Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1990: Results

5. Armand Assante in Q & A - Assante gives a decent enough performance as a confident mob boss, but the film gives him very little room to explore his character.

Best Scene: The final Q & A.

4. Albert Finney in Miller's Crossing - A brilliantly stylized performance as he plays the role as a classic 30's gangster although he carefully finds depth in the role never becoming merely a caricature.

Best Scene: "Danny Boy"

3. Robert De Niro in Goodfellas - De Niro gives one of his best performance finding charisma of a suave gangster while never holding back in depicting the true violent nature of the man.

Best Scene: The phone booth.

2. Gary Oldman in State of Grace  - Gary Oldman rises well above his material with his energetic as well as somewhat psychotic yet oh so sympathetic depiction of a gangster who fights for the neighborhood he grew up in.

Best Scene: Waiting for the phone call.

1. Harry Dean Stanton in Wild At Heart - The great character actor Harry Dean Stanton gives an outstanding performance that is both hilarious and heartbreaking while being just so unassuming. I have to admit this was a great year and really I could scramble my top five any which way and I'd be fine with it.

Best Scene: His final scene.

Overall Rank:

1. Joe Pesci in Goodfellas
2. Harry Dean Stanton in Wild At Heart
3. Gary Oldman in State of Grace
4. Robert De Niro in Goodfellas
5. Albert Finney in Miller's Crossing
6. Richard Farnsworth in Misery
7. Willem Dafoe in Wild At Heart
8. Jon Polito in Miller's Crossing
9. Raul Julia in Presumed Innocent
10. John Goodman in Arachnophobia
11. Thomas F. Wilson in Back to the Future III
12. Raul Julia in The Rookie
13. Paul Sorvino in Goodfellas 
14. Tom Towles in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
15. Bruce Davison in Longtime Companion
16. Ralph Foody in Home Alone
17. Ian Holm in Hamlet
18. Roberts Blossom in Home Alone
19. J.E. Freeman in Wild At Heart 
20. Elias Koteas in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
21. Joseph Mazzello in Presumed Innocent
22. Ed Harris in State of Grace 
23. Michael Keaton in Pacific Heights
24. Frank Vincent in Goodfellas 
25. John Hurt in The Field
26. Crispin Glover in Wild At Heart
27. Hector Elizondo in Pretty Woman
28. John Candy in Home Alone
29. Michael Ironside in Total Recall
30. Joe Pesci in Home Alone
31. Daniel Stern in Home Alone 
32. John Glover in Gremlins 2 
33. Steve Bisley in The Big Steal
34. Vincent Schiavelli in Ghost
35. Joe Viterelli in State of Grace
36. Vincent Price in Edward Scissorhands
37. Paul Winfield in Presumed Innocent
38. Alan Bates in Hamlet
39. Burgess Meredith in Rocky V
40. George C. Scott in The Rescuers Down Under
41. Scott Glenn in The Hunt For Red October
42. Brian Dennehey in Presumed Innocent
43. Dustin Hoffman in Dick Tracy
44. Andy Garcia in The Godfather Part III
45. Marshall Napier in The Big Steal
46. Pat Hingle in The Grifters
47. Eli Wallach in The Godfather Part III
48. Michael Gross in Tremors
49. Armand Assante in Q & A
50. Michael Imperioli in Goodfellas
51. Al Pacino in Dick Tracy
52. Burgess Meredith in State of Grace 
53. Max von Sydow in Awakenings
54. J.T. Walsh in The Grifters
55. James Earl Jones in The Hunt for Red October
56. Joe Mantegna in The Godfather Part III
57. John Amos in Die Hard 2 
58. Stephen Dillane in Hamlet
59. Frank DiLeo in Goodfellas
60. Sam Neil in The Hunt for Red October
61. Sean Bean in The Field
62. William Sadler in Die Hard 2
63. Timothy Spall in White Hunter Black Heart
64. David Strathairn in Memphis Belle
65. Frank Sivero in Goodfellas
66. Stephen Tobolowsky in Bird on a Wire 
67. Tom Skerritt in The Rookie
68. Alun Armstrong in White Hunter Black Heart
69. Fred Ward in Tremors
70. Ronny Cox in Total Recall
71. William Atherton in Die Hard 2
72. Sam Rockwell in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
73. Ralph Bellamy in Pretty Woman
74. John C. Reilly in State of Grace
75. Sab Shimono in Presumed Innocent
76. George Dzundza in White Hunter Black Heart
77. John Heard in Home Alone
78. Robert Prosky in Gremlins 2 
79. Christopher Lloyd in Ducktales The Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp
80. Kevin Clash in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
81. John Spencer in Presumed Innocent
82. Mark Lamos in Longtime Companion
83. Tim Curry in The Hunt For Red October
84. John Turturro in State of Grace
85. Richard Gant in Rocky V
86. John Lithgow in Memphis Belle 
87. Paul Sorvino in Dick Tracy
88. William Hickey in My Blue Heaven
89. Mako in Pacific Heights
90. Bill Duke in Bird on a Wire
91. Alan Arkin in Edward Scissorhands 
92. Robert Picardo in Gremlins 2
93. David Carradine in Bird on a Wire
94. Gary Busey in Predator 2
95. Devin Ratray in Home Alone
96. Nathaniel Parker in Hamlet
97. Luis Guzman in Q & A
98. Graham Greene in Dances With Wolves
99. Charles S. Dutton in Q & A
100. Ned Beatty in Captain America
101. Anthony Michael Hall in Edward Scissorhands 
102. Charlie Korsmo in Dick Tracy
103. John Turturro in Miller's Crossing
104. Campbell Scott in Longtime Companion 
105. Gailard Sartain in Ernest Goes to Jail
106. Darren McGavin in Captain America 
107. Robert Sean Leonard in Mr. And Mrs. Bridge
108. Gilbert Gottfried in Look Who's Talking Too
109. Tom Berenger in The Field  
110. Julian Sands in Arachnophobia
111. Vincent Perez in Cyrano de Bergerac
112. Charles Napier in Ernest Goes to Jail
113. Dennis Franz in Die Hard 2
114. Ronny Cox in Captain America
115. Ian Bannen in Ghost Dad
116. J.E. Freeman in Miller's Crossing
117. Charles Rocket in Dances With Wolves
118. Patrick Cassidy in Longtime Companion 
119. Burt Young in Rocky V
120. Gerry Bamman in Home Alone
121. Jason Alexander in Pretty Woman 
122. Richard Tyson in Kindergarten Cop
123. Ray Baker in Heart Condition
124. Tony Goldwyn in Ghost
125. Sage Stallone in Rocky V
126. Pepe Serna in The Rookie
127. Rip Taylor in Ducktales The Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp
128. Patrick O'Neal in Q & A
129. Scott Paulin in Captain America
130. Tommy Morrison in Rocky V

