Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1999: Bryan Brown in Two Hands

Bryan Brown did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Pando in Two Hands.

Bryan Brown plays Pando the head local gangster, whom Jimmy (Heath Ledger) is attempting to get in the good graces of, though does anything but throughout the film. Brown's performance on the immediate surface seems to be right in the line of the mentor gangster characters. Of course Pando really isn't too much of a gangster, though seen by such as Jimmy, however Brown emphasizes this idea in his performance. This as even as we see him seemingly in his "might", Brown adds a bit of posturing in his manner of calling Jimmy for a job. Brown showing a man who certainly believes in his own power, though perhaps isn't so much if you scratch the surface at all. Brown emphasizes this furthermore as we see him in his place with his men, where he plays board games, rather than any typical gangster fair. Brown's portrayal of this though is just with the slightest bit of intimidation, as lightly as possible, and really not far off from a standard boss rather than a legitimate gangster. Brown portrays a rather casual manner, that effectively borders at first between a man just comfortable in his space, as questionable as that is, but also perhaps too comfortable in perhaps just being a layabout going in for easy money. The latter perhaps becoming the truth the more we get to see of Jimmy. After Jimmy accidentally fails his first mission to deliver 10,000 dollars, we begin to see the bad side of Pando. Although again Brown is hilarious by still keeping the same manner as really essentially just a lazy man, as he casually discusses needing to kill Jimmy with the same manner as he speaks to one of his kids.

Brown is terrific in that he does create a slight menace merely in that casual discussion of "doing" a guy, while still at the same time slowly revealing that Pando is far less than Jimmy had thought of him in more ways than one. What I like most of Brown's performance though that in the technically pathetic nature he brings out of Pando, he also does reveal a bit of humanity, even if misspent in a way. This in his delivery of treating Jimmy's girlfriend, even as he intends to murder Jimmy, with the absolute courtesy and even a bit of sadness at the whole thing. He emphasizes this all the better as he and his crew take Jimmy to be killed. This where Jimmy offers a real alternate, Brown expression of a real fear and worry, as though he may being doing the wrong thing. Brown in a sense portrays both how at the same time he's both a terrible gangster and human being, even though he is attempting to be both. That sequence opens the film, however we eventual return to it into a scene of wonderful dark comedy as Pando and his crew fail to kill Jimmy due to having only a corroded gun to use. Brown is hilarious in his delivery of his frustrations as he questions his men, again being so earnest in his concentration while also so lacking in any real menace. Brown portraying a man trying and really failing even to be a proper, non-gangster boss.The final nail of this though is in Brown's final scene where Jimmy comes back, with the money. This with Pando initially misunderstanding as an attack, and the all too weak delivery Brown offers as he tries to instruct his men to kill Jimmy before he pulls out the money. Brown's wonderful in the shift to overly accommodating in praising Jimmy for doing a job well done, and again the failure of the act is what makes Brown's performance works so well. This as we see nothing but a fool pretending to be so far more than he is, which is only confirmed when he finally has a gun in his face, and Brown shows only but petrified fear in his "cool" gangster. This all being one wonderful long act of Brown portraying his mob boss who the more we see of him, it all becomes an obvious act by Pando himself to be a mob boss.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1999

And the Nominees Were Not:

Harry Lennix in Titus

Robert Carlyle in Ravenous

John C. Reilly in Magnolia

Gary Cole in Office Space

Anthony Wong in The Mission

With Additional Reviews of:

Bryan Brown in Two Hands

Peters Sarsgaard in Boys Don't Cry

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1980: Results

5. Mark Hamill in The Big Red One- Hamill plays his character well and has stand out moments even within the vignette nature of the film.

Best Scene: The Concentration Camp.

4. Harrison Ford in The Empire Strikes Back- Ford gives one of his best action hero performances making Han Solo the great hero he should be.

Best Scene: "I Know".

3. Leslie Nielsen in Airplane!- Nielsen gives an one note performance of utter comedic brilliance, being incredibly funny by playing his part as deadly serious as possible.

Best Scene: "I am serious and don't call me Shirley".

2. Bryan Brown in Breaker Morant- Brown gives an effective performance finding his own place in the film as the soldier whose rough exterior hides a deeper sadness.

Best Scene: Hancock writes his farewell letter to his wife.

