Alternate Best Actor 1965: Results

5. Michael Caine in The Ipcress File- Caine uses his unique screen presence and on screen marvelously here to make Harry Palmer a down to earth, and very likable hero.

4. Omar Sharif in Doctor Zhivago-This really is not the usual performance for an epic, but Sharif makes the most of his character and successfully carries the film.

3. Lee Van Cleef in For A Few Dollars More-  It is a performance of quiet simplicity, and in this simplicity is where the incredible strength of this performance lies.

2. Sean Connery in The Hill- This is an excellent showcase of Connery's talent as he not only utilizes his more commonly found command of the screen, but as well effectively shows us that he is fully capable of creating an emotionally resonate character portrait.

1. Terence Stamp in The Collector-This is a great performance by Stamp as both a humane portrait of a lonely man, but at the same time a convincing portrayal of a man who seems to prefer the dead over the living. This is again an incredible year, and again Stamp wins for now but Connery, Steiger, and Burton are not far behind.

Overall Rank:

1. Terence Stamp in The Collector
2. Richard Burton in The Spy Who Came in From The Cold
3. Rod Steiger in The Pawnbroker
4. Sean Connery in The Hill
5. Lee Van Cleef in For A Few Dollars More
6. Omar Sharif in Doctor Zhivago
7. Oskar Werner in Ship of Fools
8. Michael Caine in The Ipcress File
9. Frank Sinatra in Von Ryan's Express
10. Laurence Olivier in Othello
11. James Stewart in The Flight of the Phoenix
12. Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou
13. Clint Eastwood in For A Few Dollars More
14. Sean Connery in Thunderball
15. Frank Finlay in Othello
16. Jason Robards in A Thousand Clowns

Next Year: 2011

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Alternate Best Actor 1965: Michael Caine in The Ipcress File

Michael Caine did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Harry Palmer for the first time in The Ipcress File.

The Ipcress File is an effective spy thriller about a spy trying to undercover a strange kidnapping and mind wiping plot.

The 60's was a popular time for spy films and 1965 had several of them three particularly notable ones though that show very different depiction of being a spy. There was of course the very romantic one found in Thunderball, and the extremely cynical and pessimistic depiction found in The Spy Who Came in From The Cold. The Ipcress File is somewhere in between the two. The Ipcress File stresses far less entertaining of spy life like routine surveillance as well as a mundane living, but there is still some humor found here unlike the insistent double crosses and dirty dealings found in The Spy Who Came in From Cold.

Caine portrayal of Palmer is also somewhere in between Sean Connery depiction of James Bond, and Richard Burton's depiction of Alec Leamas as well. Just like Connery's Bond there is an enthusiasm here that he puts into his job vigorously, and there are times where he does seem to enjoy his job. He though is not entirely different than Alex Leamas though either as Palmer still has many tedious duties to deal with lives a relatively humble life, and has a to deal with some of the back room conspiracy although it is not nearly as devious, and therefore does leave Palmer as nearly as much of a embittered man as Burton's Leamas.

Caine is quite good in the role by creating a balanced portrait of this spy. A key feature of Harry Palmer is his sense of humor which also factors into the fact that he tends to be insubordinate as well. Palmer is constantly cracking small jokes to his sometimes quite not amused superiors. Caine takes the right sort of low key approach here that realizes Palmer's sense of humor, but he does not over due it to become an overly comic performance either. Caine has just enough fun with his performance to lighten the mood a bit in the film, but still when more weight is needed for a scene Caine is completely up to the task.

In his performance as Palmer Caine effectively combines the excitement with the tedium that he encounters as a spy. Caine in the moments where Palmer is tracing someone or dealing with something very important he shows a clear conviction that shows Palmer's devotion to his work. Caine is appropriately keen in the role, conveying the intelligence of Palmer. Caine though does not make Harry completely domineering though. Palmer really is not an expert spy, just a good one, and really Caine does well in portraying his frustrations just well as skills. Of course a great deal of the time Palmer is not doing particularly interesting work, and Caine is good in showing that really Palmer uses his humor just to avoid boredom.

