Supporting Actress Smackdown - 1974

The Year is 1974...

And the Supporting Actress Smackdowners for November are NICK of Nick's Pick Flicks; TIM of Mainly Movies; KEN of Canadian Ken On... and welcoming NEWLAND of As Bold As Brass. But alas, there is no NatReel or other montage but there is much to be said about...

1974

And 1974's Supporting Actresses are...
(Each Smackdowner's comments are listed in ascending levels of love. A summary comment from each Smackdowner arrives at the end. Click on the nominee's name/film to see StinkyLulu's Supporting Actress Sunday review.)

Ingrid Bergman in Murder on the Orient Express
Ken Sez...
If this were an acting exercise from an unknown, it'd probably be roundly criticized by coach and classmates. Busy. Superficial. But because it's the famous Miss Bergman, everyone genuflects. And the Academy dutifully comes through with an Oscar. Go figure.
Nick Sez...
Okay: I like movie stars, too, but not when they’re gnawing away at barely dimensional characters in frivolous projects, and not when they win gratuitous third Oscars for their pains. (Paging you, too, Mr. Nicholson.) Unembarrassing, but utterly plain.
Newland Sez...
Bergman gave her all to dignify an absurd character, using all the tricks in the book to make an impact on the spectator. Fidgety and with a perennial expression of astonishment, she failed almost completely.
Stinkylulu Sez...
A solid and distinctive enough performance of a basically uninteresting character, nearly pitch-perfect to what the Agatha Christie formula requires. But sheesh. Bergman’s quirked out performance is alternately unremarkable and unwatchable. Ack.
Tim Sez...
Dear oh me – a much worse perf than I remembered, giving even the excruciating Finney a run for his money. Seemingly panicked by her all-star surroundings, Bergman does piety gormlessly and shiftiness fussily. Cretinous acting, and a shocking win.

Valentina Cortese in Day for Night
Stinkylulu Sez...
There's much to admire about this sensible, sensitive performance but something is missing from Cortese’s Severine– a vestigial "sensationalness" perhaps? a casual radiance? A merely good performance of a potentially magnificent role.
Nick Sez...
She conjures exactly the warmth, the laughs, and the sympathy she seeks in those early scenes, culminating in her sad, famous bouquet of blown takes. Still, the poignancy of the turn is shaped more by the director than by Cortese, and cliché is not entirely avoided.
Tim Sez...
Amuses as a self-pitying diva sighing at her reflection, and conjures a daffy-sad highlight from her multiple takes walking into the wrong door. But I was frustrated Truffaut didn’t make more of her in the second half.
Ken Sez...
A much-praised performance. Good - but is that all there is? There's a reason Cortese never achieved full-fledged stardom. She's capable and authoritative - but rather generic. Practically indistinguishable from other continental second-stringers like, say, Rosella Falk. Still, in this tepid field, a front-runner.
Newland Sez...
Flamboyant, decaying diva Sévérine is a delicious treat in the hands of Valentina Cortese. Seeing her repeat the same sequence once and again, and each time in a different way, gives a perfect example of what great actressing at the edges is like.

Madeline Kahn in Blazing Saddles
Nick Sez...
Like Lesley Ann Warren’s in Victor/Victoria, this parody of blonde floozydom is seriously impaired by the film’s poor staging, structural problems, and limited objectives. Kahn’s walk-on is funny, sure, but it doesn’t resonate.
Tim Sez...
Little more than a skit but a skit to die for, Kahn’s drawling piss-take of a Dietrich floozy is all you could ask of it – sensationally silly revue material. She’s well worth her nomination but only helps this cruddy film so far.
Ken Sez...
The picture's barely worth a schoolboy snigger. But Kahn herself is deeply droll, nailing the Dietrich insolence, the off-key singing, the sang-froid. And socking home the patented Dietrich moment of romantic transfiguration with her rapturously delivered "Wot a nice guy!"
Stinkylulu Sez...
With uncommon precision, Kahn spins gold from this shallow gag of a character and effects an unexpected, accumulating magic, transforming a crass role into one that leaves a tender, comic afterglow.
Newland Sez...
Rising above her material, Kahn gives a memorable performance that transcends the Marlene Dietrich spoof and makes Lily Von Shtupp an instant classic. Her musical number “I’m tired” is hysterical, and from the moment she disappears from the screen, you’re left craving for more.

