We're in the heat of Oscar season, and as someone who has been writing about the Oscars for seven years straight on this blog, I have written a lot of things about the Academy Awards. I don't have access to insider information about the Oscars (even in an era of everything being on social media almost instantly, there's still something to be said for interviewing theoretical nominees or attending press events), so it's occasionally a slight challenge to come up with unique things to say about the Oscars, especially since we spend so much time in the past here and have done so many trivia articles through the years (plug time: if you're newer to this blog, peruse the tags on the side, especially "Lists" and "Official OVP Ballot" if you want to look at hundreds of different dissections of past Oscar races).
So color me surprised when I realized I've never done a list of the biggest Oscar snubs of all-time. It's hard to corner down the biggest snubs ever in Oscars history, so we're going to focus today on the acting races, and a Top 15 list of performances. This is obviously subjective, but below are the 15 best performances ever that I think most definitely should have been nominated for the Oscar, and in most cases, should've won the statue.
A couple of notes before you dive in. First, you'll notice I don't repeat any movies, and that's on purpose. A few of these films didn't get any Oscar love in any category, and so it'd be easy to put the entire ensemble on this list, but that'd be boring (I tried, and failed, to not duplicate actors as one person gave two performances I refused to ignore). So Kim Novak or Charles Bronson, I see you and I'm sorry-know you'll also be nominated when the time comes. Second, there are more men than women on this list, but that has less to do with qualitative dissections of film, and more to do with me agreeing more often with the Oscars on female performances than male. And lastly, these are old movies. While I could just as easily have come up with a list of 15 performances from the past decade Oscar should have noticed (and might well do that if I do any "Best of Decade" lists next year), only a couple of films on this list I think have had enough time to breathe for me to realize that they're "indisputable snubs." With that said, dive in and fight me in the comments!
So color me surprised when I realized I've never done a list of the biggest Oscar snubs of all-time. It's hard to corner down the biggest snubs ever in Oscars history, so we're going to focus today on the acting races, and a Top 15 list of performances. This is obviously subjective, but below are the 15 best performances ever that I think most definitely should have been nominated for the Oscar, and in most cases, should've won the statue.
A couple of notes before you dive in. First, you'll notice I don't repeat any movies, and that's on purpose. A few of these films didn't get any Oscar love in any category, and so it'd be easy to put the entire ensemble on this list, but that'd be boring (I tried, and failed, to not duplicate actors as one person gave two performances I refused to ignore). So Kim Novak or Charles Bronson, I see you and I'm sorry-know you'll also be nominated when the time comes. Second, there are more men than women on this list, but that has less to do with qualitative dissections of film, and more to do with me agreeing more often with the Oscars on female performances than male. And lastly, these are old movies. While I could just as easily have come up with a list of 15 performances from the past decade Oscar should have noticed (and might well do that if I do any "Best of Decade" lists next year), only a couple of films on this list I think have had enough time to breathe for me to realize that they're "indisputable snubs." With that said, dive in and fight me in the comments!
A harrowing look at a man the world wants to just be simple, but instead is a malevolent, cruel creation, only someone who could portray "sweet as pie" like Andy Griffith could shock us all as Lonesome Rhodes (the obvious correlations to Trump 50 years before he'd become president are indisputable & petrifying).
14. Rita Hayworth (The Lady from Shanghai)
I wrote once that Rita Hayworth is the greatest actor of all-time to never be nominated for an Oscar, so you knew she'd show up here. Her Rosalie is an enigma, the kind of woman that drives men mad...and while they're entranced she gets exactly what she wants.
I wrote once that Rita Hayworth is the greatest actor of all-time to never be nominated for an Oscar, so you knew she'd show up here. Her Rosalie is an enigma, the kind of woman that drives men mad...and while they're entranced she gets exactly what she wants.
13. Michael Stuhlbarg (Call Me by Your Name)
Yes, he should have gotten in for the speech alone. But the speech wouldn't work without his subtle groundwork beforehand, watching his son endure love-and-loss in the same summer. Stuhlbarg has been a reliable character actor for a decade now, but has never been so tender as CMBYN.