1. Tsutomu Yamazaki in Kagemusha- Good Prediction Maciej. Well I've come to the conclusion that Tsutomu Yamazaki is the greatest actor to have a Wikipedia page with no more than three sentences. Once again he delivers an incredible supporting performance. He always finds a way to stand out even when he is in a group of actors. Yamazaki gives a great supporting performance that plays off of and supports Tatsuya Nakadai's lead performance beautifully.

Best Scene: Nobukado predicts the fate of Kagemusha.

Overall Rank:

1. Joe Pesci in Raging Bull
2. Peter O'Toole in The Stunt Man
3. Tsutomu Yamazaki in Kagemusha
4. Scott Wilson in The Ninth Configuration
   
5. Bryan Brown in Breaker Morant
6. Leslie Nielsen in Airplane!
7. Harrison Ford in The Empire Strikes Back
8. Mark Hamill in The Big Red One
9. Freddie Jones in The Elephant Man 
10. Robert Stack in Airplane! 
11. Jason Miller in The Ninth Configuration
    
12. Christopher Walken in Heaven's Gate
    
13. Brian Blessed in Flash Gordon  
14. Yaphet Kotto in Brubaker
    
15. John Gielgud in The Orchestra Director
16. Oliver Reed in Lion of the Desert
    
17. Bill Murray in Caddyshack
18. Lewis Fitz-Gerald in Breaker Morant
19. Jason Robards in Melvin and Howard
20. James Earl Jones in The Empire Strikes Back 
21. John Gielgud in The Elephant Man 
22. Jack Warden in Used Cars
    
23. Gene Hackman in Superman II 
    
24. Frank Oz in The Empire Strikes Back
25. David Carradine in The Long Riders
    
26. Lloyd Bridges in Airplane! 
27. Harvey Keitel in Bad Timing
    
28. John Hurt in Heaven's Gate 
29. Vittorio Gassman in  La Terrazza
    
30. Keith Carradine in The Long Riders
    
31. Levon Helm in Coal Miner's Daughter
32. Max von Sydow in Flash Gordon  
33. Jean-Louis Trintignant in La Terrazza
    
34. Billy Dee Williams in The Empire Strikes Back 
35. Ugo Tognazzi in La Terrazza
    
36. Om Puri in Sparsh 
37. Marcello Mastroianni in La Terrazza
    
38. Richard Farnsworth in Resurrection 
39. Sam Waterston in Heaven's Gate
    
40. Timothy Dalton in Flash Gordon
41. Michael Caine in Dressed to Kill    
42. Jean Poiret in The Last Metro
    
43. Stacy Keach in The Long Riders
    
44. Roberts Blossom in Resurrection
    
45. Henry Gibson in The Blues Brothers 
46. Hal Holbrook in The Fog
    
47. Terence Stamp in Superman II 
48. Jeff Bridges in Heaven's Gate 
49. David Morse in Inside Moves
50. Scatman Crothers in The Shining
51. Cab Calloway in The Blues Brothers
52. Philip Stone in The Shining
53. Peter Graves in Airplane! 
    
54. Melvyn Douglas in Changeling
55. Ed Flanders in The Ninth Configuration
    
56. John Candy in The Blues Brothers
57. Judd Hirsch in Ordinary People
58. Joe Spinell in The Ninth Configuration
    
59. Harold Russell in Inside Moves
    
60. Bill Henderson in Inside Moves
61. Bert Remsen in Inside Moves
62. Randy Quaid in The Long Riders
    
63. Denholm in Elliott in Bad Timing
    
64. Christopher Plummer in Somewhere in Time
65. Paul Sorvino in Cruising
    
66. Ned Beatty in Hopscotch
    
67. Frank Vincent in Raging Bull 
68. Morgan Freeman in Brubaker 
69. Neville Brand in The Ninth Configuration
    
70. Dennis Quaid in The Long Riders
    
71. Herbert Lom in Hopscotch 
72. David Keith in Brubaker
    
73. Allen Garfield in The Stunt Man 
74. John Houseman in The Fog
    
75. Sam Shepard in Resurrection
    
76. Robert Carradine in The Big Red One 
    
77. John Gielgud in Lion of the Desert
    
78. Sam Wanamaker in The Competition
79. James Keach in The Long Riders
    
80. Paul McCrane in Fame
    
81. Kenichi Hagiwara in Kagemusha 
82. Siegfried Rauch in The Big Red One
83. Topol in Flash Gordon 
84. Leo McKern in Blue Lagoon
    
