Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1975: Ugo Tognazzi in My Friends

Ugo Tognazzi did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Count Lello Mascetti in My Friends.

My Friends follows a group of older friends in their strange and occasionally tragic misadventures. 

Ugo Tognazzi plays one of the titular friends, not quite the leader, but perhaps the most charismatic one of the friends. Tognazzi's performance instantly establishes Mascetti as such as he brings a considerable amount of swagger to this performance. Tognazzi's approach does a bit more than that suggesting the man's background before we even learn that he is a count. Tognazzi has a certain style in his manner of a man seemingly of privilege though an exact sort. Tognazzi's manner is that specifically of a European hotshot who carries his nobility less as something dignified, but rather as something to brandish. Tognazzi's demeanor is of a man who very much believes he is a bit of "boss" for the lack of a better word. This seems to play well to the group when they are running their various schemes of somewhat dubious legality. Tognazzi walks on the scene like he is in some way above it all, bringing the appropriate charisma as he helps persuade, and really to con along with friends in their dubious enterprises.

The film though is of the surface and the interiors though as much of it appears to be madcap fun with these friends and their various oddball behaviors. In this Tognazzi is a key ingredient. This is in terms of that aforementioned ability of persuasion, which Tognazzi brandishes through that confident attitude, and often direct yet rapid fire delivery he brings. The chemistry between each party though beyond those roles they fit within their "schemes" is more of how they function as a group than each individual interaction. Tognazzi is terrific though in being part of this sort of specific type of friendly chemistry. This is very much that of boys as much of men in their interactions. These carry always this undercurrent of that camaraderie and warmth that just exudes the history of the men as they interact. This history also comes in the certain sometimes insulting manner between them, though again all the actors handle this well always saying even the most brazen insult to one another with the most sincere of affection within it.

There is that other side of the film though reveals more about the men, and each of their lives which are considerably less joyous when they are all not together. For Mascetti, despite being a count, it is being broke and needing to depend on his friends for charity. Mascetti is unable to support his own family, despite trying to still live the life of the bon vivant. There are moments of desperation that are actually quite moving in Tognazzi's performance when he has to directly either deal with his wife, or ask his friends directly for help. Tognazzi finds this hidden vulnerability within the man that reveals this deep seeded unhappiness that slowly reveals his manner the rest of the time a bit of a facade in a sense. Tognazzi puts on no show in these most personal moments of the man, just portraying a man sadly scraping by with his title being something he clings to rather than lives by. When this is revealed this changes his dynamic with his friends, however not in the way one might expect. Tognazzi's genuine desperation in those scenes creates a certain meaning within his interactions with his friends as a group suggesting these interactions as his only time of comfort. Tognazzi successfully creates this weight than into their often seemingly superfluous interactions by so effectively showing the meaning they hold to Mascetti's whose existence is so troublesome otherwise. Tognazzi naturally coverts this towards the final minutes of the film where one of the friends is on the brink of death. Tognazzi's passionate speech for his friend to be recognized by his wife is a powerful moment. It is not only through that passion Tognazzi brings that reflects their long history, but is all the more potent by that extra shading provided what his friends truly mean for his life. Tognazzi's performance delivers both this needed endearing energy to his character, who could have been insufferable in the wrong hands, and a real depth that attaches more to the friends' hi-jinks than just a bit of fun.