Alternate Best Actor 1974: Results

\

5. Charles Bronson in Death Wish- Although the role probably could have been far more complex, Bronson still is consistently effective in his portrayal of one man's revenge even if it is in a relatively simple fashion.

Best Scene: Paul's final "duel" with the criminals. 

4. Peter Falk in A Woman Under the Influence- Falk is good in his role always giving effective reactions throughout the film, that appropriately supports Gene Rowlands's great performance.

Best Scene: Nick fails as a father. 

3. Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein- Wilder is always very funny in his role, but really makes it work is his conviction in his portrayal of the insanity of his character.

Best Scene: Frankenstein tries to make his monster live.

2. Walter Matthau in The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three- Matthau is terrific here easily bringing a great deal of humor to his role without ever compromising any of his more dramatic moments.

Best Scene: The final shot of the film. 

1. Gene Hackman in The Conversation- Hackman stands easily as my choice in his incredible performance in this film. He is simply outstanding in his complex portrayal of this man's paranoia and guilt. There is not a single moment wasted in Hackman's unique and always fascinating characterization.

Best Scene: Harry snoops in on the hotel room next to his. 

Overall Rank:

1. Gene Hackman in The Conversation
2. Warren Oates in Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
3. Art Carney in Harry and Tonto
4. Jack Nicholson in Chinatown
5. Al Pacino in The Godfather Part II
6. Martin Sheen in Badlands
7. John Hurt in Little Malcolm
8. Alan Bates in Butley
9. Walter Matthau in The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three
10. Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein
11. Jeff Bridges in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot 
12. Robert Mitchum in The Yakuza
13. James Caan in The Gambler
14. Clint Eastwood in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
15. Peter Falk in A Woman Under The Influence
16. Dustin Hoffman in Lenny 
17. Burt Reynolds in The Longest Yard
18. Charles Bronson in Death Wish
19. Bruno S. in The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
20. Keith Carradine in Thieves Like Us
21. Elliott Gould in California Split
22. Giancarlo Giannini in Swept Away
23. James Earl Jones in Claudine 
24. Walter Matthau in The Front Page
25. Elliott Gould in Busting 
26. Anthony Perkins in Lovin' Molly
27. Warren Beatty in The Parallax View
28. Peter Boyle in Young Frankenstein 
29. Jack Lemmon in The Front Page
30. George Segal in California Split 
31. Beau Bridges in Lovin' Molly
32. Dirk Bogarde in The Night Porter 
33. Paul Newman in The Towering Inferno
34. Steve McQueen in The Towering Inferno 
35. William Atherton in The Sugarland Express
36. Cleavon Little in Blazing Saddles
37. Sam Waterston in The Great Gatsby
38. Pierre Blaise in Lacombe, Lucien
39. Robert Blake in Busting
40. Albert Finney in Murder on The Orient Express
41. Bill Cosby in Uptown Saturday Night
42. Michael Sacks in The Sugarland Express 
43. William Finley in Phantom of the Paradise 
44. Charlton Heston in Earthquake
45. Richard Dreyfus in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
46. Sidney Poitier in Uptown Saturday Night
47. El Hedi ben Salem in Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
48. Robert Redford in The Great Gatsby 
49. James Caan in Freebie and the Bean
50. Roger Moore in The Man With the Golden Gun
51. Dan O'Bannon in Dark Star
52. Alan Arkin in Freebie and the Bean

Next Year: 1992

Alternate Best Actor 1974: Peter Falk in A Woman Under the Influence

Peter Falk did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Nick Longhetti in A Woman Under the Influence.

A Woman Under the Influence is a film about the madness of a mother Mabel (Gena Rowlands) that causes difficulty in her marriage with her construction worker husband Nick. This is a very effective film, but it certainly is hard to say it is all that enjoyable to watch.

This film received some recognition for its direction by John Cassavetes, but what the film was most recognized for was the lead performance by Gena Rowlands as the mad housewife Mabel. I should say that this very deserving recognition that Rowlands received. Her performance is indeed an amazing achievement in that she stays on the very edge for her entire performance yet she never falls off giving an incredibly memorable portrayal of her strange character. It is easy to see how Falk could have been overshadowed by her performance.

