The Verdict -- Best Supporting Actress 1971

#5. Ann-Margret in Carnal Knowledge: It was tough choosing between Ann-Margret and Margaret Leighton, but I ended up choosing Ann-Margret (I never know if I should call her Ann or if she'd get mad at me) as the weakest of the field because she did the least with the most. She gets the part right that you'd expect her to--she's sexy and saucy but can't handle the emotional chords when she needs to display something other than va va voom. She's robotic when she needs to be sympathetic and soft when she needs to be a hard ass. It just doesn't work and makes for a scattered, uneven performance.

#4. Margaret Leighton in The Go-Between: Margaret Leighton's performance has almost the exact opposite effect of Ann-Margret's. Given a role that could easily become a caricature or a cipher, Leighton works her hardest from the beginning of The Go-Between to give her character a presence that makes her final sequences understandable and tense. She's a true supporting actress, always in the background and working hard to make something out of nothing. It's an admirable performance, but one that doesn't have enough to fully warrant an Oscar nomination. She makes the film better, and that's reward enough.

#3. Cloris Leachman in The Last Picture Show: This was without a doubt the toughest of the five performances to write about and grade. Cloris does all that is required of her in the role and somehow doesn't make the emotional connection needed to make this performance an impactful one. All of my favorite moments in the film involving Ruth Popper are "Cloris" moments (her getting her head caught in her shirt), and not Ruth Popper moments which isn't a sign of a great performance. It's hard to hate this performance, but I don't really understand the love that is thrown on it. I still love you though, Cloris!

#2. Barbara Harris in Who is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?: If this was a one scene performance, Barabara Harris would be giving Ellen Burstyn a run for her money in winning this ranking. In a single scene Harris gives a performance that is off-putting and weird in the best way possible and then circles around and becomes shockingly heartbreaking. It's so out of left field and unexpected among the mess that is this film. Sadly, we have to watch as her awful movie drags her down by forcing her into a romance with Dustin Hoffman that kills the effect of the performance. It's a shame, really.

#1. Ellen Burstyn in The Last Picture Show: It's an easy victory for Ellen Burstyn, who goes the furthest in developing a full character. With a surprising amount of charisma for such a potentially despicable character, her performance is the least predictable and safe in her film. She's not afraid to be the villain or the bitch and yet still pulls you around with an astounding final monologue that gives you a new perspective and how Lois Farrow is. It's wonderful work that leaves you thinking about her for days.

The Year in Review: This was a year filled with good performances, but lacking in great ones. If I took anything away from these five ladies it was how difficult it is to rate performances. To me, a 3 rating essentially means "good but not great", and I'm still exactly sure how to describe what separates a 3.5 and a 4, or a 4.5 and a 5. It's a tough thing to do, which I guess is why the Academy has the good fortune to just check one box and not explain their reasoning behind it. Nevertheless, I enjoyed doing this year even if the films weren't all that interesting (especially The Go-Between and Who is Harry Kellerman...). It's made me more committed to picking up the pace and not losing quality, and I'm hoping to keep a somewhat steady pace in the future. But I always say that, so....who knows?

Shoulda Been a Contender: Eileen Brennan in The Last Picture Show

All Supporting Actress Nominees Ranking:

1. Patty Duke in "The Miracle Worker" (1962)
2. Dorothy Malone in "Written on the Wind" (1956)
3. Thelma Ritter in "Pickup on South Street" (1953)
4. Linda Hunt in "The Year of Living Dangerously" (1983)
5. Anna Paquin in "The Piano" (1993)
6. Cher in "Silkwood" (1983)
7. Eileen Heckart in "The Bad Seed" (1956)
8. Emma Thompson in "In the Name of the Father" (1993)
9. Julianne Moore in "Boogie Nights" (1997)
10. Ellen Burstyn in "The Last Picture Show (1971)
11. Patty McCormack in "The Bad Seed"(1956)
12. Claire Trevor in "Dead End" (1937)
13. May Whitty in "Night Must Fall" (1937)
14. Mildred Dunnock in "Baby Doll"(1956)
15. Angela Lansbury in "The Manchurian Candidate"(1962)
16. Geraldine Page in "Hondo" (1953)
17. Gloria Stuart in "Titanic" (1997)
18. Alfre Woodard in "Cross Creek" (1983)
19. Barbara Harris in "Who is Harry Kellerman and Why is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?" (1971)
20. Anne Shirley in "Stella Dallas" (1937)
21. Amy Irving in "Yentl"(1983)
22. Kim Basinger in "L.A. Confidential" (1997)
23. Shirley Knight in "Sweet Bird of Youth" (1962)
24. Cloris Leachman in "The Last Picture Show" (1971)
25. Margaret Leighton in "The Go-Between" (1971)
26. Rosie Perez in "Fearless" (1993)
27. Joan Cusack in "In & Out" (1997)
28. Ann-Margret in "Carnal Knowledge" (1971)
29. Donna Reed in "From Here to Eternity" (1953)
30. Glenn Close in "The Big Chill"(1983)
31. Alice Brady in "In Old Chicago" (1937)
32. Mary Badham in "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962)
    
33. Holly Hunter in "The Firm" (1993)
34. Minnie Driver in "Good Will Hunting" (1997)
35. Thelma Ritter in "Birdman of Alcatraz" (1962)
    
36. Winona Ryder in "The Age of Innocence" (1993)
37. Grace Kelly in "Mogambo" (1953)
38. Mercedes McCambridge in "Giant"(1956)
39. Marjorie Rambeau in "Torch Song" (1953)
40. Andrea Leeds in  "Stage Door"(1937)

Barbara Harris in Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?

