By Colin Campbell

The Academy Award winners for Best Supporting Actor of the 1990s are a fine display of veteran Hollywood talent finally getting overdue recognition and a number of then upcoming stars who’ve risen to even greater roles since their victories.  More importantly, the emergence of older actors coming back into the spotlight and showing they still have what it takes to give an Oscar worthy performance comprises one third of our list.

More importantly, the 90s were a decade that predominantly gave the tip of the hat to classic tough guys over the more civilized, sensitive characters that often won for lead roles.  Over half of the decades winners came to prominence in films about war or the Wild West, nearly half of them played law men in several films of their career and one for playing a character with the same kind of bravado.  In a decade that gave you spine chilling suspense and vicious rivalries one year only to fill the theaters with sentimental stories and poignant drama the next, the Academy seemed to use the Best Supporting Actor award to highlight the best of both.  And, much like our staff’s choices for the Best Supporting Actors of the 2000s, the best heroes and villains are our favorites.

#10 (1998) James Coburn, Affliction 8.67

It has all the elements of a classic Western gun battle.  Robert Duvall sits behind his desk as town sherrif, his golden star still glimmering after showing Tender Mercies to the townsfolk some 15 years ago.  Next to him, Geoffrey Rush plays the traveling pioneer made deputy and has a star of his own to match, still showing quite a Shine after an impressive sharpshooting demonstration two years earlier at the Oscars, Tonys, and Emmys.  Hiding above the sherrif’s office is a disgruntled but determined man on the rifle, Ed Harris, who hasn’t managed to get a star of his own even though he’s a legendary law man known throughout the counties.  As they patiently wait for the gang to ride into town, an aged man strolls down the street unnoticed, smoking a cigar and lighting a stick of dynamite with it.  As he casually flings it at the sheriff’s office, the tremendous explosion leaves no sound but the dying screams of Hollywood’s A-list and the unmistakeable triumphant laugh of James Coburn.

Just as I can’t get away from James Coburn’s series of roles as a black hat wearing outlaw, I don’t think the Academy could either.  While his role as a drunk and abusive father shows the true talents that come from decades of refining one’s talent, Coburn’s award was a salute to being an incredible actor with a lifetime of memorable roles that somehow never garnished enough nominations to give him a victory.  Don’t worry, Ed, you’ll be older and more deserving in due time.

#9 (1991) Jack Palance, City Slickers 8.04

My #1 vote specifically intended to prevent him from coming in last, Jack Palance is another one of my favorite Western bad ass actors out there and really set the standard on how to do it starting with one of his first of two nominations some 40 years ago in Shane.  Since that time, he’d been given a number of roles both big and small that seemed to elude even so much a nomination and quickly gave him the stigma as a character actor.  Like Lloyd Bridges, Palance’s career required some redefinition when he became too old to play the leading roles and tough guys he’d grown accustomed to and this breakout comedy seemed to be the solution he’d been looking for.  Although he continued to play the battered old veteran in many films, it was his ability to bring comedy to a persona he’d cultivated for decades that gave him the Oscar nod as Curly Washburn.  He had a chance to do so a few years later when he took the role of his twin brother in a City Slickers sequel.  While the film falls short of the original’s charm, Palance has some hilarious scenes including being mistaken for dying in the same manner as his brother and ranting about his horrible job as “The Happy Pirate” at a seafood restaurant.

#8 (1996) Cuba Gooding, Jr., Jerry Maguire 7.05

Voted last by more than one critic, it’s hard to tell if Gooding’s victory is discredited due to dislike of the actor, the role, or the fact William H. Macy didn’t win for playing Jerry Lundergaard in Fargo.  Although a generation of men still curses itself by being tricked into seeing this “chick flick” cleverly disguised as a football film, Rod Tidwell’s classic line of “Show me the money” became a household phrase even before people saw him utter it on screen for the first time.  Gooding’s natural energy and comedic nature came out in the role and his athletic background made him a perfect reproduction of the best kept secret in the NFL.  Proving that life does in fact imitate art, he shouted over the music cued to send him off the stage during his acceptance speech in much the same manner he ignored the reporters barraging him with questions after playing the best game of his career at the end of the film.

#7 (1999) Michael Caine, The Cider House Rules 6.58

The year was 1999 and keeping The Green Mile from winning any awards was of critical importance to the film going public.  OK, maybe that’s not an official interpretation, but as much as the public wanted Haley Joel Osment to win for The Sixth Sense, it was obvious that the series of overly sentimental films, which seemed to creep into the awards were going to win something.  The Cider House Rules was in direct competition with The Green Mile for this award and Best Adapted Screenplay and beat it out both times.  Both films received very mixed reviews, and it may be the fact that Caine’s illustrious career as one of two actors (Jack Nicholson being the other) who’ve been consistently nominated for lead and supporting roles each decade for the past 40 years that helped ensure victory.

Goodnight my Prince Caine, you knight of Old England.

#6 (1994) Martin Landau, Ed Wood 5.73

Once again, an older actor pushes past a number of hopefuls and claims a long overdue Oscar.  The Oscars proved to be a breath of life for Landau’s career, who landed better roles in the 80s and 90s  thanks to attention which came after nominations for work in Crimes and Misdemeanors and Tucker: A Man and His Dream.  Although one could argue Landau’s victory is motivated much like Coburn’s and Palance’s, the contribution he made as Bela Lugosi is the glue that holds such an outrageous film like Ed Wood together.  Young audiences who didn’t know Landau beyond old television shows in syndication (or more commonly as the outspoken and opinionated angry old man to the press) suddenly found themselves fans… and I was one of them.

