The Oscar 100: #100-96

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This post marks Part 1 of the 20-part series The Oscar 100. Join me as I reflect on the 100 greatest Oscar-nominated performances and what made them so richly deserving of recognition.

100. Kathleen Turner in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)

Her competition...

Jane Fonda, The Morning After
Marlee Matlin, Children of a Lesser God (WINNER)
Sissy Spacek, Crimes of the Heart
Sigourney Weaver, Aliens

Turner portrays Peggy Sue Bodell, a thirtysomething woman who, while attending her 25-year high school reunion, passes out, only to awaken as her teenage self in 1960. Peggy Sue had just separated from her cheating husband Charlie (Nicolas Cage) and for years regretted decisions she'd made in life, including having a baby with him while in high school. With foreknowledge to spare, Peggy Sue is able to make a number of positive changes but such is more complicated with Charlie, who again wins her over with his idiosyncratic charm. This performance marked Turner's first (and somehow only) Oscar nomination.

For Turner and director Francis Ford Coppola, 1986 marked a year to celebrate. Peggy Sue Got Married was Coppola's first successful picture since Apocalypse Now nearly a decade earlier - One from the Heart, Rumble Fish and The Cotton Club were unimpeachable flops, while The Outsiders did OK business but hardly resonated on the level of Coppola's hits from the '70s.

As for Turner, she may have been one of the hottest stars of the '80s but the Oscars, for some time at least, just wouldn't bite. She wasn't nominated for her stirring debut turn in Body Heat but it was her snubs for Romancing the Stone and Prizzi's Honor - two performances that won her Golden Globes - that really surprised. At last, Peggy Sue landed Turner that long overdue recognition and, venturing into Oscar night, many pundits pegged her as likely for the win. Alas, it would be Matlin achieving that Oscar glory and Turner inexplicably would not be nominated again, despite awards-caliber turns in the likes of The War of the Roses, Serial Mom and The Virgin Suicides.

While Peggy Sue earned mostly warm notices upon release (Siskel & Ebert were huge champions of the picture), there were a handful of critics who wrote it off as something of a Back to the Future retread. I for one actually see Peggy Sue as the superior and more compelling film, much as I enjoy the Robert Zemeckis flick too.

In Back to the Future, Michael J. Fox's Marty McFly traveled back to the '50s, where he met his parents when they were teenagers. What I think makes Peggy Sue a more affecting endeavor is the title character being transported back and, with her adult mind intact, having the ability to inhabit her own body as a teenager. It's sweet and funny watching Marty McFly interact with his teenage parents and while there are moments like that in Peggy Sue, there are also deeply poignant, at times even devastating scenes, like when Peggy Sue gets to visit with her grandparents again.

The picture, of course, wouldn't work at all without Turner being dead-on convincing as a 17-year-old and she sure is, as are her marvelous co-stars (Cage, plus Joan Allen, Catherine Hicks and Jim Carrey, among others). Debra Winger was initially slated to portray Peggy Sue and, while I have no doubt she would've slayed as well, Turner is absolutely pitch-perfect. It's a warm and wonderful performance from an actress who surely deserved more than one measly Oscar nomination.

99. Shelley Winters in A Place in the Sun (1951)

Her competition...

Katharine Hepburn, The African Queen
Vivien Leigh, A Streetcar Named Desire (WINNER)
Eleanor Parker, Detective Story
Jane Wyman, The Blue Veil

Winters portrays Alice Tripp, a poor, lonely factory worker who falls head over heels for George Eastman (Montgomery Clift), her new co-worker. The two begin dating but, amidst their courtship, George becomes more enamored with glamorous socialite Angela Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor). Complications arise from Alice's announcement that she is pregnant with George's child and insistence that he marry her - a development that will ultimately have tragic consequences. This performance marked Winters' first Oscar nomination.

I will have heaps more to say about Montgomery Clift and A Place in the Sun later in this project - it should come as scant surprise that Clift will be gracing my top 100, and in probably quite a high position. Suffice to say Clift is one of my favorite performances, Oscar-nominated or not, to ever grace the screen and A Place in the Sun is, at the very least, among my 10 favorite films of the '50s.

This entry, of course, is not about Clift but his co-star Winters who, while not quite as off-the-charts extraordinary as her leading man, is still in plenty compelling form, unforgettable as the doomed Alice Tripp.

Winters' placement in Lead is rather remarkable (though not as perplexing as Eleanor Parker's Lead push), given her modest screen time. Yet, much like say, Louise Fletcher in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs, it's a performance that is constantly on your mind, even when Winters isn't on screen. Her haunting presence can even be felt in the much-celebrated scenes with Clift and Taylor, deservedly cited as among the most romantic in all of cinema, yet also made rather uneasy by Winters, her helpless and hopeless spirit always lingering in the air.

A Place in the Sun finds Winters in atypical form, both a far cry from the blonde bombshells she was famous for portraying before and from the bold and brazen (and later grandmotherly) roles she would tackle in the decades to follow. Her Alice is a fragile figure, devoid of confidence and eventually, deep down knowing that George would be a whole lot happier if their paths had never crossed. Winters' portrayal has a quiet sadness and desperation that is unlike anything she's displayed before - contrast this subtly devastating turn with her bombastic scenery-chewing in A Patch of Blue (which earned Winters her second Oscar) and you find an actress with some killer range.

