An overprotective mother, a vain social butterfly, a swimming grandmother, a newlywed, and a barfly walk into an Oscar ceremony...
Geraldine Page did not attend the ceremony but the rest were there.
The 1972 supporting actress Oscar lineup is quite literally a singular group. It's the only one in all of Best Supporting Actress history to feature not a single Best Picture nominated film. There's always at least one Best Picture represented. Not so in 1972. Even The Poseidon Adventure missed that top category despite 8 nominations in total.
The panelists and part one of the Smackdown after the jump...
Here to talk about these five nominated turns and either agree with the Academy OR crown a new retrospective winner are Donna Lynne Champlin (Crazy Ex Girlfriend), Kathy Deitch (American Horror Story: Freakshow), playwright/actor Arun Welandawe-Prematillek (The One Who Loves You So), and two regular voices here at The Film Experience, Eric Blume and your host Nathaniel R. Now it's time for the main event.
1972
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN
Jeannie Berlin as "Lila Kolodny" in The Heartbreak Kid
Synopsis: A newlywed has the world's worst honeymoon as her husband leaves her.
Stats: Then 23 yrs old, 7th film, 3rd billed. First and only nomination. 42½ minutes of screen time (or 40% of the running time)
Donna Lynne Champlin: She’s fantastic. She has to play a range of emotions (mostly all tinged with humor) but what I love most is that she has to listen so much. She’s a master at active listening. And the scene where he tells her (spoiler alert) he’s leaving her in the restaurant. Brilliant. The focus on the physical feeling of nausea. Not the emotional explosion you would expect. I buy every second of it. They’ve given him all the dialogue- but you’re mesmerized by her inner monologue as she goes through the 5 stages of grief with barely any lines. I’m hardly listening to him, which I think is the point. I’m trapped in her mental state because she’s SO GOOD. Her last stage…literally, gasping for air. Like a dying fish. Heart wrenching. Emotionally, she goes from 0-100 in this film. Brava. ♥♥♥♥
Kathy Deitch: Confession: I have a dear friend who is dear friends with Jeannie, so I have had the pleasure of meeting her several times. This was the first movie I chose to watch. I was truly blown away.by her performance; her comedy! So brilliant. Also, heartbreaking, the scene in the seafood restaurant. And being directed by her MOTHER, Elaine May- it's amazing how truthful she is! Such a great character in an awful, misogynistic movie. HA. ♥♥♥♥♥
Arun Welandawe-Prematillek: Neither the script nor the protagonist care much for her but Berlin manages through sheer force of personality to give us a specific and vivid portrait. Lila is an easy point of ridicule, but Berlin finds a way to serve the film but never play her as a fool. Lila simply loves her husband thoroughly and without time for embarrassment or withholding. There’s real skill in handling tone, even in scenes like her egg salad lunch where the actor is working to make sure the joke isn’t on the character. Berlin suggests that Lila might notice her flaws are showing, but she simply doesn’t care. ♥♥♥
Eric Blume: It’s tricky for an actress to play annoying: if you don’t lean into it hard enough, you don’t get the comedy, and if you lean too far, you lose the audience. Berlin finds a nice balance here, giving Charles Grodin what he needs to make his adjustments. In that way, she’s a great scene partner to him and makes a big contribution to the film. She’s funny in her early scenes during the drive to the honeymoon, where Berlin lets you see that this woman isn’t yet fully formed, and never really expects to be. Her final scene, as her dreams are dismantled and something real finally happens to her, registers fully. But in between, she has very little to play …it’s a one-note-on-a-piano-key stretch of acting that I kept wishing were better. ♥♥
Nathaniel R: I'm not proud of this but for the first 10 minutes I felt for Charles Grodin's groom. The movie initially felt like an uncomfortable comedy of comeuppance for those who marry too young without really knowing their spouse. Once the movie's allegiances were painfully clear the movie was much harder to stomach but I'm torn on Berlin's contribution. She never lets Lila become a joke (good on her) but she's also too real to be funny. You get the sense that her final scene is meant to be a comic setpiece (albeit a mean-spirited one) but it's far too tragic to laugh at when she's so expertly portrayed the cruel gradual process of being totally gaslit by an unfaithful spouse. ♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "So funny, so obnoxious, and towards the end of her screen time so heartbreaking." - Jackie G (Reader average: ♥♥♥)
Actress earns 20 ❤s
Eileen Heckart as "Mrs Baker" in Butterflies are Free
Synopsis: An uptight suburban mom worries about her blind son's ability to live in the big city and tries to convince him to move home.