Caine stays consistent with his portrayal for most of the film until the very end when Palmer is captured by the enemy and put under mental torture. Naturally Caine loses that charm and poise he had earlier on as he suffers through the physical and psychological strain put upon him in captivity. Caine is strong here as well showing the extreme pain Palmer goes through in trying to resist the programming his captors are trying to embed in him. Although it is relatively fast in the film in showing the process Palmer undergoes, Caine is brings the horror of it to life. Caine is good here because although he shows a strong resolve in Palmer, he also makes it true that Palmer after all is only human.

This is a very good performance by Michael Caine and it is no surprise that this role helped him secure himself as a leading man. This is original and interesting depiction of this spy who is never derivative despite all of spies at the time. Caine uses his unique screen presence and on screen marvelously here to make Harry Palmer a down to earth, and very likable hero. He makes Palmer the relatively average spy who it is far likely we would be, than say James Bond who we would like to be. Although I would say this is not the greatest spy performance of the year, that still goes to Burton, it is an excellent one nevertheless.

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Alternate Best Actor 1965

And the Nominees Were Not:

Omar Sharif in Doctor Zhivago

Lee Van Cleef in For A Few Dollars More

Terence Stamp in The Collector

Sean Connery in The Hill

Michael Caine in The Ipcress File

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Alternate Best Actor 1971: Results

5. Dustin Hoffman in Straw Dogs- Hoffman performance is not overly interesting early on but he more than makes up for it in his brutal last act change.

4. Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry- Eastwood gives a incredibly strong performance as both a commanding and humorous leading man, as well as in his portrayal of a driven police officer.

3.  Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory- Wilder gives a entertaining performance that is both darkly funny as well as genuinely heart warming.

2. Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange- McDowell gives a terrific unforgettable performance that creates a truly disturbing portrait of a youthful man who gets his joys through violent depravity.

1. Michael Caine in Get Carter- I must say this is exceedingly close, and that really does include Eastwood and Wilder as well. All four are amazing performance and each are arguably the best performances from each actor. Nevertheless for the moment I give it to Caine for his incredible performance as a cold professional killer, whose want is revenge is unstoppable.

Overall Rank of the year I also included a few performances I do not intend to review in the future.

1. Michael Caine in Get Carter
2. Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange
3. Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
4. Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry
5. Gene Hackman in The French Connection
6. Peter Finch in Sunday Bloody Sunday
7. Topol in Fiddler on the Roof
8. James Coburn in Duck, You Sucker!
9. Timothy Bottoms in The Last Picture Show 
10. Dustin Hoffman in Straw Dogs
11. George C. Scott in The Hospital
12. Peter Ostrum in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
13. Rod Steiger in Duck, You Sucker!
14. Sean Connery in Diamonds Are Forever
15. Donald Sutherland in Klute
16. Walter Matthau in Kotch

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Alternate Best Actor 1971: Michael Caine in Get Carter

Michael Caine did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Jack Carter in Get Carter.

Get Carter is a bleak but effective thriller about an English gangster seeking revenge for the death of his brother.

Michael Caine is an actor I will not say is the first who comes to mind when would say tough guy. In fact Caine does not seem to usually come off as a psychically imposing individual in films, even if he is a taller man. This is not the case though in his performance as gangster Jack Carter. In this film even when he is not, he seems to be the tallest man in the room. The way he carries himself in this film as Carter makes Caine absolutely dominate every scene he is in. He has an incredible strength that permeates through that makes him always the man in charge. Caine has always been able to carry a film but here he literally controls it.

Caine is great in the role because he never tries to make Carter anything but what Carter is. He does not try to add some sort of faking the character or doing a wink at the audience to say look this is good old Michael Caine still. Caine never for once breaks his mold for his character here which does not once ask for sympathy or understanding. Nevertheless Caine is so good in this film he brings us right into this character for the entire film. Even though it is hard to say that this character is really likable Caine still has a charisma in his performance that is unmistakable for sure. He simply owns the screen in this film and you really can't help but watch him here.

