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: Leslie Nielsen in Airplane!

Leslie Nielsen did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Dr. Barry Rumack in Airplane!.

Airplane! is of course the scatter shot comedy in which they throw a gag at you constantly, and unlike the ones they make today most of the gags are funny.

One of the keys to the success of Airplane is in its casting as well as the general nature of the performances. Many of the actors cast were serious actors before this film like Lloyd Bridges, Robert Stack, Peter Graves, and of course Leslie Nielsen. Interestingly enough Bridges and particularly Nielsen became almost exclusively comedic actors after this point, and both of them appeared in several more spoof films. Of course the first of something often is the best, and this is certainly true of Nielsen's comedy career. Now as I said though it is not merely the casting which works, but what also makes the film is the way that these actors perform in this comedy.

Most of the actors give a dead serious performance who stay dead serious even when delivering completely absurd lines or completely absurd scenes. Nielsen does this the very best out of the whole cast, and I suppose it is pretty obvious how he managed to make a whole other career out of it. Now the key is that while it is never comedic, it also isn't dramatic so to speak. Nielsen tailor makes his performance it be extremely funny but not that he ever seems like he is playing for laughs even though he always is. The thing is you probably could not just take this and put it in another disaster serious movie there is an extra element that amplifies the comedy further than if he only played it straight.

What it is is that he does not seem to be taking just seriously, but so seriously that his life is depending on delivery every line with the utmost conviction. Nielsen never strives once from this code keeping that expression of the seasoned doctor who is adamant that the passengers made sick by fish must be gotten help very soon. Nielsen because of his steadfast manner is absolutely hilarious because it doesn't matter what the line is he is going to act like it is the most important thing possible. Because of this he makes every line very funny, as the immortal line "I am serious, and don't call be Shirley" could have just been a bad pun, but Nielsen makes it comedic gold because Nielsen acts like there isn't anything funny about it.

This is technically a one note performance, but that one note is a note of brilliance. Every time Nielsen is on screen he made me smile and elicited laughter. His consistently dead pan style makes every scene shine all the brighter, and despite technically doing the same thing throughout the film Nielsen never seems to become repetitive in the role. He stays endearing and his character is enduring throughout it all even manages to perhaps be even a little inspiring with his go out and win one for the Zipper speech. Its just an incredibly enjoyable performance that is the funniest part of this very funny 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