Diane Ladd in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Ken Sez...
Diane Ladd hung around till Claire Trevor was too old to play Claire Trevor. Then pounced. She's more hard-bitten (and Trevor herself was no Little Nell). But a solid actor and re-actor. And if her Flo-Burger's only bite-sized, it's still tasty.
Nick Sez...
I used to begrudge this nomination, based on its stock-character aspect and Ladd’s limited screen-time. Upon review, though, Ladd does a fresher, scrappier, more inventive job than Cortese of imagining a full, interesting life beyond her glancing role.
Newland Sez...
Delivering her wisecracking lines or being sweet n’ sour in the sunbathing scene, Ladd makes you want to have breakfast with Flo every day of your life. A breeze of fresh air and a performance that really works.
Tim Sez...
Nicely underplays the sass, and provides a crucial bulwark to Burstyn in the late going. I don’t think Scorsese gives Flo quite enough independent life or pushes her anywhere that interesting, but it’s a pleasingly droll, dexterous bit of support.
Stinkylulu Sez...
She talks nearly nonstop but it’s Ladd’s wordless moments – her tentative glances and sideways looks – that anchor Flo's vivid emotional reality. A blowsy yet precise, understated, and palpably vulnerable performance.

Talia Shire in The Godfather, Part II
Nick Sez...
There is at least consistency to Shire’s hard, sour take on this part, but her approach feels flat and discordant compared to the rest of the vivid supporting cast, and the script begs for more dimension than she provides in her final plea to Michael.
Ken Sez...
You know the phenomenon. Big hit movie attracts nominations like iron filings to a magnet. Even in unlikely categories. What other explanation can there possibly be for nominating Shire's perfectly okay (and perfectly ordinary) contribution to Godfather 2? De Niro, though - wow!
Newland Sez...
Connie undergoes various changes throughout the film, from hapless tart to clan matriarch, which is enough to show Shire’s range. However, her scenes are so scattered that you barely notice the performance. Plus, she’s been better in both Parts I and III.
Stinkylulu Sez...
A thin but sturdy reed of a performance. When Shire's on-screen, she’s not at all bad; when she’s off-screen, the movie seems to forget about her. And so do we.
Tim Sez...
Registers only at the start and finish, but packs each close-up with expressive detail, reinforcing the whole arc of the movie with Connie’s switch in attitude – from defiantly abrasive to diplomatic and imploring. Her supplication for Fredo is a disciplined masterclass.

Oscar awarded Ingrid Bergman...


But, by a heart, the SMACKDOWN gives it to:
Valentina Cortese
Valentina snagged 17 total hearts;
Madeline and Diane grabbed - respectively - 16 and 15.

But the big news is: For the first time in the history of the Smackdown, not only did a single performance receive unanimous single-heart votes BUT that very performance happened to be the one awarded by the Academy. So, by executive fiat, StinkyLulu hereby inaugurates a special Award...

THE STINKTRESS
Awarded to an Actress on The Edges
Honoring Special Achievement
in the Receipt of Acclaim, Awards, and Accolades
for an Exceptionally Mediocre, Overhyped, or Just Plain Bad Performance in a Film.
SO, until further notice (and future smackdowns),
Ingrid Bergman will wear the tiara as
the Supporting Actress Smackdown's first (& reigning)
STINKTRESS!!!

Ingrid Bergman in Murder on the Orient Express
Congrats, Ing!