Caine creates a facinating portrait of the gangster Carter, as he has a incredible dynamic between the outside of Carter and the inside feelings of him. Caine on the outside shows Carter to be the perfect sort of gangster when it comes to doing dirty work that is commonly required such as killing. There is an incredible coldness and well professionalism to his performance that shows that Carter knows exactly what he is doing and has been doing this sort of work for a long time making him absolutely comfortable with all of it. He is so cold at times it seems like maybe he does not have heart period, but Carter does deep inside after all his whole journey in the film is completely personal.

For much of the film Caine does show Carter as pretty much a business man doing his job that is probably just done a little too efficiently. Caine though makes us completely believe in Carter's abilities throughout the film as Carter wades through all the muck and the double crosses to find out what exactly did happen to his brother. Caine always makes it clear that Carter is absolutely sure of himself, and confidant in his abilities always. There is never even a hint of weakness in Caine's  portrayal he always portrays the part with a mastery of efficiency, and effectiveness that brings to life Carter's skill and abilities marvelously.

The greatest and most powerful moments of Caine's performance and the film itself are when we see the more emotional side of Carter that Caine brilliantly portrays because he only shows them in the most pivotal of moments. His single greatest scene might be when Carter finally really gets set off by finding out exactly why his brother died. It is a single silent scene where Carter watches a pornographic film featuring the woman he just had sexual intercourse with. At first Caine shows Carter reacting with a bit of a disinterest as well as bemusement as something just to pass the time. When Carter sees his niece is as well featured in the film. Caine is incredible as Carter's soul is crushed, and Caine shows how much this truly does weigh on Carter.

After this scene Caine is just one brutal uncompromising force of revenge for both his borther's death and the use of his own niece and perhaps daughter. Caine is outstanding in these scenes are Carter brutally kills many of the people involved with his brother's death, or even partially involved with it. Caine is especially terrific in the role because of the degree of emotions Carter puts in the killings he commits himself or the one's that occur around him. His coldest scenes come in when for example two women are killed that were partially involved with the death of his brother, his reactions to these scenes are ice cold and truly memorable.

Caine shows Carter cares nothing for their deaths, he finds they deserve to die, but their offenses in his view do not earn them emotions from him. These moments are in stark contrast to when Carter's violent anger appears that especially piercing. Caine makes Carter's rage truly fierce and absolutely uncompromising. The combination of these outstanding scene creates one unforgettable picture of revenge that has never been matched since. This is a powerful performance by Caine that never pulls a single punch in his performance. Caine with his performance as Jack Carter creates a brilliant portrait of this cold calculating killer, who becomes even more vicious when he makes it personal.

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Alternate Best Actor 1971

And the Nominees Were Not:

Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry

Michael Caine in Get Carter

Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange

Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory

Dustin Hoffman in Straw Dogs
I will be reviewing five performance from a year that are either considered to be among the five best of the year, as well as one's considered iconic or very memorable in regards to an actor's filmography. These will not necessarily all be good or great performances just notable one's for the year in question. I will perhaps even throw in a terrible performance on occasion as long as it is extremely risky, the only type of performance I want  to avoid is a phoned in boring one.

So for the first year I will take a look at performances of five men portraying not exactly the most hinged of characters. Feel free to predict the ranking as well as if any of them will unseat Gene Hackman for the French Connection, if you accurately predict my ranking of just the five you can request the next year i do, just make sure it is in a different decade, as well one performance you would like to review for that year.

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Best Supporting Actor 1986: Results

5. Denholm Elliot in A Room With a View- Elliot is fine in his few scenes but he never makes much of an impact with his performance.

4. Dennis Hopper in Hoosiers- Hopper gives a moving and effective performance that might not be on the level of his work listed below, but it is still a good performance.

3. Willem Dafoe in Platoon- Dafoe realizes his good sergeant character by never overplaying the part and turning his character into a believable descent man that is more than just a moral.

