Eli Wallach did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Dancer in the Lineup.
Well Eli Wallach plays one of the two hitmen, the main killer along with Robert Keith as the more passively sadistic Julian. These two are a fascinating pair, though unfortunately it takes them 20 minutes to fully show up, regardless once they do the film starts to come to life. Wallach is always a dynamic performer, and this is yet another performance from him as this heavy. A classic heavy in many ways, as the big jawed man in a dark suit, who kills first, and just continues to kill. However Wallach finds whatever he can seemingly to be a bit more dynamic in the part. Take even his opening scene where he is talking more routinely with Julian and Wallach delivers his words as though he's a mailman who is trying to ensure the address is correct. And we see this in Wallach's performance of Dancer when he's in the state of prep before the job, and there is a kind of casually preparing things. He and Keith have a weird though effective kind of chemistry in their banter, not as friends, but as a pair of traveling salesmen who have been together for a very long time.
The two of them are fascinating as a pair with Julian setting up the targets for Dancer to destroy. And Wallach very much approaches this role as a heavy to give it as much depth as possible, even more so than I think perhaps the filmmakers intended. Wallach doesn't really approach any scene as just a standard, even as Wallach is menacing, which he most definitely is, but there is a depth to Wallach's work as there is always more going on within his mind than what he says. Wallach's fascinating because he does very much articulate the violence of the psychopath, almost with a baited breath within his eyes that murderous intention barely hides itself, but there is always more humanity to it. No simplification whatsoever with Wallach's performance, as he does always suggest a hint more, when talking even pure exposition, Wallach accentuates certain lines like "I don't write anything down" as though there is both the sense of the professionalism but a hint of vulnerability to the nature of the man.
Wallach crafts a duplicity between the character of Dancer who he portrays as a man who both is the real deal, but also kind of believes he's not on some fundamental level. Wallach's performance always has this subtle sense of vulnerability in his eyes as though he's waiting for something to fall apart for him, but his innate intensity seems to be carried almost to erase any of that vulnerability. And in turn Wallach is far more dynamic in how he approaches every killing scene because there is an unpredictability about the man that avoids the potential simplifications of the role. However there's yet another shade that Wallach gets to play where he gets to present the facade of a normal man, when he approaches a woman who unknowingly carries drugs he's after. Wallach is great in the scene because he's genuinely charming as he low key woos the woman to allow him to help her carry packages, and even has some notion of romance. Wallach's performance manages to fake the humanity of the character beautifully in the scene, but again he brings a bit more complexity yet again. There are moments of hesitation in Wallach's performance as the woman and her child are in danger from Dancer. Now this isn't really followed up within the script, but Wallach's ability to complicate the note of the killer makes the role far more interesting. One of the best scenes of Wallach complicating things comes as he meets with their secret boss, whom they failed since he couldn't get all the drugs, Wallach is excellent in showing the man trying so hard to try to explain naturally why they lost the drugs. Wallach again brings a terrific combination between sincerely trying to brush it off, but just underneath a real desperation knowing the situation could lead to his death. When the boss indicates he'll be killed for his failures, Wallach's full reveal to the man's insanity and a kind of mania is powerful. And Wallach shows the full psychopath, letting loose what he's been indicating the whole time, and creating a great crazed psychotic. Now all of this adds up to a relatively rote crime plotline, but what makes it a bit more dynamic are the two hitmen, and Wallach tries not to waste any of it. It would've been easy to have played a straight evil note the whole time, but Wallach seeks to create a greater sense of who this particular killer is and what he's going through at every turn. Now the film sort of lets him down, because in the end the film is just about getting the crooks rather than fully exploring them. Regardless even within the confines of the role, Wallach gives a captivating turn that brilliantly elevates his material.
