Smackdown '86: Tess, Piper, Mary Elizabeth, Dame Maggie, and Dianne Wiest!
Sunday, August 29, 2021 at 11:20AM Welcome back to the Supporting Actress Smackdown. Each month we pick an Oscar vintage to explore through the lens of actressing at the edges. This episode takes us back to 1986.
THE NOMINEES For the 1986 film year the Academy honored three newbies (Tess Harper, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Dianne Wiest) the latter of whom would become a two-time winner, and welcomed back two veterans (two time winner Maggie Smith and previous nominee Piper Laurie). The characters assembled were a nosy cousin, a savvy girlfriend, a neurotic actress, a spinster chaperone, and an estranged mother.
THE PANELISTS Here to talk about these performances and films with your host Nathaniel are two regular TFE voices Cláudio Alves and Lynn Lee as well as civil rights attorney / cinephile Jonathan Diaz, and writer/cartoonist Rob Kirby.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN + PODCAST
The companion podcast is embedded in this post and can also be heard at Spotify, Stitcher, iTunes...
TESS HARPER as "Chick Boyle" in Crimes of the Heart
Synopsis: The chatterbox cousin of a family of sisters is horrified by their scandalous behavior.
Stats: 36 yrs old, 5th film, 5th billed. First and only nomination. 10 minutes of screen time (or 10% of the running time)
Cláudio Alves: While one can appreciate the gusto with which she devours Chick's dialogue, the actress does too much. Her lack of listening skills is in character, but Harper takes it to inorganic extremes, becoming an insular presence in what should be an ensemble effort. After a while, it starts to seem like a performer doing an exuberant routine rather than a real person's abrasiveness. Furthermore, while putatively funny, she's no fun, especially compared to the other figures in Crimes of the Heart. She's always joyless, not even taking noticeable pleasure in her own meanness. In this regard, Harper is like her fellow nominees, all of which are partially defined by how they convey their character's unhappiness. In this case, unhappiness is seen as a buffoon's petty vociferation, the need to dominate every interaction and make enough noise so that nobody can hear the deafening silence. Unfortunately, unlike her competition, Harper has no arc to help modulate this strategy, and it ends up rather dull. ♥♥
Jonathan Diaz: Despite the formidable talent assembled on screen, Crimes of the Heart is an overwrought mess—especially in comparison to the other movie in this category about the relationship among three sisters. As a live action version of Lottie from The Princess and the Frog, Harper gets bonus points for being the only cast member in this film to demonstrate anything approaching recognizable human behavior. It’s not enough to make her performance nomination-worthy, but Harper at least provides a breath of fresh air amidst the madness every once in a while. ♥♥
Rob Kirby: Harper's playing a broad cartoon villain here, which I guess is what the script called for. I felt like she wanted to give the audience a good time and went for it, playing one of those aggressively passive-aggressive witches we've all encountered at one time or another. While she's lively enough, it's ultimately all very one-note and this nomination feels unnecessary. ♥♥
Lynn Lee: I’m not familiar enough with the 1986 movie landscape to understand what Academy voters were thinking that year, but I cannot fathom what about this performance (or, indeed, this movie as a whole) was deemed worthy of an Oscar nod. It’s not that Harper is bad as Chick, the pop-eyed, nosy Southern neighbor and judgmental cousin, just that she’s completely one-note. That one note isn’t sharp or funny enough to amount to anything special. It says something that in our final glimpse of her – as she’s being chased up and a tree and spanked with a broom by a livid Lenny (Diane Keaton) – her most notable quality is that she’s less hammy than Keaton (whom I love, but who overacts painfully in this). ♥
Nathaniel R: Normally when a cartoonish performance is nominated you can chalk it up to someone being quite extra and waking up the audience in the midst of the dull movie surrounding them (think Renee in Cold Mountain). But what happened here? Crimes of the Heart is terrible but it's hardly "dull" or dully acted -- the actors are really going for it, bless, however ill-judged some of their choices are. There's something mildly funny about Chick's eagerness to intrude (which is why I like the beat of her springing into action post breakfast donut when she sees a car arriving) but despite only having a few scenes she somehow manages to repeat herself ad nauseam. So what accounts for the Academy's embrace? Was this merely a nod to say "sorry about the Tender Mercies snub?" ♥
Reader Write-Ins: "The perm, the makeup, the mom pants. Very external performance." - Peggy Sue (Reader average: ♥♥¼)
Actress earns 10¼ ❤s
PIPER LAURIE as "Mrs Norman" in Children of a Lesser God
Synopsis: An estranged mother tries to reconnect with her deaf daughter.
