Alternate Best Actor 1961: Peter Finch in No Love For Johnnie

Peter Finch did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite winning a BAFTA, for portraying Johnnie Byrne in No Love For Johnnie. 

No Love For Johnnie follows an MP as he struggles with love and his political career. As the Labor party refuses to give him a cabinet position and his wife leaves him. 

A quick sidebar I will say the more I see from Peter Finch the more I am impressed by his career-best work in Network, if only because this has been a bit of a reverse-engineered look, where I started with his final and best feature film performance, and have retroactively seen what his more expected presence was. This is to the point, I imagine if I had gone in the opposite direction I likely would've said "I didn't know he had THAT in him in" regarding his final film. Because the rest of his work, while consistently good and often more than that, fits much more within a certain type of somewhat repressed Englishman, dealing with emotional turmoil in a rather subdued way, as seen in Far From the Madding Crowd, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Girl with Green Eyes, and I'm sure more than that. No Love For Johnnie fits right into that ilk, as we enter into the film as we meet the middle-aged man trudging along in his existence, noted because of his political status, though that seemingly goes only so far. 

I'll say perhaps a flaw with the film itself is how it limits our sympathies with Johnnie, I mean come on, young Billie Whitelaw is into you, and she's literally a stairwell away, and you DON'T GO FOR THAT, get your stuff together Johnnie! I mean...uh we don't get really any of the men before this current situation, we get some mentions but even those are limited, so we start with the man in his hole, which is a bit of a curious start. The most we get before this is a brief interview with Johnnie over his party's success, and Finch delivers it with a politician's direct overtures and sort of muted emotion. He presents Johnnie as the statesman even as he suffers disappointment in not being selected for the "front row" and any kind of important position in the government. Finch portrays this rejection with a quiet resignation over the disappointment rather than any kind of more extreme heartbreak. His Johnnie as a politician seems set within a certain line of experience, of a man never quite where he'd like to be, but as someone who managed to be somewhere. 

We follow Johnnie home where his wife announces she's leaving him, and Johnnie is left alone, despite again his upstairs neighbor being quite eager to comfort Johnnie. Again what we see in Finch's performance is mainly resignation over this fact as he just seems to exist within this general sorrow, though honestly only turns to overt frustration when Whitelaw's Mary tries to comfort him. There we see a very aggressive side to the man, one that isn't all that pleasant honestly, and decreases any sympathies one can have for the man, even if he does halfheartedly apologize later on. Finch's performance I should say isn't the issue I have in this, mostly, in that everything he is depicting feels authentic, and in that sense, he makes Johnnie feel real, even if real in the sense Johnnie's isn't someone I'd particularly like to give my time or attention to. I would say perhaps another actor could've had more overt charm, which would've created a more inherent sympathy, even with the character's flaws, that isn't really the case for Finch whose general presence is fairly cold. 

Johnnie's journey is about attempting to reclaim love and his political life, one by dating a young model and the other by attempting some minor disruption of his party. In both, Finch is entirely convincing, albeit not entirely compelling in depicting both of these aspects. We see him in the depiction with the younger woman where Finch presents the sort of dormant lust in the man, and a bit more human desperate need for affection from the woman. Contrasting that as the politician we do get shades of a man a bit shrewder in his methods, whereas Finch does have this sort of precise delivery and manner as per expected of a man deep within the system. Again in both Finch does make the struggle feel real of the man filled with the need for happiness as he pours out all he's got towards the young woman, and contrasting that determination of the man trying to regain his power as best he can. I'll admit as much as I found Finch made all this believable, all this feel real, I just still didn't really care about Johnnie or anything that was going on with him at any point. And I can care about some reprehensible characters if compelling enough, but Johnnie isn't quite there. 

