Wednesday 30 March 2011

Best Actor 1980: Results

5. Jack Lemmon in Tribute- Lemmon's whole performance seems like Oscar baiting at its worst. It is hammy all the way, which might be okay if it worked, but it does not.
4. Robert Duvall in The Great Santini- I genuinely liked Duvall portrait of the abusive Bull Meechum. He created an interesting family dynamic through his performance, and never turned his character into a one dimensional figure which it easily could have been.
3. Peter O'Toole in The Stunt Man- I actually upped O'Toole rating because I thought about my main criticism, that I wanted more of him, which is hardly a criticism. His performance is pretty much a supporting one, and such is an extremely effective one. 
2. Robert De Niro in Raging Bull- De Niro performance is quite a remarkable achievement. He creates a fascinating complex portrait of a man who at heart is simple thug. He takes this thug though a realizes a complete human being, who is made by De Niro to be both frighteningly effective in his exterior anger and jealousy, and subtly honest in Lamotta's hidden sensitivity and vulnerability.
1. John Hurt in The Elephant Man- I can easily see the philosophy behind giving Hurt the win here. He is by far the most pleasant of the characters here, which is funny since it shows how low the other characters are since Merrick is such a nice man despite being given such a hindering deformity. Also Hurt's performance is brilliant in how much emotion he conveys through only his eyes and his voice, and also how honestly human he is as John Merrick.
Deserving Performances:
Donald Sutherland in Ordinary People

9 comments:

Fritz said...

No surprise here. It's been ages since I saw Raging Bull and honestly didn't care for it too much. I need to give it a second look someday.

Malcolm said...

I wasn't surprised that De Niro was your pick, although I actually need to see this first.

I think Donald Sutherland would have been also deserving too.

What do you think of Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People and Jack Nicholson in The Shining?

dshultz said...

Could you do 2007 next?

mark said...

sutherland's nom was a missed oppurtunity i also enjoyed tommy lee jones in coal miner's daughter,paul le mat in melvin and howard and ray sharkey in the idolmaker

dinasztie said...

No surprise here. :)

Louis Morgan said...

Malcolm: I will get to Hutton later, Nicholson I have not seen in a really long time, but from what I remember he was effective.

Dshultz: I will get to that fairly soon but not next.

Anonymous said...

De Niro has to be my favorite winner and was the perfect capoff to his reign to his greatness in the 70s.

Louis Morgan said...

It certainly was.

Charles H said...

dinasztie: Actually, Hurt took the win.