Ultimately, director George Stevens and screenwriters Harry Brown and Michael Wilson give Alice Tripp about as much TLC as George Eastman does. The character isn't really fleshed out and even in her critical scenes, Stevens seems more concerned with George's reaction than Alice's plight. Still, Winters brings her A-game to every moment and is a plenty inspired choice for a role that's such a 180 from the colorful characters she became renowned for portraying.

98. Rosie Perez in Fearless (1993)

Her competition...

Holly Hunter, The Firm
Anna Paquin, The Piano (WINNER)
Winona Ryder, The Age of Innocence
Emma Thompson, In the Name of the Father

Perez portrays Carla Rodrigo, a survivor of a catastrophic plane crash. While Carla made it out alive, her baby son did not and she blames herself for not holding on to him tightly enough as the plane went down. Anguished with guilt and grief, she meets Max (Jeff Bridges), another survivor of the crash, who has had a starkly different reaction to the experience - he now sees himself as an unstoppable, God-like figure and is determined to lift Carla out of her depression. This performance marked Perez's first (and to date, only) Oscar nomination.

Perez had one gangbusters streak going in the early '90s, between this, Night on Earth, White Men Can't Jump, Untamed Heart and It Could Happen to You - it's inexplicable to me that she did not continue to land rich parts worthy of her talents.

Fearless is the most poignant of these performances, a harrowing, scene-stealing turn in one of the more underrated pictures of '93. Bridges is in top form, as is Isabella Rossellini (portraying Bridges' wife), but for my money, it's Perez who walks away with the film.

Carla's pain is intensely palpable and there isn't a moment in Perez's performance that doesn't ring true. The scene in which Carla admits to Max the responsibility she feels for her son's death is devastating and I'm even more fond of another, quieter moment in the picture in which Carla and Max are at a mall and she becomes entranced by a baby there who reminds her of her own.

The '93 race in Best Supporting Actress found Ryder holding steady as front-runner, albeit a soft one, through most of the awards season. The lukewarm reception to The Age of Innocence, however, left a clear opening for an upset. Alas, despite only picking up a single precursor that year (honors from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, which she shared with Perez), it would be Paquin, not Perez, seizing that opening.

Paquin and Ryder are both in fine form in their respective pictures but I don't think either really holds a candle to the extraordinary work Perez turned in this year.

97. Lesley Ann Warren in Victor/Victoria (1982)

Her competition...

Glenn Close, The World According to Garp
Teri Garr, Tootsie
Jessica Lange, Tootsie (WINNER)
Kim Stanley, Frances

Warren portrays Norma Cassidy, the deliciously ditzy girlfriend of King Marchand (James Garner), a mob-associated nightclub owner. Norma is overcome with jealously when King falls for Count Victor Grazinski (Julie Andrews), a supposed female impersonator who King isn't the least bit convinced is really a man. This performance marked Warren's first (and to date, only) Oscar nomination.

Victor/Victoria opens on a surprisingly tame note. Andrews and co-star Robert Preston are a pleasure to watch as the down-and-out entertainer Victoria Grant and Toddy, the cabaret performer who comes up with the ingenious idea to have his new pal put on shows as a male impersonator posing as a female impersonator, but the proceedings otherwise lack that usual vitality of the best Blake Edwards farces.

Then, Warren enters the picture and, for all too brief a time, we're in legit comedy heaven.

Warren may only grace Victor/Victoria for a mere 15 minutes but she juices all she can out of that slim screen time. It's an uproariously funny, irresistibly sexy turn that rings of vintage Carol Channing and Mae West but still feels entirely inspired and original. She aces her one big musical number (the jovial "Chicago, Illinois") and has a field day with the dialogue, able to draw big laughs through the delivery of a mere word. 

Once Warren graces the film, any scene without her cannot help but feel a little vacant. She sports a larger-than-life comic energy that is mostly missing from a picture that otherwise feels rather labored. I like Victor/Victoria but LOVE Warren's performance in it. It's a plenty more memorable turn that the winning performance in this category, albeit not quite as fetching as another '82 Supporting Actress nominee, who shall later be gracing this list.

96. Kathy Bates in Primary Colors (1998)

Her competition...

Brenda Blethyn, Little Voice
Judi Dench, Shakespeare in Love (WINNER)
Rachel Griffiths, Hilary and Jackie
Lynn Redgrave, Gods and Monsters

Bates portrays Libby Holden, longtime friend and advisor of presidential candidate Jack Stanton (John Travolta). A self-proclaimed "dust buster," Libby is hired by Jack's campaign to gather dirt that political foes may use against her old pal, a notorious womanizer. Libby proves plenty successful on that front but, when later deployed to do research on Fred Picker (Larry Hagman), Jack's opponent, she faces a moral dilemma upon uncovering sensitive information about Picker's past that would surely end his campaign. She believes it would be reprehensible to leak it to the press but Jack, desperate for victory, is inclined to use it. Their dispute results in tragedy. This performance marked Bates' second Oscar nomination.

