Best Supporting Actor 1972: Results

5. Eddie Albert in The Heartbreak Kid- Albert gives an enjoyable mostly reactive deadpan performance. He was not given that much to do, but I thoroughly enjoyed everything he did do. 

4. Robert Duvall in The Godfather- Duvall is perfectly fine in the somewhat limited role of Tom Hagan. He is always exactly as Hagan should be, and does show more to him when he has the chance.

3. James Caan in The Godfather- Caan gives the best supporting performance in the Godfather, with his absolutely brilliant portrayal of Sonny handling every various aspect of Sonny from his particular charisma to his hair trigger trigger temper brilliantly.

2. Joel Grey in Cabaret- Grey's performance is a brilliant energetic performance, that creates an incredibly memorable character and makes for a very entertaining and interesting performance.

1. Al Pacino in The Godfather- A leading performance to be sure although a great performance either way. Pacino effectively shows the transformation of a man.

Best Supporting Actor 1972: Eddie Albert in The Heartbreak Kid

Eddie Albert received his second Oscar nomination for portraying Mr. Corcoran in The Heartbreak Kid.

The Heartbreak Kid is a rather strange dark comedy, with a rather strange just feel to it. It tells the story of a newlywed young man Charles Grodin who becomes bored with his new wife very quickly, and instantly goes after another woman Cybil Shepard he chances upon.

Albert portrays Mr. Corocoran the father of Cybil Shepard's character who instantly dislikes Charles Grodin. I will say I enjoyed Albert's mostly deadpan performance as he gives Grodin a constant look like he is going to murder him. Albert performance mostly are just his reactions to Grodin which I did thoroughly enjoy, due to his quiet intensity.

He later has one big scene at the end where he tries to buy off Grodin to leave his daughter alone. Again Albert played the scene with the right amount of anger, but still managed to keep his anger in enjoyable sort of fashion. Albert's performance is not particularly complex, but his just right reactions to his performance work out quite well. I always like his presence in the film, and his is a very good supporting performance.

Best Supporting Actor 1972

And the Nominees Were:

Al Pacino in The Godfather

James Caan in The Godfather

Joel Grey in Cabaret

Robert Duvall in The Godfather

Eddie Albert in The Heartbreak Kid

Best Supporting Actor 1953: Results

5. Brandon De Wilde in Shane- Brandon De Wilde is a dull presence in the film, and every single line and reactions only take away from the film. He is suppose to be the heart in the film but fails miserably to ever be authentic.

4. Frank Sinatra in From Here To Eternity- Sinatra isn't overly endearing as Maggio but he does find an earnest chemistry with Clift. 

3. Eddie Albert in Roman Holiday- Albert technically does nothing wrong in his role, and does not take away from the film, but he basically is always just in the background taking pictures that is all.

2. Robert Strauss in Stalag 17- He is funny enough as the two man Pow comedy team, and he does not let his jokes actually interfere with more serious sections of the film.

1.  Jack Palance in Shane- The role he plays it not much but Palance puts the right amount of menace in his role as the villainous gunman. He is never required to all that much but everything he does do is as well handled as possible.

Deserving Performances:
Otto Preminger in Stalag 17
Ernest Borgnine in From Here to Eternity
John Gielgud in Julius Caesar
Jay Robinson in The Robe

Best Supporting Actor 1953: Eddie Albert in Roman Holiday

Eddie Albert received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Irving Radovich in Roman Holiday.

Roman Holiday is a film that I actually enjoy quite a bit. There is nothing that special about it but I liked it as a good romantic comedy.

Eddie Albert is Irving Radovich who is a photographer friend of Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck). Joe has Irving take secret pictures of runaway Princess Ann calling herself Anya Smith (Audrey Hepburn) as they all go around Rome and do various things. Albert mostly just takes pictures. He goes around in the background taking pictures secretly and takes them in many different way and angles. Well he does a few other things such as being tripped by Joe when he almost spills the truth about the Princess but that is about it. I do not exactly have a huge problem with his performance since he actually does not do anything wrong, but than again the character does not ask him to really much of anything single in the entire film. All he did was either getting beaten up by someone or taking a picture of something. Really his performance is not the problem it is the fact that the Academy nominated someone for basically taking pictures and nothing else. I really hate to give him this rating since it is not like I hate what he does, I honestly would have rather just disqualified him for not having enough of a character to be nominated.

 

Looking at my old thoughts this really is an example of my once misguided approach where I would penalize a performance for the nomination rather than looking at the performance first. As while Albert shouldn't have been nominated for this this performance, he delivers exactly what is needed from him. In that he has a little bit of comedic energy, he's not there to steal the spotlight from Hepburn or Peck, just to add a little bit of an alternative presence in a few moments. His portrayal of Irving's reaction to see Joe's choice later in the film has enough nuance in there to show Irving's own consideration does provide some depth as a true friend to really both. Then looking over the photos with Joe, he conveys that shared joy between all of them in their little adventure. He has a quiet bit of charm here about what he does here, and while I will still say that this isn't a performance that needed to be nominated, it is a good performance albeit within a fairly limited role. 

Best Supporting Actor 1953

And the Nominees Were:

Jack Palance in Shane

Brandon De Wilde in Shane

Frank Sinatra in From Here to Eternity

Eddie Albert in Roman Holiday

Robert Strauss in Stalag 17

Who do you pick? What do you predict my ranking will be?