Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1990: Jon Polito in Miller's Crossing

Jon Polito did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Giovanni “Johnny Caspar” Gasparo in Miller’s Crossing.

A funny thing that can occur with a character actor is that you sometimes mistakenly believe them just to be that character they are most famous for or the style of performance. Polito falls into such a strange situation, though probably helped by the fact I’m guessing a lot of later directors might’ve asked him to “do Johnny Caspar” because of how distinctive his delivery and manner is here, that isn’t at all how Polito actually speaks or even moves around. Polito constructs such a unique character for the character of Johnny Caspar, the Italian gangster who gives the opening speech of the film. What Polito’s performance essentially is doing is creating the contrast between what Caspar wants to be taken as to what he is, which is more than a weight deficit between those elements. Polito very much does not choose to emphasize a tough guy gangster type nor the cold businessman, but rather portrays the falsehood that Caspar is trying to create. Polito’s screeching voice, his beetle like movements, they both are revealing of an innately pathetic man, yet behind all of that is the passion of someone who demands to be treated seriously as an honest threat. 

In the opening speech we get the whiplash of Caspar’s perspective of himself as he first delivers a long speech about how he thinks things should go in the underworld where he states his need that everyone follows certain ethics, albeit criminal ethics, and someone who cheats those ethics, bookie Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro) be killed for violating that code by not abiding by how fight fixes should go. I love the rhythm of Polito’s speech where at first he does get into a somewhat believable directness of a proper gangster albeit still somewhat of a put on, however as a man who can help himself, he starts festering with rage over Bernie giving his hand away completely as the man who desperately wants to be taken seriously as a force to be reckoned with yet can’t quite fit the part. When head Irish gangster Leo (Albert Finney) disregards his desire to abide by “ethics”, Polito loses it more though with this very specific way of trying to adhere to this certain command yet just letting the rage seep out again and again. I especially adore his delivery of “I’m sick of getting the high hat”, as a man trying to be in some kind of control it yet seething with a uncontrolled desperation for what he wants to achieve yet is denied. 

Polito presents Caspar as a man, an Italian, who basically wants to be in charge of the world, as he sees it, presents himself as capable of it through his approach to the criminal world, yet just like his American name versus Italian name, it is very much a facade. That isn’t to say Caspar isn’t powerful or dangerous, he is, but in a way his power and danger comes from that degree of instability created by the facade that Polito reveals so effectively in every choice he makes throughout his performance. A performance which needs to be said is also very much in creating the strange nature of the man, a strange nature that feels consistent within Polito’s performance. You take any moment with Leo’s right hand Tom (Gabriel Byrne), who Caspar wants to switch sides, where everything is about glad-handing the man he respects. Polito’s wonderful though in the way his glad-handing is so phony in how over the top it is, and correctly so because if need be Caspar has no scruples of having Tom either beaten or even killed at times. All of those are merely un-pleasantries however which Polito again plays as a hand wave as though it isn’t something major to Caspar in his warped perception. A common element, and one random aside I love is Caspar’s advice to get a cold shave where Polito delivers such certainty, such stupid certainty, that it is the best kind of shave as though he is this genius man about town, rather than just a fool pretending he is one. 

The strength of this performance is fitting to the Coen Brothers which is the success of idiosyncrasy. There are no gangster performances quite like Polito in this film, it is entirely its own beast yet works in his own particular way. Where we have actually a pretty fascinating juxtaposition where the “heroes” of the film are the ones who are scheming and making choices just based on personal wants, everything Caspar does show that he does genuinely believe in his ethics, which quick aside Polito’s way of delivering that alone deserves special mention as a gold bit of performance gold, despite his ethics being that of a criminal. His “honesty” makes him a prime target for Tom’s manipulations by making Caspar think his right-hand man Eddie Dane (J.E. Freeman) is betraying him. That prodding results in some excellent reactions by Polito where you see his mind trying to comprehend the idea, first with a quick disbelief then the nagging frustration and eventually that rage against a betrayal of ethics. The rage scene is a terrific moment from Polito because you see again that limited facade break as Polito looks like a bursting pressure cooker as he goes about killing his most loyal man and even loudly proclaims the importance of putting “one in the brain” as a grandiose gesture. Polito makes it this great explosion of that rage of being given the high hat that very much defines him where his attempted “wisdom” of killing this time is delivered as the ravings of a violent madman that Caspar fundamentally is deep down. Jon Polito delivers a truly great performance as he creates a wholly new take on essentially a well worn “genre” of a character. Polito creating a dynamic portrait of a man who knows all the required notes to play the part of boss but maybe doesn't know how to play them.