When Bates enters Mike Nichols' sensational Primary Colors, like a tornado, she does so in unsurprising fashion. She's raunchy and hilarious and chows down on Elaine May's brilliant dialogue with gleeful vigor...but, let's face it, we've seen this Kathy Bates before. There's nothing terribly revelatory there, even if she's a vulgar delight to watch (and we do, at last, have the opportunity to hear Bates sing a bit, to Olivia Newton-John's "Please Mr. Please," no less).

At nearly the two-hour mark, however, Bates and the film take a sharp and serious turn. That her material was so outrageously funny before makes it all the more jarring and ultimately devastating when the proceedings veer toward the dramatic.

Libby goes on that opposition research mission, alongside fellow campaign worker Henry Burton (the terrific Adrian Lester), against Jack's foe and ends up uncovering that 1) Picker had a cocaine addiction that ended his first marriage and 2) Picker had sexual relations with at least one man. Libby finds the idea of leaking this info to the press - though it would surely get her friend elected - morally reprehensible but Jack and wife Susan (Emma Thompson) have scant qualms about taking advantage of it. 

This development results in the picture's most stunning and expertly acted scene, in which Libby threatens to go to the press with incriminating information on Jack if he and Susan indeed leak the Picker revelations. After decades of friendship and idealizing the Stantons, Libby at last realizes just how flawed and reckless they really are. 

Following this clash, Libby takes off with Henry and delivers a monologue that should've landed both she and May Oscars. She compares herself to the moon and the Stantons to the sun and how she's lived her entire life drawing light and warmth from them. Without their presence in it, life is nothing but bleak, cold and airless. 

After spending the bulk of Primary Colors making you laugh 'til you cry, Bates punches you right in the gut and makes you sob all over again. It's the best of her three Oscar-nominated performances (though not quite as extraordinary as her leading turn in Dolores Claiborne) and surely should've triumphed over Dench's amusing but otherwise insignificant cameo. 

Next week - I'm ditching the '90s for the '40s, '70s and '80s. We've got career-best work from two of the most dynamite actresses of the stage and screen; a heartbreaking turn from an actor we recently lost; the star of a timeless holiday classic; and Gary Busey. Yes, Gary Busey.

Beginning Next Week - The Oscar 100!

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Here we go!

As I first noted last month, I will, over the coming 20 weeks, be venturing back through awards history as I reveal my selections for the 100 greatest performances ever nominated for an Oscar - let's call it the Oscar 100. I will do five performances per week, starting at #100, as I look back at what made each portrayal so richly deserving of recognition and what went down in each Oscar race.

The format of this shall go as follows... (and no worries, fellow Ellen Burstyn fans, she'll be making at least one appearance in the Oscar 100)

101. Ellen Burstyn in Resurrection (1980)

Her competition...

Goldie Hawn, Private Benjamin
Mary Tyler Moore, Ordinary People
Gena Rowlands, Gloria
Sissy Spacek, Coal Miner's Daughter (WINNER)

Burstyn portrays Edna Mae McCauley, a woman who briefly experiences the afterlife following a car accident that leaves her widowed and paralyzed. Edna moves from California to Kansas to be closer to her extended family and, while in recovery, discovers she now has a supernatural power to heal. She herself quickly, fully recovers from her injuries and becomes something of a local celebrity, healing anyone who needs assistance. While most accept and even celebrate her gift, Edna's lover (Sam Shepard), an unstable and deeply religious man, sincerely believes she is the resurrection of Christ. This performance marked Burstyn's fifth Oscar nomination.

For far too long, Resurrection and Burstyn's haunting performance were exceedingly difficult to access. Rarely aired on television and scarcely distributed on DVD in 2009, Universal at last gave the picture a sufficient DVD re-release just two years ago. We should all be thankful, as Burstyn's stirring work here is to be treasured.

Working alongside two pros - director Daniel Petrie, whose Sybil and Eleanor and Franklin were two of the best TV specials of the '70s, and screenwriter Lewis John Carlino, who also had The Great Santini in 1980 - Burstyn is pitch-perfect in a remarkably challenging and idiosyncratic role. Her transformation from ordinary woman to mystical miracle worker is dead-on convincing. There's an especially stunning scene in the picture in which Edna is called upon to heal a gravely ill woman and it's a moment which, if played incorrectly, could have easily ended up unintentionally funny. As played by Burstyn, however, it's a captivating and cathartic scene in a picture full of them. She also has several memorable scenes opposite that brilliant stage actress Eva Le Gallienne, also Oscar-nominated here, in a rare screen appearance.

The picture, I'm afraid, falters a bit in the final act, with Burstyn donning a truly hideous wig and old lady makeup. It's a misstep that brings the film down from masterpiece-level but thankfully isn't enough to much detract from Burstyn's superb work.

Not that Burstyn had a prayer of prevailing this year. With Spacek steamrolling and Moore viewed as the only real threat (albeit a modest one at that), she, Hawn and Rowlands were stuck watching on the sidelines. Even so, this is a remarkable performance in a film that someday, hopefully will be rediscovered.

