Alternate Best Actor 1967: Scott Wilson in In Cold Blood

Scott Wilson did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Dick Hickock in In Cold Blood. 

Scott Wilson had a notable year in 1967, playing a supporting role as a wrong suspect who happens to also know some very important information in In Heat of the Night, a performance that ended up being a mini showcase for Wilson, bringing a lot of naturalism and color to a what could’ve been a forgettable role in lesser hands. That role, which apparently got him this role via recommendation by the great Sidney Poitier, was in many ways a warm up to this role. Wilson plays the secondary lead here, the one of two men responsible for the death of a family in a small town, the other being Perry Smith played by Robert Blake. Smith being the killer typically more focused upon due to his more idiosyncratic life, his more pathos driven existence and possibly because Smith was the one who literally committed the murders. Hickock however was as responsible, despite not pulling the trigger, a dynamic realized within Wilson’s performance. Wilson’s performance that naturally elevates the film to very much emphasizing the “true” within the true crime, as the moment we see Hickock join Smith on their deadly trip, Wilson doesn’t seem like an actor presenting himself as a part, rather just this small-time criminal coming onscreen. There’s a history about Wilson’s performance that is innate, and his history isn’t so distinct, Hickock is a “run of the mill” compared to Smith, but yet the man’s history is still important. The moment he says goodbye to his dad, Wilson’s suddenly this working class son being supportive to his dad, acting as though he’s going to make it big with this new idea of his. 

Wilson is completely natural in the immediate switch we get when he joins Perry in the car, and Wilson suddenly dominates, sorta, as one of the fascinating elements here is the way the relationship between the two men is never a singular note. Rather a switch between them, however the basic setting is that Hickock is dominant as he is the one with the plan, which is to rob and murder a farmer he “knows” has a safe filled with money. Wilson’s performance is fantastic in the bravado he brings that is of a certain very specific career criminal quality, where in his mind this “score” just is exactly what he needs to get everything set for himself. Importantly Wilson paints no doubt within the notions and even goes further than that he sells the notion believably to Smith. This includes even noting that they’re not going to need anything to cover their faces because they aren’t going to leave any witnesses. Hickock has the murder plan already as part of the deal, but presented Wilson delivers it as the means to any end for a man who exists within the mindset that being a crook is just his innate nature. Importantly, the idea of the murdering is presented by Hickock but Smith is part of the plan with the knowledge that Smith has already killed someone. A moment where Wilson is brilliant and creates an essential dynamic at times in their relationship. Wilson has this pestering quality, such as when he purposefully briefly sets off Smith knowing he’s brought out the killer instinct. Something Wilson doesn’t deliver with fear, but rather an easy going smile, the smile of the man who doesn’t see that killer’s quality as a danger to himself but rather a tool for his horrible plan. 

Much of the film skips over the actual murders, something we don’t return to until near the end of the film, the rest of the time spent with Hickock and Smith attempting some kind of getaway despite stealing very little from the farmer, who in fact paid almost everything with a check. Where Wilson is great by portraying the burden of the murders so differently within his own work, yet is wholly convincing in playing this alternative note than the pathos driven one portrayed by Blake. Wilson captures the amorality of Hickock with such a disturbing believability in his ease about living with his murders, even encouraging more potential murders along the way. Wilson’s presentation has an eerie convincing quality in just being fed up with any talk of any mistakes they’ve made with an insistence that the two are distanced from it. Wilson makes this practicality disturbing because in his performance, it isn’t that he doesn’t care, but rather his reactions of frustrations around it are more so man just being thrown off from what he believes to be his job than having taken part in the brutal murders of four people. The ease about the criminal nature is what is so chilling in Wilson because every second of this you just believe this guy who takes in the killings as a calculation like any other. His downplaying moments of it to Smith, even Wilson accentuation on it as like a forgettable mistake, is brilliantly performed, because he shows that in this man’s mind that’s all it was to him. 

In their on the run period Wilson has some stand out moments where he illustrates further the career criminal nature of Hickock where it is just second nature, something that Wilson also makes second nature. A standout scene is when we see Hickock approach a clothing store manager to fashion himself and Smith for a “wedding”, something that is all a lie of course, but Wilson’s presentation of this is amazing. He’s beaming with confidence in every step of the process bringing so much warmth in his language as he’s building trust with the manager, by having such an affable charm as he “sells” the lie so convincingly. Particularly as we get to the payment, you never doubt his ability to not only to get to pay by check, through the ease Wilson brings such commitment to friendliness, that he even convinces you that he’d get the manager to give them some spending money by increasing the check. Wilson’s smiles, his physical “good ole boy” manner, every bit of it is a magnificent dance of a con that he takes through and pretty much convinces you to “sell” him something with your own money. A quality consistent in their other schemes, including trying and failing to kill a motorist for their cash using Smith of course as the actual hands of the operation, but Wilson again accentuates the needed “team” in their potentially horrible crimes. As we see when Smith is preparing to kill a man, Wilson is that charming smile of a distraction that would make it all so easy and just “part of the job”. 