Yes, he should have gotten in for the speech alone. But the speech wouldn't work without his subtle groundwork beforehand, watching his son endure love-and-loss in the same summer. Stuhlbarg has been a reliable character actor for a decade now, but has never been so tender as CMBYN.
12. Orson Welles (The Third Man)
Harry Lime is everything we came to expect from Orson Welles. Possibly the greatest actor of his generation (give or take Brando & Ingrid Bergman), Welles brings a devilish charm to Harry in The Third Man, almost making you forget that he's been gone for half of the picture, and once you realize what he's been up to, you understand why "devilish" is the right term for Welles' work.
Harry Lime is everything we came to expect from Orson Welles. Possibly the greatest actor of his generation (give or take Brando & Ingrid Bergman), Welles brings a devilish charm to Harry in The Third Man, almost making you forget that he's been gone for half of the picture, and once you realize what he's been up to, you understand why "devilish" is the right term for Welles' work.
11. Cary Grant (The Philadelphia Story)
Jimmy Stewart is a fine actor and lovely in The Philadelphia Story. He's also giving the third best performance in the movie. The best work in the film wasn't even nominated, with Cary Grant giving the finest acting of his long career, playing the most "Cary Grant" role ever, and defining the suave, delicious persona that would keep him a star for decades.
Jimmy Stewart is a fine actor and lovely in The Philadelphia Story. He's also giving the third best performance in the movie. The best work in the film wasn't even nominated, with Cary Grant giving the finest acting of his long career, playing the most "Cary Grant" role ever, and defining the suave, delicious persona that would keep him a star for decades.
10. Marcello Mastroianni (8 1/2)
When I sit down with cinephiles, few directors inspire more argument than Fellini. Hell, put me in front of a mirror and bring up Fellini, and I'll argue with myself. But I will stand no assertion that 8 1/2 isn't perfect, and no performance in his filmography is as effective as Mastroianni's, breathing life into his wandering director.
When I sit down with cinephiles, few directors inspire more argument than Fellini. Hell, put me in front of a mirror and bring up Fellini, and I'll argue with myself. But I will stand no assertion that 8 1/2 isn't perfect, and no performance in his filmography is as effective as Mastroianni's, breathing life into his wandering director.
9. Jeanne Moreau (Jules and Jim)
The two title characters can easily be pushed aside, because for anyone who has seen this movie, there is only Catherine. A picture of romance, drama, comedy, and at parts even horror, Jeanne Moreau became one of the indisputable faces of the French New Wave with this gorgeous, chaotic free spirit.
The two title characters can easily be pushed aside, because for anyone who has seen this movie, there is only Catherine. A picture of romance, drama, comedy, and at parts even horror, Jeanne Moreau became one of the indisputable faces of the French New Wave with this gorgeous, chaotic free spirit.
8. Anthony Perkins (Psycho)
Perkins work in Psycho so often features on these kinds of lists, it borders on cliche. But how do you deny such a fully-realized creation, a monster whose evil is easy to identify, but impossible to forgive? Every detail in his performance comes to light with clarity upon repeat viewings, but you are still shocked by Norman's plans thanks to his handsome uneasiness.
Perkins work in Psycho so often features on these kinds of lists, it borders on cliche. But how do you deny such a fully-realized creation, a monster whose evil is easy to identify, but impossible to forgive? Every detail in his performance comes to light with clarity upon repeat viewings, but you are still shocked by Norman's plans thanks to his handsome uneasiness.
7. John Wayne (The Searchers)
Anyone who says John Wayne can't act needs to watch The Searchers. John Ford's magnum opus also puts the Duke in his most challenging and effective role, Ethan Edwards. Wayne finds the heart in a cruel, inhuman (but all-too-real) man, wandering through the desert until he no longer understands what he's looking for...perhaps his own soul?
Anyone who says John Wayne can't act needs to watch The Searchers. John Ford's magnum opus also puts the Duke in his most challenging and effective role, Ethan Edwards. Wayne finds the heart in a cruel, inhuman (but all-too-real) man, wandering through the desert until he no longer understands what he's looking for...perhaps his own soul?