Next week - time to officially kick off the Oscar 100 with #100-96! I'll be starting things off with five women, two pairs from the '80s and '90s, plus a turn from perhaps my favorite film of the '50s.

Nicholson at the Oscars: 2002 ("About Schmidt")

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And I thought 20 Years of Streep flew by!

As I bring this project to a close - my final 2017 "Oscar Flashback" before I focus exclusively on this year's awards season insanity - I of course want to thank my followers, both here and on Twitter, for joining me on this ride through Jack Nicholson's run at the Oscars.

Looking back on his dozen nominations and career as a whole serves as a testament to his richly deserved status as one of the finest feature film actors of the past half-century. And, I happen to think the Academy got it right - three wins, even though I'd switch out As Good As It Gets for Ironweed.

Who knows what or who I'll take on next year for an Oscar Flashback...

With that said, there is of course a 12th and final chapter to go in this project.

The 2000s, much like the 1990s and 1970s, marked a scattershot decade for Nicholson on the silver screen. Remarkably, 1997's As Good As It Gets would be Nicholson's final picture of that decade, the actor not returning to cinema until 2001's The Pledge, his second collaboration with director Sean Penn.

Like the first Nicholson-Penn picture (1995's The Crossing Guard), The Pledge was warmly received by critics but, despite one hell of an ensemble (including Helen Mirren, Vanessa Redgrave and Robin Wright), the film didn't take off in theaters, never even cracking the box office top 10.

Then (whew) came 2002 and Nicholson's 12th Oscar nomination. The film was About Schmidt, writer/director Alexander Payne's much-awaited follow-up to his 1999 cult hit Election. With rave reviews and healthy box office receipts, the picture was a major player that awards season, also picking up an Oscar nod for co-star Kathy Bates. More, of course, on About Schmidt in a bit.

Nicholson's filmography post-About Schmidt has been a roller coaster of ups and downs.

In 2003, he scored two box office hits, one praised (Something's Gotta Give) and one panned (Anger Management). Three years later, Nicholson came roaring back into the awards season with a plump part in Martin Scorsese's Best Picture Oscar-winning The Departed. Co-star Mark Wahlberg, however, would ultimately emerge the film's sole Oscar acting nominee.

Since The Departed, Nicholson has graced the screen in two motion pictures, both maligned by critics. At least Rob Reiner's The Bucket List was a box office hit, unlike James L. Brooks' How Do You Know, which hardly resonated on the level of Terms of Endearment or As Good As It Gets or even Brooks' 1994 flop I'll Do Anything.

That said, let's not dwell on Nicholson's last couple of pictures. It's time for the hilarity and heartbreak that is 2002's About Schmidt.

The 2002 Oscar nominees in Best Lead Actor were...

Adrien Brody, The Pianist

Brody portrays Wladyslaw Szpilman, an acclaimed Polish Jewish pianist who fights for survival in World War II. Once a mainstay of concert halls, Szpilman now finds himself forced into the Warsaw Ghetto, separated from his beloved family. He manages to escape and spends the remainder of the war hiding out as a refugee. This performance, which won him honors from the National Society of Film Critics, marked Brody's first (and to date, final) Oscar nomination and win.

Nicolas Cage, Adaptation

Cage portrays Charlie Kaufman, a Los Angeles screenwriter plagued by feelings of inadequacy as he struggles to pen the screenplay for a film adaptation of Susan Orlean (Oscar nominee Meryl Streep)'s book The Orchid Thief. Hardly helping matters is overbearing twin brother Donald (also Cage), who has moved into Charlie's house with his own screenwriting aspirations. This performance marked Cage's second (and to date, final) Oscar nomination.

Michael Caine, The Quiet American

Caine portrays Thomas Fowler, a London Times reporter who in 1952 is covering the early stages of the war in Indo-China. Fowler befriends Pyle (Brendan Fraser), an American supposedly visiting Saigon as part of a medical mission, and even introduces the young man to his mistress Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen). The men's friendship is shaken by Pyle's growing infatuation with Phuong and Fowler's discovery of Pyle's actual intentions in Saigon. This performance marked Caine's sixth (and to date, final) Oscar nomination.

Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York

Day-Lewis portrays William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting, a vicious New York gang leader who, toward the middle of the 19th century, vigorously fights against the waves of immigrants, namely those from Ireland, flooding into the Five Points neighborhood. His inner-circle is penetrated by Amsterdam (Leonardo DiCaprio), the son of a priest (Liam Neeson) murdered by Bill. This performance, which won him honors from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (tied with Nicholson) and New York Film Critics Circle, plus a Screen Actors Guild Award and BAFTA Award, marked Day-Lewis' third Oscar nomination.

Jack Nicholson, About Schmidt

Nicholson portrays Warren Schmidt, a lethargic insurance salesman who finds himself at a crossroads upon his retirement and the sudden death of wife Helen (June Squibb). Schmidt, unhappy with his daughter (Hope Davis)'s engagement to a dopey waterbed salesman (Dermut Mulroney), embarks on an RV road trip, determined to prevent the nuptials. This performance, which won him honors from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (tied with Day-Lewis) and a Golden Globe, marked Nicholson's 12th Oscar nomination.