And now some "Final Thoughts" from our intrepid SMACKDOWNERS:

Nick Sez: Jesus, what’s that smell??? One would be tempted to say that this race is one stinky lulu, if those terms hadn’t been so transcendentally reappropriated for the powers of good. As it stands, I’m just mystified: Bergman is as fully the idling, slumming star as Shire is the inexpressive, nepotistic inevitability. Kahn is as funny as she can be in a role and a movie that only want (and therefore get) inconsistent kitsch. Cortese and Ladd do very well, but not superbly well, with the sharply limited assignments they inherit. Admittedly, 1974’s bumper crop of masterpieces—with Chinatown, The Conversation, and A Woman Under the Influence leading the crop—have barely anything to offer to this category, and the actors apparently hated the double Oscar-winning Great Gatsby too much to toss a bone to the inimitable and Golden Globe-winning Karen Black. One film the actors clearly did see and deservedly enjoy was Claudine, so it’s a shame they didn’t acknowledge the fierce, wounded maturity of Tamu Blackwell as the eldest daughter of Diahann Carroll’s character. And it’s a shame that Valerie Perrine’s agent didn’t seize a pretty incredible opening on behalf of his client, who nonetheless must have relished her Best Actress nomination for her borderline lead/supporting role in Lenny. Ah well. I guess the rigid laws of Hollywood sexism demand that in the one year, rare as a unicorn, when all five Best Actress nominees are superlative and award-worthy, the supporting gals turn out to embody an all-time low. Can’t have too many good roles running around at one time, after all.

Ken Sez: Once the moral climate thawed out a bit, Hollywood never seemed to stop apologizing to Ingrid Bergman for the Rossellini era tar and feather treatment. But the Oscar for Orient Express was carrying it entirely too far. Even the actress herself seemed needled by the award. In a prickly acceptance speech, she virtually re-gifted it to Valentina Cortese - a clumsy gesture that can hardly have endeared her to the other three nominees, sweeping them implicitly, as it did, into her "I am not worthy" club. Still, four years later, she came back with a knock-out performance in Autumn Sonata (beautiful, nuanced work, confirming to the world that Bergman was still a brilliant - and growing - artist).

Newland Sez: The 1974 bunch of supporting actress nominees is indeed an unusual one for Oscar: rather than nominating archetypically dull mother or girlfriend roles, they chose five brief but pivotal performances, which is what the category should be about. Especially in the case of Kahn and Ladd, you’re left wishing for a bit more of their characters, who appear in the middle of the film and are sorely missed once they disappear. While Shire suffers from a thankless sister role with an unexplained character arch, Bergman was undeservingly rewarded for playing against type, uglifying herself and not appearing ridiculous while talking about brown children born backwards. She was right when she said on her acceptance speech that her Oscar belonged to Valentina Cortese, a performer of great skill who gives an acting masterclass playing a mediocre one.

Tim Sez: I’m on record for rating 1974 as one of Oscar’s banner years, but I’d forgotten quite how much of a dent the Bergman win – and Finney’s nomination – put in the acting categories. Still, knock her out (as I’m sure we have) and this is a good spread of nominees across wildly divergent genres: it’s nice to see voters having the balls to nominate brilliant comic work even in a rank misfire like Blazing Saddles. It strikes me that all these characters are fighting for more space in their movies, making do with curtailed screen time in jostling ensemble pieces, and while Kahn, Ladd and Cortese make more than enough of their opportunities to be nom-worthy, it’s Shire who really pulls out all the stops: only the heartbreaking, inexplicably unnominated John Cazale can match her for scene-playing in their film. There’s only one really rotten egg in this basket, right? And Bergman’s win, I have to concede, is Academy starfucking at its grimmest.

So, lovely reader, tell the Smackdowners what YOU think!
Join the dialogue in comments.