Stats: 54 yrs old, 24th film, 3rd billed. Third (and final) nomination. 8½ minutes of screentime (or 7% of the running time)
Cláudio Alves: Suggests a thorny relationship and years of biography without overemphasizing her actorly choices. From the start, one can see a connection with Matlin, a shared attitude before they ever share a scene proper. There's a noted similarity in how they defiantly regard Hurt, how both actresses inhabit the space as if always ready for a combative response from whoever is present. Their anger is marrow-deep, a bond forged in blood and pain, guilt too. Still, in spite of the characters' troubled domesticity, Laurie portrays a mother's essential knowledge of her daughter with bruised warmth. This matriarch knows her offspring like nobody else. Perhaps because of all that implicit history, one feels disappointed that her methods of communication feel so clunky, whether deliberately or by accident. Curiously, she does the same talk while signing that Hurt does, only more sluggish and out of practice. It feels like a barbed character choice in his case, but the purpose is less apparent with Laurie. ♥♥♥
Jonathan Diaz: Sort of a head-scratcher of a nomination, frankly. Laurie is a welcome presence and she does good, subtle work here, but she doesn’t really get enough to do in her handful of scenes to really make an impact. ♥♥
Rob Kirby: Though the talented Laurie does her considerable best to flesh out the part of Marlee Matlin's once-estranged-now-emotionally-available mother, the part is still little more than a three-scene cameo without a lot of There there (but some real banal dialogue). There's little she can do to distinguish the role, thus we have another nomination that feels like an instant also-ran. I think she made the cut mostly due to being a previous Oscar nominee. ♥♥
Lynn Lee: Laurie does well with what she’s given – she just isn’t given very much. Or maybe I’m biased by the now-established trend of treating de facto co-lead roles as “supporting”? For a character who only appears in a few scenes, she undergoes a pretty dramatic shift from coldly standoffish, all-business woman who denies any responsibility for her daughter’s issues to penitent maternal figure once said daughter seeks refuge and reconciliation with her. We don’t get to see quite enough in the writing to explain the shift, but it’s a tribute to Laurie’s quietly expressive demeanor that she’s convincing in both modes. ♥♥
Nathaniel R: Though we love a once-a-decade Oscar queen (see also Diane Keaton's 70/80/90/00s trick), Piper's third nomination in as many decades is unfortunately her weakest. She's affecting and subtle in her showcased scenes. I particularly love her naked impatience with William Hurt in her first scene and the detail of her rusty signing skills in her second and that you can feel them coming back as she speaks. Still, it's difficult to find a satisfying through-line or arc from the hostile defensive cold mother we meet forty minutes into this drama and the loving protective mother toward the end of the film. Was there another scene left on the cutting room floor? ♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "She was solid, but not M'onique in Precious level, which is the standard for hating your daughter for driving a man away." - Drew C. (Reader average: ♥♥♥)
Actress earns 15 ❤s
MARY ELIZABETH MASTRANTONIO as "Carmen" in The Color of Money
Synopsis: The ambitious bored girlfriend of a pool player learns to hustle from a master.
Stats: 28 yrs old, 2nd film, 3rd billed. First and only nomination. 37 minutes of screen time (or 31% of the running time).
Cláudio Alves: In her very first scene, it's challenging to pay any attention to the men. She's so magnetic! The harshness with which Mastrantonio directs Cruise is especially lovely, only allowing a hint of amused affection to shine through. Then there's the pointed "disinterest" with which she regards Newman. Carmen often comes off as someone who wants to project boredom, even as she's paying acute attention to everything around her. We can denote dishonesty in her disinterest, a stiff pose of decadence with eyes too searching to be genuinely aloof. Even so, Mastrantonio's Carmen can also be surprised and out of her depth. When confronted by the older man, tension arises, and it's like a charade momentarily dissipates to reveal a couple of people that aren't nearly as smart as they think they are. The significant shift in the performance comes later, though. After the narrative has lost track of her for a while, Carmen returns a different woman whose romance has settled into an uneasy business partnership more than anything else. Unhappiness is a gradual realization in Mastrantonio's work, quiet and overwhelming, a youthful romance denuded of its original spark. It's a hidden grin that rots into a barely contained grimace ♥♥♥♥
Jonathan Diaz: The biggest surprise for me of the bunch. I had assumed that The Color of Money would focus on the relationship between Paul Newman’s Eddie Felson and Tom Cruise’s Vincent Lauria, but Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio’s Carmen is a critical piece of the puzzle. It’s not the stock girlfriend character you’d expect from a sports/gambling movie like this: she’s as much a mentee to Eddie as Vincent is, if not moreso. In her final scene, you can see in her body language and facial expressions that she reads Eddie perfectly. While Vincent is all oblivious bravado, Carmen is the real student of behavior—she’s internalized Eddie’s lessons in a way Vincent never could. Although she’s never the true POV character, as an audience we take our cues from her on how to regard both Eddie and Vincent. Mastrantonio amplifies Cruise and Newman just by reacting to them: the mark of a truly great supporting performance. ♥♥♥♥♥
Rob Kirby: For me, what's wrong with Mastrantonio in this meh drama isn't her, it's the role itself. She's stuck playing The Girlfriend in a Martin Scorcese picture, which means she's relegated to being mostly sidelined, despite her obvious intelligence and a decent amount of screentime. She also has the requisite male gaze-y topless scene. I'm left wishing they had sidelined the Tom Cruise character (fat chance), and made Mastrantonio and Paul Newman the focus instead. Color me that. ♥♥♥
