Sunday 12 January 2014

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1970: Donald Sutherland in Kelly's Heroes

Donald Sutherland did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Sergeant "Oddball" in Kelly's Heroes.

Kelly's Heroes is an entertaining film about a ragtag group of World War II  soldiers who hatch a plan to steal some Nazi gold. I should say though I do wish there were more character driven moments, Clint Eastwood who plays the titular Kelly said many were cut from the final product, as the ones that were not cut are the best moments of the film.

Donald Sutherland plays one of the members of the odd group appropriately named Oddball. Oddball commands three Sherman tanks and helps act as the brawn to help their forces pierce through the enemy lines to get to the money. This is a bit of a departure from Sutherland's usual characters, as he often does play saner roles, well at least saner than this. Oddball's name just is not just a name as he has a philosophy, style and accent all his own. This performance is all about the creation of the character, who is rather consistent throughout as he always stays in his very peculiar manner throughout the film. It really would be out of character for Oddball to strive for long from his own personal daze.

Sutherland's performance is weird, but it's the right type of weird. He delivers every line with his bizarre accent that only succeeds in accentuating every random statement that he seems to make. Sutherland's performance works because he is entertaining to watch him simply do whatever it Oddball is doing. He importantly finds the right tone to play Oddball in, in that he never goes too far with his performance. He, in I suppose the Sutherland fashion, doesn't really play Oddball in a loud crazy fashion. Sutherland instead is very effective in playing the weirdness in a fairly quiet fashion, which works in portraying his very relaxed attitude and philosophy toward life and the war.

Sutherland's portrayal of Oddball's antics in the war scenes are particularly striking as he still seems to take everything in stride even when he is taking down a column of German men with his tank unit. The scene might seem a bit intense, but not at all thanks in part to Donald Sutherland's Oddball. It is easy to see how everything involving Oddball could have failed miserably a he is a very absurd character, which often can mean a very obnoxious character. Sutherland makes everything work at just the right pitch turning Oddball into an endearing and strangely lighthearted presence in the film. 

Sutherland portrayal of Oddball is just a fun performance to watch. He has some very enjoyable moments throughout the film but my favorite moment of Sutherland's has to be his casual dismissive behavior when Oddball reveals he knows how to ride in tanks, but does not know how they work in anyway. My problem is that the film does seem like it perhaps left off some great moments off the cutting room floor as the film did leave me wanting more of almost all the main characters including Oddball. Sutherland even with that gives a rather memorable turn with his portrayal of this rather memorable character.

67 comments:

Luke Higham said...

Louis, what are your top ten female performances in the last decade.

Luke Higham said...

What were your thoughts on Michael Shannon in Man of Steel.

Robert MacFarlane said...

What did you think of Rickles?

Louis Morgan said...

Luke: I still need to see many of the performances considered great.

Shannon definitely was a bit much, but enjoyably so.

koook160: I thought he was pretty good although it really seemed like a lot of his scenes were missing.

Luke Higham said...

What were your thoughts on Jeff Daniels in Gettysburg, Bob Hoskins in the long good friday & Eric Bogosian in Talk Radio.

Michael Patison said...

Luke, Bob Hoskins' performance has already been reviewed and can be found somewhere.

I think Louis is planning on writing a full review of Daniels at some point.

I'm not sure about Bogosian, but I'd be interested in hearing Louis'a thoughts.

Luke Higham said...

I searched the title of Hoskins film in the browser about twenty minutes ago and found it, so I got a bit confused since he reviewed the performance during his 1980 posts.

Luke Higham said...

Michael Patison: what are your thoughts on Michael Fassbender as an actor.

Louis Morgan said...

Luke: I will try to review Jeff Daniels in the future. Eric Bogosian's performance is very believable depiction of the talk radio personality, his performance is especially remarkable as he keeps his radio voice even as he falls into some dark very territory. Bogosian's whole performance is excellent and balances particularly well the overwhelming blind ambition and the slight hesitations in his character.

Luke Higham said...

Michael Patison: Also your thoughts on his Performance in Shame.

Michael Patison said...

I think he's terrific, too. I agree that he's the best under 40 and of his generation as a whole.

I'm ashamed (horrendous pun completely intended) to say that I have not seen Shame yet. I really wan to but just haven't had the opportunity to.

Michael Patison said...

Louis: I requested Sutherland in Without Limits for 1998 Supporting, and while I think he's great (I also love the movie and Billy Crudup is great, even though it's much more of a character creation than anything), I know he'll only get a 4 from you, so I'm going to change my request to either Samuel West in Howards End for 1992 Supporting or Jean Dujardin in OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies for 2006 Lead.