Barbara Harris received her first and only Oscar nomination to date for her performance as Allison Densmore in Ulu Grosbard's Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?. This film is basically as dreary and puzzling as the title is long-winded. After directing Jack Albertson to a Supporting Actor Oscar in The Subject Was Roses, I can only assume that Grosbard wanted to prove his '70s credibility with this overly directed and outrageously boring pseudo-psychedelic film. The film is about Georgie Soloway (Dustin Hoffman), a narcissistic pop star dealing with a bevy of emotional problems that I don't really feel like listing here. I have to be honest and say that the parts not including Barbara Harris have already (less than a day later) blurred together in my mind, and I was very close to falling asleep at multiple times during this film. That being said, with all the awfulness surrounding her, Barbara Harris gets to "steal" the movie with a performance that gives the movie (and the viewers) a much needed shot in the arm.

Allison doesn't pop up until around the hour and fifteen minute mark, when Georgie is auditioning girls for some kind of part (I don't remember what specifically....or if it was even said). At first she seems to fit right in with the tone of the rest of the film--she's kind of a nutcase that flitters around the stage and is outright bizarre. It quickly becomes clear to the casting directors that she is not right for the part. She's too old, too neurotic and weird, and not a good enough singer (though I thought she sounded lovely) for the job. Harris has a very lively, skittish presence that draws you into her character even if you can tell that she's probably a bit of a handful and a total wreck. All these mannerisms work because she's playing a struggling actress--a notoriously quirky group. Eventually, Allison becomes fixated on this one lamp that she has placed her hand on and refuses to let go of, and Georgie takes a little bit of pity on her and attempts to talk her out of the room.

Here is where Barbara Harris gets to deliver the most emotional moments of the film, and Grosbard actually made some great choices when filming this sequence. When Allison auditioned we could only see her from a distance, just like Georgie and the casting directors. As he moves forward to speak with her we also get to see more of a close-up and our whole outlook changes on her. She looks like kind of a clown dressed up all fancy in a new dress that doesn't really fit her body type, with garish makeup, and an overall unnatural look for a woman her age. As the Allison and Georgie talk, all the weirdness and mannerisms that were so prominent fade away and we see a woman struggling with getting older and not being where she wants to be in life. Harris uses simple and time-tested techniques to make this mess of a woman become very sympathetic and relatable. It's all about her presence and the way she drops the mannerisms to reveal this broken and sad woman. This scene can't be more than fifteen minutes long, but it has more impact than the rest of the psychoanalytical drivel in the film.

This would be a truly phenomenal performance if it ended there with Allison being something of an enigma, but what follows is a few more scenes involving a romance with Georgie, and those sort of kill Harris' impact. She has no chemistry with Hoffman, and comes off as rather plain and timid in those subsequent two scenes. It's almost as if that one scene was the only exceptional scene, but once she left that theater the awfulness of the film started to bleed into the her performance. This was one of the hardest performances to grade because it is easily the worst film of any reviewed nominees so far. Barbara Harris is fascinating for a that brief moment of time, masterfully embodying one of cinema's most common themes (getting older), but when it comes down to it the film just drags her down too much and those final few scenes keep her from getting any higher than a 3.5/5.

[Note: I know I said I was doing Cloris & Ellen next, but those two will instead be last because I just waited too long to review them after watching the film and I'd like to have them fresh on my mind when I do. So Margaret Leighton is next.]

Best Supporting Actress 1971

And the nominees were....

• Ann-Margret as Bobbie in Carnal Knowledge
• Ellen Burstyn as Lois Farrow in The Last Picture Show
• Barbara Harris as Allison Densmore in Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?
• Cloris Leachman as Ruther Popper in The Last Picture Show (winner)
  
• Margaret Leighton as Mrs. Maudsley in The Go-Between

The Field: This is definitely an interesting group of nominees, and two of the films are somewhat difficult to get you're hands on. I'll be watching Who is Harry Kellerman... (which remains the longest movie title ever nominated for an Academy Award) on VHS but at least I got it. I haven't seen any of these movies before so that will make these ladies very exciting for me. I already adore Cloris Leachman (Raising Hope is amazing!), and appreciate Ellen Burstyn's acting talents more than outright love her. Ann-Margret's Best Actress nomination is one of my favorites, and the other two ladies might as well be newcomers in my eyes. I'm very interested to see what you all think, because I somewhat think this year could be unpredictable. Carnal Knowledge is up first.