Best Supporting Actor 1970: Results

5. Richard S. Catellano in Lovers and Other Strangers- Castellano is good even though his role is needlessly gimmicky at first, and rarely focused upon as a whole.

4. John Marley in Love Story- Marley has few scenes but he makes the most of everyone. It is a moving and warm performance that fulfills its purpose.

3. Chief Dan George in Little Big Man- Chief Dan George gives an appropriately wise, humorous, and dignified performance as the Chief who is all three of those things. He does not do much more than that though.

2. John Mills in Ryan's Daughter- John Mills creates a unique character that also has an emotional pull without seeming unnatural as he easily could have been.

1. Gene Hackman in I Never Sang For My Father- Good Prediction Dinasztie, and RatedRStar. Gene Hackman gives an incredible performance from beginning to end. He completely realizes the terrible struggle, and relationship his character has with his father. It is truly memorable and wonderful work from a great actor.

Deserving Performances:
Karl Malden in Patton
Alec Guinness in Scrooge
Trevor Howard in Ryan's Daughter

Best Supporting Actor 1970: John Mills in Ryan's Daughter

John Mills won his Oscar from his only nomination for portraying Michael in Ryan's Daughter.

Ryan's Daughter is an underrated film about a small Isolated Irish village that details an affair between a British Soldier and one of the local women Rosy.

Ryan's Daughter contains more than one supporting performance of note from the town's domineering Priest played by Trevor Howard, to the titular Ryan,  the father of Rosy portrayed by Leo McLern, and Rosy's faithful and kind husband portrayed by Robert Mitchum. The only man who ended up being nominated though should not have been too much of a surprise I suppose since John Mills has the most Oscary role playing a mentally handicapped man who is considered to be the "village idiot".

This type of role is popular with the Oscars although I can't say they are particular popular with me. Although there are few I do like, many times they can be examples of needless overacting, or frankly just bad acting. The simply truth about these performances in many ways though are you either like them or you don't, there is not really that much middle ground when it comes to these performances, because the actors go out on such a limb, and the actor's whole performance depends just on that limb.

Well I must admit I do like Mills's performance here I can easily see why many wouldn't but I must say what he does in the role works for me. Although perhaps this can be partially attributed to the fact that I have not seen a great deal of Mills besides his Oscar winning role here therefore perhaps that helps him, for me anyways, slip completely into the character of Michael. I have to admit I really do not see him acting the role, like the way many of these performances are he simply is Michael.

I think his mannerisms do work from his almost constant grin, and his look of interest or inquiry. His limp and the way he walks never felt forced, but within Mills's creation of Michael that feels  perfectly natural within his creation. Something that is usually stated although untrue is that Mills' performance is entirely mute, well in fact Michael does make some grunts actually from time to time. These grunts work well with the rest of the performance and again actually do realize Michael very well.

This performance is not only about character creation though as Michael has one very important aspect of his performance which is that he is clearly in love with Rosy even though she finds him revolting. Mills is again good in just giving an earnest performance in this regard showing that Michael loves in a very simple, but a very genuine fashion. He succeeds in making Michael a bit heartbreaking actually because he shows that Michael simply loves her unconditionally, and for her to be simply to be disgusted by him is a tragedy.

It is true that Mills' whole character could be seen as a bit of a contrivance in that even though looked upon as the "village idiot" he is far more descent than the rest of the villagers making the others the real idiots. I actually think Mills makes this work because he keeps his characterization throughout he never makes any concessions, he as well still brings an emotional impact with his performance as well just through his small little scenes showing Michael's love of Rosy. This performance might not be for everyone but for me it absolutely succeeds.

Best Supporting Actor 1970: Gene Hackman in I Never Sang for My Father

Gene Hackman received his second Oscar nomination for portraying Gene Garrison in I Never Sang for My Father.

Gene Hackman received three of his Oscar nominations for portraying a lawman of some sort, his first for portraying an outlaw, but this is the only time he received it for portraying a relatively average man. A Man who must deal with the relationship of his Father (Melvyn Douglas) after the death of his mother. Although Douglas was nominated in the lead category, Hackman is just as much the lead of the film, even more so in many ways. In fact one could argue that if they reversed categories than than would have been in more appropriate categories than the actual way they were both nominated, but they both really belonged in the lead category.

Gene Hackman shows a very different side here, but shows that he can excel as well with a relatively meeker character than his rather domineering characters found in most of his other nominations. This is a very quiet performance by Hackman for much of the film. A great deal of his performance actually relies on short reactionary moments, which Hackman uses to their fullest potential from beginning to end. Much of his performance depends on these reactions as they establish Gene's relationship with his mother and especially his father.

Hackman is simply excellent early on as Gene interacts with both his parents. Through every early moment they are on screen their is already a clear family dynamic and history developed. Hackman is great every moment though as Gene listens to his father's various orders, and deals with his overall controlling nature Hackman always perfectly portrays an underlying pain, and hatred frankly that Gene is constantly hiding toward his father. Hackman makes though so this is something Gene has long had to do, even if it clear troubles him every time his father makes a rather discouraging or controlling remark to him.