Part of this disconnect for me I do think is that we come into Johnnie with this perspective, where we are barely given a sense of the passion that put the man into politics. This is touched upon very briefly, and Finch has little to work with in terms of establishing this as something more substantial within his performance. The fact that he's even a further left labor politician feels cursory because what the man really stands for doesn't really come up. The most we get otherwise is Johnnie explaining his old struggles with his wife who never shared or showed that much affection for him. Finch is certainly good in the scene in showing the old pains as something that is quite severe in his manner, as tension in his eyes as something he's held onto for some time, but also something he just continues to live with it, even in pain. We see the slow defeat of the man, who has apparently been defeated personally all his life, as the title says there's "No Love for Johnnie". Finch depicts this breakout effectively enough as this breakdown of self-pity, with the emotion of it feeling real, though again still the emotional impact on me, as a viewer stays quite limited. Johnnie never becomes someone I terribly find all that engaging to explore, so he just kind of exists as he is. So when he finally finds some success, with a key conflict within, I personally just felt indifferent. And is this Finch or the writing? Well, mostly the latter I think, which I don't think does Johnnie any favors throughout because I do think the film needed more meat within the character's passions and his loneliness. Finch on the other hand does what he can, and does deliver a good performance, though I do feel strangely limited by shortcomings of that script. 

Alternate Best Actor 1961: Peter Cushing in Cash on Demand

Peter Cushing did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Harry Fordyce in Cash on Demand. 

Cash on Demand is a slight but effective thriller about a bank robber forcing a bank manager to comply with his robbery.

With the Christmas setting and the lead being a money lender, this film is in a strange way kind of reworking of the Scrooge story with Peter Cushing getting his chance to play Ebenezer Scrooge in a roundabout way as the then-modern bank manager Harry Fordyce. Peter Cushing is known best for his role in Star Wars or in various horror films, where he plays on some variation of chilling, kindly, or chilling while being kind. This is a completely different kind of performance from him as Harry Fordyce is just a man, and gives Cushing the chance to very much accentuate different aspects of his screen personality than one often sees from him. Even in the opening of the film where we see Fordyce go about his duties, it is notable that while this could've been the note for a classic cold Cushing note, Cushing actually makes much more of a variation here than that. His performance is actually almost entirely dissimilar, despite being quite effective with that known Cushing chill, this is a much more human depiction of a cold man.

And what that really means is that Cushing very much wants us to meet the manager Fordyce as a particular man but also in many ways a normal man as he comes into the bank. He has an uncaring expression about him, however an uncaring expression of a man who just doesn't care about anything other than doing his job. Cushing stare isn't penetrating rather it is just uncaring and focused upon his position. His delivery toward everyone in the bank is with a careless disregard and just a focus on business. Cushing modulates his work effectively though in portraying a man truly distant yet not nefarious in a traditional sense, just more bluntly kind of a jerk who isn't affectionate towards anyone. When an action leaves some cash missing in the bank by an employee, despite that employee having enough of a reason in his explanation, Cushing has no reaction other than uncaring disregard. His delivery is that of the bank official cutting down any notions of humanity as he is a man fixed just on keeping towards his task with the teller just being in his way. Cushing's performance though doesn't play it as overtly evil, as he certainly could've, but rather just the callousness of a man who puts the profits over people. 

Things change though as our plot begins with the entrance of a man Gore (André Morell) who claims to be there for the security of the bank yet instead is there in fact to rob the bank which he privately reveals to Fordyce. Cushing's performance is terrific even just the introduction of the man we see the coldness becomes alleviated as the man is a technical superior seemingly in the positioning around the bank and Cushing delivers a natural slight insecurity as Fordyce tries to impress the man. When the turn happens though that is even more of a switch as the hectoring Gore reveals he has Fordyce's family held captive, and they will be tortured if he doesn't comply with Gore's demands for cash. Cushing is excellent in showing the man completely and instantly thrown from his cold comfort as he becomes filled with tension and anxiety from the situation. And here is where really his setup was so important because Cushing never showed Fordyce as truly inhuman just very cold, and we see the man forced out of that cold authority with just a scared man beneath it all. Cushing is wholly genuine in reflecting the private man within the professional as his concern for his wife and child is immediate with an authentic immediate sense of real desperation. 