I feel like there have been a lot of requests for 2006 Lead, but I could be misremembering. If there are several, then go with West. If not, go with Dujardin.

Luke Higham said...

If I was ranking his top 5 performances so far, it would be:
1. Shame (5)
2. 12 Years A Slave (5)
3. Hunger (5)
4. Inglorious Basterds (5)
5. Fish Tank (4.5)

RatedRStar said...

Joaquin Phoenix for We Own The Night I believe is the only request from 2006 best actor at the moment (I created a spreadsheet which marks all the performances down.

RatedRStar said...

These are all the current winning requests that have requested.


Tony Leung Ka Fai - Dumplings
Alex Fong - One Nite In Mongkok
Lau Ching Wan - Mad Detective
Nicholas Tse - Bodyguards and Assassins
Tony Leung Chiu Wai - The Longest Nite
Jean Louis Barrault - Children Of Paradise
Jean Marais - La Belle Et La Bete
Burt Lancaster - Local Hero
Ken Ogata - The Ballad Of Narayama
Jonathan Pryce - Carrington
Kevin Spacey - Se7en
Linus Roache - Wings Of The Dove
Javier Bardem - The Sea Inside
Will Farrell - Anchorman
John Travolta - Hairspray
Joaquin Phoenix - We Own The Night
Sharlito Copley - District 9
Viggo Mortensen - The Road
Joseph Gordon Levitt - 500 Days Of Summer

Luke Higham said...

RatedRStar: What ratings are you expecting for them

RatedRStar said...

What all of them lol =D err, ranging from 4 to 5 except Will Farrell who I think will get a 3.5

Luke Higham said...

Ratings for these 5 then
Kevin Spacey: Seven
Javier Bardem: The Sea Inside
Sharlto Copley: District 9
Viggo Mortensen: The Road
Joaquin Phoenix: We own the night

Also these Two
Michael Fassbender in Inglorious Basterds & Fish Tank

RatedRStar said...

Kevin Spacey = 5
Javier Bardem = 4 (his makeup does more work)
Sharlito Copley = 4.5
Viggo Mortensen = 5
Joaquin Phoenix = 4.5
Fassbender in Inglorious = 4.5
Fassbender in Fish Tank = 4

I accidentally hit enter before putting name lol

Luke Higham said...

RatedRStar: Do you have any interest in seeing X-Men Days of Future Past

Louis Morgan said...

RatedRStar: I should note you forgot Tobey Maguire in Brothers from the winning requests list, which incidentally makes it so I only get one choice in the 2009 lead lineup.

RatedRStar said...

Possibly, I am not a fan of Bryan Singer though he usually does terrible work, and it wont surprise me if it is a total disaster.

RatedRStar said...

Oh ye Louis I forgot about Tobey Maguire lol, or at least I wish you had 2 lol, I expect you to destroy Tobey Maguire in that, just an overacting painful performance truly bad.

RatedRStar said...

Also I laughed at Tobey Maguires reaction when Jeff Bridges beat him at the globes.

RatedRStar said...

Louis, you how, you being the Wise Monk and me being the hong kong gun toting nutjob, I always like to suggest Hong Kong film award nominated performances, you know if I win a request again, there are like of great HK performances in films that have been passed like 1999 or 1988, if I win am I allowed to suggest a performance in a year thats already been done.

Since I dont know why but I always prefer to suggest HK performances since many people dont know about them so if its great its a film to seek out.

RatedRStar said...

Plus I always like to look for that next great actor you can love like a Choi Min Sik or Toshiro Mifune type.

Luke Higham said...

RatedRStar: Expected Ratings for these
Michael Fassbender: 12 Years A Slave
Jared Leto: Dallas Buyers Club
Barkhad Abdi: Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper: American Hustle

Don't Worry Daniel Bruhl is out of the Equation.

RatedRStar said...

I would give Fassbender and Leto a 5, Barkhad would get a 4.5 after seeing it again, Bradley Cooper would get a 3.5

Luke Higham said...

RatedRStar: Have you seen Wolf of Wall Street

RatedRStar said...

I have =) I really enjoyed it despite it being too long.

Luke Higham said...

What were your thoughts on Dicaprio.

JackiBoyz said...

Being that you watch the hong kong film awards Daniel, who would you say was the worst best actor and best supporting actor win.

Mark said...

I also requested for 2006 Leonardo Dicaprio and Matt Damon for The Departed. If only one gets reviewed, that's all right

RatedRStar said...

I thought DiCaprio was entertaining, id give him a 4.5 bordering on 5.


