Alternate Best Actor 1970: Results

5. Jean Louis Trintignant in The Conformist- Trintignant fails to find consistency in his performance, and simply gives an uninteresting portrayal of a character with potential.

Best Scene: Marcello watches the assassination.

4. Alejandro Jodorowsky in El Topo- Jodorowsky gives an effective performance as a cool headed gunfighter then a repentant monk, but he never stands out past his own direction.

Best Scene: El Topo creates a new exit out of the cave.

3. Peter Boyle in Joe- Boyle gives a good performance as working class loud mouth by showing the man behind the bluster, but the film's shortcomings keep him from giving a great performance.

Best Scene: Joe's introduction.

2. Albert Finney in Scrooge- Finney overplays a moment here and there, but his alternate take on Ebenezer Scrooge does manage to work for the most part.

Best Scene: The redemption medley.

1. Gian Maria Volontè in Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion- The only alternate that really brought much excitement for me is Volontè's work. Volontè gives an interesting and entertaining performance that cleverly manages to make sense of his character's seemingly random behavior.

Best Scene: The inspector openly confesses to his crime.

Overall Rank:

1. George C. Scott in Patton
2. Jack Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces
3. Nicol Williamson in The Reckoning 
4. Warren Oates in Barquero
5. Jason Robards in The Ballad of Cable Hogue
   
6. Gene Hackman in I Never Sang For My Father 
7. Peter Sellers in Hoffman
   
8. Gian Maria Volontè in Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
9. Alec Guinness in Cromwell
10. Melvyn Douglas in I Never Sang For My Father
11. Richard Harris in The Molly Maguires
12. James Fox in Performance 
13. Sergei Bondarchuk in Uncle Vanya
14. Jüri Järvet in King Lear
15. Yves Montand in The Confession
    
16. Tom Courtenay in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
    
17. Innokenty Smoktunovsky in Uncle Vanya
18. Lee Marvin in Monte Walsh 
19. Alain Delon in Le Cercle Rouge
20. Jean-Pierre Cassel in La Rupture
    
21. Albert Finney in Scrooge
22. Ron Moody in Twelve Chairs
23. Peter Boyle in Joe  
24. Marcello Mastroianni in Sunflower
    
25. Robert Mitchum in Ryan's Daughter 
26. David Bradley in Kes
    
27. Donald Sutherland in MASH 
28. Richard Harris in A Man Called Horse 
29. Sean Connery in The Molly Maguires
    
30. Dustin Hoffman in Little Big Man  
31. Dhritiman Chatterjee in Pratidwandi
    
32. Richard Harris in Cromwell 
    
33. Fernando Rey in Tristana 
34. Michel Piccoli in Les Choses de la Vie
    
35. Jean-Pierre Leaud in Bed and Board
36. Marcello Mastroianni in The Pizza Triangle
    
37. Telly Savalas in Kelly's Heroes
38. Paul Newman in Sometimes A Great Notion
39. James Earl Jones in The Great White Hope
    
40. Alejandro Jodorowsky in El Topo 
41. Jean Yanne in Le Boucher
    
42. Clint Eastwood in Kelly's Heroes
43. Elliot Gould in MASH
44. Frank Langella in Twelve Chairs 
45. Robert Stephens in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
46. Tony Lo Bianco in The Honeymoon Killers
47. François Truffaut in The Wild Child
    
48. John Moulder-Brown in First Love
    
49. Ryan O'Neal in Love Story 
50. Lee Van Cleef in Barquero
    
51. Kenneth Nelson in The Boys in the Band 
52. Jean-Pierre Cargol in The Wild Child
53. Alan Arkin in Catch-22
    
54. Ben Gazzara in Husbands
    
55. Peter Falk in Husbands 
56. John Cassavetes in Husbands 
57. Jean-Claude Brialy in Claire's Knee
    
58. Michael Sarrazin in Sometimes a Great Notion 
59. Dennis Patrick in Joe 
60. Christopher Lee in Count Dracula
    
61. Rock Hudson in Darling Lili
    
62. Jean Louis Trintignant in The Conformist
63. Beau Bridges in Landlord
    
64. Frank Langella in Diary of a Mad Housewife 
65. Rod Steiger in Waterloo
    
66. Christopher Jones in Ryan's Daughter 
67. Richard Benjamin in Diary of a Mad Housewife 
68. Frederick Williams in Count Dracula
    
69. Jason Robards in Julius Caesar
    

Next Year: 1970 Supporting

Alternate Best Actor 1970: Alejandro Jodorowsky in El Topo

Alejandro Jodorowsky did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying the titular character of El Topo which would be the Mole in English.

El Topo is a strange film of first a gunfighter fighting other master gunfighters then helping disfigured people in some sort of retribution. One can either take this as a surreal masterpiece or a bunch of weird striking scenes that amount to nothing. I'll say it is certainly interesting.

Alejandro Jodorowsky, who also directed the film, plays the wandering gun man who wanders the desert shooting men, riding with his naked son, or romancing/raping a woman. El Topo is without a doubt a director's film, the fact that Jodorowsky is also the star only seems to reinforce this point. This is not a case where a single performance stands out past the vision of the director either. Every scene is dominated by the images not by anything that actors are doing who are mainly used as parts of every painting that Jodorowsky creates. This is true for every single performance of the film including Jodowsky's although his performance comes the closest to breaking away from his own direction.

The first half of Jodorowsky's performance consists of a steely gaze as he defeats his foes as he does in his own Man With No Name sort of way. Jodorowsky is a pretty effective quiet bad ass. There is a slight quirk in the method of shooting his opponents, but Jodorowsky's during the duels keeps his performance very much restrained. That is unless there is something else that happens other than him vanquishing a foe. Jodorowsky screams, makes wild eyes, and his expressions seem to become as insane as his set pieces. This all works in tandem with his direction, but again it always stays securely with this direction never really standing out on his own. Jodorowsky does use himself well and his performance properly adds to his scenes.

The second half of the film El Topo is thoroughly shaven and seems to become a monk of sorts and seems to put away his killing ways. Jodorowsky's performance becomes a bit more regulated in monk form as he is more expressive yet more restrained as well. Jodorowsky plays the reformed El Topo, who is trying to help the group of disfigured people, as a most joyous man who seems fervent in his cause with a great appreciation for his work. There of course is not really much of a transition, it is a rather instant jump due to El Topo being shot, but this again fits perfectly in with the whole style of the film that is more about the individual scenes than a precise journey. Jodorowsky though once again fits within his film well in the changed El Topo. 

The story of the character of El Topo is one of leaps rather than steps, in the end when he does return to his killing ways he is again forced to do it. Jodorowsky's performance does always work for Jodorowsky the director. His individual acting work, just like everyone else in the film, simply is part of the tapestry. Jodorowsky's work adds color, the right color in the fact through his portrayal of the different sides of El Topo, but never once does that small part of the picture seem more interesting than the whole. It is a solid performance by Alejandro Jodorowsky, which proves him capable of being both an actor and a director. In the end though it is his direction of the film that you remember after watching the film not his performance within in it. 

Alternate Best Actor 1970

And the Nominees Were Not:

Albert Finney in Scrooge

Alejandro Jodorowsky in El Topo

Gian Maria Volontè in Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion

Jean Louis Trintignant in The Conformist

Peter Boyle in Joe