Best Actor 1983

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Best Actor 1983

Michael Caine - Educating Rita
3
11%
Tom Conti - Reuben, Reuben
0
No votes
Tom Courtenay - The Dresser
5
19%
Robert Duvall - Tender Mercies
10
37%
Albert Finney - The Dresser
9
33%
 
Total votes: 27

The Original BJ
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Re: Best Actor 1983

Post by The Original BJ »

Not exactly a bad lineup, but no one is really at the level of a great Best Actor winner. I'd almost rather give two Best Actress prizes to MacLaine and Winger this year over rewarding anyone here.

Michael Caine is of course an impressive actor, and while I appreciated that he didn't overplay his drunkard role, I can't say that what he left us with in Educating Rita was any special knock-out. I kept waiting for a noteworthy scene, and none really came along -- I think the arc he has to play just isn't complex enough to provide that for him.

Tom Conti, another drunk on the ballot, gives an amusingly bitter performance as the jaded poet in Reuben, Reuben, and his sardonic line readings are a low-key pleasure. But I don't know that he shows a ton of range in the role -- much of the part operates in the same key throughout, and some of the other nominees show more colors.

Robert Duvall -- more drunkenness, by the way -- is definitely the best part of Tender Mercies, and his quiet warmth and gentleness was a nice change of pace for him after his collection of far louder roles in the '70's. And I agree that his amiable sense of humor throughout provided some welcome shades to the character. And yet, like the movie as a whole, it's definitely on the restrained side -- so while I'm certainly not bothered that he won, it's not a performance that makes a ton of impact on me.

Restrained certainly isn't a word that anyone would use to describe either of the leads in The Dresser -- both of whom are imbibing enough to make this an all-drunk lineup -- and it's very clear that you're watching PERFORMANCES here. But I'd say both men are more than just hammy, with Courtenay showing deep wells of affection for his long-time employer beneath his uptight, type-A demeanor, and Finney finding just the right amount of pained desperation for approval underneath his outwardly brio.

I'll say Finney is my slight preference, but it's really a toss-up between him, Courtenay, and Duvall.
ITALIANO
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Re: Best Actor 1983

Post by ITALIANO »

These aren't exactly bad - but SO boring. It's difficult to pick one actually, because they are more or less on the same level - efficient but not exciting performances.

It's good that Robert Duvall, a reliable and sometimes very good American actor has an Oscar. And I can even appreciate his low-key approach to this role. But Tender Mercies, while certainly better than Crazy Heart, is the kind of movie that Americans, for understandable cultural reasons, find more interesting than I honestly can; plus, when I think of it, the first image that instinctively comes to my mind isn't one from the movie itself, but it's Dolly Parton clapping and shouting - which is never a good sign. No, I can't vote for Duvall.

Caine and Conti are both good, but probably, as far as acting goes, one has unfortunately to choose between the two stars of The Dresser. I say "unfortunately" because this is the kind of not-too-imaginatively filmed play that I'd never even consider in a "normal" year. But when it comes to acting, it's true that the Brits can do these things rather well, and The Dresser is well, if too showily, acted. Plus, we have a good chance (not the last one, I know) to vote for the great Albert Finney - not at his best maybe and definitely not in his best movie, but enjoyable enough and with the charisma that his character required. So my Best Actor trophy goes to him.
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Re: Best Actor 1983

Post by dws1982 »

Tender Mercies is a very good movie. Other than Reuben, Reuben which I haven't seen, I'd much rather sit through it than anything else in this lineup. It's definitely better than Crazy Heart too, although I thought Crazy Heart had its moments too (mainly those not involving the relationship with Maggie Gyllenhaal). Duvall easily gets my vote out of this lineup.

Of the two guys in The Dresser, I prefer Finney (although overall, as an actor, I probably prefer Courtenay), and Caine is fine but not anything special in Educating Rita.

