Monday 3 August 2015

Alternate Best Actor 1959: Results

5. Jean-Pierre Léaud in The 400 Blows - Léaud gives an honest depiction of the manner and behavior of a troubled young boy.

Best Scene: Antoine at the psychologist.
4. Alec Guinness in The Scapegoat - Although the film itself under utilizes its own concept Guinness gives a compelling portrayal of two men.

Best Scene: The two's meeting at the end. 
3. Dean Stockwell in Compulsion - Stockwell gives an effective depiction of the various sides of his "superior" killer from the pompous intellectual to the scared psychopath.

Best Scene: The first interrogation.
2. Tatsuya Nakadai in The Human Condition I: No Greater Love - Nakadai gives a great portrayal of one man horrible journey in discovering what it truly means to be human.

Best Scene: The Executions.
1. Cary Grant in North By Northwest - Good Prediction Maciej, Robert MacFarlane, and GM Grant perhaps  the very best wrong man performance through his exceedingly entertaining work in the film.

Best Scene: Thornhill at the auction.
Overall Rank:
  1. James Stewart in Anatomy of a Murder
  2. Cary Grant in North By Northwest
  3. Tatsuya Nakadai in The Human Condition I: No Greater Love
  4. Laurence Harvey in Room At the Top
  5. Tatsuya Nakadai in The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity
  6. Albert Sharpe in Darby O'Gill and the Little People
  7. Dean Stockwell in Compulsion
  8. Alec Guinness in The Scapegoat
  9. Alec Guinness in Our Man in Havana
  10. James Mason in Journey To the Center of the Earth
  11. Eiji Okada in Hiroshima Mon Amour
  12. Anthony Franciosa in Career
  13. Bradford Dillman in Compulsion
  14. Kirk Douglas in The Devil's Disciple
  15. Jean-Pierre Léaud in The 400 Blows
  16. John Wayne in Rio Bravo
  17. Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur 
  18. Burt Lancaster in The Devil's Disciple
  19. Rock Hudson in Pillow Talk
  20. Cary Grant in Operation Petticoat
  21. Richard Widmark in Warlock
  22. Peter Cushing in The Hound of the Baskervilles
  23. Paul Newman in The Young Philadelphians
  24. Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot 
  25. Henry Fonda in Warlock
  26. Tony Curtis in Some Like It Hot
  27. Tony Curtis in Operation Petticoat
  28. Ian Carmichael in I'm Alright Jack
  29. Paul Muni in The Last Angry Man
  30. David Wayne in The Last Angry Man
  31. Richard Burton in Look Back in Anger 
  32. Robert Lansing in 4-D Man
  33. Gregory Walcott in Plan 9 From Outer Space 
  34. James Congdon in 4-D Man
Next Year: 1959 Supporting

24 comments:

Calvin Law said...

Thoughts and ratings on:

Albert Sharpe in Darby O'Gill and the Little People
James Mason in Journey To the Center of the Earth
Eiji Okada in Hiroshima Mon Amour

RatedRStar said...

Stephen Boyd - Ben Hur
James Mason - North By Northwest
Joseph Schildkraut - The Diary Of Anne Frank
Laurence Olivier - The Devils Disciple
Orson Welles - Compulsion

What are your top 10 films of 1959 Louis?


Luke Higham said...

Louis: Ratings & Thoughts on Douglas, Wayne, Lancaster and Curtis.

Stephen Boyd - Ben Hur
James Mason & Martin Landau - North By Northwest
Joseph Schildkraut - The Diary Of Anne Frank
Laurence Olivier - The Devils Disciple
Orson Welles - Compulsion

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Massimo Troisi is 1994 by your rules for The Postman. It was released in Italy that year.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Rating & Thoughts on Peter Cushing.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: I never thought, that I would do this, but I'm gonna change one of my requests.
I'm switching Aleksei Kravchenko in Come And See with Ghassan Massoud in Kingdom Of Heaven (2005 Supporting).

Maciej said...

My winning request is Ian McKellen in Richard III for '95 leading actor.

Robert MacFarlane said...

My winning request is Bradley Whitford in The Cabin in the Woods for 2012 Supporting Bonus Rounds.

Anonymous said...

Ratings/thoughts on Alexis Smith in Young Philadelphians and Claire Maurier in The 400 Blows?

Luke Higham said...

Maciej: Thank You for requesting McKellen in Richard III.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: You have a typo.
Tatsuya Nakdai in The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity
*Nakadai instead of Nakdai.

Michael McCarthy said...

Dang, I was hoping for Grant to take this one. Well in addition to those you have listed already, I suggest:

Orson Welles in Compulsion
Albert Remy in The 400 Blows
Martin Landau in North by Northwest

Anonymous said...

Damn, I'd wish Grant would have won overall, but oh, well.
1959 Supporting
Stephen Boyd in Ben-Hur
Orson Welles in Compulsion
James Mason in North by Northwest
Joseph Schildkraut in The Diary of Anne Frank
Laurence Olivier in The Devil's Disciple
By the way, your cast and director for the Zodiac in the 70's and 80's. Oh, and Avatar in the 50's.