Lynn Lee: This was Mastrantonio’s breakout role for a reason – she’s a standout as Carmen, the street-smart, hard-edged, coolly sexy girlfriend-manager of Tom Cruise’s still-green hustler. Carmen’s green, too, but she’s a quick study who sizes up Newman’s “Fast Eddie” and the value of what he has to offer much faster than her impulsive charge. Mastrantonio’s eyes are the game here - always watchful, always taking everything in and revealing very little in return. We never really get a read on Carmen’s true feelings for Cruise’s character, but the ambiguity in whether she’s using him or genuinely cares for him somehow makes her more intriguing than off-putting. Likewise, her one miscalculation – her clumsy attempt to seduce Eddie – could equally plausibly spring from her eye for the main chance and her instinct that she and Eddie are two of a kind. Ultimately, Mastrantonio emerges as the truest hustler of the trio – and a fine one she is. Why don’t we see her anymore in the movies? ♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: Mastrantonio curiously made no films between her doomed window-dressing debut in Scarface (1983) and this wonderfully savvy turn but what a remarkable leap! I love a good meta moment in cinema and in Carmen's watchful sponge-like recognition to Paul Newman's Fast Eddie we see that she knows that this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to elevate her entire future. Mastrantonio, the actress, understands the same about a starring role in a Scorsese picture. She's confident enough to recede, as the girlfriend of a star player is often expected to, but smart enough to always let us see her racing mind even when she's trying to be just 'the girl'. Her gift at allowing us to track exactly how Carmen feels about her show pony boyfriend (Tom Cruise's Vincent) from scene to scene is also involving. ♥♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "Dencqueen" - Tom (Reader average: ♥♥♥½)
Actress earns 22½ ❤s
DAME MAGGIE SMITH as "Charlotte Bartlett, a Chaperone" in A Room With a View
Synopsis: A nervous spinster tries to protect her young charge from further scandal after an illicit kiss in the Italian countryside.
Stats: 52 yrs old, 23rd film, 1st billed. Fifth nomination (of a total six). 27 minutes of screentime (or 23% of the running time.)
Cláudio Alves: Poor Charlotte Bartlett can feel like the archetypal spinster of British literature. She's annoying and always ready to weaponize a martyr complex, so molded by the rules of Edwardian decorum that her actions can't help but stifle passion. However, in the hands of Smith and a team of master filmmakers, Charlotte blossoms into a much richer figure. She's both a beacon of comedy and an unexpected source of romanticism. Since an early – easily dismissible - proclamation that she's a woman of the world, Charlotte drops hints of her attachment to the idea of love, its poetic power to overwhelm and redefine life. Smith performs such a facet in quiet reactions, stiff glares that gradually become engulfed by curiosity, some trepidation. The character's about-face near the end isn't nearly as shocking if one has been paying attention to her pitch-perfect performance. Thankfully, due to a tremendous thespian's skill, the camera catches all those complexities. ♥♥♥♥♥
Jonathan Diaz: Smith is an actress who is so easy to take for granted because her floor is so high. Cousin Charlotte may seem a somewhat atypical character for those who know her best as the imperious Dowager Countess or sternly warm Professor McGonagall, but she’s a perfect match for Smith’s formidable strengths. She plays Charlotte’s fussiness for laughs while at the same time perfectly conveying the insecurities lying underneath. She’s also a fabulous scene partner, especially for Helena Bonham-Carter and Denholm Elliott. But honestly, this could (and should) have been a joint nomination with Judi Dench—their scenes together are such a treat. ♥♥♥♥
Rob Kirby: Smith gives what now feels like her quintessential Fussily Prim Spinster performance. But in 1986 it was still fresh, with Smith poignantly locating Charlotte's lonely sense of unfulfillment. ♥♥♥
Lynn Lee: As Claudio, Nathaniel, and I have expounded at length, Smith offers a master class of subtle comedic acting as “poor Charlotte,” prim yet hapless chaperone par excellence and queen of the passive-aggressive guilt trip. Smith knows exactly how to pucker up her mouth just so to express disapproval, and how to add just the right tone of querulous, burden-shifting self-reproach when she feels Lucy’s displeasure. But what takes her performance to the next level is how she handles Charlotte’s extraordinary about-face on the subject of Lucy and George, presenting it as an organic evolution in her feelings rather than an out-of-nowhere heel turn. The hints of a softer, more sentimental side are always there – you just have to be on the lookout for them. ♥♥♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: An absolute marvel of a performance, using every tool in an actor's kit from wonderfully nuanced facial expressions to insanely well judged line readings to carefully deployed physicality. Indeed, she's as expressive in movement (which is often, especially as compared to modern Maggie performances where she's always seated and imperious) as is close-up. One of those performances that gets better each time you watch the movie which is a nice treat since the movie is crazy rewatchable and this fussy spinster has hidden depths that only a great actress could reveal this judiciously and juicily. ♥♥♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "An all-timer performance in an all-timer movie. [in '86]... I didn't full appreciate how much Smith was acting circles around the young leads." - Troy in SF (Reader average: ♥♥♥♥)
Actress earns 26 ❤s
DIANNE WIEST as "Holly" in Hannah and Her Sisters
Synopsis: A neurotic actress and recovering addict discovers a gift for writing and an unexpected romance with her ex brother-in-law.