Hackman always has an emotional impact in his performance, and his early scenes with Gene's mother and father really bring us into his difficult situation with his mother and father. Hackman almost shows a tiring situation with Gene's situation with his father, as he reacts with a knowing but expected difficultly when dealing with his father. Both Douglas and Hackman do very well in establishing this difficult relationship where both do not seem exactly cold to each other, or even overly distant but the two actors create just the right emotional disconnection through the father's stubbornness and possessiveness.

Hackman is also equally strong in the few early scenes Gene has with his mother. Their relationship together is the basically the polar opposite of Gene's relationship with his father. There is a clear warmth and love in their scenes together they look at each other talk to one another with ease, unlike the way it is between the son and the father. Hackman here shows a clear and obvious love toward his mother, and an openness, there is not that restraint as he shows in his scenes with Douglas. What is terrific about Hackman's performance though is he does not show that Gene simply hates his father but loves his mother rather, but rather the difference is in his ability to be open to both of them.

Soon in the film his mother dies, and both the son and father must deal with the grief involved with it. Hackman realizes Gene own grief showing a clear loss, but even more importantly he shows a transition within Gene 's relationship with his father. There is still the lack of connection, but Hackman shows that Gene first changes from hiding to hatred to instead begins hiding a bit of a disbelief by the way his father shows his grief only really by talking about himself and his own troubles rather than talking about his wife.

After the death of the mother the end of the film focuses almost entirely on Gene and his father's relationship together, and Gene decision to leave his father completely by moving away, or staying with him. Hackman in these later scenes loses that hidden sort of distaste for his father, as Hackman shows that really he has lost it after the death of his mother. Hackman with ease instead shows it as Gene actually searching instead for some way to finally connect with Father, something that the death of his mother has forced him to confront the issue.

Hackman is terrific as he shows the multitude of emotions that Gene must go threw when thinking of his decision to stay with his father or not. Hackman is great here because he never lets just one facet of the relationship stay as what is pressing Gene the most. Hackman realistically conveys all of what is pressing him at once. There is not a single emotion that overrides the rest in Hackman's portrayal. He is able to show that he clearly loves his father, but that still he never forgets the troubles he has with his father as well. Hackman realizes Gene's troubles perfectly, creating the difficult conflict within himself brilliantly.

Hackman is great throughout but what makes his performance is his final scene with Melvyn Douglas which is simply incredible. The first half of the scene they finally really come together as father and son, and both actors show a genuine warmth to one another. It is a poignant moment where the two come together not only around their pleasant memories, but even their regrets as well. Hackman has a great reaction where he shows a regreat in Gene that suggest that he does also feel partially responsible for his strained relationship with his father. The two actors though simply create a beautiful scene together.

The scene though quickly, but effectively changes tone when the conflict between them comes about. This scenes is especially strong because of their warmth together suddenly changes so harshly. Hackman again is absolutely amazing because he comes back at Douglas with the same intensity and Gene finally completely breaks out and stands up to his father. Hackman makes the scene heartbreaking though because with the frustration and the intense fighting Hackman manages to show the sadness in the fact that through all of this Gene only merely wanted to be able to love his father. The film leaves a haunted quality at the end of the film because of this last scene, which was brought upon by Hackman's truly great performance.

Best Supporting Actor 1970: Richard S. Castellano in Lovers and Other Strangers

Richard S. Castellano received his only Oscar nomination for portraying Frank Vecchio in Lovers and Other Strangers.

Lovers and Other Strangers is a rather forgotten relationship based comedy of sorts.

Richard S. Castellano received his only nomination for reprising his stage role, but to most people I would say that he is best known for portraying Clemenza in the Godfather which he was mostly quite good in. Here though he reprises his stage role in a film that is quite stagy. He portrays an older couple in the film who is Italian and Catholic. His wife is portrayed by Bea Arthur and their whole shtick in the film is that they are always pestering everyone else about the importance of marriage yet they constantly are bickering or describing problems within their and other people's marriages.

Their first scene together is set up in a fashion where he says something and than she says something both supporting their main theme but at the same time they are always contradicting each other at the same time. Their first scenes actually feel a bit off as they are trying to have a comedic dynamic but the direction, the writing, and even the performances do not find the right tone to really make these work. Instead they more of just feel like a scene wants to be performed in colorful comedic fashion, more than one that truly is comedic and colorful. They are not really bad, but the film clearly wanted for the two to do something really special that doesn't work.

Later on in the film they separate their conversions stopping the gimmick from contiguity which is most certainly a good thing for Castellano's performance which picks up a bit in the last part of the film when Frank talks to his son about why he should stay married. The dialogue itself really remains almost the same shtick, but now without the gimmick of the two talking together Castellano is able to bring out a greater degree of realism, even if his performance still is always at least partially comedic.