#5 (1997) Robin Williams, Good Will Hunting 5.19

If there’s any award I disagree with on the list, this would be the one, and I personally rated it last.  Although I’ve respected the decisions to give older actors an overdue Oscar nod, I just don’t think Robin Williams earned it with this one.  After having nominations overlooked in Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society and The Fisher King, it was inevitable his next nomination would be his first victory.  To the Academy, it was a symbol of a body of work that demanded some official recognition.  What it meant for the rest of us was Robert Forster, Anthony Hopkins, Greg Kinnear, and Burt Reynolds were all there to make it look like a contest.

#4 (1993) Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive 5.11

Ralph Fiennes had a chilling breakthrough performance as a Nazi commandant in Schindler’s List and topped the nominee list beside John Malkovich’s equally chilling role as an assassin.  Adding Leonardo DiCaprio’s portrayal of a developmentally disabled youngster that was uncanny in it’s realism and you better bring your absolute best performance if you want to win.  All were considered favorites at the time but lost to Tommy Lee Jones, who brought a career of similar roles to his crowning achievement as Marshall Samuel Gerard in The Fugitive.  Jones somehow manages to upstage the great Harrison Ford from start to finish, even in scenes involving the both of them.  The role was so charismatic that it provided another role as a U.S. Marshall and series of similar leading roles in the coming years.

#3 (1992) Gene Hackman, Unforgiven 3.99

The most unsettling aspect of Unforgiven in comparison to other westerns is that there’s no good guy to be found, not even in the town’s sheriff, Little Bill Daggett.  When it was reviewed as a good western, droves of moviegoers who hadn’t seen a western since the 50s and 60s went back into theaters and came out appalled.  Their complaint does have some justification as Daggett’s first job as sheriff is to break up a dispute between the local whorehouse and how they’ll handle punishment of a violent customer who manages to mutilate one of the prostitutes with a knife.  Daggett will later face off against assassins trying to claim the “whore’s gold” and then somehow manage to win both the audience and the assassin’s biographer over by recounting tales of their mutual past back at his place.  In true Hackman fashion, Daggett remains unyielding and defiant until his last breath.

#2 (1990) Joe Pecsi, Goodfellas 3.39

Perhaps it was not getting the Golden Globe, or not getting that or the Oscar he was nominated for just over a decade ago in Raging Bull.  For whatever reason he thought he didn’t stand a chance of winning, which was his excuse for giving one of the shortest acceptance speeches in Oscar history.  It’s hard to believe such a statement considering the amount of high votes from our own staff and the finished product itself.  Goodfellas and Tommy DeVito is one of the most loved and most quoted gangster films of our age, right up there with classics like Scarface and The Godfather.  In an ironic twist, Pesci beat out Andy Garcia’s version of young mafioso Vincent Mancini-Corleone from The Godfather Part III to win this award and made a name for himself as the new face of the classic Italian mafia.  He’d make the most of the typecast, getting offered similar roles in Casino and Eight Heads In A Dufflebag. According to the real Henry Hill, whose life was the basis for the book and film, Joe Pesci’s portrayal of Tommy DeVito was 90% to 99% accurate with one major exception: Henry Hill was a huge hulk of a man, meaning someone like Joe Pesci could’ve easily heard those infamous Hollywood casting call words “Sorry, too short.”

#1 (1995) Kevin Spacey, The Usual Suspects 2.13

“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. And like that, poof. He’s gone”

As much as I loved this role, I was very surprised to see it win the Oscar.  James Cromwell, Ed Harris (again), Brad Pitt and Tim Roth all had noteworthy performances and any of them could easily have taken it without debate.  Each one of them left you with that feeling they’d be nominated halfway through the film, but somehow Spacey stood out just a bit more even amongst such tested talent.  He’d do the same thing again a few years later, winning the Best Actor award for American Beauty. What fascinates moviegoers in a film like The Usual Suspects is being given the villains as your main characters right from the opening frame.  Right away we know this story isn’t about a hero but the antihero, and what makes this particular film amazing is most of us aren’t even sure who that person is right up until the end.  “Verbal” Kint is our narrator, and we’re already sold on him as the victim of this tragic tale thanks to his meek but smart mouthed demeanor.  The kind of criminal we call harmless, barely able to light his own cigarette thanks to a series of physical handicaps most notable in his limp.

Bit by bit, the story unfolds, a tale of jagged alliances and impending betrayal.  We can’t help but admire each of them for their unique personality forged from their shady pasts.  We sympathize as we see them controlled by both the police and even greater criminals as they attempt not to simply get rich, but get rich and get out while they can.  The only reassurance we have that anyone survived at all is sitting there as he weaves the tale, quite content doing so in fact.  Pieces of the story are added from eyewitness reports, detective work, anything they can find to find some link to the most elusive man in the criminal underworld… someone has in fact seen Kaiser Soze.  As Kint tells his story, we’re given a glimpse into a man obsessed with power, whose thirst for wealth is only surpassed by a thirst for vengeance.  A devil among men, we’re sitting on the edge of our seats watching to see just who that devil was.  Perplexed until the very end, it isn’t until the final minute of the film that we find out what fools we’ve all been… and for that, Mr. Soze, we salute you.

Completed:

2000s Best Picture
2000s Best Actor
2000s Best Actress
1990s Best Picture
1990s Best Actor
1990s Best Actress
1980s Best Picture
2000s Best Supporting Actor
2000s Best Supporting Actress
1990s Best Supporting Actor

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