Stats: 40 yrs old, 7th film, 10th billed (alpha order). 1st nomination and win (of an eventual 3/2). 28 minutes of screentime (or 26% of the running time.)
Cláudio Alves: Growing from bitterness to joy can be a tricky act to play. It's easy to be cloying. Wiest circumvents every pitfall of the premise with a master's precision. There's an exquisite sense of controlled chaos to her work as the unhappy Holly, her mere presence capable of changing the energy of any scene. That quality is what makes her so disarmingly magnificent, a consistent treasure trove of delightful surprises. Whenever I re-watch the film, it always feels as if I'm rediscovering Wiest's Holly, finding new angles and ideas. Moreover, while many superb actors falter in narration, going placid when they're so lively on set, Dianne Wiest brings her A-game to the task. She carries as much complicated emotion, shades of joy, and deep sadness into her voice-over work as she does when the camera is pointed at her. Indeed, the juxtaposition of narration and a silent close-up is a rhapsody of caustic frustration that's both unforgettable and diametrically opposed to the last time we see Holly. In that holiday coda, standing in front of the mirror and contemplating her newfound contentment, she's a thing of beauty, like happiness crystalized ♥♥♥♥♥
Jonathan Diaz: Weist is just tremendous in a movie full of excellent performances. As the fulcrum point between so many of the pivotal relationships in Hannah and Her Sisters, Weist is so dynamic, especially in her scene in the department store with Mia Farrow or her lunch with Farrow and Barbara Hershey—for me, the centerpiece scene. She plays beautifully off the entire cast: not just Farrow and Hershey, with whom she has realistic (and importantly distinct!) chemistry as sisters, but also with Woody Allen, Sam Waterston, and Carrie Fisher (who would have been a worthy nominee herself for this When Harry Met Sally-level sidekick performance). Weist is the glue that holds the entire ensemble together, and her performance is a very worthy Oscar winner. ♥♥♥♥♥
Rob Kirby: I intensely identified with Diane Wiest's angry, defensive creation back when this debuted in 1986 and I still do now, even though both the character and I have since figured things out. Wiest captures every nuance of Holly's wounded pride, and her sense of shame and terror at the possibility of never finding her artistic niche—and thus her place in life. It's a vibrant and involving performance—easily one of the best-ever winners in this category. ♥♥♥♥♥
Lynn Lee: Wiest’s Holly is a glorious train wreck you can’t stop watching. She seems to inhabit her own separate comic orbit that revolves around her paralyzing insecurity – whether it’s in her passive rivalry against her more aggressive frenemy, April (that voice-in-her-head monologue in the cab is perfection), her hilariously disastrous chain-smoking, coke-snorting first date with Mickey, or most crucially, her hyperloaded interactions with Hannah, who provides Holly financial support but undercuts her ego seemingly without even trying. Wiest’s gift lies in making Holly’s neuroses not just funny but counterintuitively charming, perhaps because she wears her vulnerability on her sleeve: you find yourself rooting for her to get a break even as you know she’d probably sabotage it. Her happy ending may be a bit engineered, but Wiest makes it feel earned. ♥♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: Like Smith's Charlotte, Wiest's Holly sucks all the oxygen out of every room with her fussy nervousness in a way that one recognizes as fully human and familiar (I wish this could be a tie!). The magic is in making recognizably maddening real life behavior into supremely entertaining comedy onscreen; you'd probably go running from Holly in real life but who wouldn't have signed on for a six hour miniseries, prequel or sequel, focusing on her past failures or implied future success! Though this was an instantly recognized-as-genius performance in '86, I'd forgotten how multifaceted her work is. She brings a real undercurrent of self-pitying anger mixed with the thinnest skin imaginable so you feel each blow Holly feels, even when someone is trying to help. Bonus points for being utterly hilarious in voiceover which is not an easy thing to do -- that drive with April & David is one of the funniest and most ingenious scenes from Woody Allen's entire filmography! ♥♥♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "Wiest like so many things in Hannah and Her Sisters is basically perfect. It’s hard to describe how she balances all the saucers of Holly whether it’s the drug addiction past, the struggling actress present or the wannabee screenwriter future. Among the greatest performances from Woody Allen’s filmography." - Eoin (Reader average: ♥♥♥♥¾)
Actress earns 28¾ ❤s
THE OSCAR WENT TO... Dianne Wiest
RESULT: And the Smackdown agrees. It's a second (presumably) runaway victory for Dianne Wiest for her unforgettable "Holly" in one of Woody Allen's greatest films.
