Best Supporting Actor 1985: Results

5. Eric Roberts in Runaway Train- Roberts does basically everything wrong in his incredibly odd performance.

4. Don Ameche in Cocoon- Ameche is not exactly bad in the film, it is just that absolutely nothing is ever required of him.

3. William Hickey in Prizzi's Honor- Hickey plays his part as oddly as possible which goes in line with what the film is trying for, but his attempts fail because the film is a failure.

2. Robert Loggia in Jagged Edge- I liked whenever Loggia was in the film, and he certainly was a nice presence throughout, but his part is too small and too simple for Loggia to do anything great with it.

1. Klaus Maria Brandauer in Out of Africa- Is always very interesting in his performance, and I felt he was the best part of the film actually. I wish he had actually had a bigger part in the film. He is the only nominee I feel who should have been nominated even in this incredibly weak year.

Deserving Performances:
Wilford Brimley in Cocoon
M. Emmet Walsh in Blood Simple
Crispin Glover  in Back to the Future
Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future

Best Supporting Actor 1985: Klaus Maria Brandauer in Out of Africa

Klaus Maria Brandauer received his first Oscar nomination for playing Baron Bror Von Blixen and briefly Hans Blixen in Out of Africa.

Out of Africa is an okay film, that has some good scenes although it can become rather tiresome at times.

Klaus Maria Brandauer actually plays two roles. He plays the identical Blixen twins, although Hans Blixen is only briefly in the film, and he not really required to create two characters. Brandauer though is always interesting as the other brother Bror Blixen. Brandauer plays the part in a brilliantly understated way that is very effective. I actual found Brandauer with his restraint created the most interesting character in the film, and one that I wish there had been more about.

Brandauer is always incredibly appropriate in the role, because although Blixen is a fragrant adulterer and spends his wife's money however he felt, Brandauer never portrays him as a villain at all. It is interesting because he shows that it is not that he is trying to be bad when he does these things but that is rather just the way Blixen is. He shows perfectly the way that he still wants to be loved by his wife, even though he does these things.

Brandauer always keeps Blixen at a calm realistic tone that is far more effective than if he became louder in his performance. He always leaves a little mystery to what Blixen is thinking making a more interesting character all around because it is not completely who he is or what he believes in precisely. My only problem with his performance is that really wish there had been much more of him. I wish Brandauer was given more time since I felt he was far more interesting that what was going on in the main story. Brandauer is always good in this performance, I only wish he was allowed to do more, which I suppose shows the strength of his performance.

Best Supporting Actor 1985: William Hickey in Prizzi's Honor

William Hickey received his only Oscar nomination for playing Don Corrado Prizzi in Prizzi's Honor.

William Hickey is just strange in his performance here. He plays the Don in a manner of a living corpse who is still able to get out orders. He does an Italian accent (I guess) that is odd, and never really commands any presence with his performance. He never really seems like he would actually be the head of the crime family, and his performance is just odd.

It is a performance much like Jack Nicholson's where I guess they were trying to be funny. After all Prizzi's Honor is suppose to be a comedy even though I never really detected very much of it. I think Hickey's whole routine with acting like he basically is dead is suppose to be funny but it just comes off as strange and not funny. Hickey technically is not horrendous though he has some moments which focus on him, where he does an okay job. When he is commanding his men, he method is bizarre but it technically goes in line with the movie even if what the movie is trying to do does not really work. He technically is just going along with the film's odd attempts at comedy and I guess he tries his best, but the effort is wasted.

Best Supporting Actor 1985: Eric Roberts in Runaway Train

Eric Roberts received his only Oscar nomination for playing Alaskan convict Buck in Runaway Train. 

Eric Roberts gives possibly one of the most undeserved Oscar nominated performances here ever. He is over the top from beginning to end in this film. He does a voice that sounds like the voice Jim Varney did when he played Ernest in those Ernest movies. I am serious to that is what he sound like, except Varney was trying to be funny, I suppose Roberts comes off as unintentionally funny though. Here is the worst type of performance really because it is bad and over the top. If it were just bad and off to the side in the film whatever, but Roberts seems like he is trying to do a scene stealing performance. Well he does not steal any scenes but he does make a lot of them a lot worse than they needed to be.

Roberts never really realizes Buck as a character. He tries all these sorts of mannerism and tics that just come off as odd and strange. They never pull together to seem natural and Roberts performance is even worse because he is trying the mannerisms and that terrible voice. Now if Roberts had pulled an emotionally honest performance from underneath everything else he could have been okay but no. Roberts is just one dimensional with his emotions in his performance. He just has the same stupid expression and emotion basically throughout the performance. Roberts's performance is so bad I made the mistake in giving Jon Voight a 3 at first because he was so much better than Roberts. But in fact they are both poor and Roberts is just even worse.

Best Supporting Actor 1985: Robert Loggia in Jagged Edge

Robert Loggia received his only Oscar nomination for playing private detective Sam Ransom in Jagged Edge.

Jagged edge is a predictable thriller in many ways although apparently its influence made it more predictable now than it was originally. It had some okay moments, but overall it does not amount to much.

Robert Loggia is the private detective who gathers evidence for the defense attorney (Glenn Close) who is defending the suspected killer (Jeff Bridges). His part is fairly measly and he comes in and out just with more information, and then at the end he does a little more.  I do have to give Loggia some credit though because I found him to be the most interesting presence in the film, although that says more about the rest of the performances than his performance really.

I did like what he did when he came in. He had a bit of a sly wit to his performance and a bit of charm, but he really had to little to do for it to really amount to anything. I do wish he had been in the film more because I liked what he did do but still his character never becomes that developed in the story and his character barely matters for the overall film. Technically anyone could have brought in the investigative evidence. Loggia is not bad at all, but he really has barely anything to do. I did like his moments and his last line is very well handled but he just does not get enough screentime to help him out. Here is a performance that maybe could have been great since Loggia does his best if he had just been given more. I think maybe the film would have been a lot better if Loggia had been given more to do.

Best Supporting Actor 1985: Don Ameche in Cocoon

Don Ameche won an Oscar from his only nomination for playing Arthur Selwyn one of the many old people to get a knew lease on life due to Alien help.

Cocoon is a sort of interesting film that has some nice moments to it, its not great, but it is okay.

Don Ameche's win is one of the strangest wins ever I must say. It seems the academy merely decided that they all wanted to give him an Oscar. I do not think he won any single prior awards in fact I do not think he was even nominated for any awards besides it. Maybe they just gave it to him because they knew he was going to make a good speech, which he did. I mean, you know there is a problem with a performance when the clip at the Oscars was that of his stunt double doing a break dance, I guess they could not find any moments of him really acting. 

Now it might seem odd that I have not spoken about his performance really yet but what is there really to say about it. He is not bad, but he does not do anything either. He is always the third banana, he is always just in the background looking as the other actors do a lot more than he does.  He really lacks a portion of the story, all he does is romance one of the elderly women and then marries her. There is nothing special about his scenes involving this though, or anything else that he does. He does what he needs to but that is really little. Almost every other male performer deserved a nomination more than Ameche in this film, basically everyone besides the real bit part players and Steve Guttenberg. This was just a life time achievement award, and his performance really has nothing to it.

Best Supporting Actor 1985

And the Nominees Were:

Don Ameche in Cocoon 

Robert Loggia in Jagged Edge

Klaus Maria Brandauer in Out of Africa

Eric Roberts in Runaway Train

William Hickey in Prizzi's Honor

Who do you pick? What do you predict my ranking will be?