The Ten Worst Academy Award Choices for Best Actor

The Academy Awards have degenerated through the process of bloated self-importance combined with increasing obsolescence to the point where the only real enjoyment in watching the actual Oscar broadcast anymore comes from complaining about how a particular person or movie could possibly have won. Part of the problem stems from the fact that very few movies made today are even deserving of a nomination-it’s hard to imagine Chicago, A Beautiful Mind or Gladiator being in the running twenty or thirty years ago, much less winning, but then again Rocky and The Greatest Show on Earth are Best Picture winners, so who knows? Over the years, the Academy Award has been handed out to some brilliant performances by some of our most incredible male actors-Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull, F. Murray Abraham in Amadeus, and Frederic March in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde just to name a few. More often the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role has gone to actors who were good, but not quite at their peak, such as Dustin Hoffman in Kramer v. Kramer (don’t even get me started on Rain Man!), Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen, or Rod Steiger for In the Heat of the Night. (More on Steiger, later.) But every once in a while the Oscar seems almost to deliberately deny the best performance of the year in favor of a significantly less impressive job of acting. And on occasion they actually hand out one of their bald-headed statuettes to an actor so undeserving it defies belief. Keeping that in mind, I present my choice for the Ten Worst Academy Award Choices for Best Actor. I gave myself only one hard and fast rule: The only performance that I will choose as the deserving winner will come from the other nominees. I mention this because, as we all know, many times the best performance of the year doesn’t even warrant a nomination, but in order to keep things simple I enforced that rule upon myself.

10. Roberto Benigni. Life is Beautiful. 1998.

The only reason this is at number ten is because I must confess to not having seen this movie in its entirety. And the reason is that I can’t get past Benigni’s mugging. From what I can gather, this was supposed to be Benigni’s Annie Hall, in which he moved from silly to “serious” comedy. Even the structure of the movie seems to cry out: Look at me, I used to be a goof and now I’m an artist as it moves from outlandish pratfalls to more somber comedy. Well, I don’t buy it. And when you consider that Benigni’s competition included Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan and Edward Norton in American History X as well as the man who should have won-Ian McKellen for Gods and Monsters-well, is there any wonder audiences are staying away from the Academy Awards in droves? The MTV Movie Awards had more credibility that year.

9. William Holden. Stalag 17. 1953.

I love Stalag 17; it’s my favorite World War II. And I think Holden is just fine in it. Unfortunately, 1953 stands as one of greatest years for performances by male actors of all time. Holden’s actual winning was the result of having two performances from the same movie both get nominated. The voting that year was split between Montgomery Clift and Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity. Since the other two nominees were Marlon Brando and Richard Burton in stuffy Roman epics, it was Holden who benefited the most from those who didn’t vote for either Clift or Lancaster, both of whom turned in far more spectacular performances than William Holden’s.

8. Al Pacino. Scent of a Woman. 1992.

This is one of those deals where the Academy tries to make up for previous oversights by giving an award to an actor later in his career, typically in an inferior performance. (Think Henry Fonda in On Golden Pond.) Al Pacino could arguably have had two or three statuettes by 1992 and the Oscar voters wouldn’t have had to embarrass themselves like this. In my opinion, Stephen Rea gave easily the best performance of that year in The Crying Game, but I wouldn’t have minded if Denzel Washington had won for Malcolm X.

7. Rex Harrison. My Fair Lady. 1964.

I’ve got three words and an abbreviation for you: Peter Sellers, Dr. Strangelove. Need I say more? Okay, how about these words: how do you justify giving an acting award for a musical to a guy who doesn’t even try to sing?

6. Charlton Heston. Ben-Hur. 1959.

I guess on this one I need only say the words Charlton Heston, Oscar-winner. What was up with the Academy in 1959? Not only do they pull a Titanic and drop a record number of awards on a movie that has only one good sequence in it, but then they top it off by giving Heston the Best Actor award over Jack Lemmon’s hysterically funny job in Some Like it Hot. We all know Oscar doesn’t reward comic performances (more on that later), but, really, isn’t Charlton Heston almost as funny in Ben-Hur? Only thing is he wasn’t trying to be and Jack Lemmon was. Shameful.

5. Geoffrey Rush. Shine. 1996.

I really hate the fact that all an actor has to do is engage in some mannerisms and act a little eccentric and he immediately gets rewarded with Oscar buzz. Geoffrey Rush has since proved to be one of the best actors in the business, but his star-making role in Shine is an example of the worst kind of acting that Oscars go to. Much like Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man, this is the kind of the performance that good actors can do in their sleep and that make bad actors look like they’ve got range. Not for the first time did Ralph Fiennes get screwed, but I’d go far as to say that even Tom Cruise was more deserving for Jerry Maguire. And another thing, if you’re going to give Rush an Oscar, then why isn’t Alex Rafalowicz at least deserving of a Supporting Actor nomination? He did everything Geoffrey Rush did and without having to rely on gimmicky mannerisms.