Next Year: 1936 Lead

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1990: Armand Assante in Q & A

Armand Assante did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite being nominated for a Golden Globe, for portraying Roberto 'Bobby Tex' Texador.

When Q & A began I thought I was potentially watching a hidden gem, after all it's directed by Sidney Lumet, as it appeared it was going to be a well written story about a young assistant district attorney Al Reilly (Timothy Hutton) trying to uncover the truth behind an extremely corrupt police officer Lt. Mike Brennan (Nick Nolte). Well I suppose it is about that, but after all it is directed by Sidney Lumet who could make a terrible film just as readily as a masterpiece. After about the half hour mark it became obvious it was going to be closer to a Morning After than the Verdict. Just like the Morning After it has a terribly out of place score, and ends having the subtlety of a jack hammer. After all it throws in stuff about racial discrimination, which could be fine, but the problem is it feels thrown in. I think everything became clear, what type of movie it was going to be, when suddenly Hutton's character was accused of being racist by his old girlfriend in such a terribly written way that I knew where the film was headed. Well actually it was even before that where Assante's character accuses Al of bringing him in for questioning only because that ex-girlfriend is his current girlfriend. 

Well anyways Armand Assante plays another criminal, back to the theme of the year. A rather poorly defined drug dealer who we meet in that interrogation scene. He does not say much other than try to look like the calm and cool sort of gangster type. Well Assante walks in then runs back out and we see essentially the way Assante will play the part. All that I've seen from Assante it is kinda similar style where he's a bit flamboyant to say the least. He's always kinda moving a bit even when he's standing still and he seems to purposefully accentuate every line he gets. Well this sort of approach might not always work but it does work well enough here since it is a natural fit for Texador who just kinda does things his own way. Assante brings enough of a charismatic incisiveness to the role as he verbally beats down Al's early on, and it sets up the toughness of the character well enough. Well that means we're going to get more of Texador's character and find out what really makes him unique.

Well we don't really get that all we get is watching him attempt to avoid being murdered by the out of control Mike Brennan by first pooling other people on his hit list then going to Al to take him down. I suppose Assante has the most consistent writing behind him in that Texador always seems to be the same person we met in his first scene, but then again the film actually does strangely little with him. He kinda goes from scene to scene just saying "Mike Brennan has to be stopped and here's how". It is a doubled edged sword in that he gets avoid some of the ludicrous, or terrible moments that the other performs must endure, but that's only because he's used so little. It's very repetitive until he gets blown up on a yacht which came off as unintentionally funny to me and really should have ended with Nick Nolte saying "Ain't I a Stinker". Assante does just fine with what he has to work with. He brings the right confidence and calm in creating the cool gangster, the film just does not given him anywhere to go with it. I liked his performance but I'm not sure if it was even possible to love it.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1990

And the Nominees Were Not:

Albert Finney in Miller's Crossing

Armand Assante in Q & A

Robert De Niro in Goodfellas

Harry Dean Stanton in Wild At Heart

Gary Oldman in State of Grace