Best Actor 1960: Results

5. Trevor Howard in Sons and Lovers- I like that Trevor Howard tries to get something out of his fairly simplistic character, but he just is simply not given enough to do.

4. Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind- Tracy does a lot of big acting court room scenes, as well as believable mannerisms, he does both well, but not that well. And yes that's 9 losses to 0 wins for Tracy.

3. Jack Lemmon in The Apartment- Jack Lemmon is a charm, and humorous performance, that simply I enjoyable to watch, he creates a character and performance that is just great to follow through on his corporate misadventures.

2. Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry- Lancaster's performance is a terrific one because of his fascinating creation of Elmer Gantry. His wild energy is just perfect for the wild Gantry. Lancaster completely throws himself into his role creating a compelling character, with a fascinating combination of sarcasm, and earnestness.

1. Laurence Olivier in The Entertainer- I will admit this one really was pretty easy for me to choose. Olivier stood out for me as the best with his outstanding portrait of the on his last legs Vaudevillian Archie Rice. Olivier portrait of Rice's facades he puts on to hide the truth are perfectly handled by Olivier, and his moments where he shows the real honest Rice are incredible.

Deserving Performances:
Anthony Perkins in Psycho

Best Actor 1960: Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind

Spencer Tracy received his seventh Oscar nomination for portraying Henry Drummond in Inherit the Wind.

The monkey scopes trial should make an interesting film, but the problem is they are made and based on Inherit the wind. It's historical inaccuracies would not be so bad I guess, if they did not create so many one dimensional characters, and obviously written scenes.

The problems of the characters of the film certainly carry on over to the performances. Fredric March I find overacts a bit by Brady especially with his mouth movements constantly, and is not able to create too much of character, because his character is written as a basically one dimensional religious dunderhead, as all religious people are portrayed in this film. On the other side though the scientific people are portrayed as almost perfect reasonable people (except Gene Kelly's overly cynical reporter), these are just as one dimensional though which include Tracy's Henry Drummond.

Spencer Tracy's character luckily for him is not required to do much more than espouse his belief in evolution, and attack the others beliefs. This allows plenty of scenes of Tracy giving loud speeches in the court room, and more quiet scenes of breaking apart particular witnesses. I will say that his performance is fine in showing his character's passion for his cause which is strong, and energetically portrayed by Tracy.

He is fine as well in breaking apart witnesses, as well as breaking up his opponents ideas as well, being properly quick, and adept in his manner. I think something quite lacking though is his lack of competition in the court room. I also think he was good in portraying Drummond with particular mannerisms with making them completely realistic, although I can't say that add that much to his performance on a whole. I think his performance could have been more interesting if the film allowed Drummond to really have to fight with a more intelligent Brady.

The film could have still portrayed Drummond as being in the right, but it could have allowed for far more interesting if the people Drummond was proving wrong weren't just portrayed as complete fools to begin with. This makes it so Tracy's passion, and persuasion in the role although good, it really did not really need Tracy to truly be persuasive or as powerful, which perhaps it could have if the film was written more intelligently.

Tracy is completely fine throughout his performance, and has some good moments, but I never felt it was much more than fine. He had his moments of big actory speeches which he handles well, but his performance is lacking because the film itself requires less of him than it might if it simply had been a better more fully written film. Overall his performance is good, but his character is lacking as are his scenes.

Best Actor 1960

And the Nominees:

Jack Lemmon in The Apartment

Laurence Olivier in The Entertainer

Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry

Trevor Howard in Sons and Lovers

Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind

Well it's Spencer Tracy's final chance, can he finally win, or is someone else the best?

Best Actor 1938: Results

5. Spencer Tracy in Boys Town- Spencer Tracy's performance is not really bad, but he is not required to do anything more than be nice.

4. Charles Boyer in Algiers- Although I liked what Boyer did with what he had. Boyer was properly smooth, but the character just did not have enough to it, to create a really interesting performance.

3. Leslie Howard in Pygmalion- Leslie Howard is quite effective as Henry Higgins, not only in creating an entertaining portrait of the pompous professor, but also a more in-depth complex portrait of a cold man as well.

2. James Cagney in Angels With Dirty Faces- Cagney does his usual gangster performance for part of the performance which is good, but the best part of the performance is showing the soft side of the gangster as he tried to help his old friend who is priest. Also his last scene is amazing.

1. Robert Donat in The Citadel- This was quite the difficult one to choose because of the strength of these top performances. I went with Donat though because of his long change his character undergoes and Donat's effectiveness and believability of every single phase of his character. Donat's performance is powerful, charming, and very effective. 

Deserving Performances:

Best Actor 1938: Spencer Tracy in Boys Town

Spencer Tracy won his second Oscar from his third nomination for portraying Father Flanagan in Boys Town.