THE FULL PODCAST CONVERSATION
You can listen right here 👇 or listen on Spotify or iTunes or Stitcher to hear the in-depth discussion with our marvelous guests. [All Previous Smackdowns]
UP NEXT: 1937 is coming in late September so queue up Dead End, In Old Chicago, Night Must Fall, Stage Door and Stella Dallas ... it's an enjoyable crop of movies!
Reader Comments (36)
Wiest
Mastrantonio
Laurie
Smith
Harper
I still don’t get the Maggie Smith love. I thought she was outshined in every scene.
Mastrantonio is SUPER underrated, but Wiest is an all-time supporting performance.
This was a fun smackdown to read! Can’t wait to listen to the podcast.
Piper Laurie- Children of a Lesser God
I don't remember anything about this performance. I recall her being in the movie but not being affected by her at all. This is a nomination that got caught up in a popular movie and a veteran/sorry we didn't give it to you earlier make up nomination. I'm giving it 2 hearts because I can't give Piper Laurie one heart, but the nomination is utterly unremarkable. 2 hearts
Tess Harper- Crimes of the Heart
The proto-Karen. I give Harper credit for not shying away from making her character look ridiculous or despicable. The audience isn't supposed to be rooting for her. But there is nothing else. No inner thoughts or life outside of the house the main action is set in. Also to her credit, that is more the fault of the script then anything else. But I can't give her more credit then that. 2 hearts
Maggie Smith- A Room with a View
At first it seems like the performance Smith has been giving for the last 20 years. But there is more going on. This is no an autopilot performance. Like Harper, she doesn't shy away from Charlotte's ridiculousness. She also makes it known that Charlotte has experience being cast aside by her relatives but when Carter says "You always forgive yourself" the camera lingers on her face and we know that that retort hurt the most. But what I love the best is at the end when Charlotte tries to fix everything. She stops a carriage and just beams when Lucy comes running up to them. Smith never smiles in the movie and when she is finally allowed to, we can feel her delight in love finding its way. It's a lovely moment. 3 heart
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio- The Color of of Money
Right away we can tell that Carmen is not just the girlfriend in the movie not matter how much the scripts wants it to be true, Mastrantonio shows that Carmen is able to juggle multiple thoughts at once. Carmen isn't a badass but can play one well. She is comfortable being a big fish in a small pond and is believably confused when thrust into strange new waters. But she is an adapt swimmer and Mastrantonio shows Carmen learning the trade as she goes along. We also get the sense about her relationship. Vincent is a brat and Carmen mothers him along like a toddler but in the end scene where Vincent is grown a little and now in a rebellious teen phase you can sense that she is getting tired of him. Vincent thinks he is in some great love story but Carmen is capable of leaving when it is convenient for her. Mastrantonio shows how much power Carmen can weld in the movie. 4 hearts
Dianne Wiest- Hannah and her Sisters
First, I demand to know where Barbara Hershey's nomination was. Ok now that I got that off my chest, on to Wiest. She is very good as the narcissistic neurotic sister. Like the other nominees, she isn't afraid of making her character unlikeable or even insufferable at times. But Wiest adds this sparkle where we want her to succeed. We DO root for her. Wiest is just too lovable not to. 4 hearts
Dianne Weist - 4 hearts. The deserved winner. Plays such a natural neurotic. Every scene she wasn't in had me longing for her next appearance.
Maggie Smith - 4 hearts. One of the best bonuses of the smackdown is seeing Maggie Smith in roles where she isn't playing a quick witted member of the British upper class. Love her line deliveries, particularly when she is covertly convincing Helena Bonham Carter not to share the kiss with her mother.
Piper Laurie - 3 hearts. She was solid, but not M'onique in Precious level, which is the standard for hating your daughter for driving a man away.
Tess Harper - 3 hearts. A bright spot in a dour film.
Mary Elizabeth Mastrontonio - 2 hearts. And I thought Crimes of the Heart was dour! Mary is fine, but her performance is undistinguished. This role could have been played by anyone.
Would absolutely replace Mastrontonio with Sally Kellerman from Back to School.
I was able to watch 39 new 86 films and a couple rewatches. My revised top ten for the year is:
1. Back to School
2. Little Shop of Horrors
3. A Room with a View
4. Matador
5. My Beautiful Laundrette
6. Hannah and Her Sisters
7. Jean de Florette
8. Extremities
9. Aliens
10. Big Joys, Small Sorrows
A wonderful read as usual! I can't say I'm surprised at the outcome, nor do I object to it. Dianne Wiest is perfection in the film.
I thought it was funny that as I read down through the nominees that the score for each was higher than the one before, the alphabetical order of their names of course but I don't think I've ever seen them line up that way before.
I agree with Nathaniel in wishing it could have been a tie between Dianne and Maggie who is just brilliant in A Room with a View. The other three women are talented performers but these performances did little for me.
I'd rank them in order:
Dianne Wiest
Maggie Smith
Piper Laurie
Tess Harper
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Though Dianne Wiest would always be my choice for winner I would have rather seen this list of nominees.
