Best Actor 1992: Results

5. Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman- Pacino's performance creates a very mixed feeling, in a lot of moments I think he gives a very charming, and effective performance, but other times he goes too over the top, and his performance seems overly calculated.

4. Denzel Washington in Malcolm X- Washington performance is another mixed bag in my opinion. His early scenes he overplays, and his transformations are mostly done by the film, rather than his performance. He though is strong in many scenes, and has the right manner for Malcolm X in the speeches, and the right dread infused with still a passion the final scenes. It is just overall a mixes performance for me.

3. Stephen Rea in The Crying Game- Rea ranks third and above the other two of the bottom three because I feel his performance is always consistent, and basically believable as the descent Fergus, I just never felt he was that much more that believable though.

2. Robert Downey Jr. in Chaplin- Downey certainly is quite skillful in his ability to replicate Chaplin's physical comedy. He also has the right charm in the role, and is able to handle the aging requirements of Chaplin with grace, unfortuantely he is held back by a film that strangely enough perhaps does not delve enough into the mind of the man.

1. Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven- Eastwood performance in Unforgiven might be, or close to being his best performance. He knows exactly his range in this performance, as well the history of himself as an actor, and brilliantly uses both these aspects to create a very compelling portrait of a man's chilling degradation back into the viscous killer he once was.

Deserving Performances:
Jack Lemmon in Glengarry Glen Ross

Best Actor 1992: Robert Downey Jr. in Chaplin

Robert Downey Jr. received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Charles Chaplin in Chaplin.

Chaplin is another by the books biography basically, only a few scenes differ all that much, the film frankly could have been more focused on more interesting parts of his life, it frankly spends too much time on his various relationships with women.

The biggest challenge to Downey's entire performance as Chaplin is possibly his imitations of Chaplin's film moments as well as his vaudevillian acts. Downey is quite effective in doing both of these. He is firstly a intensely believable as a vaudevillian, and certianly has the spot on timing and ability. In his later portrayal of Chaplin's film sequences he is again completely believable, and accurate to the manner of the real Chaplin.

Downey is particularly effective in this aspect of Chaplin, because he never really makes it seem that he being overly technically, nor does it feel like an imitation of Chaplin. It instead feels like the actual manner of Chaplin, and he does indeed a very strong job of being able to have the perfect feeling of all the Chaplin footage, from his early silent routines, as well as his recitation of the final speech of the Great Dictator.

Downey portrayal of Chaplin as a man, is not an extremely complicated one, but it is an appropriate one. Chaplin does not really undergo any major changes throughout the film, and always stands as an entertainer, and as a man who believes in his message as well. The one major vice the film presents is his involvement women.

The film shows his various relationships, but at the same time does not delve overly deep in many of them implying most of them are purely for physical satisfaction, which Downey certainly presents in a realistic fashion, showing that with every relationship Chaplin is always more concerned with himself than other, without overplaying it, suggesting it just as the nature of Chaplin.

Other than his relationship Chaplin is portrayed as basically a nice enough man, and Downey gives the part the proper charm. His most major transformation as Chaplin though is that of his aging, as well as just his adjustment into his wealthier position. Downey actually handles both of these aspects quite well, and his development of his accent from working class in the beginning to wealthy ends is very well handled by Downey.

His other transformation is his aging which certainly has a lot to do with his makeup which becomes quite heavy near the end of the film. Downey though does not let it do all of the work for him though, and believably wears the make up, and shows his aging in more subtle aging in his voice and physical movements. 

Otherwise than that there is not much more to say about his performance, otherwise that it is charming, and believable. This another performance though that I still think could have been given a little more by the film itself. Due to the almost perfect presentation of Chaplin, Downey can only go so far with the role, which is so far that it most certainly is a good performance, but not a great performance.

Best Actor 1992

And the Nominees Were:

Robert Downey Jr. in Chaplin

Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven

Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman

Stephen Rea in The Crying Game

Denzel Washington in Malcolm X