@Jackiboyz:

Best Actor 2007 winner Jet Li for The Warlords (he was terrible and should have lost to Lau Ching Wan for Mad Detective)

Best Supporting Actor 1997 Winner Jiang Wen for The Soong Sisters (He is really bland and overshadowed by the lead actress, he became a better actor as he got older as Louis saw in Let The Bullets Fly), he should have been beaten by Chang Chen for Happy Together.

Louis Morgan said...

RatedRStar: I don't mind doing a special review if you request someone from a year that has already been done.

RatedRStar said...

Thank You =D.

RatedRStar said...

There are so many great Hong Kong films, especially thrillers which it does so well.

Michael McCarthy said...

In other news, Matthew McConaughey won the Golden Globe! Making him that much closer to the Oscar :)

Matt Mustin said...

Louis, what did you think of Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle?

Luke Higham said...

So glad, 12 Years won Best Motion Picture, Drama. Now it should be the frontrunner.

Louis Morgan said...

Matt: I thought Adam was pretty forgettable, and that was not helped by the last third where her character became superfluous.

I thought Jennifer Lawrence was close to being terrible, and this is the first time I've disliked one of her performances. I do think a lot of the blame should go to O'Russell though who decided to overwrite the character, and direct everyone of her scenes like it was Oscar clip.

Luke Higham said...

Louis, what were your thoughts on the globe wins

Luke Higham said...

What ratings would you give adams & Lawrence

Louis Morgan said...

As long as it did not go to American Hustle it was at least a decent win.

I would probably give them both a 2.5.

Luke Higham said...

What are your thoughts on Best Motion Picture Drama.

Louis Morgan said...

I was happy to see 12 Years take the win. I'm glad Cuaron took the director's award as I did prefer his direction even though I preferred Twelve Years as a whole.

Luke Higham said...

Are there any categories that you would disagree with

Louis Morgan said...

I still need to watch Her and Blue Jasmine so on those categories I cannot comment, but I'll let you know how much I agree or disagree with certain categories starting this Thursday.

Luke Higham said...

thanks

Robert MacFarlane said...

Of the performances I saw that were nominated at the Globes, here's how I'd rank them:

Best Actor Drama:

Ejiofor - 5
Hanks - 4.5

Best Actor Comedy:

Bale - 4.5
Dern - 4
DiCaprio - 5
Isaac - 5
Phoenix - 5

Best Actress Drama:

Blanchett - 5
Bullock - 4.5
Thompson - 4

Best Actress Comedy:

Adams - 4.5
Delpy - 5

Supporting Actor:

Abdi - 4.5
Cooper - 4
Fassbender - 4.5

Supporting Actress:

Hawkins - 4.5
Lawrence - 4
Nyongo'o - 5
Squibb - 3

If you couldn't tell, I'm sort of lenient this year.

Matt Mustin said...

Gravity was the best directed film of the year, hands down.

Matt Mustin said...

Also, this is how I'd rate the American Hustle actors:
Bale: 4.5
Adams: 4.5
Renner: 3.5 (maybe 4)
Lawrence: 3 (but I like her less the more I think about it)
Cooper: 2

Luke Higham said...

What were your thoughts on Thomas Horn in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close & Tom Holland for The Impossible

Louis Morgan said...

Thomas Horn was terrible with his excessively self-aware performance.

Tom Holland was great by being the exact opposite of Horn and giving a very naturalistic performance.

Luke Higham said...

Ratings for both

Louis Morgan said...

1.5 for Horn, 4.5 for Holland.

Matt Mustin said...

Wow, I would've thought a straight 1 for Horn.

Luke Higham said...

is Tom Holland's performance, one of your favourites by a child actor.

Louis Morgan said...

He's definitely up there.

Luke Higham said...

then, what rating would you give natalie Portman in Leon: The Professional

Louis Morgan said...

Probably a 4.5.

RatedRStar said...

Louis I think, one performance I think in my opinion you underated a bit, was Anthony Wong, in Infernal Affairs especially I really thought he was amazing lol I dont no why, I thought he made me care for so much for his character, the nominees at that years HK supporting actor category, were all just 3 people, Wong, Tsang and Chapman To.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: what are your thoughts on Michael Fassbender as an actor.

Louis Morgan said...

I think he's a terrific actor with great presence.

Luke Higham said...

With the way he is going, could he be in your top ten or twenty, a decade from now.

Louis Morgan said...

Top twenty certainly. He'll need to be working very hard to make it into my top ten though.

Michael Patison said...

If I were to rate the American Hustle people, I'd go:
Jeremy Renner-4
Jennifer Lawrence-4
Amy Adams-4
Christian Bale-3
Bradley Cooper-2

This is also the order in which I liked their performances.