Overlooked: Kieran Culkin, Igby Goes Down; Leonardo DiCaprio, Catch Me if You Can; Tom Hanks, Road to Perdition; Greg Kinnear, Auto Focus; Edward Norton, 25th Hour; Aaron Stanford, Tadpole; Robin Williams, One Hour Photo

Won: Adrien Brody, The Pianist

Should've won: Michael Caine, The Quiet American

Woah. Could it be, for once, that the Academy completely nailed a category?

Almost. Only one contender strikes me as egregiously overlooked - Williams, chilling as "Sy the Photo Guy" in One Hour Photo. The thing is, I hesitate to boot any of the nominees here. All five are in strong form (in at least one case, career-best form) and I struggle to sort out a ranking for three of them (my #3-5). There is, however, a clear winner for me, and runner-up.

I can't fault the Academy for siding with Brody here. He was, after all, the only non-Oscar winner going into this race. He also graces, by far, the strongest film of the five - I happen to think The Pianist should've won Best Picture by a country mile.

That said, I don't find Brody a terribly compelling actor. He's spectacularly well-directed here and makes for a convincing and harrowing Szpilman but I've never once been enamored with Brody in another project. In fact, more often than not, I find him downright vapid. I see the success of this performance and picture as far more a result of Roman Polanski's exquisite grasp on the material than anything Brody on his own brought to the table. It's a commendable, clearly career-best turn by a middling actor who once, to his supreme luck, caught the eye of one of cinema's all-time great filmmakers.

Adaptation does not quite operate on the same sublime level as The Pianist. Still, it's one very sharp picture and essential to its vitality, beyond the distinct look and feel Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman give the proceedings, are the performances of Cage, Streep and Chris Cooper.

Cage, I think, actually gives the least engrossing turn of the three, which is to say he's still quite splendid (arguably, this is his last great performance before he emerged King of the Razzies) but doesn't wow in the awe-inspiring way Streep or especially Cooper do. Cage's effort, while a lot of fun, also feels a little labored vis a vis Cooper, who disappears with ease into the role of John Laroche. This isn't a Leaving Las Vegas-level performance but still a plenty memorable one.

Then, you have Day-Lewis, the best (only good?) part of a stunningly shambolic picture. He sinks his teeth into the role of Bill the Butcher like a starved barbarian, chowing down on scenery, steamrolling over all of his co-stars and somehow making something out of the dreadful Jay Cocks-Steven Zaillian-Kenneth Lonergan (if only they could've pulled an Alan Smithee) screenplay.

To lift Gangs of New York, one of the very worst Martin Scorsese films, into something worthwhile is one hell of a tall order and while I wouldn't say Day-Lewis turns the picture into a must-see, he does sport enough fortitude to hold interest over the film's near-three hour length. I do think his Bill the Butcher plays more like caricature than a convincing human being but hey, at least Day-Lewis is in there trying, injecting life into the proceedings, unlike DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz, hopelessly lost at sea and miscast in their respective roles.

I would rank About Schmidt just behind Sideways and Nebraska and right alongside Election in the Payne filmography. It's a fabulous late-career vehicle for Nicholson, his best comic turn since Ironweed. As was the case in Ironweed, Nicholson sheds his trademark charisma, here convincing as a lost and spiritless man, for too long sleepwalking his way through life. He has great, laugh-out-loud scenes opposite Bates but plenty of sad and affecting moments too. I get a lump in my throat just thinking about the ending as I write this!

On more than just the rare occasion over his career, Nicholson has collaborated with a brilliant, challenging filmmaker and, for one reason or another, the project simply failed to gel. See, for instance, the late Nicholson-Rafelson pictures. About Schmidt is a testament to the movie magic that can come about when the pieces properly fall into place for the actor and the director/screenwriter. The combination of one of the greatest actors of his generation and finest filmmakers of recent years proves irresistible here.

Now, given my salivating over Nicholson, you might presume I'd be giving him the win here. Alas, there is one more performance, and it's a superior one.

Philip Noyce's The Quiet American should have been stirring enough to emerge a Best Picture contender in 2002. His direction of the film is steady and absorbing and the Christopher Hampton adaptation of Graham Greene's novel is for sure more compelling than Joseph L. Mankiewicz's script for his misguided 1958 picture. The film is handsomely designed and, as I'll soon mention, Caine has rarely been better. There is one problem, though, and it's a near-fatal one - Fraser, much as I've adored him in lighter fare, is woefully miscast as Pyle, so much so he winds up somewhat serving as an anchor to an otherwise sensational effort.

Thankfully, Fraser is not vapid enough to detract from Caine's mesmerizing work here. This is my second-favorite of his Oscar-nominated turns, just behind Hannah and Her Sisters (one of my all-time favorite performances period). Caine exquisitely captures a man replete with heartache, a sad and detached figure who does not realize how in love he is until he's on the verge of losing his partner. He says so much with a simple, nuanced glance. It's a beautifully unaffected, soulful performance, one of the actor's last (alongside Youth) truly great leading turns on the silver screen.

All 60 Oscar-nominated performances ranked!