Stats: Then 53 yrs old, 11th film, 2nd billed. Her 2nd and last nomination. 41 minutes of screentime (or 38% of the running time)
Donna Lynne Champlin: Diva intro with her back to us. This is a big setup, that I just never felt the payoff to. This whole movie feels very dry and technical. It doesn’t feel like it made the appropriate adjustment from stage to screen. Regarding Ms. Heckart, this performance doesn’t pop for me. I get that the character is dry, unflappable and rigid but this feels like a stage performance that didn’t translate to camera. I want to see a character in between trapezes; without a net. Maybe she was at the mercy of her director but it feels like she just swung on one trapeze and never let go. Maybe she won the Oscar because out of all these characters, hers is the only one that isn’t completely tragic and finds redemption? This performance wouldn’t have been my Oscar choice but, admittedly, I was also frequently distracted by how much Edward Albert (who was my favorite part of this movie) looked like the marionette from TEAM AMERICA. So. There’s that. ♥♥♥
Kathy Deitch: Being the juiciest of the five roles and with what seemed like the most screen time, it makes sense that Eileen would win. Having created the role on Broadway, that character was in her bones in an entirely different way than the other four ladies. She really is one of the true artists that rocks a room with just her presence. And then that VOICE- to die for. The extreme close-ups could have been hilarious but Heckart just knows how to BE. ♥♥♥♥♥
Arun Welandawe-Prematillek: I most admired how Heckart sells the rapport between mother and son, even in their arguments there is genuine amusement shared between the two. It’s always clear that they genuinely like each other. She uses her natural gifts (that voice!) to sell the character’s intelligence and depth of feeling, avoiding the stereotypes that one could play to. There are some points where you can read that Heckart has given the performance many times before (as she did on Broadway) but that works? There’s a sense that both mother and son have done this dance before, the circumstances change but the conversations never do. Extra points for that beautifully pained “Jill” that escapes her lips at the restaurant when Hawn finally demands she call her by her name. ♥♥♥♥
Eric Blume: Heckart reprises the role she played on Broadway, and the performance still has some of that “set” energy that she locked into during the run. On one hand, there’s a canned element in that regard…everything feels a bit telegraphed and heavy-handed. On the other hand, she’s commanding and effective. She has a power and technique that her young co-stars (Goldie Hawn and Edward Albert, who both have lovely moments) lack, and her natural gravitas brings much-needed authority to the film. Her rapport with Hawn…whom she treats like a little mouse…feels alive, cruel, and fearful all at once. Heckart gives a grieving picture of a woman who is losing control for the first time in her life…it’s a bright and brisk piece of acting, even if it feels stagey here and there. ♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: She's a dry potent presence from her very first scene (a phone call but that's all you need when you have such a superb control of your vocal instrument) to her last, in which Heckart does all she can to keep cheap sentiment at bay. Heckart is especially insightful when it comes to Mrs Baker's condescending wit. She leaves room for an empathetic woman underneath, who is actually taking the measure of her son's girlfriend, and hoping she's wrong about her. More movies should use loooong scenes because within them you can see great actors delineate whole character arcs. This mother's change of heart is a bit too abrupt (as written) but Heckart pulls it off with her rigid but connected scenework with the younger stars. ♥♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "In big long scenes, she knows when to fill the space and when to stand back and observe. Caustically funny and perfectly self-possessed." - Don B. (Reader average: ♥♥♥¾)
Actress earns 22¾ ❤s
Geraldine Page as "Gertrude" in Pete 'n' Tillie
Synopsis: A consummate cocktail party hostess (age unknown), sets her best friend up on a blind date and eventually recommends a divorce lawyer.