My favorite movies of 1983:
1. Eureka (Nicolas Roeg)
2. The Right Stuff (Philip Kaufman)
3. Nostalghia (Andrei Tarkovsky)
4. Danton (Andrzej Wajda)
5. Ballad of Narayama (Shohei Imamura)
6. Sans Soleil (Chris Marker)
7. Zelig (Woody Allen)
8. L’Argent (Robert Bresson)
9. Videodrome (David Cronenberg)
10. Tender Mercies (Bruce Beresford)
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Re: Best Actor 1983

Post by Big Magilla »

Sabin wrote:
Mister Tee wrote:
Sabin wrote:
Of those nominated, I have only seen Michael Caine in Educating Rita and that was about ten years ago. I have never been any kind of eager to catch up on the nominees from this year or next.
Look on the bright side: the number of movies you need to see is one fewer than usual in each year.
The operative word here is "need".

I suppose I'll watch The Dresser at some point. Reuben, Reuben sounds charming enough. Tender Mercies looks like an absolute slog. And I'll doubtlessly have to watch Educating Rita again to form a valid opinion. I'll write this year off as a Who Cares? year at the Academy Awards, especially considering that the films I'm more interested in seeing for the first time are stuff like Local Hero.
Local Hero is a nice little movie, but so is Tender Mercies, which was seen as a breath of fresh air in Hollywood moviemaking in the early 80s, quite possibly because it was made by an Austalian. Beyond Duvall's very good performance, there is a very nice one by Tess Harper and a sit-up-and-take-notice performance by Ellen Barkin who is more impressive here than she was in your beloved Diner. Also, Tee''s objections notwithstanding, The Dresser is one of those rare films in which two actors (Finney and Courtenay) each deliver, resulting in two equally rare but deserved Best Actor nominations. None of them may be great performances in the scheme of things, but they are well worth seeing at least once, and in the case of Tender Mercies, more than once.

One of the reasons I had such a hard time with Crazy Heart was that it followed the same road as Tender Mercies, but was nowhere near as believable or engrossing. The romance between Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal was phony as could be. Not so the lovely interplay between Duvall and Harper. Harper should have become a big star after this but sadly never did, although she did receive an Oscar nod for the vastly inferior Crimes of the Heart.
MovieFan
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Re: Best Actor 1983

Post by MovieFan »

Robert Duvall- Tender Mercies
Sabin
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Re: Best Actor 1983

Post by Sabin »

Mister Tee wrote:
Sabin wrote:
Of those nominated, I have only seen Michael Caine in Educating Rita and that was about ten years ago. I have never been any kind of eager to catch up on the nominees from this year or next.
Look on the bright side: the number of movies you need to see is one fewer than usual in each year.
The operative word here is "need".

I suppose I'll watch The Dresser at some point. Reuben, Reuben sounds charming enough. Tender Mercies looks like an absolute slog. And I'll doubtlessly have to watch Educating Rita again to form a valid opinion. I'll write this year off as a Who Cares? year at the Academy Awards, especially considering that the films I'm more interested in seeing for the first time are stuff like Local Hero.
"How's the despair?"
Mister Tee
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Re: Best Actor 1983

Post by Mister Tee »

Sabin wrote:Of those nominated, I have only seen Michael Caine in Educating Rita and that was about ten years ago. I have never been any kind of eager to catch up on the nominees from this year or next.
Look on the bright side: the number of movies you need to see is one fewer than usual in each year.

And I believe that's the last time that was true about the best actor category.
Sabin
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Re: Best Actor 1983

Post by Sabin »

Of those nominated, I have only seen Michael Caine in Educating Rita and that was about ten years ago. I have never been any kind of eager to catch up on the nominees from this year or next.
"How's the despair?"
mlrg
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Re: Best Actor 1983

Post by mlrg »

Robert Duvall - Tender Mercies
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Re: Best Actor 1983

Post by Okri »

Of the also-rans, I miss Christopher Walken in The Dead Zone, Robert de Niro and Jerry Lewis in The King of Comedy and the aforementioned Eric Roberts.

When I saw Tender Mercies for the first time years ago, I was surprised at how much I liked it. It's a very low-key work, but I quite enjoy that about it. I've never really been on board the "Robert Duvall is a GREAT actor" train, but he's very appealing in this film.

Conti is fine, but nothing special. Caine is fine, but nothing special.

It comes down to Finney and Courtenay, and I think Courtenay's role is more complex. He gets my vote in the end.
Reza
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Re: Best Actor 1983

Post by Reza »

Ok, I've seen Conti's performance and he is very good in the film. I like all the 5 actors nominated this year. It is also the year I watched the awards live for the first time, in the U.S., no less.