85. Kevin McCarthy in Private Benjamin
    
86. Chevy Chase in Caddyshack
87. Keith Gordon in Dressed to Kill  
88. Peter Gallagher in The Idolmaker
    
89. Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack
90. Anthony Daniels in The Empire Strikes Back
91. Dennis Franz in Dressed to Kill
92. Danny Lloyd in The Shining 
93. Alex Rocco in The Stunt Man
    
94. Bob Balaban in Altered States
95. Jinpachi Nezu in Kagemusha 
96. Barry Miller in Fame
    
97. Jackie Gleason in Smokey and the Bandit II
98. John Marley in Tribute 
99. Armand Assante in Private Benjamin
    
100. Ted Knight in Caddyshack
101. Jerry Reed in Smokey and the Bandit II 
102. Laurence Olivier in The Jazz Singer
     
103. Stephen Stucker in Airplane!
104. Charles Haid in Altered States
105. Robby Benson in Tribute
106. John Adames in Gloria
     

Next Year: 1952 lead

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1980: Bryan Brown in Breaker Morant

Bryan Brown did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite winning the AFI award, for portraying Lt. Peter Hancock in Breaker Morant.

Bryan Brown plays one of the three men on trail for murder during the Boer war. Each of the three men fit into a certain category with Breaker Morant (Edward Woodward) being one without regrets for his actions and seeing it as being part of the harsh life soldier as well as always keeping the manner of a good soldier. The youngest is Witton (Lewis Fitz-Gerald) who regrets the killing as well as regrets having become a soldier in the first place. This leave Hancock who comes off as the least savory of the men for a variety of reasons. Hancock is a man who does not know how to be quiet and is the loudest of the men particularly when they sit in the courtroom.

Hancock is the brash one and Brown rightfully gives a Brash performance particularly in the courtroom scenes. Although Jack Thompson as their defense gets the big speeches Brown has a great deal of quick one liners. Hancock early during the trial does not hold back and will quickly try to shoot down lies. Brown is very good in these moments because he does not do this as a righteous man in any way. Brown instead does it like a man trying to shoot someone down in a bar he does it crudely and in a brash manner. Brown has him keep back ever so slightly as he still is a trained soldier though finding the right style for a man who is a soldier, but the type who will forget that without too much provocation.

Outside of the courtroom Hancock is just as brash and his attitude differs from the somber Witton and the steadfast Morant. Brown plays Hancock as probably the most angry in their circumstance. When it comes to him and the killing there is not the duty expressed in Morant or the regret in Witton. Hancock is left as a man with a dog eat dog attitude, since the Boer killed many of their men and tried to kill them he does not have any regrets about what he did. Brown portrays pretty stone cold in just a sentiment filled with exasperation and hatred toward the enemy. Brown properly makes Hancock a man who is able with what he did because of his experiences that he went through.

Like Morant we do get little glimpses of Hancock's personal life which Brown handles quite effectively. Again Brown is rather blunt in just showing how harsh Hancock's life really was. There is one quick flashback to his family and we only get a hint of this relationship. Brown portrays it as a rather sad relationship. There is perhaps a love there but not in a way that seems with much warmth if any. Brown is very subtle as he suggests a considerable sadness is in this man's life. We do not learn what it all is but Brown suggests it beautifully. Brown shows the sadness as really the true man which lies beneath his anger and discontent he expresses otherwise.

Bryan Brown's performance is a strong facet of this film and fills his place as the soldier who was willing to murder as his experience in the war never suggested that he should do anything else. I will say out of the three soldiers on trial in the film Edward Woodward did hold my attention the most and I found his personal story to be the most powerful. Bryan Brown and to a similar extent Lewis Fitz-Gerald still give two interesting and moving portrayals on their own because each of them find what exactly motivates each of the soldiers and both what exactly brought them together to this trial but as well what exactly separates them in their attitudes. Brown might not be the best part of the film but he is one of the reasons why this is a great film.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1980

And the Nominees Were:

Tsutomu Yamazaki in Kagemusha

Leslie Nielsen in Airplane

Bryan Brown in Breaker Morant

Harrison Ford in The Empire Strikes Back

Mark Hamill in The Big Red One