  1. Jack Nicholson, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
  2. Al Pacino, The Godfather Part II
  3. George C. Scott, Patton
  4. Jack Nicholson, Five Easy Pieces
  5. James Earl Jones, The Great White Hope
  6. Al Pacino, Serpico
  7. Jack Nicholson, The Last Detail
  8. Al Pacino, Dog Day Afternoon
  9. Jack Nicholson, Chinatown
  10. Melvyn Douglas, I Never Sang for My Father
  11. Dustin Hoffman, Lenny
  12. Gig Young, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
  13. James Whitmore, Give 'em Hell, Harry!
  14. James Coco, Only When I Laugh
  15. Peter Fonda, Ulee's Gold
  16. Jack Nicholson, Easy Rider
  17. Marlon Brando, Last Tango in Paris
  18. James Garner, Murphy's Romance
  19. Jack Nicholson, Ironweed
  20. Robert Duvall, The Apostle
  21. Michael Caine, The Quiet American
  22. Gene Hackman, Unforgiven
  23. Jack Nicholson, Terms of Endearment
  24. John Gielgud, Arthur
  25. Harrison Ford, Witness
  26. Marcello Mastroianni, Dark Eyes
  27. Jack Nicholson, About Schmidt
  28. Rip Torn, Cross Creek
  29. Jack Nicholson, Prizzi's Honor
  30. Ryan O'Neal, Love Story
  31. Jack Nicholson, Reds
  32. Michael Douglas, Wall Street
  33. Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York
  34. Nicolas Cage, Adaptation
  35. Adrien Brody, The Pianist
  36. Jack Nicholson, As Good As It Gets
  37. David Paymer, Mr. Saturday Night
  38. Jaye Davidson, The Crying Game
  39. William Hurt, Kiss of the Spider Woman
  40. Walter Matthau, The Sunshine Boys
  41. Robin Williams, Good Morning, Vietnam
  42. Matt Damon, Good Will Hunting
  43. Sam Shepard, The Right Stuff
  44. Dustin Hoffman, Wag the Dog
  45. Ian Holm, Chariots of Fire
  46. Jack Lemmon, Save the Tiger
  47. Elliott Gould, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
  48. William Hurt, Broadcast News
  49. Howard E. Rollins, Jr., Ragtime
  50. Art Carney, Harry and Tonto
  51. Robert Redford, The Sting
  52. John Lithgow, Terms of Endearment
  53. Al Pacino, Glengarry Glen Ross
  54. Charles Durning, To Be or Not to Be
  55. Albert Finney, Murder on the Orient Express
  56. Jon Voight, Runaway Train
  57. Rupert Crosse, The Reivers
  58. Jack Nicholson, A Few Good Men
  59. Anthony Quayle, Anne of the Thousand Days
  60. Maximilian Schell, The Man in the Glass Booth

Nicholson at the Oscars: 1997 ("As Good As It Gets")

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In 1994, nearly a decade following the critical and commercial failure of Heartburn, Jack Nicholson and Mike Nichols collaborated for a fourth (and ultimately final) time on the horror film Wolf. Nicholson's second picture opposite Michelle Pfeiffer, the film was a modest box office success but garnered a lukewarm critical reception. The merely fair response to Wolf, however, would still dwarf the success (or lack thereof) of Nicholson's 1995 and 1996 releases.

Sean Penn, having recently garnered raves and awards season buzz for Brian De Palma's Carlito's Way, ventured behind the camera in 1995 with The Crossing Guard,  a dramatic leading vehicle for Nicholson. The film reunited the star with, five years out from their high-profile split, Anjelica Huston. Both stars won warm reviews for their turns but the Penn picture failed to resonate with audiences and was ultimately labeled a box office flop.

Then, even worse, there was 1996.

Blood and Wine marked Nicholson's sixth picture under the direction of longtime pal Bob Rafelson. Despite their prior success and a starry cast including heavyweights Michael Caine and Judy Davis, the picture was even greater a box office failure than Man Trouble, the 1992 Nicholson/Rafelson collaboration.

Seven years after the smashing success of Batman, Nicholson and director Tim Burton reunited on Mars Attacks!, the filmmaker's tribute to 1950s sci-fi B-movies. While the film maintains a passionate cult following to this day, Mars Attacks! was largely met with shrugs from critics upon its December release and audiences, who flocked to see aliens invade Earth in that summer's Independence Day, did not swarm theaters for the Burton flick. Domestically, the picture scored a mere half of its beefy $70 million budget.

Also hitting theaters that winter was The Evening Star, the long-awaited sequel to 1983's Terms of Endearment, which of course won Nicholson his second Oscar. With Steel Magnolias scribe Robert Harling taking on directorial duties (as opposed to James L. Brooks) and without the presence of Debra Winger, expectations for the film were modest at best but few anticipated the critical pans ultimately bestowed upon the picture. Nicholson's return as Garrett Breedlove was praised but, alas, it was a mere cameo. The rest of the proceedings, Shirley MacLaine's labored leading turn included, did not impress.

Ultimately, it would take none other than Brooks, who himself recently endured a high-profile flop (1994's I'll Do Anything), to send a jolt through Nicholson's career and secure the actor his third Oscar.

The 1997 Oscar nominees in Best Lead Actor were...

