Best Supporting Actor 1983: Results

5. John Lithgow in Terms of Endearment- Lithgow although hindered by the fact he has few scenes and the film doesn't really care about him gives a good performance showing the simple love expressed by his character well.

4. Jack Nicholson in Terms of Endearment- This is probably a bit of a surprise, but I did actually prefer the two above. Nicholson is inconsistent and some ineffective in his performance at first relying far too much on his trade marks that never meld with his character. He though becomes much better later on capturing the joyous energy of his boisterous character well, as well as creating an interesting relationship with Shirley MacLaine.

3. Charles Durning in To Be or Not Be- Durning only needs to do one thing here and that is for him to be funny. He is funny in all of his scenes and his scenes with co-star Christopher Lloyd are the highlights of the film for me.

2. Rip Torn in Cross Creek- Rip Torn's succeeds in every way Gregory Peck failed to in the role of the real person who inspired Peck's character in the Yearling. Torn creates a unique vivid portrait of his backwoods character and he especially brings great degree of emotional weight to his final scenes.

1. Sam Shepard in The Right Stuff- Shepard win this year giving a great performance in The Right Stuff. Shepard absolutely becomes test pilot Chuck Yeager flawlessly bringing to life the uninhibited confidence and strength of the man. He speaks few words but he holds every moment he appears on the screen.

Deserving Performances:
Darren McGavin in A Christmas Story
Ed Harris in The Right Stuff

Best Supporting Actor 1983: Charles Durning in To Be Or Not To Be

Charles Durning received his second Oscar nomination for portraying Colonel Erhardt in To Be Or Not To Be.

To Be Or Not To Be is the Mel Brooks remake of the comedy about a group of actors who try to foil a Nazi plot in Warsaw Poland.

Charles Durning I must say must have been a popular, or very well liked guy during 82 and 83, since both times he was nominated for films in which he was the sole nomination. Also both films were unsuccessful in some way Whorehouse critically, this film commercially. Also just like his first nomination his role is quite small and only in a few scenes. It would seem there had to be some other reason he was nominated these two times, like people were not sure who to put in a blank spot and said I like Charles Durning I'll vote for him. I suppose why not as Durning is always a competent character actor, and at least this time he was nominated for the right performance unlike in 1982.

Durning portrays one of the many bumbling Nazis in To Be Or Not To Be who are fooled by the actors. I must say I enjoyed the three main Nazi villains who all are amusing in their own. Jose Ferrer was pretty good as a treacherous professor, and Christopher Lloyd has some very enjoyable scenes with Durning as an S.S. Captain and S.S. Colonel respectively. Lloyd being an absolutely no nonsense Captain following order and always claiming not knowing anything, whereas Durning is the more casual superior who is constantly blaming others for any problems or even sometimes even making a joke at Hitler's expense.

Durning is not particularly threatening, only Ferrer has any sort of menace as a villain, but that is really the point of his character. The Colonel is just suppose to be a comical character. Durning is enjoyable enough particularly in his exchanges with Christopher Lloyd with Durning being the more explosively comical one and Lloyd acting as the strange man. They both have a fun dynamic as the two act surprised at their failures with Lloyd being taken aback, and Durning always yelling at Lloyd to always try to remove any blame from himself.

Durning is also enjoyable when he is being constantly surprised by the various impersonations the actors do to fool him. Although most of what he does is make a surprised look, or plead not to have his Hitler jokes revealed Durning still manages not to be repetitive and I certainly did continually get a chuckle out of his antics. Also I will give Durning credit he really does not go over the top with his performance, and is probably funnier because of it. He is always a Nazi officer who is bumbler acting this way not just an actor doing crazy things as characters very often become.

I must say this is an entertaining performance from Charles Durning even though it is quite simple, but hey he stays funny in all of his scenes even if he only has a few of them. I would say though that he is not the best part of the film, combined with Christopher Lloyd he is the best part of the film, and alone he is just one of the most enjoyable films. I probably should say this is not the greatest comedy ever but I laughed enough to say it was still a good one and to his credit most of the laughs in the film came from Durning. This is not the most complex of performances but Durning certainly puts his all into being funny, and he is, so mission accomplished.

Best Supporting Actor 1983

And the Nominees Were:

Sam Shepard in The Right Stuff

John Lithgow in Terms of Endearment

Jack Nicholson in Terms of Endearment

Charles Durning in To Be or Not To Be

Rip Torn in Cross Creek

Best Supporting Actor 1982: Results

5. Charles Durning in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas- Durning although may be the best part of the film, still does not make a particularly substantial impact with his small amount of screentime, that is mostly made up of a very unspectacular musical number.

4. Robert Preston in Victor Victoria- Preston gives a standard Preston performance which most certainly is charming but also not particularly special. It is not even the best case of Preston doing Preston.

3. Lou Gossett, Jr. in An Officer and A Gentleman- Gossett is convincing and capable as an intense drill Sergeant, he also is very good in inserting subtle indications of the more humane characterizations of the man.

2. John Lithgow in The World According to Garp- John Lithgow never overacts in his role as a transsexual and instead gives a nicely heartfelt performance.

1.James Mason in The Verdict- This win easily goes to James Mason who thoroughly proves his strength as an actor in the role of the ace attorney in this film. He gives an excellent quietly dominating performance that creating the perfect sort of adversary in the film.

Deserving Performances:
Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner
Charles Durning in Tootsie

Best Supporting Actor 1982: Charles Durning in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

Charles Durning received his first Oscar nomination for portraying the Governor in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

The Best Little Whorehouse is a rather hard to sit through musical about a long standing Whorehouse's problems with people who are against it.

Charles Durning portrays the governor of Texas who aside from a few very short and quite unremarkable  reaction shots really does not do anything in the film until way past half way through the film he finally does something because the governor of Texas is the person left with the decision to close the Whorehouse down or not, even though he really does not want to be the person left with the decision. Durning despite how little he is in the film is often described as the best part of this film, although that may be true it really says more about the quality of the film than the quality of his performance.

He really does not do anything till he is asked to make a decision on the Whorehouse something he does not really want to do since it gives him any sort of responsibility. So he says all of that in a musical number about side stepping the issue, in which he joyfully sings about his love of doing so, with short moments of saying absolutely nothing through just saying some random good politician type statements. I can't say the number is particularly well written or well directed but Durning does have some energy into the number but never enough that it makes the number at all memorable.

Other than the number he just is a southern inconsistent politician. Durning attempts to be comedic in his character's indecisiveness, but his material is frankly never good enough for Durning to do anything even slightly amusing with it. Durning does try though, and I will give him credit for that but even at his best his performance is nothing special. It never overcomes his material, and his performance is never anything that needed to be awarded. How he was nominated is a bit perplexing especially since they could have nominated him for Tootsie and it would have been far more deserving.

Best Supporting Actor 1982

And the Nominees Were:

James Mason in The Verdict

Robert Preston in Victor Victoria

Lou Gossett Jr. in An Officer and A Gentleman

Charles Durning in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

John Lithgow in The World According to Garp