Dianne Wiest-Hannah and Her Sisters
Maggie Smith-A Room with a View
Bonnie Bedelia-Violets Are Blue
Bette Midler-Ruthless People
Barbara Hershey-Hannah and Her Sisters
I only rated the ones i had a chance to watch this month. I saw the other 2 in the 80s but feel it's been too long to fairly rate them.
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, The Color of Money - 2 stars. gets barely more to do than the "supportive female partner" role. at least she gets to mix it up w/ Newman a bit. I had forgotten how annoying Cruise could be even when young and hot
Maggie Smith, A Room With a View- 5 stars. An all-timer performance in an all-timer movie for me. When I fell in love with this movie as a young closet case in college, I didn't full appreciate how much Smith was acting circles around the young leads. Perfection.
Dianne Wiest, Hannah and Her Sisters- 4 stars. Maybe even better now as a period performance. So many lapels and brooches! Although the movie is one long anxiety attack, it remains so watchable.
other 1986 (per imdb) faves (includes a lot of Cinema du look):
Betty Blue
Mauvais Sang
Parting Glances
Dead End Drive-In
Vamp
A great smackdown, and I applaud the winner Dianne Wiest, who was my favourite back in '86 and I still love now. (I don't love the film, but I love the character of Holly). Thank you for underlining the comic genius of the taxi ride.
I admired Maggie Smith's performance at the time, and as you know, this is one of my favourite films. But Smith had 2 Oscars already, so I think it was a good win. Btw. your recent review of "Room with a View" sent me down a rabbit hole on you tube. Smith started our as a comic revue performer, and shows off this physical talent on the Carol Burnett show. Check out "Maggie on Carol 1974" and "Maggie on Carol" 1975 - those who only know her for chair acting will be delighted.
Piper Laurie was a coattail nomination, and really wasn't memorable.
Tess Harper: "Crimes of the Heart" was one of the worst films I saw that year, and it should be a candidate for "This Had Oscar Buzz". Apologies to Harper but this film is a dog.
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio was very good in "Color of Money" and deserves the praise you gave her. But she was up against Smith and Wiest at their very best.
Thanks to all for a lively discussion and podcast.
Oh, 1986. Not a great year for supporting actress performances as far as I'm concerned, and, while I respect Nick Taylor for trying to suggest Cathy Tyson and Jenette Goldstein as options, this was a particular year of male focused films and even those that had female leads didn't have strong supporting female roles to draw focus, so it's not surprising that the ultimate 5 nominees came from movies that didn't have one sole lead so as to at least give these 5 characters some agency.
In what ended up being a big year for stage adaptations ignored by Oscar voters (About Last Night..., Brighton Beach Memoirs, Duet for One, Extremities, and what I would argue is Spacek's better performance of the year in 'night mother), only the most highly acclaimed Children of a Lesser God and Crimes of the Heart made it in and, with The Color of Money and A Room with a View being based on books, it ended up being the case that you needed strong source material to get into this category.
Chick Boyle is the outsider to the Sisters Magrath, so, naturally, the foil is able to get independent attention. But Tess Harper was likely already coasting on goodwill from her film debut in Tender Mercies, so it was no surprise that the same director telling a tale of the south wanted her back. I wonder if he also considered her for Patti LuPone's role in Driving Miss Daisy as well. Thankfully, she's been able to carve out a journeywoman career and eventually did get into a Best Picture winner with No Country for Old Men as well as recently appearing as Jesse's mon on Breaking Bad.
Mrs. Norman is far more developed in the stage version of Children of a Lesser God. With 2 lawyers on the panel, I am surprised there wasn't some discussion of the discrimination case that was a major part of the play and was sadly eliminated from the film adaptation. In addition to Hustler nostalgia from The Color of Money premiering 2 weeks later, her eventual Emmy winning role in Promise also premiered later that year, so I feel like Laurie was having a moment thank that I feel like helped propel onto Twin Peaks.
Carmen (no last name?) wasn't even a character in the book of The Color of Money, so Richard Price deserves credit for for creating a great role for Mastrantonio. She was usually "the woman" in "men's movies," so it is no surprise that she had more to do in television projects, whether it was the TV movies The Brooke Ellison Story and The Russell Girl or her recent run on Blindspot.
But the race really was between the two actresses with the meatier parts, Charlotte Bartlett and Holly (OK, no last name here either, but Woody Allen characters, male and female, often don't). While Charlotte does appear to primarily exist to contrast with Lucy's free-spiritedness, Maggie Smith injects her with such heart that the audience probably cares more for her than they might have with another actress in the part. It does feel like a set up for other "disapproving elder" parts Smith came to own, but before it felt more routine, it probably was a fresh contrast to what Smith had done earlier in her career. But Holly is by far the most interesting character of the five to me, and I'm really glad that Dianne Wiest broke through with this part. She always appears so secure to me in ensemble pieces, where she just gets a few moments to really shine and make an impact. And, in Hannah In Her Sisters, that's all that she really needed.
Great smackdown, all!
I may have to go watch Color of Money now. Also, rewatch The Abyss where Mastrantonio gives a Cameron-film action performance that should be in the same conversation as the iconic Weaver and Hamilton.
