Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1985: Results

5. Danny Glover in The Color Purple- Glover is properly intense in his brutality in his role as an abusive husband, but he is unable to get past the restrictions of the part.

Best Scene: Mister is ridiculed by his father. 

4. Wilford Brimley in Cocoon- Brimley gives the best performance of the cast being the quietly commanding presence of the group, as well as creating the greatest emotional impact of the various stories.

Best Scene: Ben tells his grandson he's going away. 

3. M. Emmet Walsh in Blood Simple- Walsh creates a deliriously evil and memorable villain by beautifully playing up the sleaze and menace of his slimy private detective.

Best Scene: Visser double crosses Marty. 

2. Crispin Glover in Back to The Future- Glover gives my second favorite supporting turn of the year in his absolutely hilarious, but when it needs to be moving turn as the spineless George McFly.

Best Scene: George stands up to Biff. 

1. Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future-Well Good predictions to Paoloduncan, and Lezlie please throw out a year and a performance. Lloyd wins this year as it came to the two Back to the Future performances which I love both. I have to choose one so I will choose Lloyd manic and funny turn creating Doc Brown into a truly memorable character.

Best Scene: Doc reveals he did read the letter after all. 

Overall Rank:

1. Christopher Lloyd in Back To The Future
2. Treat Williams in Smooth Talk
3. Daniel Day-Lewis in My Beautiful Laundrette
4. Ian Holm in Dreamchild
5. Crispin Glover in Back To The Future
6. Michael Mckean in Clue
7. Martin Mull in Clue
8. Christopher Lloyd in Clue
9. M. Emmet Walsh in Blood Simple
10. John Lone in Year of the Dragon
11. Roddy McDowall in Fright Night
12. Dan Hedaya in Blood Simple  
13. Michael Palin in Brazil
14. Chris Sarandon in Fright Night
15. Tim Curry in Legend
16. Robert De Niro in Brazil
17. Wilford Brimley in Cocoon
18. Willem Dafoe in To Live and Die in LA
19. Klaus Maria Brandauer in Out of Africa
20. John Gielgud in The Shooting Party
21. Thomas F. Wilson in Back to the Future  
22. Roshan Seth in My Beautiful Laundrette
23. Stephen Geoffreys in Fright Night 
24. Jan Rubes in Witness
25. Peter Vaughan in Brazil 
26. David Gale in Re-Animator
27. Lucas Haas in Witness
28. Brian Dennehy in Cocoon  
29. John Heard in Trip to the Bountiful 
30. Saeed Jaffrey in My Beautiful Laundrette
31. Bob Hoskins in Brazil   
32. Mark Holton in Pee Wee's Big Adventure
33. Ian Holm in Brazil
34. John Pankow in To Live and Die in LA
35. Danny Glover in The Color Purple
36. Josef Summer in Witness 
37. Ian Holm in Wetherby
38. Paul Gleason in The Breakfast Club 
39. Hume Cronyn in Cocoon 
40. Nicol Williamson in Return to Oz
    
41. John Turturro in To Live and Die in LA   
42. Jim Broadbent in Brazil 
43. Ken Wantanabe in Tampopo 
44. Shinnosuke Ikehata in Ran
45. Dean Stockwell in To Live and Die in LA 
46. Gary Marshall in Lost in America 
47. Tom Wilkinson in Wetherby
48. Curtis Armstrong in Better Off Dead
49. Masayuki Yui in Ran
50. John Heard in After Hours 
51. Hisashi Igawa in Ran
52. Jack Gilford in Cocoon 
53. Leo McKern in Ladyhawke 
54. Jonathan Stark in Fright Night 
55. Hector Alterio in The Official Story
56. Sam Elliott in Mask 
57. Daisuke Ryu in Ran 
58. David Ogden Stiers in Better Off Dead
59. Christopher Walken in A View To Kill
60. Adolph Caesar in The Color Purple 
61. John Hurt in The Black Cauldron
    
62. John Kapelos in The Breakfast Club
63. Charles Napier in Rambo First Blood Part II 
64. Gordon Jackson in The Shooting Party
65. Richard Crenna in Rambo First Blood Part II 
66. Freddie Jones in Young Sherlock Holmes
67. Derrick Branche in My Beautiful Laundrette 
    
68. Armin Mueller-Stahl in Colonel Redl
69. Brian Dennehy in Twice in a Lifetime 
70. Sean Barrett in Return to Oz
    
71. Nigle Hawthorne in The Black Cauldron 
72. Brian Henson in Return to Oz
    
73. Roger Ashton-Griffiths in Young Sherlock Holmes
74. John Russell in Pale Rider
75. Jinpachi Nezu in Ran
76. Akira Terao in Ran 
    
77. Robert Loggia in Jagged Edge
78. Freddie Jones in The Black Cauldron
    
79. Will Patton in After Hours 
80. Edward Fox in The Shooting Party
81. Robert Sampson in Re-Animator
82. Michael Moriarty in Pale Rider 
83. James Cromwell in Explorers
84. Tommy Chong in After Hours
85. Cheech Marin in After Hours
86. Danny Glover in Witness
87. Dennis Dun in Year of the Dragon
88. Chris Penn in Pale Rider 
89. Robert Picardo in Explorers
90. Robert Hardy in The Shooting Party  
91. Richard Dysart in Pale Rider
92. Peter Coyote in Jagged Edge 
93. Raymond J. Barry in Year of the Dragon
94. Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV 
95. Pat Hingle in The Falcon and the Snowman 
96. Peter Gallagher in Dreamchild 
97. Stephen Lang in Twice in A Lifetime
98. Anthony  Higgins in Young Sherlock Holmes
99. Richard Dysart in Mask  
100. William Hickey in Prizzi's Honor
101. Don Ameche in Cocoon
102. Burt Young in Rocky IV
103. John Wood in Ladyhawke
104. John Lithgow in Santa Clause
105. Steve Guttenberg in Cocoon 
106. John Byner in The Black Cauldron
     
107. Eric Roberts in Runaway Train

Next Year: 1960 Supporting

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1985: Crispin Glover in Back to the Future

Crispin Glover did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying George McFly in Back to the Future.

