Alternate Best Actor 1985: Results

5. Jeff Daniels in The Purple Rose of Cairo- Daniels gives a very strong performance as both as the actor and his character. He does a particularly wonderful job portraying the subtle differences between the two.

Best Scene: Gil Shepard and Tom Baxter meet each other. 

4. Jonathan Pryce in Brazil- Pryce has a difficult role being a film very much controlled without question by the director. Nevertheless Pryce stands as the solid straight man of the film, giving a likable as well as moving portrayal of a normal man in an overly complex world.

Best Scene: "Brazil"

3. Tim Curry in Clue- Tim Curry gives a very enjoyable performance where he infuses a great deal of energy in every scene as well as he works wonders with the rest of his cast.

Best Scene: Wadsworth recreates the night's events. 

2. Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future- Fox tempted me greatly into giving him the win with his absolutely terrific performance in this film. He carries the film brilliantly with his perfect performance that adds both weight and humor to the film.

Best Scene: "Earth Angel" 

1. Raul Julia in Kiss of the Spider Woman- This is an especially shameful year for the academy who nominated several mediocre performance when they could have nominated this terrific line up instead. This was also particularly hard to decide on my ranking on the bottom three, the top two, and even the overall number one. Julia though I give both the win here, as well as the overall along with his co-star Hurt, because what makes both of their performances as tremendous as they both are because of the truly fascinating relationship they create with each other. Both are completely amazing in their roles, but I still should say Fox is right behind them with his equally great even though very different performance.

Best Scene: Kiss of the Spider woman. 

Overall Rank:

1. William Hurt and Raul Julia in Kiss of the Spider Woman (Tie)
2. Tatsuya Nakadai in Ran
3. Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future
4. Eric Stoltz in Mask
5. Griffin Dunne in After Hours
6. Aleksei Kravchenko in Come and See
7. Tim Curry in Clue  
8. James Mason in The Shooting Party
9. Jonathan Pryce in Brazil
10. Ken Ogata in Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
11. Jeff Daniels in The Purple Rose of Cairo 
12. Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider 
13. Klaus Maria Brandauer in Colonel Redl
14. Albert Brooks in Lost in America
15. Harrison Ford in Witness
16. Jeffrey Combs in  Re-Animator
17. Mel Gibson in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome 
18. Tsutomu Yamazaki in Tampopo
19. Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club
20. Paul Reubens in Pee Wee's Big Adventure 
21. Rutger Hauer in Ladyhawke
22. John Cusack in Better Off Dead 
23. Nicholas Rowe in Young Sherlock Holmes
24. Gordon Warnecke in My Beautiful Laundrette
25. Jeff Bridges in Jagged Edge
26. Anthony Michael Hall in The Breakfast Club   
27. Timothy Hutton in The Falcon and the Snowman
28. Ethan Hawke in Explorers
29. Bobby Fite in Explorers
30. David Huddleston in Santa Clause
31. Sean Astin in The Goonies  
32. William Ragsdale in Fright Night 
33. Alan Cox in Young Sherlock Holmes
34. Mickey Rourke in Year of the Dragon
35. William Peterson in To Live and Die in LA 
36. John Getz in Blood Simple
37. Sylvester Stallone in Rambo First Blood Part II
38. Emilio Estevez in The Breakfast Club 
39. Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf 
40. Val Kilmer in Real Genius
41. Dudley Moore in Santa Clause
42. River Phoenix in Explorers
43. Sylvester Stallone in Rocky IV
44. James Garner in Murphy's Romance
45. Jon Voight in Runaway Train 
46. Sean Penn in The Falcon and The Snowman
47. Tom Cruise in Legend 
48. Matthew Broderick in Ladyhawke
49. Gabriel Jarrett in Real Genius
50. Robert Redford in Out of Africa
51. Chevy Chase in National Lampoon's European Vacation 
52. Roger Moore in A View To Kill
53. Jack Nicholson in Prizzi's Honor 
54. Grant Bardsley in The Black Cauldron
    
55. Bruce Abbott in Re-Animator
56. Mark Patton in Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

Next Year: 2008