Best Supporting Actor 1987: Results

5. Sean Connery in The Untouchables- Connery has little to do in his role besides act tough and give inspirational talks both which he does adequately enough but never to any sort of amazing degree.

4. Denzel Washington in Cry Freedom- Washington gives a fine quietly passionate performance that avoids the problems some of his other performances suffer from.

3. Vincent Gardenia in Moonstruck- Gardenia gives an effectively colorful performance that only succeeds in adding to his film.

2. Morgan Freeman in Street Smart- Freeman gives a great performance excelling in both showing the odd charm and charisma equally well with the terrifying brutality of the same man.

1. Albert Brooks in Broadcast News- This for me was a rather close choice between the top two, although I really should not have had to make because Brooks gives really more of a lead than a supporting performance. Brooks either way gives a great performance that balances the different aspects of his character making a winning performance. He gives a charming humorous performance that finds the right emotional tone throughout the film.

Deserving Performances:
Vincent D'Onofrio in Full Metal Jacket
R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket
Mandy Patinkin in The Princess Bride

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Best Supporting Actor 1987: Denzel Washington in Cry Freedom

Denzel Washington received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Steve Biko in Cry Freedom.

Cry Freedom tells of the murder of anti-Apartheid activist Steve Biko, and the escape of his friend a white newspaper editor (Kevin Kline) who must escape South Africa to tell the truth about what happened to Biko.

Washington plays the murdered Biko who is killed relatively early on but before he is killed Washington is basically the lead in the film. Washington I will admit is not one of my favorite actors as he can act in a too self aware fashion in many of his performances, or fail to really make a characterization with conviction. His performance as Steve Biko though is one of his better performances because he avoids these problems.

He manages to play Steve Biko fairly simply but fairly effectively. He does not try to really make Biko a larger than life sort of figure, but rather just a man who wishes to find some justice in his country. Washington never overplays the role of Biko rather handles everything relatively quietly in his performance. From his speeches to the way he convinces Kline's character of his cause Washington just shows a nice dignity and passion in the part that is effective.

The part is not the greatest of challenges really though past showing the passion of Biko, but nonetheless it is a well handled performance. Biko though is not as well developed of a character as one might think though as he is murdered very early on, and he only occasionally is remembered past this point, and even when he is remembered it is not in any sort of different fashion than when we saw him alive earlier in the film.

What there is though Washington is as he should be in his performance. He realizes the exact Steve Biko the film wanted you to remember as a martyr for his cause throughout the rest of the film. I do wish that the film had maybe expanded even more on his character and given a bit less emphasis on Kline's characters escape, but still Washington's performance is a good one that avoids the problematic tendencies of his later work.

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Best Supporting Actor 1987

And the Nominees Were:

Albert Brooks in Broadcast News

Denzel Washington in Cry Freedom

Sean Connery in The Untouchables

Vincent Gardenia in Moonstruck

Morgan Freeman in Street Smart

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