Obvious and predictable winner but great smackdown nonetheless. :)
Tess Harper's nomination is definitely a makeup for the Tender Mercies snub where they went with Yentl instead... HFPA handled Harper better.
Joel, I guess Midler can be considered as supporting in Ruthless People only because she had more screentime in Down and out in Beverly Hills! :)
@NathanielB — That's a really interesting point about the discrimination case in the stage version of Children of a Lesser God! I'm not sure about Lynn, but I am not super familiar with the play, which is probably why it didn't come up.
Fantastic read!
Dianne Wiest is one of my favourite actresses. This is one of my favourite films of all time.
I'm a little miffed that she didn't earn a perfect 30 hearts, as she bloody well deserves!
Hi Lynn!
Oh Maggie Smith came close - not quite a runaway win! 😂 I can dream - but it’s lovely to read such nice words about her talent in this, even if Wiest did deserve the win overall.
Thanks Nathaniel and team - excellent work as always! Love the thought and care here - curious about those who seem to give lower scores based on screen time which is frustrating! Perhaps we have become used to category fraud but I don’t think that’s really valid - I’m mostly referring to Laurie’s write-ups which admittedly are fair, but the performance should be judged on the performance - not on the amount of scenes or minutes on screen?
Hooray! Wiest's win here is, well, there's no win since that I've liked as much including her other one. It's an all-time great. And I greatly enjoyed y'alls write-ups. Can't wait to listen to the podcast.
Btw, for whatever it's worth, yes, Harper's performance is a lot. But gotta say, as a raised in the Deep South guy, I was around some women who were just like that. It was kind of an exhausting world.
I agree—often a critique will contain a phrase like "not enough screen time" or "didn't have a proper arc" and I think, why should that factor into the greatness of a given performance?
I was rooting for Smith, but I can't be too mad about the victor. With this, Smith has lost all her smackdowns, and Wiest won two of three. Maybe I should have gone all Naomi Smalls and given one star to Wiest (just kidding).
Working stiff -- I think I was the person you're referring to about the "doesn't have an arc" comment. Maybe I could have explained it better, but I wish Harper had played each scene with more dimension. Instead, she seems to choose an approach for the prolonged sequences and sticks to it with little variation, never bothering to add a counter-melody to the actorly symphony. Had she had an arc, this blunt strategy could work since the script would help mold the role, forcing a facsimile of humanity into the caricature. It's not so much that she doesn't have an arc, but that the type of performance she tries tends to function better when there is a more discernible narrative evolution. Perchance it's unfair to ask an actor to invent gradations the script doesn't provide, but such efforts are among my favorite in this category. I'm thinking, for instance, of the complicated moods someone like Fay Bainter in Jezebel extracts from a limited, textually unchanging part.
I hope that makes my remark in the smackdown blurb a bit less dismissive, or at least more understandable. Thank you for the feedback, and sorry if I was a bit too mean to Harper.
A pretty underwhelming list bar Smith and my winner Wiest.
Laurie I like her anyhow and she fleshes out the back story.
Mastrantonio I just don't get the love for her in this it's a part Geena Davis would've given more spark to.
Harper she brightens up anotherwise mess of a film,Sissy was only ok as 1 commentator said she was better in 'night mother,whatever Keaton was selling I wasn't paying.
My Choices
Dianne Wiest
Cathy Tyson
Maggie Smith
Barbara Hershey
Carrie Henn - Aliens
@ Cláudio
No, I wasn't referring to you as a matter of fact; that particular critique is a staple of the smackdowns. I actually think your reviews of these performances are some of your best recent work. I appreciate the detail and concision you've brought to them.
Working stiff -- Thank you :) Concision isn't my forte, so these blurbs (even if they're quite long) were a challenge.
Nathaniel B -- i'm think i'm the only one who saw CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD as a play (but recently for the broadway revival) which might account for that and i dont remember the lawsuit subplot!!!
Hannah and Her Sisters is one of the best movies of all time!
My wife’s uncle lives in the apartment building where Mia Farrow’s parents live in Hannah and Her Sisters (I think it’s their actual apartment?) in the Upper West Side. Fun fact. And yes, it’s one of the greatest movies of all time. I imagine it might’ve won Best Pic if Annie Hall hadn’t done so 9 years prior.
Nathaniel R and Jonathan (and Lynn too),
Maybe (probably) it's my own bias as a federal employment lawyer, but I really loved that part of the play and, when I saw the revival, I was amazed that a movie I understood as a love story was adapted from one that has much more so say about the deaf community. The character of Orin leads the charge and the lawsuit is what actually helps Sarah find her voice. I understand there were some conflicts when it came to the movie screenplay and it was ultimately praised for becoming more personal and less abstract. But I think it would hew closer to the original story were it to be adapted now. This is the best summary I can find of it: https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/children-lesser-god
Thank you for another wonderful smackdown and podcast… one of my favorites ever (and a little closer than expected too!). Similar to some panelists, the discussion made me appreciate Mastrantonio and Laurie’s performances more that I had initially/independently (both which I already liked). A 4.75 star average reader rating for Wiest… wow… could that be a record?