2. Tom Berenger in Platoon- I give the slight edge between the two Platoon men because he has the even greater challenge to avoid becoming just simple villain. He realizes the intensity and interestingly enough when he can the humanity of his character.

1. Michael Caine in Hannah and Her Sisters- Caine wins  in this fairly strong year with his all over the place yet withdrawn and subdued performance as the man who lusts after his wife's sister. It it almost a scatter shot of emotions which Caine is able draw upon to realize his character while even finding some humor in the role as well.

Deserving Performances:
Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet
Daniel Day-Lewis in A Room With A View
Steve Martin in Little Shop of Horrors

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Best Supporting Actor 1986: Michael Caine in Hannah and Her Sisters

Michael Caine won his first Oscar from his fourth nomination for portraying Elliot in Hannah and Her Sisters.

Hannah and Her Sisters tells of the various stories of Hannah and her sisters as well as the stories of her two husbands.

Michael Caine portrays Hannah's (Mia Farrow) second husband who from the opening scene is obsessed with and lusts after Hannah's sister Lee (Barbara Hershey). Many of the performances are quite withdrawn in this film as much of what the character comes in the form of their own narration over what their character is thinking and feeling. This is especially true of Caine's performance and character of Elliot since he not only has plenty of narration scenes but many of his scenes involve him trying to hide his feelings toward his wife sister, or keeping their later affair a secret.

Caine though effectively portrays the part despite the technical limitations that are put upon almost throughout his entire performance. From his very first scene Caine realizes Elliot's lust for his wife sister just perfectly. It is careful and subtle work by Caine that realizes his character's state quite well. Caine finds just the right line between being secretive of what Elliot wants in that unless you look closely you would not notice it. Caine has just the right simple, and subtle indications of Elliot desires for Lee. He shows it really as although he is holding back to such a degree he wants her so much that he comes through nevertheless.

Caine continues to find just the right path for his character as Elliot shyly tries to pursue the affair. Caine is quite good in the way he brings a slight comedic touch to his performance here as he could have portrayed the part completely straight. He just brings the right up amount of humor to his performance as he avoids every pushing to hard for any comedy, but makes it feel entirely natural within his performance. Caine just finds it within his character rather erratic behavior as he almost tries to woo her, without doing so, but trying to do so without being obvious about it. The funny thing is despite Elliot being erratic Caine never overplays a moment of it finding just the right tone for it all.

Caine is terrific in his moments when Elliot finally does reveal his precise feelings to Lee rather suddenly. Caine shows the transition of Elliot well as well still showing that he does not have a single emotion in the moment still showing some hesitation and embarrassment but more specifically in this one scene showing more joy over finally coming out with his true feelings finally. It is funny actually about Caine performance that there is never a single scene where he lets a single emotion override the rest Elliot is one confused fellow and Caine realizes this wonderfully. This particularly special scene for Elliot is the closest Elliot comes to feeling a single emotion which is happiness and Caine brings this out incredibly well.

Although the affair really seems to be given less and less time within the film along with Caine himself the glimpses given Caine continues to bring to life his character's unique situation. Still there is no set emotion Elliot feels about the affair, but Caine is good in showing that after Elliot has achieved the affair he has a lot less fun with it than before he actually even approached it directly, and appropriately the humor does disappear from his performance. Caine in his briefer moments shows the internal struggle that Elliot is facing almost silently. It is an effective portrait of this man who really has no idea of his path, and even in the end when it seems Elliot does seem to know what he wants still has the slightest glint of regret in his performance. It is a very strong performance by Caine that never fails to bring to life the emotional state of his character despite the complexity of it all as well as the subdued nature of the role.

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Best Supporting Actor 1986

And the Nominees Were:

Tom Berenger in Platoon

Willem Dafoe in Platoon

Michael Caine in Hannah and Her Sisters

Denholm Elliott in A Room With A View

Dennis Hopper in Hoosiers

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Best Supporting Actor 1999: Results

5. Michael Caine in The Cider House Rules- Caine with a strange accent gives a dull sometimes almost lifeless performance that never seems to bring the genuine emotions one would for a part that seems like it is only ever trying to be emotional.

4. Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile-Duncan achieves this well with his performance by finding just the right sort of characterization for Coffey all the way through the film.

3. Jude Law in The Talented Mr. Ripley-  Law gives an performance effective because he never only seizes one note with his performance and realistically portrays both Dickie's cruel and charming side equally well.

2. Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense- It would have been very easy to lose the human element to the horror that comes into the film, but Osment always is able to keep the humanity in his character alive throughout the film in his performance.

1. Tom Cruise in Magnolia- Cruise might not be my favorite actor, but he is absolutely brilliant here absolutely succeeding with a character that could have gone wrong in a great number of ways but never does. He turns his bizarre guru in a memorable and very intriguing character.

Deserving Performances:
Philip Seymour Hoffman in Magnolia
Alan Rickman in Galaxy Quest

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Best Supporting Actor 1999: Michael Caine in The Cider House Rules

Michael Caine won his second Oscar from his fifth nomination for portraying Dr. Wilbur Larch in The Cider House Rules.

The Cider House Rules details a young man Homer (Tobey Maguire) raised in a orphanage and trained by the doctor there to replace him decides to see the world.

Michael Caine won his second Oscar over a child actor, one star, one up and comer and Michael Clarke Duncan. It should have not been a surprise for him to win against these four despite winning before as he had veteran status, but more importantly his role  is pure Oscar bait. A devoted doctor at an orphanage who also is a drug addict and an abortionist in a film that seeks some sort of big emotional response in every scene. Caine even does an accent far from his own accent in the film that is not some derivative of his own accent, but a full fledged attempt at a New England accent.

This is the first flaw in the performance though that hinders the rest of the performance. Accents really don't matter that much to me except if they really add to a performance or are extremely distracting. Caine's accent unfortunately is the latter. His accent sounds like the inspector accent he used in Sleuth but without the Britishness, also that accent was an act within an act, this is suppose to be an entirely natural voice of Dr. Wilbur Larch. The accent though always sounds like something Caine is forcing out of his mouth rather than part of his character which is unfortunate.

Strangely enough though this is not my only problem with this performance which is unusual for me as I tend to always like Caine, but this performance is an exception. Caine is suppose to play a fatherly figure to the orphanage as Dr. Larch who is a kindhearted man who wants to what he believes is the right thing to do to help people. The problem there is strange lack of genuine warmth in Caine's performance in this film. He seems often cold in the role oddly enough, even though that really is not suppose to be the intent of his character.

This is especially true with his scenes with Tobey Maguire. They are suppose to be practically father and son in their scenes. They are suppose to be so close, and Dr. Larch is suppose to hold Homer so dear that he is absolutely heartbroken over Homer's decision to leave the orphanage. There seems to be no connection at all between the actors. I will say this is not helped by Maguire who is close to becoming blandness incarnate in this film, but still the relationship is never more than just a rather artificial one at best.

His character also does have his darker side as well involving his ether using as well as his affairs with his nurses. Neither of these aspects really come alive either. There really is nothing in Caine's performance that makes these scenes mean anything more than just something that Larch does. Why is he a ether addict, who knows, who cares frankly it doesn't serve to make his character anymore compelling and only seems to exist to make his character more unsavory. These aspects just are not given the needed attention to make them important nor does Caine bring the importance to them though.

I must say I actually was amazed how little this performance did for me. I was not moved once by his performance despite all of the sad stares given by Caine throughout the film with the sentimental film score along with it. This performance by Caine left me completely cold which was the opposite of the intent of the film. This is not a completely terrible performance I suppose as it is still performance by Michael Caine who usually avoids giving a completely incompetent performance, but it is a very uninteresting and ineffective performance that for the most part fails to fulfill the needs of the role.

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Best Supporting Actor 1999

And the Nominees Were:

Tom Cruise in Magnolia

Jude Law in The Talented Mr. Ripley

Michael Caine in The Cider House Rules

Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile

Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense

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