My picks for 1983:

Robert Duvall, Tender Mercies
Michael Caine, Educating Rita
Tom Courtenay, The Dresser
Tom Conti, Reuben, Reuben
Albert Finney, The Dresser

The 6th Spot: Eric Roberts, Star 80
Mister Tee
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Re: Best Actor 1983

Post by Mister Tee »

Eric Roberts' Star 80 performance, which has been mentioned twice, is one about which I'm very ambivalent. It's got its impressive moments, but, as one critic said at the time, it was like watching an alto sing soprano -- I was aware of the strain throughout the whole effort. If I was asked to supply a substitute, I'd be more inclined to cite Nick Nolte for a more graceful piece of work in the underrated Under Fire.

As I'm sure I said under the best actress thread, Educating Rita is the sort of theatre piece that I dislike probably out of proportion to its actual offenses. I just can't stand tidy little efforts like this, with their reassuring, obvious life lessons ("you probably shouldn't drink so much, man"), and their spelled-out speeches. Caine and Walters work hard to give it some actual life, but all I see is the artifice.

I saw The Dresser onstage and on film, and never found it particularly illuminating material. The edge the film has is the backstage atmosphere Yates is able to provide, which camouflages the thin-ness of the text (I'd say Shanley's film of his own Doubt improved his source in the same way). I like the two main actors in The Dresser well enough, though I don't think Courtenay's climactic screed rises above the level of whine (it didn't work for me on stage, either). If I had to pick from the pair, I'd go with Albert Finney. But I'm choosing neither.

Tom Conti had brought wonderful life to the stage version of Whose Life Is It, Anyway?, and his wry line readings are perfect for this Peter DeVries adaptation. Magilla, you should seek out Reuben, Reuben -- it's a minor but quite witty shaggy dog story, with a charming Conti and a Kelly McGillis who'd not yet revealed her limitations. I'm sorry Conti's career amounted to nothing after this, but the one performance is worth noting.

The subject matter of Tender Mercies -- like most Horton Foote work -- is not up my alley at all, steeped as it is in fundamentalism and plain-folks. But something about the movie worked for me. It may have been partly that the film opened during a particularly moribund first half of the year, so it was the only decent film around for months (an early example of BJ's bird-in-hand theorem). But I also found that, once it got past the first half hour, the film found a saving sense of humor that made it feel less abstemious and judgmental than much of Foote's work. Above all, there was the Robert Duvall performance, which was dry to start but found more and more quiet wit as it went along. Mac Sledge was a character far from from my experience or sympathy -- he'd probably be a Tea-Partier today -- but Duvall made him dimensional and likable. He got my vote easily then, and still does today.
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Re: Best Actor 1983

Post by Big Magilla »

I've never seen Reuben, Reuben either. It's the only film nominated for an acting Oscar aside from early nominees The Noose, The Patriot, The Barker, The Rogue Song and The Trespasser that I haven't seen. but I have seen Tom Conti in a 1983 film - the excellent Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence in which he gives an award-worthy performance so he stays on my list of the year's top five actors for that film.

I very much liked Robert Duvall in Tender Mercies, even though I loathed the virtual remake, Crazy Heart, but I already voted for Duvall here so I'll bypass him this time.

Michael Caine was fine in Educating Rita but I found the film rather obvious and not really worthy of awards recogniton.

That leaves the two stars of The Dresser. Albert Finney will be my choice in the next poll, so I voted here for the always dependable Tom Courtenay.

No one else this year is really award worthy. Eric Roberts in Star 80 and Gerard Depardieu in The Return of Martin Guerre come close, but no cigar.
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Best Actor 1983

Post by ksrymy »

Let me clear this up. I absolutely hated Tender Mercies. I don't think Robert Duvall's performance was award-worthy at all (and neither was Jeff Bridges' in Crazy Heart which was a terrible rehash of this film). I believe this is Duvall's weakest of all his nominations.

I haven't seen Reuben, Reuben.

As much as I love Michael Caine, I can't vote for him here because...

The men in The Dresser were by-far the best here; however, I'm giving it to Tom Courtenay who played the more-conflicted, more-complex character.

I'd replace Duvall or Conti with Eric Roberts in Star 80 who I think gives the best male leading performance of 1983.
"Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known." - F. Scott Fitzgerald
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