DrG -- she got mostly 5 hearts from readers though there were a couple of errant 3 hearts votes.
Paranoid -- i could see that given the momentum / overdue factor but i think Platoon was always going to win because they like manly movies best and war movies, too. plus it was a massive hit.
MrRipley79 -- ooh, we were just getting acquainted with Geena Davis around this time but it's easy to picture (due to the hair) but on the other hand Geena would literally tower over Tom Cruise since he's short and she's over 6' so i cant imagine she would have been considered.
Kelly Garrett -- but yes how "revised" is it? Did anything shift a lot in the top ten?
Glad everyone enjoyed this Smackdown, thanks for all the positive feedback!
joel6 - now that you mention it, yes, it's a funny coincidence that the alphabetical order matched the nominees' ranking! It also happens to have been the order I saw the movies in (well, not counting the fact that I'd seen A ROOM WITH A VIEW and HANNAH AND HER SISTERS before), as I think I mentioned on the podcast, and I remember being relieved that the performances just kept getting better. :)
LadyEdith - that's a really interesting find on Maggie Smith. Another reminder that she had several lifetimes' worth of acting careers before everyone knew her as the Dowager.
NathanielB - I hadn't seen the play, either, so I didn't know about the lawsuit. But count me intrigued!
Tom M - Agree on Mastrantonio in THE ABYSS. It's really a shame she didn't become a bigger star. The thing that's most striking about her, as we noted on the podcast, is she just radiates intelligence - which I don't want to say is rare but it's usually not the most striking component of actresses' sex appeal, as it is for her.
morganb123 and Working stiff - screen time wasn't really as heavy a factor as it might seem for Laurie's relatively low grade, at least not for me. (I mean, for the 1998 Smackdown I was firmly Team Dench, who had even less screen time!) It's more that Laurie's performance felt oddly truncated into two parts that didn't really connect. You raise an interesting point, though, about whether it's possible to separate the quality of a performance from how well that person's character arc is written. TBH, I think it's really hard - but sometimes an actor can somehow bring together an unevenly written character and make it work. Laurie's close, but she doesn't quite get there - YMMV, of course.
Also more generally, I think my inability to give "half" hearts combined with my desire to make my order of preference clear may have resulted in lower ratings than I wanted to give to everyone except Smith. If I could, I'd probably have given Laurie 2.5 or 3 hearts, Mastrantonio 3.5, maybe even 4, Wiest 4.5, and Smith of course would keep her 5! I didn't feel too bad about giving Wiest only 4 in part because I was pretty sure she was going to win anyway, and I was right. :)
I'm so sad 1986 is over! I could read and talk about it for hours. I had the show on a VHS tape and watched it constantly. It was my Looney Tunes.
Like, for example, why aren't they presented in alphabetical order?
If you had to pick, based on performance alone Nat, Smith or Wiest?
Very fun year to revisit, and four of these films were really fun to watch again. We need that Dench and Smith follow up movie ASAP. :)
@ eurocheese
Two Marigold Hotel films, Ladies in Lavender, Tea with Mussolini and Tea with the Dames not enough for you? ;-)
Wiest is the easiest of calls, though Hershey should've been here and won. I'm quite fond of Laurie's understated work but the screen time just isn't there.
Re: the discussion of screen time - I agree that a short amount of screen time doesn't delineate *quality* of a performance, but in Laurie's case I feel the movie just didn't give her the time and space to truly let her character fully breathe (despite her best efforts - as I said on the pod, I really like her a lot). Some smaller roles have a certain energy built in to them right off the bat (as in Beatrice Strait in Network or Claire Trevor in next month's smackdown entry, Dead End). Laurie's role felt truncated to me when I saw it and as it turns out, it was! Like Lynn, I would have rated her work 2.5 as well, but found out 1/2 stars are not allowed! Nathaniel, as a reader I've been half-starring like crazy ever since I started participating in this crazy feature (IS MY FACE EVER RED). As ever, I love the smackdown and look forward to being a regular voting reader for the 1937 lineup (folks, it's a really fun batch of movies, I enjoyed all 5 of them, not a single Oscar Bait-y bore in the bunch).
Rob -- i actually allow half stars for the readers but not the panelists, lol. so random i know.
@nathaniel, oh thank goodness. It's really hard not to seem overly critical w/o those crucial halfs!
@NATHANIEL R
New movies that joined the top ten:
A Room With A View
Matador
Jean de Florette
Big Joys, Small Sorrows
Leaving the old top ten:
Stand By Me (down to 15)
Mauvais Sang (down to 19)
Ruthless People (down to 20)
Down and Out in Beverly Hills (down to 28)
Excited to start digging into 1937, which will be an almost entirely new top ten as I've only seen The Awful Truth and Snow White and Seven Dwarfs.
Hannah and Her Sisters is one of my all time favorite films. Dianne Wiest for the win. Such a terrific movie.