Stats: Then 48 yrs old, 14th film, 3rd billed. 5th (of 8) nominations. 12 minutes of screen time (or 12% of running time).
Donna Lynne Champlin: She’s a great actress, but I don’t think anyone less famous than Geraldine Page would be nominated for this role. The “not wanting to tell her age” joke is legendary as well as “the Dynasty fight” which again for the time, was probably very risky and “brave” for a legit actress to attempt. But to me, both of those moments felt very contrived which is not necessarily her fault because she had some really crappy dialogue too. However, unlike Ms. Tyrell (who bippity boppity booed her shit and then some) I don’t think Ms. Page shook off her dramaturgical sandbags. It’s like, she either had “glue” moments cut in post that tied her arc together better? Or she was just like “Fuck it. I’m Geraldine Page. I’m here to act and not to clean up your garbage script.”. I mean, all of her other stuff near the top was well done of course, but…not very difficult. I feel like it’s blasphemy to say this about Geraldine Page in any respect, but…this performance was not for me. ♥♥♥
Kathy Deitch: As I shook my head thoughout this entire movie, I kept waiting for Page's big, Oscar nominated moment. When it was about her disclosing her age at the police station and subsequent fight, I was disillusioned to say the least. I sat through this entire movie for THAT? But she was funny, and it's always nice to see a comic performance recognized. Again, these very narrow relationship movies are a trip! ♥♥♥
Arun Welandawe-Prematillek: Oof. No cliche or tired bit of business is left unused in this performance that seems to cosign all the hideous misogyny in the script. Sex-starved aging spinster who can’t possibly mention her age? Check! Food flying off her fork? Check! So much hat acting you’d think she were at Ascot? Check! To say nothing of that fight scene, which I just… can’t. The film is bizarre and nonsensical, and Page chooses to amp it up and play loud and garish. The performance is broad and brassy but never any fun. A series of choices that never feel unique or fresh, both for the character and the actor. ♥
Eric Blume: This nomination is one of those true mysteries along the lines of Jacki Weaver for Silver Linings Playbook. Page has a tiny amount of screen time, and she’s so disassociated from the main (super-weird) narrative that her character barely registers. Physically, she’s imposing, and she’s full of all those patented quirky Page mannerisms that are fun to love and hate at the same time, but this is far from this great actress’ best hour (or ten minutes). ♥
Nathaniel R: Years of doing the Smackdown will really fine-tune your ability to pry a performance apart from the screenplay and see what the actor is adding, shifting, or gleaning from the text. But Gertrude is baffling on both fronts, script and performance. The script perpetually mentions her, usually in the context of being Tillie's best friend, yet neither Burnett nor Page attempt to sell a long term friendship. Page would have virtually nothing to do in the movie, besides delightfully butterflying around her own social (the movie's opening scene) were it not for a long farcical scene near the end when the police ask her to reveal her age. It's an unbelievablly strung-out joke with the weakest of punchlines. Page really goes for it but it's not just her wig that suffers, but her dignity. ♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "Page is able to turn this caricature of a woman committed to age defying amnesia into a comical penumbra almost worthy of Madelaine Khan's layered transparency in What's Up Doc. Stress on the word almost." - John V. (Reader average: ♥♥½)
Actress earns 12½ ❤s
Susan Tyrrell as "Oma" in Fat City
Synopsis: An alcoholic woman with a string of dead or jailed husbands shacks up with a past-his-prime boxer.
Stats: Then 27 yrs old, 4th film, 3rd billed. 1st and only nomination. 25 minutes of screentime (or 26% of the running time.)