6. Katharine Hepburn (Bringing Up Baby)
Kate Hepburn was hardly at a loss for Oscar nominations-she was cited 12 times, and won 4. That said, it still feels weird that the best thing Hepburn ever did in her career, her kooky Susan in Bringing Up Baby, somehow didn't get her nominated. In the same year as her classic Holiday, was the Academy just not ready to admit they had a crush on the actress yet?
Kate Hepburn was hardly at a loss for Oscar nominations-she was cited 12 times, and won 4. That said, it still feels weird that the best thing Hepburn ever did in her career, her kooky Susan in Bringing Up Baby, somehow didn't get her nominated. In the same year as her classic Holiday, was the Academy just not ready to admit they had a crush on the actress yet?
5. James Stewart (Vertigo)
If Cary Grant's going to take Best Actor in 1940, one could make a sincere argument that Jimmy Stewart should have won later for his Scotty Ferguson. Vertigo was a financial disappointment, which is still no excuse for skipping the best work of this actor's career, as a man driven insane by lust, then heartbreak, and then just madness.
If Cary Grant's going to take Best Actor in 1940, one could make a sincere argument that Jimmy Stewart should have won later for his Scotty Ferguson. Vertigo was a financial disappointment, which is still no excuse for skipping the best work of this actor's career, as a man driven insane by lust, then heartbreak, and then just madness.
4. Brad Pitt (The Tree of Life)
Terrence Malick is always the star in a Terrence Malick picture-that's what the world-famous actors who sign up for his films are aware of when they take the job. That said, Brad Pitt still manages to give one of the best auteur vessel performances I've ever seen as Mr. O'Brien, a man who would haunt his son's adulthood for decades in ways he couldn't understand.
Terrence Malick is always the star in a Terrence Malick picture-that's what the world-famous actors who sign up for his films are aware of when they take the job. That said, Brad Pitt still manages to give one of the best auteur vessel performances I've ever seen as Mr. O'Brien, a man who would haunt his son's adulthood for decades in ways he couldn't understand.
3. Orson Welles (Touch of Evil)
Giving Stewart a run for his money is the other grand teton of 1958's Best Actor category, Orson Welles (I swear that's not a fat joke). By this time Hollywood had no use for the former Boy Wonder, but that didn't stop him from making a movie like Touch of Evil, essentially the Unforgiven of film noir-his racist, corrupt detective pulled the mask off of what was lurking behind the Golden Age's treatment of the genre.
Giving Stewart a run for his money is the other grand teton of 1958's Best Actor category, Orson Welles (I swear that's not a fat joke). By this time Hollywood had no use for the former Boy Wonder, but that didn't stop him from making a movie like Touch of Evil, essentially the Unforgiven of film noir-his racist, corrupt detective pulled the mask off of what was lurking behind the Golden Age's treatment of the genre.
2. Henry Fonda (Once Upon a Time in the West)
Imagine casting Henry Fonda as a villain. Nwo imagine him as a vicious man in black, with those piercing blue eyes staring down on a horrified Claudia Cardinale, and a ticking clock western where it's so well-structured you genuinely don't know who is getting out alive. In a career where Oscar rarely called, this is Fonda's best work and more than earned him a trophy.
Imagine casting Henry Fonda as a villain. Nwo imagine him as a vicious man in black, with those piercing blue eyes staring down on a horrified Claudia Cardinale, and a ticking clock western where it's so well-structured you genuinely don't know who is getting out alive. In a career where Oscar rarely called, this is Fonda's best work and more than earned him a trophy.
1. John Huston (Chinatown)
Huston's performance in Chinatown may be the best Supporting Actor performance, period. His Noah Cross is a villain for the ages, able to conceal under his peculiar vocal cadence unmitigated evil, and justification for that evil as the movie unfolds. Look at him, his head always turning, even as the credits role-Huston dazzles in Chinatown as if acting was what he was born for.
Huston's performance in Chinatown may be the best Supporting Actor performance, period. His Noah Cross is a villain for the ages, able to conceal under his peculiar vocal cadence unmitigated evil, and justification for that evil as the movie unfolds. Look at him, his head always turning, even as the credits role-Huston dazzles in Chinatown as if acting was what he was born for.
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