Crispin Glover portray George the father of Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) who we first see in the present time as a spineless man who does his supervisor and former bully Biff's (Thomas F. Wilson) work, as well even letting Biff destroy his family's car. Glover is quite a sight to be seen early on here with his cheap looking business attire, that far too greasy hair cut, and something that can be given entirely to Glover's credit is that horrible posture that carries as the older George. Glover makes these earliest scenes of George some of the funniest in the film through his portrayal of George's lack of confidence.

Glover does not give off even a hint of strength in George's character here as he shows George taking the same abuse from Biff he always has been. Glover is very good here becuase although George is being entirely exploited by Biff his entire, he still portrays George reaction to it as basically a discomfort that he still tries to be pleasant about. He does not suggest in any way at this point that George could possibly do anything about Biff's constant harassment of him. Glover very importantly really does show really the end of the wrong path for George, as a man who never once stood up for himself ever, which factors in well later on into the film.

Now of course this film is never a downer despite George's predicament at the beginning of the film, and Glover adds a great deal of humor well into his performance. His laugh as the older George is just downright hilarious in just how ludicrous it is, yet Glover makes the laugh entirely into the character of George here, and although odd it does come off as natural to him. It is also important to mention that Glover is effective at being the father here, honestly portraying a certain warmth, as well as amusingly showing George is weak willed attempts at fatherly advice. I particularly like Glover's strained emphasis as George just attempts to apologize to his son for not standing up to Biff.

After Marty goes back in time and by chance meets his father in the past, and Glover brings about the younger George well loosening up on the posture, and shows not nearly as excessively pathetic of George. This is not to say he is not pathetic but rather he is on his way to becoming the George at the beginning. Although technically speaking it is more of being George being himself, Glover finds more way to make the character enjoyable in his lacking qualities. Again although pathetic Glover wears such a bright smile while still being bullied that he makes it all rather entertaining.

Glover gives just a brilliant comedic performance in every scene he is in realizing the nerdy George. Glover is a master of physical comedy here expression so well in every one of scenes the meekness of George, he only adds to it with his always reluctant voice and expression. He really truly makes a meek man here, although he makes him an absolutely hilarious man of such meekness. One moment I particularly love that is comedic gold but also with just the right amount of sadness is when Marty tries to introduce George to his future wife Lorraine (Lea Thompson), but she completely ignores him. Glover is absolutely perfect in how awkwardly he  attempts to greet her, than after his failure he so quietly slinks away.

What is so special about this performance though is although consistently funny Glover always puts it entirely within his character. There is nothing forced about the humor, it all works in wonderfully with George, and amplifies his qualities marvelously. He just like Fox did in his performance finds just the right tone bringing in the right amount of comedy in the role well not losing the dramatic weight required for the role. He finds just the right harmony between the two that this performance really works, and even becomes rather moving at times because of this.

Some of the best moments of his performance are when Marty tries to push George to stand up for himself, and actually asks Lorraine out. Glover is amazing when he tries to ask her out in the diner as he prepares so awkwardly, but again hilariously finding courage through a milk...chocolate. Although he still does not have much strength in him, Glover does indicate well that there is at least a hint of it as he shakily tries to ask her out. His smile when he says his name and finally pronounces destiny instead of density it just terrific, and actually honestly quite heartwarming for the moment as actually the two indicate to each other the connection the two would eventually have.

The pivotal moment of his character comes when he is finally is forced to stand up to Biff, and that little of bit of strength is capitalized on. Glover shows that what really does force George to finally break his shell is the seriousness of the situation and his slow turn from fear to determination is handled with a fierce power. Absolutely important though is Glover's reaction after finally punching Biff out. It is a moving combination of pride, with astonishment of what he has been capable of, and moving toward sympathy and love when asking if Lorraine is okay. He does not lose his manner completely here, as he should not, but Glover flawlessly brings out the best of George here showing that he will never go back to his meekness of before.

Glover again is appropriate in his final scene. This is actually the least notable of all of his scenes as the flawed George is clearly more interesting of a character, but nevertheless Glover handles it well. In the new present he portrays George with a proper posture, life, and confidence in himself. From his absolutely great moments from the end of the past part of the film, Glover manged to make it entirely believable that George would become this man in the end. This is just a great performance in every regard, being both a laugh out loud depiction of nerdy incompetence and lack of confidence, but as well a genuinely moving portrayal of a man overcoming his fears and weaknesses for the better. 

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1985

And the Nominees Were Not:

Crispin Glover in Back to the Future

Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future

M. Emmet Walsh in Blood Simple 

Wilford Brimley in Cocoon

Danny Glover in The Color Purple