Boys Town tells the story of Father Flanagan who creates a home to help troubled boys, as well as the story of one their hard cases Whitey Marsh played by Mickey Rooney.

Spencer Tracy's first three nominations and his two wins are quite strange that it is very easy is to argue that he is more of supporting in each film. Well I suppose his screen time grows from each film to film, since finally with this film he is sort of the co-lead, although he disappears during large portions of the film in the middle which focus mainly on Mickey Rooney as Whitey. 

He is only really the lead at the beginning of the film, where he sees boys in needs, and decides to help them. There is not all that much to really say about Tracy's performance here. There really isn't. His character is exceedingly simple, just a nice priest who wants to help the boys out no matter what, he really is required to do little more than that.

This performance though I will say I did not think was bad, just unimpressive. He is properly nice, and welcoming in his performance. He is warm enough, and pleasant in the right manner. I guess he does show his character's quiet passion well enough I suppose, and his want to do good for the boys, but really it just is not anything special.

He becomes even less really when he is barely in the film for awhile, pretty much just a background supporting character to the main story about Mickey Rooney. That is until the end of the film, where he questions the lack of a heart in Rooney's character, and than joins his boys, in a very silly scene, to attack gun touting gangsters. Tracy is believable as well in these sterner scenes too, but again it really is not anything that needs to really mentioned. It is not a bad performance really, but it certainly is very underwhelming.

Best Actor 1938

And the Nominees Were:

Robert Donat in The Citadel

Leslie Howard in Pygmalion

Spencer Tracy in Boys Town

James Cagney in Angels With Dirty Faces

Charles Boyer in Algiers

Best Actor 1961: Results

5. Charles Boyer in Fanny- Boyer is fine enough but his role is too small and simple for his to accomplish all that much.

4. Spencer Tracy in Judgment At Nuremberg- Tracy is functionally fine in the part, but fails to really find any real depth in his underwritten part.

3. Maximilian Schell in Judgment At Nuremberg- Schell's performance is ACTING most certianly, he does not have too much of a character, but he is an energetic and effective presence in the film.

2. Paul Newman in The Hustler- An absolutely terrific performance, where Newman really creates a fascinating original character in Fast Eddie Felson. Newman never goes the easy way with his character, always going for instead a complex and creative character.

1. Stuart Whitman in The Mark- This one was extremely close for me, and much harder to choose than I expected it to be, before I watched the Mark. Whitman though completely threw me off with his extremely powerful complex performance of a deeply troubled man trying to change his life. I will say I do not think Whitman is better Newman, they are both equally great, but the nature of the award is choosing one, and for the moment I will choose Whitman. This is a year though where I am sure my choice could easily go back forth, because both create such memorable and powerful portraits of two incredibly unique characters.

Deserving Performances:
Open to Suggestions.

Best Actor 1961: Spencer Tracy in Judgment At Nuremberg

Spencer Tracy received his eighth nomination for portraying Judge Dan Haywood in Judgment at Nuremberg.

Judge Dan Haywood is an American Judge who is set as the chief justice of the tribunal who sits to judge the Judges of the Nazi regime. Tracy is the actual lead of the film, although he does not get to do all that pointing and yelling that co-nominee Schell gets to do (you can watch Inherit the Wind if you want to see Tracy do that) instead Tracy gives a quieter performance as the presiding Judge.

The film follows him through his time in the trial, and his path reaching basically to his verdict. It is rather interesting because most of the performances have the biggest moments inside the courtroom but Tracy is almost entirely reactive in the court room sequences. He really does very little sequences and mostly gives the same slightly tired expression throughout these moments.  He has to also stop the trial here and there, reestablish order on occasion with raising his voice, but not all more than this up until his final verdict. In regards to being the judge at the trial Tracy is wholly functional but nothing more.

Most of Tracy's actual moments come from his time outside of the courtroom. He still though is very reactive even then. I would think, and maybe the films wants Dan Haywood to slowly change and finally bring himself to his conclusion in the court through moments outside of it, but Tracy shows little change in the character in any of these scenes. He walks around the destroyed city, and again keeps mostly his slightly tired expression. Now the only thing about showing change, is he also really does not give very much insight into who Haywood is exactly. Tracy nor the film really describe his feelings well before he gets there, or during the trial so much so when asked about it he says he doesn't know what to think.

Politically the character lacks proper change, or even definition, and this is basically true for his character's personality. All I learned from Tracy's performance, and even more so the script was that he was a nice enough old fellow, does not like anything too fancy, but believes in justice. Although even the justice part is only really gotten to in the final moments of the film.

So what does his character come to, well he comes to that the men are guilty of their horrible crimes. He says it in a verdict strongly depicted by Tracy, and then reassured once again by Tracy directly to the reptetant of the Judge Ernest Janning (Burt Lancaster). Tracy does have the right forcefulness in showing the character's belief in justice, but this really just is what occurs at the end, and it really is not lead to in any special fashion. Also it really does not make perfect sense as Haywood's plan the entire time, since he let the defense attorney for the Nazis Hans Rolfe (Maximilian Schell) almost free reign of the courtroom so much that he allowed victims of the Nazi's to persecuted all over again.

