5. Frank Sinatra in The Man with Golden Arm- Sinatra I will admit tries hard to do a good job here, but he never really succeeds. It is a challenging role which he does not meet the challenge.
4. James Cagney in Love Me or Leave- This is not a challenging role really, and Cagney plays it as well as possible. He is properly mean as the rather simple gangster, it is not much of a character but Cagney does a fine job with it.
3. James Dean in East of Eden- Mr. Mannerisms himself certainly has a lot of mannerism in his fairly over the top performance, now I probably would not let anyone else get away with a performance like this but something about Dean and the character of Cal make it work.
2. Spencer Tracy in A Bad Day at Black- Probably his best work, Tracy is brilliant here in a completely understated role. He has a magnetic presence in this film, and somehow controls the scenes even though he only ever raises his voice once.
1. Ernest Borgnine in Marty- Borgnine is just brilliant as Marty. He gives a very realistic and heartfelt of performance. He is brilliant at showing all of who Marty his from his frustrations, to the real joy he has when he finally finds love. Simply a great performance.
Deserving Performances:
Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter
Henry Fonda in Mister Roberts