Gore has a complicated plan of robbing the safe which he needs Fordyce to follow every step of the way, and this is where the film becomes a two-hander of Gore purposefully pestering and mentally torturing Fordyce while Fordyce has no choice but to comply in order to save his family. Cushing really makes the movie, though Morell is quite a bit of fun in portraying just how much joy Gore gets out of this act, by creating the essential tension of a thriller of this sort. Every step of the process Cushing is 100 percent dialed in and you get the sense of the man making these split seconds decisions and the extreme nerves of the man every time they come close to failure. Cushing's performance is fascinating because, within this sense of desperation, he also begins to reveal an actual greater warmth beneath all the man. Every moment they come close to it, Cushing shows in his physical performance and with every line delivery how much the man tremendously does care about his family and is truly in pain within every moment of it. The man loses any of that cold control we saw before and just shows the very real fear of a father and husband needing to make sure his family will be safe. Cushing in every turn of the plot is exceptional in showing just how dialed in he is into the situation, making every moment far more tension-filled because within it all you see how much meaning this all has. Combine that with his reactions towards so many of Gore's pestering remarks, Cushing is rather moving even in showing the gradual sense of reflection in the man and sort of this intimate opening up of the man to having a greater sense for others around him. When he eventually pleads to note his family is all he has, Cushing is honestly powerful because in every word the sense of real love for the family but also the desperate loneliness of the man separated by that is remarkably performed. He manages to really play every scene with more than one layer in creating the sense of the immediate concern of "helping" Gore while also seeing that ever-constant anxiety combined with real a man seeing the faults he has in clear view. Cushing successfully brings you into the mind of such a cold man, in the beginning, to create some genuine empathy particularly later on when every one of his pleas is so deeply felt within Cushing's delivery. He even manages to create a convincing change of heart as at the end of the ordeal his greater sympathy to his workers, Cushing makes convincing because he's shown throughout the way the situation has broken down his reserve and forced a better man to come out of it despite it being a terrible situation. It is a terrific performance from Peter Cushing that shows he was very capable even outside of the types of performances he is most known for. 

Alternate Best Actor 1961

 And the Nominees Were Not:

Peter Finch in No Love For Johnnie

Alberto Sordi in A Difficult Life

Tatsuya Nakadai in The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer

Franco Citti in Accattone 

Peter Cushing in Cash on Demand

Alternate Best Actor 2022: Ram Charan & N.T. Rama Rao Jr. in RRR

Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao Jr did not receive Oscar nominations for portraying Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem respectively in RRR. 

RRR is a hyper-stylized film about two hyper-powered men during the time of British Imperialism in India. 

Although I wouldn't say my knowledge of Indian cinema is that deep, I'd argue a bit better than the average westerner, however common from what I've seen is the mixing of genres within a singular film, even from that RRR seems a particular extreme even in that regard. It is a dramatic, and at times brutal, Braveheart-style tale of a freedom fighter, it is a wild Fast and Furious-style reality-defying stunt set piece, it is a romantic comedy, it is a joyful musical, and a few more things than that. What is impressive is that all these works are at their extreme and an essential aspect of why that does fall to the performances of Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao Jr. Their performances basically must also be all these tones and genres leads of each type of genre as per needed for any given aspect of the film. The two begin from very different places however each initially portrays a sort of the most intense aspects of their characters. Rao begins as a man from a rural tribe determined to find his sister who has been captured by the villainous British. We find him as he's literally capturing a tiger for part of his quest. And in this aspect, this is largely not Rao's presence in the role of Bheem. This is kind of what we eventually see is kind of his fight mode. His fight mode though is that of a very intense pointed quality that shows the man really as his most focused. It is the right offering as it makes Bheem's manner clear as a man you do not want to mess with but is not vicious in that intensity. That is different from as we see Ram Charan as an Indian soldier in the British colonial army who single handed quashes an uprising. Charan's performance now is as intense as you could name any brutal thriller as his eyes are piercing, and on his side in this vicious sense of a man with purpose. Both Charan and Rao are intense, but what is impressive is the way they are intense in very different ways as one is a man with a specific family mission against Charan who at first seems as though he's set up against the world entirely. 

