Best Supporting Actor 1986

[FilmFan720]

Playing catch-up here, on one of the strongest line-ups in this category's history.

Dennis Hopper should have won hands down...but instead he comes in 5th for me.

The Platoon guys are both excellent, although I think Dafoe is the stronger of the two. It may be that in hindsight not only is Dafoe the better actor, but he seems to be stretching the most too. After years of seeing him as a quintessential bad guy, it is such a nice change of pace to see him in the holier of the roles here (much like Chrsitopher Walken in Catch Me If You Can), while Tom Berenger doesn't have much else to do different from the scores of B-films that followed (albeit in a much better film, with superior writing and directing).

Denholm Elliot is one of my favorite actors, and it is nice that he got this nomination, but the role seems a tad lightweight.

Much like 1988, I am confused (and surprised here, where I expect it in 1988) by the vitriol given to the winner. I truly believe that Hannah and Her Sisters might be this actor's greatest achievement, able to play into the neuroses of a Woody-type while keeping somewhat put together in a way that so many others haven't been able to do. I find him so consistently heartbreaking, and his work with Barbara Hershey is just devistating. In one of the great films of the 1980s, he is my choice here hands down)

[Reza]

It's funny to hear Dennis Hopper's performance in Hoosiers described as one we've seen him give over and over, because I think in 1986, the idea that Hopper could give as normal and baseline-moving as that seemed absurd. I thought, based largely on Easy Rider and Apocalypse Now, that he was a godawful actor, so Hoosiers by itself was something of a breakthrough for him. Of course, in overall context, nominating him for that film was an act of major cowardice, given the far greater (and far greater deserved) praise he'd received for Lynch's landmark.

Hopper had done nothing in his acting career before these two films that made any kind of mark. He nailed both roles and showed he could be versatile (not unlike Day-Lewis, with his two films this year). Maybe I'm reading too much into his Hoosiers performance but I was living in Indiana when the film came out (so it was like a ''home'' movie for us) and was impressed by him in the film at the time - didn't see Blue Velvet until January 1987. Though it was a pity the Academy took the safe road and failed to acknowledge his psychotic turn in Blue Velvet instead.

[The Original BJ]

The best supporting actor of the year was Dennis Hopper. Of course, it was his frightening, wickedly funny Blue Velvet performance that deserved the accolades, and if I were an Academy member, I wonder if I might have honored the actor I thought should have won the prize, even if his nomination came for the wrong film. But in this game, I'm going to play by the rules, and vote based on the actual performance recognized...and there's just no way I can choose him in Hoosiers. I think that film is a decent enough sports movie, but Hopper's strained, overly-sentimental drunkard was one of the weakest parts of it. It's embarrassing his nomination came for this.

I'm glad to see I'm not entirely alone in thinking that Denholm Elliott was the best supporting actor in A Room With a View. Which isn't to dismiss Daniel Day-Lewis, who has the larger, showier role. He's a consummate technician, as always, but I just don't find his character's obnoxiousness revelatory in any way. Elliott, though, is an absolutely warm and wise presence throughout, and then has one of the key scenes in the movie (his last encounter with Helena Bonham Carter, when he gives her the advice) that I think he just knocks out of the park. Perhaps it's not a grand enough role to win, but I have no problem seeing why voters wanted him on the ballot.

Michael Caine is a delight in Hannah and Her Sisters. I didn't know that so many found him so irritating in movie. I think his desperation to commit adultery is hilarious and sad all at the same time, and he's such a perfect fit for Woody Allen's jaded brand of humor and misanthropy. Caine's a wonderful actor -- certainly the best on this list -- and this seems like as good a time as any for him to win the Oscar, so I have no problem with his win.

But I think I like the Platoon guys more, though I don't have a strong preference between the two. Willem Dafoe's nomination actually brings to mind Christopher Walken's for his Vietnam movie -- in both cases, an actor who would go on to build a reputation for playing eccentric weirdos received Oscar attention for a far more sensitive, heartfelt role. And Dafoe really is the the moral conscience of Platoon, in a strong, assured performance.

Tom Berenger obviously never made as strong a mark again, but his Platoon work is a triumph. His villain teeters on just the right edge, so that Charlie Sheen's character (and the audience) aren't quite sure if he's a madman or a tough commander whose madness actually does have a method. Eventually, we see his full colors, in a gritty, vicious performance that suggests this abusive man is yet another sad casualty of war. I think others have made fine arguments for Caine and Dafoe, but I'll say Berenger's work is the most memorable.