Peter Falk's performance here is very reactive actually. Nick appears to be the normal one, and much of his screen time is spent dealing with his wife's erratic behavior. There are a few solo scenes early on in his performance but these moments are fairly standard with Nick just hanging out with his co-workers wishing to get home to spend time with his wife. Of course Falk does portray these well enough making it clear that Nick is concerned about his wife, and does love her, although at the same time shows that at least for the moment is not overly frustrated by the idea of not being able to see her.

Falk is good in his reactive moments though in his scenes with Rowlands as Mabel. The moments are of course tense as Mabel changes moods so easily and can easily  become very excited from the smallest moments. Falk is good in showing Nick's method of dealing with his wife. Falk portrays the role rather naturally in that he is able to show that Nick's understands his wife only to a degree. He good in being quiet when Nick does just try to talk to her in a calm fashion to bring her down from some of her more insane moods, but at the same time Falk is effective in the way he brings about the quick angry moments where he just tries to shut down his wife's behavior quickly.

Falk pretty much stay consistent with his performance and does a fine job bringing to life the situation of the film. He in a way grounds the film by having his more down to earth portrayal reflect off her off the wall one in a strange harmony. The best part of Falk's performance is his realization of Nick's motivations involving dealing with his wife. Falk does make it clear that Nick does love Mabel, as he always does try be as gentle with her as possible at first, and his later pain over having her committed are certainly brought to life by Falk powerfully. Falk shows that really in his anger that does come at times toward Mabel is not hating her, but brought upon by his inability to fully understand the odd behavior of his wife.

Falk's whole performance is not just reacting to his wife though as after sends her away Nick is forced to take care of the children himself, and has his own severe problems in this regard. Falk is very effective in these scenes as Nick's fails to relate to his children. He shows that Nick wants desperately to treat them in a fatherly fashion, but the attempts at warmth and wisdom always are shown to be forced by Falk. Falk is able to convey the fact that Nick is simply out of his element and is trying something he really is not used to. When Nick gives his children beer Falk portrays it not as purposeful child negligence, but rather as just a lack of awareness in Nick to the way of fulfilling his role as a father. 

This is a strong performance by Peter Falk even if his particular role in the film is very distinct. Even though he is the lead, and his solo scenes prove that to be the case, his performance for the most part very much is supporting Rowlands's tremendous performance. I am not really saying anything against Falk that Rowlands is the performance you remember after watching the film, even though that is the case. His performance is not nearly as striking and powerful, but it really did not have to be. Falk should be given his credit though in that he creates a realistic portrait of this man's difficult relationship to his very hard to understand wife, and successfully compliments Gena Rowlands's magnificent performance throughout the film. 

Alternate Best Actor 1974

And the Nominees Were Not:

Peter Falk in A Woman Under The Influence

Charles Bronson in Death Wish

Gene Hackman in The Conversation

Walter Matthau in The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three

Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein

Best Supporting Actor 1960: Results

5. Chill Wills in The Alamo- Wills may be everyone's cousin, and the cast be praying harder for him to win this than actual people who were praying for their lives, but that does not stop his performance from being completely forgettable.

4. Jack Kruschen in The Apartment- Kruschen gives a good humorous performance which is a nice little part of a great film.

3. Sal Mineo in Exodus- Mineo manages to stand out when he can in his role, and shows all the right passion and anger into his role that is unfortunately pushed into the background much of the time. He also has an absolutely terrific scene that shows a little more to his character, unfortunately I feel the film underused Mineo preventing this from being a great performance.

2. Peter Ustinov in Spartacus- Ustinov role is small, but I feel he gives an incredibly enjoyable performance anyways. He always adds a nice humorous charming presence to his film despite his performance being quite small.  

1. Peter Falk in Murder, Inc.- Falk performance is in an almost terrible film. Falk unlike the rest of the film gives an interesting realistic and effective portrait of a violent gangster who quietly gets what he wants most of the time, but uses brief intense violence when he faces too much resistance.

Deserving Performances:
Charles Laughton in Spartacus
Laurence Olivier in Spartacus
Eli Wallach in The Magnificent Seven
Fred MacMurray in The Apartment

Best Supporting Actor 1960: Peter Falk in Murder, Inc.

Peter Falk received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Abe "Kid Twist" Reles in Murder, Inc.