Eventually their luck runs out as they are arrested for a stolen car, but I love the moment just before this where Hickock suggests they just try to make their cash ride at a casino. There is no hesitation in his delivery, Wilson presents a man who absolutely believes he could make this plan work, even as the odds are so obviously against him. Under interrogation the dynamic shifts substantially, as Wilson tries to play the note of the cool operator, however when pressed the facade breaks down. Wilson is excellent because you see the attempts at playing the cards he thinks he has, from first the attempted confidence, then attempting to play the scared innocent as he reacts finally with emotional distress to the murders, not because of guilt but rather having been caught, which is a striking contrast to Blake’s far more controlled portrayal of Smith in this instance. A dynamic we see as he flashbacks to the murders, an all time great, and all time great disturbing scene, where both actors are essential in the realization. As with Wilson we saw the “fun” of playing the conman, now we see the man who has planned out the murders, and Wilson’s great by honestly presenting a caustic stupidity in every step. Playing up the fiendishness and even giving into it with such slimy disregard, including considering raping one of the victims, only stopping due to Smith’s interference. Wilson shows a combination though that is chilling between the power of his threat in the scene, and the lack of power in his growing anxiety as it is obvious there is no money safe whatsoever. Smith shows us the fool, and in that fool we see such danger of a man as his mistake leads to the death of innocents. The final segment of the film is more so Blake’s showcase but Wilson is still great even in the bits he has as the men wait for their execution. Wilson’s fascinating because he presents himself as though Hickock is almost living in the “retirement” plan or “all star” setup for criminals. As the career criminal there is a glee almost in Wilson at times, and a practical manner who accepts his situation as it is at this point. Wilson brings depth to a lack of depth, as Hickock basically espouses his support of capital punishment, as he’s about to be the victim of it, showing the reasoning not a great thinker, rather a man who accepts it all in his limited view of life. Although a shorter moment for him, Wilson is outstanding in depicting the execution scene because come off that same idea as before, the whole time Wilson presents so powerful this dawning realization of the reality in every second. The man's eyes are that of someone emotionally despondent but more than that someone seeing his whole semblance of his reality cracking finally just before he is about to be killed. Although in many ways the less showy part, Wilson delivers also a great performance by creating a different portrait of a criminal, not as a one of the kind, but rather the run of the mill man who could enable and exacerbate the nature of both men to the most heinous deeds. 

Alternate Best Actor 1967: Michel Simon in The Two of Us

Michel Simon did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite winning the Silver Bear, for portraying Pépé in The Two of Us. 

The Two of Us follows a young Jewish boy Claude sent to live with an elderly couple in the country. 

Michel Simon was simply one of the first actors to “get it” when it came to film acting, becoming one of the early consistent performers on film who not only seemed to understand the medium but had the ability to take risks with dynamic characterizations. A career that lasted from the silent era to the 70’s. One of the few major awards received by Simon was for Berlin top acting prize for this film. Simon plays the grandfather of the elderly couple who take in the boy and Simon’s ability on screen is readily apparent as it always is. There’s a natural ease to his performances and this one is no different. Simon brings instantly a sense of this man of the country who has long lived there and pretty much is an innate product of this existence, something we will find is both a good thing and a bad thing. But let’s begin with the lacking complication of the good, where Simon is truly wonderful in portraying the overabundance of warmth in his performance towards the boy Claude. Simon is just beaming in the way he presents that the grandfather couldn’t be more fulfilled than when he is playing with this boy. He is loving every second of it, and is something you feel come across the screen to create such a warm loving dynamic. Simon has so many great moments that aren’t defined by any great drama just of great fun. Such as rough housing with the boy, or a moment of the two swinging each other on a swing. There is such a zest to it all and Simon succeeds in making that sense of fun come to the viewer, while also seemingly getting the best out of the child actor who too seems to be just having fun at least from what comes onscreen. It feels wholly natural and just wholly honest in every moment of it. 

But of course it isn’t all good, and even then Simon is great such as a moment where Claude is sent away to school where he is immediately bullied, ridiculed and has his head cruelly shaved. Simon’s reaction is heartbreaking because you do so how much he loves the boy in his eyes and his delivery of saying that he’ll teach him instead couldn’t be more reassuring or supportive to the struggling boy. With that though we have the most challenging aspect of the film and something that I think is its greatest ambition but also its greatest deficiency. Because as much as the film devotes so many lovely moments to Simon’s Pépé, it as often gives him moments of his views on the world which are openly antisemetic, prejudicial to outsiders in general and fully supports the Nazi puppet French leader Philippe Pétain. There’s a struggle here as the film is directed by Claude Berri, that depicts a boy named Claude in a situation that apparently mirrors his own life where he too was sent to the countryside to an antismetic couple, so theoretically he is just delivering his life story, and so maybe why the reckoning of this element is light, and the commentary on it beyond the depiction is somewhat limited. Berri himself seems to want to focus on the good times more but wishes to depict that nagging element. Something that should be potentially fascinating but maybe his closeness to the subject matter limited his commentary. So creates a curious situation because so much of it, and so much of what Simon does in the role, wants you to love Pépé yet he has these horrible beliefs behind him. 