Donna Lynne Champlin: OMG I am loving her so much from the start that I totally forgot why I was watching this movie in the first place. I am so impressed by actors who can play all levels of drunk; from buzzed to sloshed. It’s SO easy to miscalculate and she’s brilliant at the artform. I love her first scene here she just makes you feel like there’s something a little too loose about her. Like her wheels aren’t gonna come off juuuuusssttt yet, but if she doesn’t get it fixed soon they will. AND OMG DID SHE JUST TAKE THE LINE “So, screw everybody” straight to camera? Because if so…she wins. In her second scene at the bar (and for the rest of the film) she has to make very extreme emotional hairpin turns that are not supported by the script at all. If you just listen to her dialogue it’s swiss cheese. So, she’s not only acting the shit out of this, she’s also simultaneously compensating for and elevating the writing. She’s pulling triple duty here, effortlessly. While Ms. Berlin showed the most range, Ms. Tyrell is the one I believe the most consistently. ♥♥♥♥♥
Kathy Deitch: I have a few relatives that were a little too close to this part for me. So interesting all of these relationship movies in 1972, right? There were a couple of time that I felt Tyrrell was a bit arched which took me out of the movie briefly. But the absolute physicality of the fighting and drunkenness are incredible. The bar scene where they meet may be one of the best scenes ever caught in film, although the entire movie left me with a big HUH?. ♥♥♥♥
Arun Welandawe-Prematillek: This was a tough one for me? I’d seen Tyrrell’s scene at the bar where Keach tries to woo her before and was sort of mesmerized by her wounded bird quality, but I don’t think it works in the context of the film. A performance of big, bold strokes for better or worse. And more often than not, I felt it might be worse. When every other performer is playing in a different register, Tyrell’s choices kept me at a bay. It’s all a little one note, and a very shrill one at that. ♥♥
Eric Blume: To me, this is the category’s one daring, out-there performance. On the page, the character was likely very confusing, swinging from one mood to the next in ways that are tough to play. Tyrrell came to the table with a truly original take: she made her a human non-sequitir. The character may be all over the place, but Tyrrell feels in control of this shifting, and she gives this boozy nutjob a wonderful quality of being completely present while at the same time not quite there. She’s also full-on blowsy, yet also complete with dainty feminine touches. All of Tyrrell’s choices seem to come from a bottomless well of sadness, and her beautiful pixie-hooker face shows all of the character’s history, someone who continually creates her own realities. Bonus love for the red barette in her hair…Tyrrell paints her as an abused adult who doesn’t quite want to leave girlhood despite so many smacks in the face. ♥♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: If you've ever known an alcoholic you will cringe from authenticity watching this. Especially impressive was watching her in moments where she had no dialogue and you can see her wavering lucidity, snapping to attention whenever something surprises or confuses her, but then fogging back up again or shooting off in another direction altogether. Focusing is hard when you're blitzed, y'all! In the end I have to admit that I admired this performance more than quite loved it but in terms of technique this is truly impressive. Take note of those sloshy moodswings and the precisely messy physicality of someone who is always self-medicating but never able to numb out the pain. ♥♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "Terrific, underrated movie, and Susan Tyrrel is astonishing. I can’t imagine ANY other actress who could have played “Oma” as well as Tyrrel did." - Michael O. (Reader average: ♥♥♥¾)
Actress earns 22¾ ❤s
Shelley Winters as "Belle Rosen" in The Poseidon Adventure
Synopsis: A kindhearted Jewish woman realizes she might not survive a sea voyage to see her new grandchild.
Stats: Then 52 yrs old, 58th film, 7th billed. 4th and final nomination (she had already won two Oscars at this point). 29 minutes of screentime (or 25% of the running time).