Murder, Inc. is a wildly uneven crime film, which I am not sure if it knew what type of story or film it was going for either way. It is interesting at first, but its ends up being basically nothing at the end.

Peter Falk portrays a hit man Abe Reles in this film who gains more prominence through a slick assassin organization known as Murder, Inc. Murder, Inc. is an odd film, in that early on the film it seems like Falk's Reles is going to be the lead character, and the film is going to be a interesting character study. Falk is very proper in the role. His movement and method of his performance just simply reminded me of the way a Wiseguy acts and should act.

Falk's performance is quietly intense and very effective because of that. He acts very calmly to people in a quietly charismatic way, but can quickly go from being relaxed to the person to becoming very violent, or murdering them. Falk handles Reles' method of killing very well, as he does it very casually although still with the right amount of violent intensity. Falk shows that Reles' violent nature is kept mostly controlled and organized most of the time, but he rather lets it comes out when necessary.

Reles disappears for a long time unfortunately for the film, since Reles is the only interesting character and Falk's performance is the only good performance. Falk returns though in a few scenes where he is interrogated by the police. Falk again is very good, as Reles shows off his ability to manipulate others carefully and quietly. He is especially strong when he tries to manipulate the police to give him what he wants. Later he also shows Reles' restrained fear well when faced with likely demise. This may sound disjointed but that is the nature of the film. Reles is not given enough time, but Falk still gives a strong effective performance.

Best Supporting Actor 1960

And the Nominees Were:

Sal Mineo in Exodus

Chill Wills in The Alamo

Peter Ustinov in Spartacus

Jack Kruschen in The Apartment

Peter Falk in Murder, Inc.

I think I will have to give this one to Chill Wills because I do believe I am his cousin.

Best Supporting Actor 1961: Results

5. George Chakiris in West Side Story- He dances well, and sings okay, but he certainly acts very poorly.

4. Peter Falk in A Pocketful of Miracles- Falk is the only good thing about the movie, and he tries his best to be funny but his performance just is pushed too much in the background to over come the terrible film he is in.

3. George C. Scott in The Hustler- Scott is brilliant as Burt showing his manipulations in a brilliantly, realistically, and as cruelly effective as possible. He never ever false as Burt and that is what makes his performance all the more effective.

2. Jackie Gleason in The Hustler- Gleason gives a great performance through a relatively simple character by the fantastic way he creates something legendary out of simply playing pool.

1. Montgomery Clift in Judgment At Nuremberg- Clift has one scene and makes more than the most of it. He creates a true victim in his characterization of this man who was severely mistreated by the Nazis. His powerful performance creates the strongest scene in the film.

Best Supporting Actor 1961: Peter Falk in Pocketful of Miracles

Peter Falk received his second and final consecutive nomination for portraying Joy Boy in A Pocketful of Miracles. 

I like Frank Capra films but this one might be his worst. It is boring, schmaltzy and not really enjoyable at all.

Peter Falk apparently was the only thing that got Frank Capra through the filming of this movie, and it was the only thing that got me through watching the movie. Peter Falk plays Joy Boy who is the right hand man to Dave the Dude (Glen Ford). Joy Boy is the guy who tries to do what Dave needs him to do, and plainly get the job done. Falk role here is pretty limited acting frustrated at what he has to do and what the other people are doing in the film. Perhaps he was there symbolize the audience's reaction to the film. I must say Falk does what he does in this film well almost acting in another movie, as a man who sees all the schmaltz and sort of makes fun of it.

His rough delivery works very well, and shows how lame the rest of the film is really. I liked his performance and his constant reactions which reflected my reactions to the film. Unfortunately the film was not about him at all and especially in the second half where his reactions are very much in the background. When you do see him his performance remains the bright spots in the film, but unfortunately the boring main characters are given more importance. If Joy Boy was given his own film perhaps that could have been something because I do like Falk here, but Falk here is limited by the film, making it so his performance can't quite be separated from the mess it is in.

Best Supporting Actor 1961

And the Nominees Were:

Montgomery Clift in Judgment At Nuremberg

Peter Falk in Pocketful of Miracles 

George Chakiris in West Side Story

Jackie Gleason in The Hustler

George C. Scott in The Hustler

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