Matt Damon, Good Will Hunting

Damon portrays Will Hunting, a troubled young man who, despite his immense intelligence, works as a janitor at MIT. His brilliance is discovered by Professor Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard), who commits to helping Will reach his sky-high potential. After Will is arrested for assaulting a cop, Lambeau strikes a deferred prosecution agreement for his mentee that mandates treatment with a kind therapist (Oscar winner Robin Williams). This performance marked Damon's first Oscar nomination (he, alongside Ben Affleck, would win that evening's Best Original Screenplay prize).

Robert Duvall, The Apostle

Duvall portrays Euliss "Sonny" Dewey, a Pentecostal preacher whose idyllic life is shattered by the revelation of his wife (Farrah Fawcett, in the best performance of her career)'s affair. Sonny opts to flee Texas and settles down in a small Louisiana town, where he takes on a new name, works a series of odd jobs and preaches everywhere he can. This performance, which won him honors from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and National Society of Film Critics, marked Duvall's fifth Oscar nomination.

Peter Fonda, Ulee's Gold

Fonda portrays Ulee Jackson, a Vietnam veteran and widowed beekeeper desperately trying to hold his family together. His son Jimmy (Tom Wood) is in prison and drug addict daughter-in-law Helen (Christine Dunford) is missing, leaving Ulee to raise his two granddaughters on his own. When Helen resurfaces, Ulee must assist her through withdrawal and deal with the drug dealers she got mixed up with. This performance, which won him honors from the New York Film Critics Circle and a Golden Globe, marked Fonda's second (and to date, final) Oscar nomination.

Dustin Hoffman, Wag the Dog

Hoffman portrays Stanley Motss, a legendary Hollywood producer recruited by a spin doctor (Robert De Niro) to help fabricate a war in Albania, with the intent of distracting the public, two weeks prior to Election Day, from a sex scandal involving the U.S. president. This performance marked Hoffman's seventh (and to date, final) Oscar nomination.

Jack Nicholson, As Good As It Gets

Nicholson portrays Melvin Udall, an irritable, bigoted, obsessive-compulsive romance novelist whose daily routine is rocked when neighbor Simon (Oscar nominee Greg Kinnear) is assaulted and hospitalized, leaving Simon's beloved dog Verdell in Melvin's care. While Melvin begrudgingly gets to know Simon and Verdell, he also grows close to Carol (Oscar winner Helen Hunt), the only waitress who will put up with Melvin's crankiness at the local diner. This performance, which won him honors from the National Board of Review, plus a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award, marked Nicholson's 11th Oscar nomination and third win.

Overlooked: Woody Allen, Deconstructing Harry; Jim Carrey, Liar Liar; Daniel Day-Lewis, The Boxer; Ian Holm, The Sweet Hereafter; Kevin Kline, The Ice Storm; Kevin Kline, In & Out; Sylvester Stallone, Cop Land; Howard Stern, Private Parts

Won: Jack Nicholson, As Good As It Gets

Should've won: Peter Fonda, Ulee's Gold

At last, a year without an underwhelming nominee!

Sure, it would've been sweet seeing Holm (in a career-best performance) and/or Kline (preferably for The Ice Storm but also fabulous in the side-splitting In & Out) surface on nominations morning but this is a pretty damn great line-up, packed with four New Hollywood legends and, well, Matt Damon.

The least riveting of the five, though still quite a delight, is Hoffman, doing his best Robert Evans caricature in Wag the Dog. The film is middle-of-the-road Barry Levinson/David Mamet fare, entertaining on a purely sitcom level. De Niro's workmanlike performance is made up for by the comic energy from both Hoffman and Anne Heche, who chow down on Mamet's intermittently appetizing dialogue.

The performance is hardly among Hoffman's best - in fact, second only to Rain Man, I would argue this is the weakest of his Oscar nominations. The role isn't a terribly challenging one and only toward the end does it much showcase the actor's extraordinary range. Still, even if there were better comic turns to recognize this year, Hoffman is heaps of fun to watch, in one of his stronger efforts from the past 20 years.

Good Will Hunting has never been the object of my affection. I consider it an efficient, on occasion affecting drama but it never resonates on the level of say, an Ordinary People or Manchester by the Sea. It lacks the astuteness and nuance of those two pictures and Ben Affleck's acting is downright awful.

With that said, I do appreciate Damon's performance here. It's a sensitive, lived-in portrayal that very much rings of Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People, even if he doesn't quite reach those sky-high heights. Damon's scenes opposite Williams are by far the film's most moving and well-written. The actors have such a marvelous repartee, I'm left wondering how this material may have instead played on stage, focused exclusively on Will and Sean. I suspect that would have been a more satisfying and powerful experience than the more uneven proceedings that grace the screen here.

A film I am quite fond of, even if it runs out of steam with half an hour to go, is As Good As It Gets, the third picture in Brooks' trilogy (alongside Terms of Endearment and Broadcast News) of great heartfelt comedies.

Nicholson may not have much chemistry with his leading lady (Judi Dench for sure should've defeated Hunt for the Lead Actress trophy) but he's otherwise a ball to watch as an endearing asshole. He has a field day with Brooks' biting dialogue, which may also be no more sophisticated than sitcom-level but that's hardly a knock when Brooks' sitcom history includes the legendary likes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi.

