If I Picked the Winners: Best Actor 1997

     If you haven't read the "About Me" section to the left of your screen, I will let you know here that I am obsessed with the Oscars. I have been obsessed with the Oscars since about the age of ten. From then on, I have collected numerous books on the Academy Awards and spent (wasted) countless hours flipping through them and memorizing winners and nominees. I can name from memory all the Best Picture winners in order from 1927/28's "Wings" to 2009's "The Hurt Locker" (I wonder how many more important things I would know if I didn't have this in my brain) and I have seen all but ten of the winners.

     I am not really sure why I became so obsessed with the Academy Awards. I think it might be because it merges the competitive aspect of sports that I love with the artistry of film. Nevertheless, I am still driven by all things Oscar, which is why I am writing this weekly (hopefully) column where I will take one of the 8 major categories (Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Director, and the two Writing categories) from some year and rank the nominees. It is a lifetime goal of mine to see all the nominees, from every year, for all these categories (technically it is an impossible goal since a few of the early films are lost). I have about 800 and something movies to go, which may sound like a lot, but to get it down to that number you have to watch a lot of Oscar nominated movies. The upshot of this is there are a lot of categories where I have seen all the nominees, which gives me a lot of potential columns to write, but for the very first "If I Picked the Winners" column, I thought I would start off with the first category in which in I saw every nominee: Best Actor 1997.


     The focus of the 1997 Oscars was one movie and one movie only: Titanic. When all was said in done, Titanic tied the record for the most nominations (14) and wins (11) of any single film, as the Academy validated the feelings of millions of teenage girls worldwide who spent countless amounts of hours and money seeing a drippingly sappy romantic disaster film for the twenty-something time. As impressive as all this is, there was one glaring absence in the unstoppable Oscar machine that was Titanic: Leonardo DiCaprio failed to receive a Best Actor nomination. Why? While I am now a big fan of DiCaprio, this performance was just not that impressive, but even for people who did admire his performance, the choice was difficult. The category was filled with big names in big performances and no matter what, there was going to have to be some difficult choices. In fact, the worst offense in this category was the absence of Samuel L. Jackson in Quentin Tarantino's "Jackie Brown". The whole movie is terribly underrated, but Samuel L. Jackson's performance in particular stands out as a great achievement. I actually think this performance is a little bit stronger than the more quotable performance he gives in "Pulp Fiction", but I digress. Now on to the actual nominees!

5.  Peter Fonda in "Ulee's Gold"

     

     To be fair to Peter Fonda and this movie, I haven't seen it since 1997 and don't remember it all that well. The three things that stick out in my mind are: 1) The movie was slow and boring, 2) Peter Fonda's character is a bee keeper, and 3). The actress who played Tim Allen's wife in "Home Improvement" is in it. The plot of the film revolves around Fonda's character's attempt to help out his incarcerated son, Jimmy, by saving Jimmy's drug-addicted wife from Jimmy's ex-partners-in-crime. The ex-partners are holding her hostage and want to know where Jimmy hid the money from their successful bank robbery, so it's up to Fonda to sort it all out as hilarity, I mean drama, ensues. The important part of the movie for this column though is Fonda's performance, which is quiet and brooding. This type of performance is one that the Academy likes to nominate from time to time (especially if the actor is old), but I am rarely impressed by them. Staring off into the distance so we can see how much you're contemplating your own despair does not require that much skill in my opinion, and it leaves little to no emotional impact, which is why I rank Fonda's performance 5th.

4. Robert Duvall in "The Apostle"

     

     When this movie came out, critics (and Regis Philbin) raved about Duvall's performance, and initially, I was extremely impressed by it too. As time has gone on though, and as I have seen bits of it on TV again, the performance appears to be much more mimicry then acting. Duvall plays a southern preacher who has to go on the lamb after he hits his ex-wife's new boyfriend with a baseball bat that puts the boyfriend into a coma. He than takes a magical journey through the Deep South spreading the good news of Jesus. While there is no doubt that Duvall has a lot of passion for the character, he gets caught up in Old Pacino Syndrome (say your lines loud and confidently and everyone will think you're doing a good job). In the end, you are left with very little insight into who the character actually is, which makes it a fun, but overall empty, performance.

3. Matt Damon in "Good Will Hunting"

     This is the role and the movie that made Matt Damon a household name, and even though he did not win Best Actor, he did not go home empty-handed, as both he and Ben Afleck year-old man in Boston who is secretly a mathematical genius. The film is essentially a "finding yourself" film as Damon has to decide which part of himself really defines who he is. It is a good film, and Damon does a good job in this break-out performance. There are a few times where the working-class Bostonian act is laid on a bit thick, but then again his character is a mathematical genius partly pretending to be working class to fit in with his friends, so it would make sense that the act would seem a little mannered at times. The important part though is that Damon does draw you into this character's emotional dilemma, which is why I think the performance is definitely worthy of the Oscar nomination it received.

2. Jack Nicholson in "As Good as it Gets"

     This is the performance that won 1997's Oscar for Best Actor, and even though it did not quite make my number one choice, I have no qualms with Jack winning his third Oscar for this role. "As Good as it Gets" is a James L. Brooks romantic comedy with a spectacular ensemble cast. The plot of the film isn't so important (eccentric writer romances divorced, single-mom) but what makes this a good film is the acting, headlined by Jack Nicholson's performance. The key to Nicholson's performance is timing and attitude, and he works these aspects perfectly to his advantage. Some people may criticize this performance as simply "Jack being Jack", and while there may be some truth to that, I don't care. I love Jack Nicholson. He is one of my favorite (if not my favorite) actors of all-time, and I'll take "Jack being Jack" any day over a lot of other actors. That's how good (and cool) Jack Nicholson is.

1. Dustin Hoffman in "Wag the Dog" 

     Having to choose between Dustin Hoffman and Jack Nicholson is like having to choose between whether they should amputate your left or right arm. OK, its not that hard (or painful), but its not an easy decision. Both are great actors and both actors do a great job in their respective roles, but in the end, I had to go with Hoffman. In "Wag the Dog", Hoffman plays an eccentric political adviser who helps to start and stage a fake war in order to divert the country's attention from a presidential sex scandal (eerily similar to Bill Clinton and the Bosnian conflict at the time). The thing that is so great about Hoffman's performance, is that even though the awkwardness of the character almost enters "Rain Man" territory at times, Hoffman's performance keeps the movie going at a fast clip. Without Hoffman's performance, the film would likely veer off into a serious political-thriller tone, but thanks to Hoffman, "Wag the Dog" instead is morphed into an excellent black comedy. The other thing I love about Hoffman's performance is that, as eccentric as his character is at times, the performance pretty much nails down those political advisers who are more into the political game than the ideology, and if you don't believe that their are any political advisers as eccentric as Hoffman's character, I suggest you go on YouTube and search for videos of Dick Morris, James Carville, Pat Caddell, Frank Luntz, and Doug Schoen just to name a few. 

     Now that you know if it was up it to me, back in 1997 we would have heard "and the winner is... Dustin Hoffman", tell me what you think? And if you haven't seen all the performances, what do think of the performances you have seen? Is my analysis right-on, or do my opinions represent everything that is wrong and evil in this world? Let me know in the comments section.

Christopher Lominac