Donna Lynne Champlin: Well, she manages to be funny without choking on the scenery like some of her co-stars (even with those creaky-ass fat jokes every five seconds. Bless.) Maybe she got nominated for being the only thing that didn’t suck absolute balls in this horrible movie? Or maybe for that amazing dive into the water, which was goddam impressive to be sure. I’m sure calling out her own unattractiveness was a very risky and progressive move (especially for a former starlet) at the time. And yes, there is something “amazing” about seeing a woman of a certain age and size doing physical things like climbing a Christmas tree and swimming under water on film. Of course, it’s not unusual to see middle-aged, plus-sized women be physically active in real life, but to see it in a MOVIE (especially 50 years ago), was indeed shocking and taboo. I feel that maybe she was recognized more for her personal “bravery” as a woman than her actual performance as an actress? But in the end, just looking at the performance, it’s not my favorite in this category. ♥♥♥
Kathy Deitch: Even though I m a big fan of Winters, I had never seen The Poseidon Adventure from start to finish. I went to see the presentation of this award at the Oscars and Robert Duvall actually cracks up when he reads Winters' name, and not one person joins in while they show Winters looking bewildered. It was awful! I appreciate what these writers were trying to do -Let's make the fat woman the hero!- but most of it's ideas about weight really seem ancient and tired. Winters, as always, is incredible but some things that come out of her mouth are just so problematic. The tone of the script is what prevents this from being a 5/5 hearts!. ♥♥♥♥
Arun Welandawe-Prematillek: Winters works hard here, setting aside the script’s many faults and the film’s bizarre preoccupation with the Mrs. Rosen’s weight to find a character. I’d always heard the performance and the film were high camp but I found her to be a grounding force, particularly sensitive in her scenes with Jack Albertson. Maybe I’m grading on a curve, but in a film where so many of her co-stars seem to revert immediately to screaming (Hackman at Borgnine, Borgnine at Hackman, Hackman at God) she seems the only one who finds ways to illustrate her panic and fear without resorting to bluster. ♥♥♥
Eric Blume: Only because the acting across the board in The Poseidon Adventure is so over-the-top and terrible can Winters’ borscht-belt performance sometimes comes across as subtle. Her best scene is her first, on the deck with Jack Albertson, where we see a gentle, quiet side to her Jewish grandmother. But the rest of the movie, Winters delivers her lines in a presentational, faux-theatrical manner where she’s accentuating every intention. She actively plays the character’s heroism in a way that’s shameless and hambone. Still, she brings a lot to the picture: even overplaying everything, she’s one of the few characters who resembles an actual human being, and she’s fun to watch. ♥♥
Nathaniel R: Winters is totally at peace with the film's broadest impulses while miraculously curtailing her own, which is surprising given this infamous broad's (sorry) past and future work. In the water Mrs Rosen is a skinny lady (hee!) but Winters is the film's most bouyant force, keeping it all afloat while the rest of the ensemble falls for histrionics or sinks into unintentional camp. Portraying goodness can be dull, but Winters is at her warmest and most charming. The 'morning after' for Bella Rosen, thanks to Winters finely cured ham, was her iconic place at the heart of Hollywood's most beloved pre-Titanic disaster. ♥♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "Four hearts for the sheer committed over-the-topness of it all" - Charles G. (Reader average: ♥♥♥¼)
Actress earns 19¼ ❤s
Eileen Heckart took the Oscar with her second nomination
Oh aren't you wunnerful?
Looking back on this cinematic year, the Smackdown agrees... mostly. Somehow even with the counting of unusually high number of reader ballots (for an older film year), which should theoretically prevent a tie, even the reader vote was a deadlock between Heckart (consistent high marks) and Tyrell (more polarizing but more 5 star votes) so a tie it is! The Smackdown win is shared by Eileen Heckart and Susan Tyrrell.
We hope you enjoyed this event.
Want more? A Companion Podcast is coming tonight.
Other Smackdowns: 1941, 1943, 1944, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1963, 1964, 1968, 1970, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1989, 1994, 1995, 2003, 2016, 2017, and 2018 (prior to those 30+ Smackdowns were hosted @ StinkyLulu's old site)
NEXT UP? The 2001 film year on Sunday June 2nd. Get to watching / rewatching Iris, Gosford Park, A Beautiful Mind, and In the Bedroom during May, won'cha?