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Talia Shire in The Godfather, Part II (1974) - Supporting Actress Sundays

Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part II enjoys such extraordinary and enduring acclaim that the contrarian in StinkyLulu just pines to rant against this 187 minutes of passion, pasta and period costumes. (Indeed, the mere presence of Lee Strasberg in the cast -- & on the nomination roster -- is nearly enough to get Lu in a rabid attack lather.) But goldarnit, the movie is pretty freakin' good. The Godfather Part II accomplishes the kind of emotional and historical sweep that really should cause the film to just collapse under the weight of its own pretensions; that it doesn't is one of the architectural marvels of modern cinema. Even more, the movie showcases Al Pacino at the height of his gift (and hotness) and provides the vessel for a jawdroppingly effective performance by Robert DeNiro (who's just astonishingly sexy, speaking Italian in sepia tone, dreamier even than a young Brando...woof). But, for this actressexual, there's the lady question. To wit: where are they? And on this front, the film does disappoint mightily, offering as paltry sustenance the thin but sturdy reed of a performance by...

...Talia Shire in The Godfather, Part II (1974).
approximately 11 minutes and 56 seconds on-screen
9 scenes
roughly 6% of film's total screen time

In The Godfather Part II, Diane Keaton (as Pacino's/Michael's love Kay) and Talia Shire (as Corleone sister, Connie) both reprise the roles they created memorably in the original Godfather. In Part II, however, the film divests Keaton of narrative significance, relegating her to the mostly symbolic arc of the "white woman among the wops" who's just not sure how to extricate herself. Shire's Connie has a starker character transformation -- marked in several clusters of short scenes -- but, even then, Shire's Connie is there mostly to perform symbolic narrative gestures.

Early on, there's the first batch of short scenes, where Shire's Connie (as the trashy divorcee arriving late to the family party) tries to wheedle money -- but maybe some approval too -- from her exacting brother and disappointed mother. Connie's defiance is adolescent and, in these early scenes, Shire's performance conveys the desperate smugness of a woman who waited until her 30s to rebel. Then, all at once, Shire's Connie is gone and remains so -- without even a referential mention -- for nearly ninety minutes, until Mama Corleone dies. In this second cluster of scene-lets, Shire's Connie (as the "only sister" chastened by her absence from her now-dead mother's life) endeavors to make amends, first with her brother and then with the family (by orchestrating a "reunion" of the estranged Michael and Fredo). Then, again, Shire's Connie's drops away from the narrative for nearly an hour, until -- for her final bundle of scenes -- she's back, this time as the Corleone's surrogate matriarch, announcing arrivals and insisting upon departures, before a concluding flashback remembers her as the idealized, innocent little sister.

These three beats -- rebellion to contrition to tradition -- could provide a powerful character arc for Connie, but the film doesn't just doesn't go there. And, unfortunately, neither does Shire. The movie seems to forget all about Connie until she shows up out of nowhere, and Shire's performance provides little in the way of nuance to suggest where Connie might have been in the meantime. Only in the scene with Keaton's Kay does Shire provide a hint of Connie's complexity; otherwise, it's all shrill defiance or strategic submission...as if that's all a woman can do. Shire's is not a bad performance, not by any means (which StinkyLulu had to begrudgingly concede upon rescreening this film), but Shire's Connie isn't much of a performance either.

• • • • •

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Supporting Actress
Smackdown for 1974!

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Valentina Cortese in Day For Night (1974) - Supporting Actress Sundays (Extra Special Friday Edition)

November's brought some cinematic serendipity, wherein StinkyLulu's screenings of new films at the cinema just happen to fit provocatively with the home-viewing schedule. A couple weeks back, the Stinkys took in Scorsese's latest The Departed (MrStinky lurved it; Lulu was all "feh") the same day that StinkyLu screened Scorsese's 1974 success, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Then again, this week's Turkey day became a kind of meta-movie day with bookend screenings of, first, the Stinkys' pre-feast screening of Christopher Guest's curious homage to movie-makers, For Your Consideration, and finally concluding with StinkyLulu's late night viewing of François Truffaut's legendary elegy for filmmaking, Day for Night (1974) -- aka La nuit américaine (1973). The Stinkys remain a touch nonplussed by For Your Consideration but -- truth be told -- the movie's got a few moments of uninhibited, eye-popping orgiastic excess (actresses playing actresses) that are like crack for hardcore actressexuals like StinkyLulu. Much like the perverse pleasures provided by...

