Best Supporting Actor 1958: Results

5. Arthur Kennedy in Some Came Running- Kennedy gives a rather uninteresting performance in a very dispensable part.

4. Theodore Bikel in The Defiant Ones- Bikel gives an adequate performance that fulfills his role as the humane sheriff.

3. Gig Young in Teacher's Pet- Gig Young gives a rather enjoyable performance being funny both when he is the perfect pompous man, to just a man with a very bad hangover.

2. Lee J. Cobb in The Brothers Karamazov- Although he is not in a great film Cobb makes the most out of his performance. He turns his bad father into an effectively realistic villain who is just as much of a buffoon as he is a master manipulator.

1. Burl Ives in The Big Country- Good prediction Eddie and Fritz. Ives gives the best performance of all of the nominees despite the fact that his film is quite lacking on a whole. Ives though never becomes the mediocrity of his surroundings though and gives a powerful moving portrait of troubled landowner and father, that frankly finds complexities to the part that probably were not even in the character as written.

Deserving Performances:
Orson Welles in Touch of Evil
Burl Ives in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Best Supporting Actor 1958: Lee J. Cobb in The Brothers Karamazov

Lee J. Cobb received his second and final Oscar nomination for portraying Fyodor Karamazov in The Brothers Karamazov.

The Brothers Karamazov details tensions involving
the brothers over their fathers decision for his heir.

Lee J. Cobb portrays the father of the brothers and you know there is a problem when he makes Burl Ives's father in The Big Country look like a good father, but Fyodor comes close to doing this. He is a rather lowly man who fathered several sons but clearly cares very little for them. In many ways Fyodor is villainous character in the film as he really is the cause of most of the problems in the film. Lee J. Cobb very memorably and effectively portrayed the villainous Johnny Friendly in On The Waterfront who was the cause of most of the problems in that film, this performance is not on that level, but it is an interesting performance nonetheless that has some of the same strengths found in that performance.

Lee J. Cobb is really the perfect brutish buffoon, and does indeed the same powerful presence he showed in his earlier stronger nominated performance. It is clear that Fyodor has a command even if he he the most lowly sort of a man. Cobb is really quite effective in his portrayal of his feelings toward his sons as he shows the nature of the man. Cobb makes absolutely no excuses for his character he is a bad man, and Cobb handles this rather realistically as he does not make his emotions toward his sons one dimensional. Cobb certainly conveys the idea that he does not care for them, but does not exactly hate them either. He instead just seems to show that he really has no love to really convey to them, he does treat them with a bit of descent as he does recognize them, but Cobb acts it as just something he feels he is required to do than any form of love he has for his children.

As the manipulator Fyodor Cobb again does excel in his own fashion because he never overplays Fyodor's rather villainous role in the proceedings. Yes he is always pushing and attempting to control his sons in his own way, but Cobb actually creates Fyodor into a rather realistic manipulator because he never makes Fyodor into being overly intelligent man but just someone who basically knows how to make people tick in his particular way. It is an interesting way to portray a manipulator as he does in such a rather crude manipulator, but it is an effective portrayal. Cobb realizes exactly how easy it would be for the brothers to desire to murder him. It is a good performance by Cobb that creates Fyodor in the buffoonish antagonist that he should be. It would have easy to come off as too evil or too buffoonish, but Cobb finds just the right balance.

Best Supporting Actor 1958

And the Nominees Were:

Theodore Bikel in The Defiant Ones

Lee J. Cobb in The Brothers Karamazov

Burl Ives in The Big Country

Gig Young in Teacher's Pet

Arthur Kennedy in Some Came Running

A Man Called Flint

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I had the opportunity to watch the two Derek Flint movies starring James Coburn. These 1960s spy spoofs are great fun to watch, with gadgets, fights, beautiful women and the incomparable Mr. Flint saving the world without batting an eye or ever losing his cool.

While I enjoyed both movies, I have to give the edge to the first one, “Our Man Flint” (1966). In this one, we are introduced to agent Derek Flint of the Z.O.W.I.E. organization, who works alone, disdains authority and doesn’t follow orders. But Flint is the one man who can destroy the Galaxy organization (bigger than SPECTRE), which is bent on conquering the world by controlling the weather.

Flint is a lighthearted rebuke to James Bond. After all, we see Flint easily best Agent 0008 in a bar fight. And when boss Lee J. Cobb tries to arm Flint with special equipment, like a trick briefcase, he dismisses them, saying they are toys and he doesn’t need them.



He lives in a posh loft apartment with four women who cater to his every need. Are they mistresses? Girlfriends? Servants? We’re not sure, but there’s apparently no jealousy among them and when he takes them all out to dinner, he makes sure he dances with each one. This is one of my favorite scenes in the movie, because Jerry Goldsmith’s infectious Flint theme gets treated to variety of styles (depending on what dance Flint and his ladies are dancing to at that time).

Flint’s ladies are kidnapped by Galaxy and bought to an island for re-programming into pleasure units. Flint infiltrates the island to stop Galaxy and rescue his ladies. Another new woman, an agent for Galaxy, Gila (Gila Golan) seduces Flint but soon switches to his side.

It’s all hugely enjoyable and not meant to be taken seriously. The sets and costumes are 1960s garish (in the best sense) and you can see how the Flint movies were huge inspirations for the Austin Powers movies.

The film was successful enough to warrant a sequel, “In Like Flint” (1967). In this one, a group of women attempt to rule the world by kidnapping the president and replacing him with an imposter. They have the help of some army officers, but the male villains have their own agenda…

The four ladies from the first one are gone (Flint says they all married, and I bet he was invited to all the weddings) and are replaced by three new women. (Flint tells his boss he is trying to cut back). Flint has learned new tricks, including learning to communicate with dolphins. And you can bet that is going to come in handy in the course of the movie.

The pacing in the second one is more slack, and the climax is a ridiculous one, with Flint blasting off into outer space to foil the plot. Secret agents and space do not mix. Never have and never will It’s too bad the Bond producers didn’t remember this when they made “Moonraker” (1979), arguably the nadir of the series.

Fox recently issued the two Flint films in a deluxe set, with about nine featurettes, examining different aspects of the series, from Coburn to 1960s spy movies, set design and musical scores (the two Goldsmith scores are great, by the way).

One of the featurettes does a nice job of explaining Coburn’s appeal and how there is no one like him today. How true. One of the experts says if James Coburn, Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson turned up in Hollywood today they would not be let through the front gates. Yet they were among the biggest stars of the 1960s and 1970s. Individuality is what makes great stars, not cookie cutter looks and mannerisms.

The Flint films are great fun, and remain supremely enjoyable time capsules of 1960s entertainment.

Rating for “Our Man Flint”: Three and a half stars.

Rating for “In Like Flint”: Two and a half stars.