[Mister Tee]

As many are saying, this year was alot of cases of people being nominated (or winning) for the wrong film, or the wrong person being nominated for the right film.

Daniel Day-Lewis was a critics' darling much as Jessica Chastain was this past year: for emerging from roughly nowhere and playing such disparate parts. Of the two, the more broadly popular A Room with a View would surely have been more likely to get him a nod, but I imagine voters splitting on which performance to honor helped keep him off the ballot. I've always been of two minds about his Room performance. The bulk of his performance I find too fussy and artificial; it's a fairly standard twit. But once he's thrown over, in the final reels, he summons up his character's dignity so movingly that it's almost enough to make me forget how much I didn't like the earlier segments.

I'll join the "con" side of what seems to be the Michael Caine debate. I think his performance in Hannah and Her Sisters is one of his rare totally inauthentic ones. I very much like most of Hannah, but I find Caine's scenes close to unbearable. And I think he's easly the worst of these five nominees. Had he been good, surely he would have been the going-away favorite to win, given his three previous nominations. And that history was, in the end, enough for him to win in a divided field. But no one I knew at the time thought he'd have had a chance had he not been a Hollywood fixture.

I'd been a fan of Denham Elliott's from The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz days, and of course, later, digging into filmography, I found he went back way before that (as far back as Breaking the Sound Barrier). So, I approve of his having been admitted into the Oscar club at least once. But, truth be told, he didn't stand out for me in A Room with a View. Perhaps if I looked at it again (it's now been a quarter century) with him in mind, I'd see what the voters saw. But I feel no temptation to vote for him.

It's funny to hear Dennis Hopper's performance in Hoosiers described as one we've seen him give over and over, because I think in 1986, the idea that Hopper could give as normal and baseline-moving as that seemed absurd. I thought, based largely on Easy Rider and Apocalypse Now, that he was a godawful actor, so Hoosiers by itself was something of a breakthrough for him. Of course, in overall context, nominating him for that film was an act of major cowardice, given the far greater (and far greater deserved) praise he'd received for Lynch's landmark. There was some thought at the time that angry Blue Velvet supporters might vote for this Hoosiers nomination as a proxy way of acknowledging the rightful performance. But I can't play it that way.

Platoon was, of course, the year's big film -- a critical and box-office smash -- and it might have won this category had it had just one major supporting player. But Berenger and Dafoe both got well-earned nods, and there was probably some dissent over which one deserved the win. Even now it's somewhat hard to call. We know that Dafoe has had by far the more distinguished post-emergence career. But my memory of the film (again, haven't rewatched in 25 years) is that Tom Berenger made the stronger impression. It's not an easy call, but he gets my vote.

[mlrg]

Michael Caine - Hannah and Her Sisters

[Sabin]

In a smaller role, Simon Callow is also quite good. I prefer both to Day-Lewis.

...

The Golden Globes opted for Berenger, giving Platoon one of its three wins out of four. Ironically, Platoon wasn't the nomination leader at the Globes. That was Hannah and Her Sisters and The Mission with five. I can't see what else they could have nominated besides DaFoe. I can't know how predicted DaFoe was, but The Globes opted instead for Ray Liotta from Something Wild (who is fantastic and would prefer to see him included over pretty much everyone except Caine), but Demme's excellent road comedy strikes me more of a cult hit than an Academy fave. And instead of Denholm Elliott OR Daniel Day-Lewis from A Room with a View, they chose Dennis Hopper for Blue Velvet alongside his dual nomination for Hoosiers.

The critic's seem to split between Hopper and Day-Lewis. Was Day-Lewis favored for one or the other?

[ITALIANO]

I don't understand all this hatred for Michael Caine's turn in Hannah and Her Sisters - a beautiful, subtle performance by an actor who had been very good in the past but who in those years had been often bad in bad movies. He won for a number of reasons, certainly not only for his acting in that specific film, but even today I'm quite sure that he was the best of these five (and it's not like his competition was weak). And by the way, I don't see how anyone back then could have been surprised by his win - I was only 17 still I easily predicted it.

Of the other five, one didn't deserve to be nominated - not for THAT movie, at least. Hoosiers looks like a typically uplifting tv movie, and it's a bit sad - but it also says alot about the Academy - that Dennis Hopper, one of the most unconventional actors of American cinema, was nominated only once for this mild, safe thing (and performance).