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: He got a five, that's the main thing. :)

Anonymous said...

Looks like Heston is up above Lemmon now.

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: Since we all agree on the lineup, I'm gonna make my prediction now.
1. Schildkraut
2. Boyd
3. Mason
4. Olivier
5. Welles

Anonymous said...

Luke:
1. Schildkraut
2. Boyd
3. Olivier
4. Mason
5. Welles
All of the 5 nominees could get fives.

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: I put Olivier at 4th, just for the length of the film alone. (83 minutes)

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: Any time Louis says, I'll save (insert name, in this case Welles) for the moment, it isn't getting a 5.

The only exception was Channing Tatum in Foxcatcher, yet that year was unbelievably strong.

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: And Gyllenhaal was requested for Enemy.

Anonymous said...

Luke: I'm still surprised that Tatum got a 5 from Louis. I was expecting a 4.

Luke Higham said...

Anonymous: It's a film that I didn't really like at first, but it has grown on me with 3 rewatches and that's due to Tatum and Ruffalo. I've let it go now, but Carell was Meh and didn't deserve the nomination, which he took from either Gyllenhaal or Oyelowo.

I expected Tatum to get a 4.5 until Louis said 'I'm/I'll save/ing Tatum'. That's when I expected a 5.

Louis Morgan said...

Calvin:

Sharpe - 4.5(A simply delightful performance as Sharpe has such an energy with his performance that never feels cloying or over the top. He's consistently entertaining and very funny by always bringing a bit of selfish mischief along with the character's genuine charm. Past all that though he is actually quite moving when the film turns dark, and Sharpe seamlessly transitions to the more somber tone)

Mason - 4(You will believe a man has seen a giant lizard. No I mean it watch the film just to see his reaction to the giant lizard, that man has seen a giant lizard. Past Mason selling every sight the team comes across Mason is just a terrific guide to follow in this sort of film. He has that unassuming charm that he can use so well, but also he effortlessly brings a certain gravitas to the proceedings)

Okada - 4(My apparent prejudice to performances in "director's" films apparently transfers to Okada, but not Riva (see it's not just the film). Okada though has the more limited role as he almost seems to facilitate Riva's work much of the time and is a little overshadowed by her. Nevertheless Okada is quite good as well in portraying the confusion of emotions of his character, although in a quieter way, as well as shares that fantastic chemistry with Riva)

RatedRStar:

1. Ben-Hur
2. Anatomy of a Murder
3. North By Northwest
4. Hiroshima Mon Amour
5. Darby O'Gill and the Little People
6. The Human Condition I
7. The Human Condition II
8. The Devil's Disciple
9. Sleeping Beauty
10. Our Man in Havana

Louis Morgan said...

Luke:

Douglas - 4(Douglas is always pretty good when he does the slightly crazy wild man and does well in portraying his character's acerbic manner quite well in the film half of the film. He does not falter though as his character changes, and brings out the maturation of the character in a natural fashion)

Wayne - 4(Very solid Wayne performance. Technically quite a straight forward character for him, but its a good example of him doing the tough hero who tries to internalize everything while wanting to do everything himself)

Lancaster - 3.5(A little overshadowed by Douglas in this one as he's doing the stoic Lancaster in this one. It fits the role as the very reserved reverend though and certainly brings across that facet of the character quite well. Like Douglas though he makes the transition to a bit of wild man quite natural and effective)

Curtis - 3.5(I feel basically the same about him as I do Lemmon's performance in the film. In that I just never find it to be that funny, but I still enjoy his performance just fine.)

Cushing - 3.5(Cushing's Holmes is very refined and certainly exudes enough of an intelligence, though I feel he lacks a certain spark to give that extra oomph for the character. He's good, but he's not great)

I'll add him to that ranking.

Anonymous:

Smith - 3(Lee Remick would have better. She's fine in that I don't think she's bad and fulfills her role well enough. I don't feel she ever does anything too notable in the role though)

Maurier - 4(She gives a good performance by naturally realizing the randomness of her character's behavior. She does well to frankly portray a lack of maturity in the woman so she feels far more genuine in her moments of callousness and cruelty. When she's attempting to be the good mother Maurier is good by showing that it is an attempt. It's not that she's wholly false, but it's just too much presenting the unnatural behavior)

Zodiac (1970's Alan J. Pakula):

Robert Graysmith - Bud Cort (Look at image of Graysmith from period)
David Toschi - Dustin Hoffman
Paul Avery - Al Pacino
William Armstrong - Jack Warden
Melvin Belli - Melvin Belli
Sgt. Mulanax - Harry Dean Stanton
Arthur Leigh Allen - M. Emmet Walsh
Bob Vaughn - John Fiedler

Zodiac (1980's Philip Kaufman):

Robert Graysmith - Michael J. Fox
David Toschi - James Woods
Paul Avery - Kevin Kline
William Armstrong - Fred Ward
Melvin Belli - Robert Prosky
Sgt. Mulanax - John C. McGinley
Arthur Leigh Allen - Daniel von Bargen
Bob Vaughn - Keenan Wynn