans' career topping performance in The Whisperers, which I doubt she's seen.

Granted, Hepburn's four wins should have been for Little Women, The Philadelphia Story, Summertime and Long Day's Journey Into Night, but none of her wins were for bad performances, the same of which can't be said for many others.

Had I voted, Olivia de Havilland's superb performance in To Each His Own would not be the only one not to be on either the "best" or "worst" list as I think it it is the simple "best" performance to ever win an Oscar as indicated in a prior post somewhere in the archives.

For the record, my ten worst:

1. Mary Pickford in Coquette. Not even ham acting, this was amateur night in Podunk at its worst. A hoary stage vehicle that might have been worth seeing for what Helen Hayes could do with it on stage, but is completely without redemptive value on screen. Only her standing in the Hollywood community of the day and her power over the early Academy judges allowed this monstrosity from even being nominated, let alone winning.

2. Elizabeth Taylor in BUtterfield 8. Taylor has always smugly referred to this film as "a piece of ***", but she has never acknowledged that her performance is in keeping with the overall quality of the film. She won only because they thought she was dying at the time.

3. Ginger Rogers in Kitty Foyle. Rogers was a sublime light comedienne who could sing and dance with the best of them in the 30s, but when her clout demanded consideration in more dramatic roles she got them and took her huge fan base with her. That was no excuse for giving her an Oscar for a film that is a chore to sit through. The best that be said about her performance is that it is sincere.

4. Glenda Jackson in A Touch of Class. Her shrill acting, horse laugh, ugly teeth and dime store wig are ugliness personified. She deserved a nomination for maintaining a modicum of dignity despite all that, but the Oscar itself? A 70s joke if there ever was one.

5. Bette Davis in Dangerous. Luke warm Bette in a win that was a consolation prize for not being nominated for her superior work in the previous year's Of Human Bondage.

6. Shirley Booth in Come Back, Little Sheba. Shrill and unappealing, no wonder her husband took to the bottle. He should have kicked her out with the dog.

7. Jennifer Jones in The Song of Bernadette. All she had to do was look blank while the great supporting cast did all the work. She should have handed her Oscar over to Gladys Cooper or Charles Bickford.

8. Luise Rainer in The Great Ziegfeld. A five minute telephone scene was good enough to win her a supporting actress nod, maybe, but a best actress win?

9. Joanne Woodward in The Three Faces of Eve. Woodward's performance is okay, but the film has dated badly and every other TV show in the last fifty years has so co-opted her character that even the original now seems like an imitation.

10. Kathy Bates in Misery. After years of playing little more than walk-on roles in films, Bates got her chance at playing a one-dimensional lead. Fortunately she has done much better work since, including the more finely nuanced lead in the superior Stephen King work, Dolores Claiborne.

[Penelope]

And I'm quoted in the discussion of the 8th worst Best Actress of all time!

[FilmFan720]

The worst list is up, and is an amusing read to say the least.



Edited By FilmFan720 on 1169400658

[rain Bard]

Forgive me if this is old news to anyone here who reads other Oscar sites or blogs, but I haven't noticed it mentioned here.

Edward Copeland, a blogger who organized polls of the best and worst Best Picture winners last year, is doing the Best and Worst Best Actress winners this year. There are only a few days left to vote in the poll.

In case anyone's interested, anyway.