4. Adrien Brody. The Pianist. 2002.

Nope. Sorry. Brody’s take on acting seems to be that all you need is a long, heartfelt gaze with dopey eyes and then let the audience read upon you what they will. I’m still not convinced of this guy’s talent and then when you add that he beat out Daniel Day-Lewis for Gangs of New York, well, now you’re just talking crazy. Gangs of New York was an absolutely horrendous movie, and it is a testament to the power of Daniel Day-Lewis’ talent that you can sit through the entire thing. It’s a standout acting job and this decision should haunt every Academy voter who went for Brody for their rest of their lives.

3. Tom Hanks. Philadelphia. 1993.

You have to understand that I actually watched Bosom Buddies the night it premiered. Long before anyone knew who Tom Hanks was, I was a fan. And I’ve been a fan his entire career and I’m still with him. And I think he was totally deserving of his Oscar for Forrest Gump; in fact, his was the only Oscar that movie deserved. But I’m sorry, I can’t justify the decision to give him an Oscar over Liam Neeson for Schindler’s List. As far I’m concerned, Neeson’s performance as Oskar Schindler is one of the most startling oversights in Oscar history. The only thing keeping that performance from being my choice as the best of the decade is Ralph Fiennes’ performance as Amon Goeth in the same movie. That neither has an Oscar is absolutely ridiculous.

2. Art Carney. Harry & Tonto. 1974.

First off, let me say I love Art Carney! I can watch The Honeymooners over and over again even in those scenes where he’s not acting with the Great One, Jackie Gleason. But I mean, come on! Art Carney beats out Albert Finney for Murder on the Orient Express, Dustin Hoffman for Lenny and Jack Nicholson for Chinatown? And none of those guys should have won it either. Because, as amazing as it seems now and it was just as amazing then, Art Carney actually won the Academy Award for Best Actor over Al Pacino for The Godfather, Part II. Yes, you read that right. I’m not making it up. Arguably the single best performance in a series of movies so overwhelmingly packed with great performances that over the course of three movies they earned no less than ten Academy Award acting nominations. In fact, both the original and the first sequel produced three different nominees in the Best Supporting Actor category. I mean, that’s got to be some kind of record or something. And yet, if I had to pluck just one performance from the entire Godfather canon and say it was deserving of a special Godfather-only Oscar award, I’d pick Al Pacino’s extraordinarily subtle-especially in light of his recent move toward overacting in everything-turn as Michael Corleone in Part II. It is such a powerhouse performance that it doesn’t even seem like a performance. Unlike Brando’s Oscar winning acting in the original, Pacino’s doesn’t call attention to itself and doesn’t leap off the screen. Instead, it merely sears its way into your consciousness. Do you wanna see what great film acting is about? Watch the sequence where Michael finally realizes that his brother Fredo betrayed the family. That, my friends, is proof positive that once upon a time Al Pacino was one of America’s greatest actors.

1. Lee Marvin. Cat Ballou. 1965

There are two reasons why this is my number one pick. First off, Lee Marvin’s performance in Cat Ballou is little more than the type of caricature that might have been given by one of the many nameless character actors appearing on any of the twenty westerns on television the week Marvin picked up his Oscar. Don’t get me wrong, I think Lee Marvin is a terrific actor. But his winning for this just absolutely defies all the laws of Oscar voting. For one thing, it’s a comedic performance which almost never wins. And it’s a low-comedy, pratfall-based comedic performance at that. But the real reason why this is, in my opinion, the single worst Academy Award choice for Best Actor is because Marvin beat out Rod Steiger in The Pawnbroker. If you’ve never seen The Pawnbroker, you should Netflix it right now. It’s the kind of movie that typically ensures an actor of getting an Oscar over the likes of Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou. And it is Rod Steiger’s single most memorable acting job in a career that is almost entirely made of highlights. At this stage of his career Steiger could do almost no wrong. Over a five year period, Steiger not only lifted this movie to unbelievable heights but he would also put his stamp on Dr. Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, No Way to Treat a Lady and The Illustrated Man. Had Steiger been a little more circumspect and not lent himself out to so many lesser projects, his name would be probably be whispered among the stratosphere occupied by Brando and a select few others. And just in case you’re wondering, Rod Steiger’s performance in The Pawnbroker is something that Brando wished he could have pulled off.