...Valentina Cortese in Day For Night (1974)
approximately 18 minutes and 27 seconds on-screen
11 scenes
roughly 16% of film's total screen time

Truffaut's Day for Night builds its loose but intricate narrative upon the "dramatic" structure of a film shoot, with the film's first scene being the first day of filming and the final scene happening the day the project wraps. The eclectic cast and crew (helmed by Truffaut himself playing the film's director) and their internecine personal sagas become a much better source for compelling drama than "Meet Pamela" -- the patently mediocre fictive "movie" ostensibly at the center of the film. Truffaut's film mines enthralling moments from the petty yet fascinating minutiae that routes the workaday actions of, say, the "script-girl" Joelle or the production-manager's wife. Yet, just above or beyond all of this mundanity is "Severine" -- a legendarily talented and glamourous leading lady in her youth, now relegated to supporting parts that neither sustain nor inspire her. (Let alone her glamour.) Nonetheless, as played by Supporting Actress nominee Valentina Cortese, Severine hovers just above much of this film. Nearly every transmission over the on-set PA system, or hustling message among crewmembers, announces Severine -- her needs, her wants, her comings, her goings, even her wig status -- and, all together, subtly constructs the character as a high-maintenance diva even in the actress' absence.

Not that Cortese's Severine disappoints on the high-maintenance diva front. Not hardly. In what is surely one of the film's most enthralling sequences (only the "will the cat drink the milk" scene is more exhilarating), Cortese's Severine flails her way through shooting a simple scene, first losing her lines (before having the words taped at strategic intervals on the back of set pieces) and finally dissembling in a nervous collapse (when she can't keep track of which door's she's to storm through at the scene's end). Cortese's performance elevates the scene's superficial comedy to an excruciating kind of transcendance. Cortese's Severine repeats the same sequence of banal dialogue again and again, making both the same and different mistakes each time, until she cracks under the desperation. This 7+minute sequence is a marvel to watch and is -- in and of itself -- nomination-worthy.

And yet, there's something -- a grandness? a charisma? a presence? -- missing from Valentina Cortese's Severine. She's a brilliantly grandiose mess, to be sure, but the character needs to be something more. Part of the character's desperation follows from the fact Severine's still exuding the gravitational pull that made her a star but no one's much interested in orbiting her. (Consider, as contrast, co-star Jean-Pierre Aumont's easy elegance as Alexandre, who effortlessly exudes the kind of old-school movie glamor that both Alexandre and Severine are to represent.) Unfortunately, rather than embodying the nuclear fragility of a disintegrating star, Cortese makes the mistake of manifesting Severine's desperation by madly clutching champagne bottles and glasses. To be sure, Cortese does give a sensible, sensitive performance but misses something -- a vestigial "sensationalness" -- to underscore just what Severine's almost entirely lost along the way. (Indeed, during the film, when members of the crew pop off answers to a tv quiz show and mention Jeanne Moreau, StinkyLulu got a case of the actressexual quivers: "That's Severine," StinkyLulu mused, "Moreau would've rocked as Severine. And what about Signoret..." Well. It's never a good moment when StinkyLulu tries to recast the performance as it's happening...)

There's much to admire about Valentina Cortese's performance as Severine, but StinkyLulu stops short of finding much to love. One of StinkyLu's personal criteria for greatness among actresses at the edges is: do I want to follow that character off the screen into another movie in which she's the star? And, here, StinkyLulu's answer is a bit shocking: "Absolutely -- would love to see more of Severine...once they recast."

• • • • •

See you at this Sunday's
Supporting Actress
Smackdown for 1974!

And of course...
Be sure to
VOTE
for December's Roster of
Supporting Actress Sundays

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SIGN UP for