Sunday 18 April 2010

Best Actor 1968: Ron Moody in Oliver!

Ron Moody received his only Oscar nomination for playing Fagin in Oliver!. Fagin is a strange old criminal who gives shelter to boys so they can pick pocket people for him.

Oliver! is the musical version of Dicken's tale Oliver Twist. Many people hold great disdain for the film, not me. I do not love it by any measure but I do enjoy watching it, even though it is so over the top. But that might be part of the reason I enjoy it. Fagin is not truly the lead but he might as well be because Oliver himself is rather boring, and boringly played by Mark Lester. Fagin is actually one of the few characters I cared about and might as well be the lead then.

Moody plays Fagin in a fully immersed sort of way, with all the mannerisms, and gestures that go with Fagin. I like what does with the role, and find most of the mannerisms work such as the as posture and the hand gestures. Although at times it can seem a bit theatrical but then again its Oliver!. I like his musical numbers, and his performance is entertaining and enjoyable as Fagin, but not mind blowing. I enjoyed his songs the most and I did think he went a little beyond just entertaining when he is talking about his old age, but still he never went extremely deep. Then again he does not really need to. I liked this performance for its entertainment value, and the few subtle qualities about it. Not amazing but I do like the performance.

3 comments:

joe burns said...

When I learned that he was nominated, I thought he was one of the child leads since I forgot about Fagin. Do you think this film deserved Best Picture?

Louis Morgan said...

Although I do like, it probably did not deserve to win. But when it comes to determining best picture it is hard to come up with the qualifications. Is it your favorite movie, or the one you think is the most well made? It is hard to determine.

Fritz said...

I really, really like Oliver!
Moody was great but wouldn't be my choice for the win. I would give Shani Wallis a win for Supporting Actress.