The men, despite being seemingly on opposite sides of a potential conflict, end up becoming friends by chance after a most epic rescue that involves one of the most epic handshakes in cinematic history. And with that, we get perhaps one of the strongest aspects which is the bromantic power the two have in their chemistry with one another. The two in a way take upon a bit of a city/country mouse kind of thing as Charan's Raju and Bheem take on a natural chemistry with one another that just is really a constant exuding of warmth between the two in their interactions. The slight difference being Raju occasionally shows Bheem the ropes about something as Bheem is out of his setting compared to the more seasoned Raju. As much as the two were so convincing when they were intense they are as convincing when they are just being easygoing. The two really manage to bring you into the endearing energy they share together and it is hard not to believe them instantly as an ideal friendship, even while they are technically seemingly dramatically opposed. There is more to this than just a positive outgoing quality though as we see the dynamic between the two as Bheem tries to talk, to the degree that he can due to the language barrier, to an Englishwoman he chances upon. Rao manages to find just the right preciousness in his portrayal of the rather meek way in which Bheem approaches this, and portrays sort of that shy insecurity in a way that is once again very endearing. This particularly contrasts well against Charan's performance that always exudes a tremendous amount of confidence but in turn, when we see him encouraging and advising Bheem, it is conveyed with both a real sense of wisdom on how to project confidence but also this sense of unguarded support towards a friend. 

Within this aspect is the highlight of the film where Bheem and Raju take on the pompous British in a dance off "Naatu Naatu". Something we also get in the closing number "Sholay" is the level of exuberance rarely seen in any performance, and we get that times two here with Rao and Charan. It isn't just that they sing and dance, they sing and dance with as much intensity as they do anything else in the film, except the purpose here is for the sake of just being purely joyous. And the thing is, it is hard not to get caught up with that energy when watching them as the joy is truly infectious as they make for an extremely entertaining pair just to watch have fun in this way. In a weird way, their dance scene doesn't feel like a show-off moment, but rather like a let's all have fun together moment where they bring you into just enjoying the moment with them because their expression of the moment is so very pure. And pure together, as again that bond the two actors establish really is just so very powerful, making everything seem tragic early on as we know the two are on opposite sides, but they don't. And it is an example where earnestness to the extreme works because the two of them are earnest in such an effectively sincere way. When we see Rao playing so shyly, and Charan having that confidence between the two, it is hard not to just see the best for them because every moment of it just feels right even as it is extreme in this sense. We even have a theoretical very melodramatic situation as Raju gets poisoned and finds out that Bheem is a man he is supposed to stop as a soldier. And Charan's quiet reaction of heartbreak very much goes right for the most obvious heartstring, but it is a time when that heartstring is just the right one to be played. 

That is again combined though with the two as these pure action hero types who must also sell every dramatic swing, of which there are many. Both are a bit different in this sense, and again an effective contrast between the two. Rao's performance is consistent as the humble warrior with conviction. His conviction though is very specific in showing it from this modest sort of emotional drive which he depicts well in his one scene in showing his sorrow in seeing his caged sister, and just overwhelming passion as the man of attack. His scenes of action are very specific with this sort of controlled power of the man with this sort of righteous energy that defines him. Rao's performance is effectively straightforward in the right way where he shows really the power in the character's singular conviction to his particular cause that is more so defined by family than anything. Against that is Charan's performance which works in contrast as the more complex depiction of the man really has two shades constantly, and again this singular intensity could be of the villain or of a proper naturally violently inclined protagonist. Charan effectively plays this note and doesn't skim over it showing really the sense of a more pointed manner, that often is speaking two things at once. One is often the friend, with the man trying to find the man, who is his friend, or later when we see him with the British, he presents the perfect soldier, but his eyes always denote that there is definitely more going on. And that is the case as we eventually learn that he too is fighting against the British but in the form of an extremely long-game attempt to try to get weapons for his home army to fight the British. This works as a revelation of a man of the intensity of a man with a singular purpose, but who has also been holding in so much. When the revelation happens it does work because Charan reveals that the intensity was for that purpose, and not for being any sort of brutal investigator. Although I wouldn't say this film gets into too much of the deep problems of being so deep cover, Charan in what the film needs delivers well on a sense of that even if we don't dive beyond a certain point with that. Eventually, the two men do come together, and it completely works because the friendship was so real we just naturally see the two become a team with their intensity coming together in a cathartic act of the two teaming up to take down the British. And with each man, we see their separate power in a way with Rao depicting that kind of more controlled power of Rheem against the more firebrand quality of Raju. The two become proper William Wallaceesque freedom fighters that are extremely easy to root for as they take down their oppressors. Both excel in this ending action, but they really excel in every disparate aspect of the film. The two ease every transition themselves because they sell every aspect with as much heart and passion as possible. Both are intense heroes, charming romantic leads, and wonderful song and dance men. There is no split, they are all of it, and they do it together.