Unlike others here, I think that Denholm Elliott was THE supporting actor in Room with a View - he provides his character with the qualities it needed most: warmth, wisdom and intelligence. It may not be a showy role, but it's a beautifully executed creation by an unfairly underrated British professional.

Platoon was a big hit that year, and critics generally loved it. It's not as popular today, and I can understand why, though, compared to a certain recent war movie which also won the Oscar, it's much, much better. Tom Berenger became suddenly very famous here, and I seem to remember that for a few years he got leading roles in A-movies; but it's true that his career didn't really go the way he may have hoped and others had predicted; his role is good though, and he's effective in it. I should see Platoon again, but I know that at the time I found him better than Willem Dafoe (he had admittedly a stronger character). Dafoe, of course, unlike Berenger is still very active in important films.

[rudeboy]

Not a bad line up at all, certainly compared to some of the more recent slates, and stronger than any of the other acting categories that year.

I haven’t seen Hoosiers. It seems to be one of those movies which has a pretty large following in the US but is little-seen elsewhere. Anyway, we all know Hopper’s nomination wasn’t for Hoosiers alone. He’s superb in Blue Velvet, of course, but he wasn’t nominated for that and he isn’t getting my vote.

I like Denholm Elliot just fine in A Room with a View and I’m glad this consistently superb actor received one nomination during his career. Daniel Day-Lewis maybe had the showier role but Elliot is suitably charming, so no real complaint about his nod from me. But its not substantial enough work to rate consideration for the win. Interesting that the role which finally brought him an Oscar nomination was the one which broke his mid-80s stranglehold on the same category at the BAFTAS. After three consecutive wins he lost this one (to Ray McAnally in The Mission).

Caine is wonderful in Hannah. I’m not one of those who consider it among Woody Allen’s finest films but it does have great things in it, and feels substantial after his 80s run of more whimsical or slight films, so I can at least understand why the Academy took to it in such a big way. Caine’s scenes with Barbara Hershey are the best thing in it. I have no issue with his win, especially considering his fine work that year in Mona Lisa and (a favourite guilty pleasure of mine) his glorious camp performance in Sweet Liberty.

But I’m going with Willem Dafoe. While Berenger has, arguably, the meatier role, Dafoe is just brilliant as the ‘good’ father figure. It’s a riveting performance and has stuck with me over many years since I last saw the movie.

[Precious Doll]

I found 1986 was better for supporting actors then 1985 though I'm not swayed by most of the Academy's choices here. I voted for Michael Caine but he like Dennis Hopper were nominated for the wrong films.

My choices:

1. Michael Caine for Mona Lisa
2. Dean Stockwell for Blue Velvet
3. Dennis Hopper for Blue Velvet
4. John Hargreaves for Malcolm
5. Drew Scofield for Sid and Nancy

[Sabin]

The only good thing about Dennis Hoppers' infamous snub for Blue Velvet is that it allows me to vote for Michael Caine without a moment's regret. Caine is the greatest Woody Allen surrogate that nobody speaks of in Hannah and Her Sisters and remains one of the most charmingly hapless adulterers in film that I can recall. The film is lovely and Elliot is a small miracle of awkward clothing and unexpected use of Caine's superlative skills as a performer. Lovely film, lovely performance.

We all know that Dennis Hopper was up for the wrong film. Would he have won for Blue Velvet? It's entirely possible. I haven't seen Hoosiers in ages but I didn't recall anything special about him in that film that he hasn't done countless other times, so I'm forgiven for shrugging and moving on.

I recently revisited A Room with a View and found much to enjoy in Denholm Elliot's performance. Coupled with his work that year in My Beautiful Launderette, Daniel Day-Lewis certainly deserves praise for his about face but I find his work in A Room with a View to be a fussy bore, a litany of affectations that exemplify the actor at his worst. No slag on his Laundrette performance though. Elliot may not be nomination-worthy, but it's a very endearing performance and I'm glad he got his notice while he was alive.