This is hardly the most challenging of Nicholson's roles, in fact it's perhaps the most Nicholson-like Nicholson performance recognized by the Academy. He cruises on charisma here, even with Melvin being as despicable a figure as he often is. His scenes opposite Verdell make my heart melt and with a simple smile or rise of an eyebrow, Nicholson can be awfully irresistible here. It's an very entertaining turn, albeit not quite among his best.

The two finest performances here come from Duvall and Fonda. In most other years, I would almost certainly be giving the former the win.

Duvall, who directed, wrote, produced and headlined the picture (after more than a decade of working to get it off the ground), puts every ounce of his heart and soul into The Apostle. It's a fiery, absorbing performance that legit feels possessed by some otherworldly spirit.

The Grammy-winning country soundtrack is marvelous and the supporting cast quite strong too (Fawcett especially) but this is Duvall's show through and through. The turn doesn't quite rattle me in the same way his career-best work in The Great Santini does but this is still a performance that packs an immense punch and is for sure more transfixing than his Oscar-winning effort in Tender Mercies.

Alas, enamored as I am with Duvall here, I'm even fonder of Nicholson's old Easy Rider pal, Fonda.

After far too many years slumming it in direct-to-video garbage, Fonda at last found his comeback vehicle with this low-budget, completely unassuming film. Ulee's Gold was not, I'm afraid, a substantial box office success when it hit theaters over the summer of 1997. In fact, it was the final Orion Pictures release to ever garner an Oscar nomination, six years after the floundering distributor's much-publicized filing for bankruptcy.

What the film did have, however, were sterling critical reviews and none other than Oscar-winning filmmaker Jonathan Demme, who assisted with the picture's financing. Ultimately, Fonda's notices were strong enough to survive into the Oscar season, where he emerged an early co-front-runner (with Nicholson) for the Lead Actor prize.

Ulee's Gold is undoubtedly the finest performance of Fonda's career. It's a warm, reserved portrayal that captures a man's desperation and vexation without resorting to the standard "time to chew some scenery" Oscar scene. He's nicely matched by Patricia Richardson (of TV's Home Improvement), also wonderful as Ulee's neighbor who assists Helen through detox.

What a shame Fonda never secured more pictures on the level of Ulee - he for sure sports the skill and range to tackle a challenging role and also seems far better-suited for a sober and serious part like this than the bombastic B-movies he so often did between this and Easy Rider.

The performances ranked (thus far)...

  1. Jack Nicholson, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
  2. Al Pacino, The Godfather Part II
  3. George C. Scott, Patton
  4. Jack Nicholson, Five Easy Pieces
  5. James Earl Jones, The Great White Hope
  6. Al Pacino, Serpico
  7. Jack Nicholson, The Last Detail
  8. Al Pacino, Dog Day Afternoon
  9. Jack Nicholson, Chinatown
  10. Melvyn Douglas, I Never Sang for My Father
  11. Dustin Hoffman, Lenny
  12. Gig Young, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
  13. James Whitmore, Give 'em Hell, Harry!
  14. James Coco, Only When I Laugh
  15. Peter Fonda, Ulee's Gold
  16. Jack Nicholson, Easy Rider
  17. Marlon Brando, Last Tango in Paris
  18. James Garner, Murphy's Romance
  19. Jack Nicholson, Ironweed
  20. Robert Duvall, The Apostle
  21. Gene Hackman, Unforgiven
  22. Jack Nicholson, Terms of Endearment
  23. John Gielgud, Arthur
  24. Harrison Ford, Witness
  25. Marcello Mastroianni, Dark Eyes
  26. Rip Torn, Cross Creek
  27. Jack Nicholson, Prizzi's Honor
  28. Ryan O'Neal, Love Story
  29. Jack Nicholson, Reds
  30. Michael Douglas, Wall Street
  31. Jack Nicholson, As Good As It Gets
  32. David Paymer, Mr. Saturday Night
  33. Jaye Davidson, The Crying Game
  34. William Hurt, Kiss of the Spider Woman
  35. Walter Matthau, The Sunshine Boys
  36. Robin Williams, Good Morning, Vietnam
  37. Matt Damon, Good Will Hunting
  38. Sam Shepard, The Right Stuff
  39. Dustin Hoffman, Wag the Dog
  40. Ian Holm, Chariots of Fire
  41. Jack Lemmon, Save the Tiger
  42. Elliott Gould, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
  43. William Hurt, Broadcast News
  44. Howard E. Rollins, Jr., Ragtime
  45. Art Carney, Harry and Tonto
  46. Robert Redford, The Sting
  47. John Lithgow, Terms of Endearment
  48. Al Pacino, Glengarry Glen Ross
  49. Charles Durning, To Be or Not to Be
  50. Albert Finney, Murder on the Orient Express
  51. Jon Voight, Runaway Train
  52. Rupert Crosse, The Reivers
  53. Jack Nicholson, A Few Good Men
  54. Anthony Quayle, Anne of the Thousand Days
  55. Maximilian Schell, The Man in the Glass Booth