Castellano has basically one long talk to his son that is constantly broken up by the rest of the stories near the end of the film. Castellano carries on the same course he set previously in the film. All I can really say is he is fine really, just fine as he constantly repeats the same thing over and over again, in basically the same fashion over and over again, which makes sense since he is suppose to be a bit redundant there is only two brief moments that really let him shine in any sort of fashion although they are still only seen within the mix of the repetition.

In a few brief moments Castellano also suggests a sadder quality in his character that he went after the wrong woman in the end and shows some small signs of regret that are well handled by Castellano as he goes on his string of repetition. Aside from those brief moments though this is a repetitive character that Castellano really can only do so much with, but to his credit he does basically all he can with it. Although it really is not saying much of anything he and Arthur are the best part of the film. Really in the end this is a good performance, just not all that memorable of one though.

Best Supporting Actor 1970: Chief Dan George in Little Big Man

Chief Dan George received his only Oscar nomination for portraying Chief Old Lodge Skins in Little Big Man.

Little Big Man portrays Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman) a white man raised by Natives who goes through many misadventures in the old west during the Indian Wars.

Native American Chief Dan George portrays Chief Old Lodge Skins another Native American Chief in Little Big Man who is humorous, dignified, and wise. An interesting thing about changing attitudes is it can cause one cliche to go away such as the brutal evil Native American chief, and they then can be simply be replaced by another which is the wise humorous chief. Well I cannot actually say how many not evil chiefs appeared before Dan George's portrayal, there were some before like Jeff Chandler in Broken Arrow, but later on the friendly wise funny chief is a very common character now.

The point is Chief Dan George portrays the part in a fashion I expected to be as the Chief character, and Dan George being a Chief himself it certainly fits. His early scenes he is simply just somewhat humorous charming to a degree, and of course dignified. He is rather quiet, but he conveys the wisdom of his character well, but never builds his character too much into something otherworldly having the occasional comical reaction that are not overplayed but effective in giving a lighter quality to the part.

Later in the film though another aspect required is to give dramatic speeches about the evils of the White man, which actually are the most heavy handed moments in the film that are the most obvious moments in the film really just in the way they are written. Now do not get me wrong in my statement by problem is in that the film was already get the point across visually quite well without having to hammer it in with speeches. To his credit though Chief Dan George is actually very strong in his delivery of his speeches bringing a passion to them that although does not rid them of their heavy handed nature are far more effective due to his performance.

Eventually in the film he seems to become philosophical soul searcher of sorts after he becomes blind. Dan George does not change that much with this part of his performance he more of simply becomes less lively in his performance, and a little more sad and wily instead. Chief Dan George doesn't make Old Lodge Skins dreary as he still shows a charming spirit in his performance, but he certainly shows a lesser degree of heart in Old Lodge Skins from what has happened to him.

I want to make this clear that I do believe this to be a good performance, but I can't see the great performance some seem to. In the end it is mostly just a standard  kindly chief performance and much of the time there isn't anything particularly special about his performance. It is always good though, but I just not see any moment where he really sets his Native American Chief from other similar characters. He is one of the best of the type, but he still feels more like a type than a completely unique character.

Best Supporting Actor 1970: John Marley in Love Story

John Marley received his only Oscar nomination for portraying Phil Cavalleri in Love Story.

John Marley portrays Phil who is the father of the female half of the titular love story Jennider Cavalleri (Ali MacGraw). He is the opposite of the Oliver Barrett (Ryan O'Neal)'s father (Ray Milland) who is cold, and and not supportive of their relationship whereas Phil is warm rather supportive, even if taken aback by some of their views and values. Marley actually has a very small role here with only four total scenes in the film. Marley is not even the focus of all four of them either and is simply part of the scenes.

I will say though that despite the rather limited and very small amount of screen time Marley does manage to make as much as he can out of his role, and does realize Phil better than one might expect given the limitations on his performance. He actually gives a charming honestly warmth filled performance. Marley makes Phil into an understanding father with a genuine quality to his performance that never feels forced in any aspect to his character from his love for his daughter to his sort of confusion over some of their choices, but the always shows that love is the actual overriding factor for Phil.

Marley gives a nice performance from his first scene where he does instantly establish Phil's character without trouble. To his short second scene that is a nice heartwarming and gentle reaction that again Marley handles well. Than his third and fourth scene where he is dealing with the terminal disease his Daughter has. Marley is actually terrific in his two short scenes where he is actually quite heartbreaking as he shows the sadness in Phil, that he can barely hide due to his promise to not cry to her father.

Marley actually never had a bad scene or moment in his performance. It most certainly is limited there is no question about that with his only four scenes, but he has four good scenes. I can't say it is the greatest performance ever, or even the greatest very few scenes performance ever. After all it is not as if he really makes an undeniable impact on the film, but his presence is a nice warm one that is effective for when he is on screen. A good performance where Marley serves his purpose as well as any actor really could have in the same role.

Best Supporting Actor 1970

And the Nominees Were:

Gene Hackman in I Never Sang For My Father

Chief Dan George in Little Big Man

John Mills in Ryan's Daughter

John Marley in Love Story

Richard S. Castellano in Lovers and Other Strangers