Platoon is one of nine films following the 1986 Oscarcast to miss out on winning an Academy Award for Screenwriting. We don't need Charlie Sheen to point out to us that Berenger and DaFoe were both fighting for his soul, that they're two sides of the same coin, the angel and the devil, etc. I'm paraphrasing but we clearly get it. I think Platoon is still held high in esteem today but some of the luster has certainly worn off. If I prefer Hannah and Her Sisters and revisionist history points to Blue Velvet, it's certainly a reasonably deserving victory. Almost twenty-five years later, the name Tom Berenger evokes a bevy of truly mediocre late Sunday night HBO movies lining a career that quickly became powerfully inconsequential. And DaFoe could have gone that way too, and occasionally flirted with that direction. But he pulled it together and has become one of the quirkiest and most delightful character actors around. If this is the high watermark of Berenger's career, DaFoe can only say the same for the prestige it garnered. I could point to half a dozen performances he's given in the past decade and a half off the top of my head that make better use of his talents. The actor from Platoon is so young, so saintly, so honest. And yet it still works very much. Berenger's Barnes is probably a little more challenging in creating a more mythic quality, but give DaFoe credit for appearing as though he could possibly take Barnes down.

But in the end, the Academy chose right.

[Reza]

Voted for Hopper. He is extremely moving in Hoosiers although they should have nominated him instead for his psychotic turn in Blue Velvet for which he should have won.

I find Caine's character very annoying in Hannah and prefer his gritty turn in Mona Lisa, which harks back to his Get Carter days.

Both Berenger and Dafoe, as the black and white characters in Platoon, give fine performances and deserve to be on the list.

Elliott, as the fussy character in Room, is amusing enough but it would have been better if the Academy had nominated in his stead Daniel Day-Lewis playing an even more fussy character in the same film. The latter showed great versatility that year by playing contrasting characters in Room and in My Beautiful Laundrette, where he plays a gay punk hood.

My picks for 1986:

1. Dennis Hopper, Blue Velvet
2. Tom Berenger, Platoon
3. Daniel Day-Lewis, A Room With a View
4. Michael Caine, Mona Lisa
5. Willem Dafoe, Platoon

The 6th Spot: Denholm Elliott, A Room With a View

[Big Magilla]

I agree that Tom Bernenger in Platoon is the best choice here. Second best would be the non-nominated Daniel Day-Lewis for either My Beutiful Laundrette or A Room with a View.

I dont agree that Day-Lewis is better than Denholm Elliott in View. Both are outstanding, but Day-Lewis' obvious versatility in what he does in that film vs. what he does in Laundrette is quite astonishing.

I also agree, as does just about everyone including he late actor himslef, that Dennis Hopper's nomination was for the wrong film. He's good in Hoosiers, but he has the role of a lifetime in Blue Velvet, which was apparently not the Academy's cup of tea. The film's sole nomination for Best Director was a travesty.

Willem Dafoe is fine in counterpoint to Berenger in Platoon, but Berenger is the one you can't take your eyes off.

I thought Michael Caine was as good as anyone that year for the fifth slot, but I had no expectation of him winning for Hannah and Her Sisters. His win here, like his later win for The Cider House Rule competely baffles me.

[ksrymy]

This is a very strong year and I would nominate four of these men and one from another's film.

That other man would be Daniel Day-Lewis who is lightyears ahead of Denholm Elliot in A Room with a View.

I have never understood the acclaim for Michael Caine in this film. He had little to do and seemed to be doing his best Woody Allen impersonation rather than making a great character. I would nominate Michael Caine this year though but for Mona Lisa instead.

The Platoon men are the best nominees here. One is the ultimate good guy the other the ultimate bad guy. The meatier role always belongs to the bad guy though and Tom Berenger is much better than Willem Dafoe. Darker speeches and a face full of vitriol give Berenger the edge.

But vitriol and dark speeches are all Dennis Hopper's. Oh wait, he was nominated for the wrong film. God, this is the most unbelievable snub ever. Hopper is fine as the drunk dad in Hoosiers but his Frank Booth is an iconic movie villain with some of the most disturbing effects-less scenes I've ever seen. With an all-too-memorable "DON'T YOU FUCKING LOOK AT ME!", Hopper is one of my all-time favorite film characters in one of my all-time favorite films by my all-time favorite director.

But I can't vote for him for his nomination.

I'll have to vote for Berenger.

My picks
______________________
1) Dennis Hopper - Blue Velvet
2) Tom Berenger - Platoon
3) Willem Dafoe - Platoon
4) Michael Caine - Mona Lisa
5) Daniel Day-Lewis - A Room with a View

6) Max von Sydow - Hannah and Her Sisters