Well as much as the film limits the resolution of this, Simon I think does what he can in terms of trying to kind of make you understand this man, and show that someone can be largely likable as long as you don’t bring up certain subjects, which to be fair holds true for some. Simon very much emphasizes the limitations of the man’s perspective for his politics. When he goes off on Jewish people, foreigners, communists or anything else, there’s a routine in his delivery, it is the standard statements of expectation and something he doesn’t even really reflect on. It is an old man’s rambling, sadly given the situation such mentality leading to horrible events so it is difficult to ignore. Something that the boy slightly challenges by questioning if he’s actually met Jewish people, which Simon’s reaction in these moments is perfect as it is of someone who never even furnished such deep connections to the topic as he presents confusion and naivety. An element Berri seems to be partially commenting on such as when Pépé happens upon a brutal Nazi regulation, where Simon’s reaction is terrific in showing the suddenly the old man being completely lost at such a horrible notion before being hurried along. Or another moment where with the war ending Pépé is still holding onto Pétain as this great man, to the point even part of Pépé’s family threaten to leave forever if the old man doesn’t take the picture of the disgraced false leader. We get the moment after he’s caved in, where Simon would be deeply affecting with the emotion he brings out in his performance by showing so convincingly this man who is just lost and confused by the revelations of the world around him…if one can’t be so easily detached given what he’s sad about is a man who was an active tool of the Nazi regime. So it’s a strange situation, but in all of this Simon is effective in playing every emotional beat, and creating a cohesiveness in presenting the more savory and less savory elements of this character. As he is genuinely unquestionably affecting by comparison when Simon shows with such empathetic heartbreak the old man's reaction to the death of his faithful dog. There isn't a second where the emotion doesn't feel absolutely real and tangible. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention his scene of presenting himself as he was as a soldier in World War I, which is a terrific vaudevillian bit of over the top physical performance, where Simon is having a blast but is also very entertaining in the grandfather making fun of himself by lampooning old serious soldier self. But that scene is just another example of so much of what Simon does well with this part, challenging you to like this old man, even as his stated beliefs are that of a terrible person. 

Alternate Best Actor 1967: Ljubiša Samardžić in The Morning

Ljubiša Samardžić did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite winning the Volpi Cup, for portraying Mali in The Morning.

The Morning follows the period of time of victory immediately after WWII in Yugoslavia, which results in an odd combination of celebration and killings. 

I’ll admit going with a festival winner might not always be a guaranteed choice for analysis as there have been the examples where the winner seemed like the juries pulled a name out of the hat and said “sure” rather than really accrediting a great performance. And I’ll say while Ljubiša Samardžić’s performance isn’t entirely that but I wouldn’t call it a great performance either. His actual appearances in this already fairly short film are limited as it takes a wavering perspective and he only becomes lead by virtue that the film keeps coming back to him as it frequently diverges to other people dealing with their new found “freedom”. We to Samardžić depiction of Mali as a man who basically is killing people still even after the war even having this strange urge to do so, where it appears the people may be guilty in some way, but still the jump cuts we get to depict the executions leaves some questions in mind about that guilt. Samardžić’s performance is interesting in the exuberance he brings to it, that is a kind of madness he creates in the man. He doesn’t play it as fully insane as though he’s a psychopath, despite his killings, but rather someone who has become detached from his existence to have this sort of dreamy enjoyment of the madness. This state of his is captivating when the film chooses to depict him as his physicality even maneuvering around almost like a ghost himself, but the way he seems so carefree about everything. He’s captivating as far as he can go in depicting this, as we see him talk to a few women about either the present or the past, but even that Samardžić depicts with the same sort of casual ease that seems eerily disjointed. It all works in his performance in crafting this very specific state of being that does successfully realize this man is sort of ripped from reality, but still playing with it in his own way. BUT, the film’s choices to constantly divert attention to someone else or to some extreme stylistic swing does limit how much Samardžić actually gets to explore, even as the technical lead of this film. He’s good with what he has but we don’t really get to play with it in more directions. We get a stylized scene of getting into fineries but even that is far more visual than something the performers really get to sink their teeth into. Regardless, Samardžić gives a good performance, but it was one where I felt we got a great starting point that sadly the film didn’t allow him to explore beyond a certain point. 

Alternate Best Actor 1967

 And the Nominees Were Not:

Michel Simon in The Two of Us

Ljubiša Samardžić in The Morning

Sergei Bondarchuk in War and Peace Part IV

Toshiro Mifune in Samurai Rebellion

Scott Wilson in In Cold Blood