Friday, January 1, 2010

Smackdown


The year is 1974 and the category is Best Supporting Actress.
And the ranking is:
1.Valentina Cortese in Day For Night: Oh, I love this so much, Day for Night is probably the best movie about moviemaking. But this is not the reason why I picked Cortese as my favorite. She gives one hell of a performance as Severine, a terrific actress going through a very tough period. Cortese nails both the dramatic and the comic sides of this character. She's hilarious, but at the end of her big scene, you feel sorry for that unlucky woman. She's perfect and very underrated in my opinion and she does not get enogh love for her performance.

2.Dianne Ladd in Alice doesn't Live here Anymore: This was a very strong and memorable turn by a good actress. She plays Flo a sharp-tongued waitress who is very hostile with Alice at first, but soon they become good friends. This is definitely not one of the best supporting performances ever, but Ladd's scene-stealing acting is able to make you like this character.

3.Ingrid Bergman in Murder on the Orient Express: I am astonished when I read so many hate-comments on her performance. No, she did not deserve to win, but she was not bad. I mean, she had some very strong moments and some very funny ones. I might be biased because she's my favorite actress ever, but this is in my opinion a very entertaining performance.

4.Madeline Kahn in Blazzing Saddles: And I am just as astonished when I am reading that Kahn's performance in Blazing Saddles is one of best performances ever given. I really like Kahn as an actress, but this performance was not that great (at least for me). Yes, her musical number and her accent are very funny but apart from that she does not give anything special.

5.Talia Shire in The Godfather Part II: Oh, she did not do anything for this nomination. I think she managed to get this nomination because of the sweep of the movie. I really dislike the Coppola family, because they are all so big-faced about The Godfather trilogy. And Shire does nothing in this movie except arguing with Al Pacino.

So what's your opinion?

1 comment:

joe burns said...

I liked Ladd, but I haven't seen Murder On The Orient Express in many years and I've seen The Godfather Part 2 in only bits and pieces. I haven't seen the others yet.