Overall his performance really is only really functional, and actually I do think that it really is mostly the fault of the film which severely underwrites Haywood as a character. His character should have had some sort of transformation and really should have been the moral center of the film, but Tracy and the film barely even realism the personality of the character. Tracy is never bad, and does have a charm but never adds anything to his already underwritten role.

Best Actor 1961

And the Nominees Were:

Paul Newman in The Hustler

Stuart Whitman in The Mark

Maximilian Schell in Judgment At Nuremberg

Spencer Tracy in Judgment At Nuremberg

Charles Boyer in Fanny

 Well here it is the most requested year. I frankly do not know how almost everyone was so interested in this year exactly, but I guess I'll see how it is.

Best Actor 1937: Results

5. Spencer Tracy in Captain Courageous- Tracy I just think is completely unbelievable in this role, I never was convinced by his accent or his performance.

4. Paul Muni in The Life of Emile Zola- Muni does do some overacting in some scenes, and Zola is portrayed rather simply in the film itself. Still though he handles the speeches of Zola pretty well, and his changes as Zola ages are very well done.

3. Charles Boyer in Conquest- Boyer is perfectly cast as Napoleon, but unfortunately napoleon is portrayed incredibly inconsistently. Still Boyer does have some strong moments, and shows if the film had been better than he probably could have been great.

2. Fredric March in A Star is Born- Like Boyer I do feel March is hurt a little by the film, but he still gives a very charming performance as Norman Maine. Then as Norman's stardom falls he gives a pretty effective portrait of a man who continues to drift downward, despite the fact the film rushes this far too much.

1. Robert Montgomery in Night Must Fall- Montgomery is absolutely brilliant in his performance here. He is both charming and incredibly chilling. His performance is truly great, giving the right hints of the true nature of the character throughout, and mixes his charm with his psychotic nature incredibly well. And his final look at himself in the mirror that is just a truly outstanding scene.

Deserving Performances:
Cary Grant in The Awful Truth
Stan Laurel in Way Out West
Oliver Hardy in Way Out West

Best Actor 1937: Spencer Tracy in Captain Couragoeus

Spencer Tract won his first Oscar from his second Oscar nomination for portraying Manuel Fidello a fisherman in Captain Courageous.

Captain Courageous I actually liked for the most part, I felt it was simply but well told story of a spoiled boy Harvey (Freddie Bartholomew) who learns what it really means to be a  man when he lives on a fisher boat for  awhile do following off a luxury liner.

Spencer Tracy is not actually the lead in Captain Courageous Freddie  Bartholomew is as Harvey. He is most certainly supporting. There is nothing all that special about this supporting performance. I will say the character of Manuel does have a heartwarming quality that note even a bad performance can mess up.

That is the only thing I can say that is positive about Tracy's simple and very poor performance. He never for a second is believable as the fisherman even less so than in the Old Man and the Sea, I suppose fishermen were not his forte. His accent he tries is strange, and incredibly inconsistent. A performance really is has a problem when the actor can not even keep a bad accent straight. Manuel dialogue is a tough sell I will say, and Tracy naturally is unable to sell it. He certainly smiles a lot, but so what there is nothing special about that.

There is never anything special about his performance at all. Whenever he tries something more with Manuel, or is required to do more he fails. This certainly just is not a high point for Tracy, after all even Tracy though lowly of it, well before people told him he was good, and won an award for it. This simply is not a good performance, almost everyone acted better than him in this movie, Freddie Bartholomew, Lionel Barrymore, Melvyn Douglas, even Mickey Rooney.

Best Actor 1937

And the Nominees Were:

Fredric March in A Star Was Born

Paul Muni in The Life of Emile Zola

Spencer Tracy in Captain Courageous 

Robert Montgomery in Night Must Fall

Charles Boyer in Conquest

Who do you pick, and predict? The drunken actor, Emile Zola, the guy who looks like he is drunk, the man who has more than smoking on his mind, or Napoleon Bonaparte.

Best Actor 1950: Results

5. Louis Calhern in The Magnificent Yankee- I will say it again that Calhern is just fine as Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, but only just fine.

4. Spencer Tracy in Father of the Bride- Spencer Tracy is very good in this film being both an interesting presence to follow through sometime purposely mundane situations, and fins the right amount of humor when he can.

3. William Holden in Sunset Blvd.- William does an incredibly good job at being cynical, and finds the right if sometimes bizarre tone for his scenes with Gloria Swanson. The only reason he is third because I though he had more help from the film than the other two.

2. Jose Ferrer in Cyrano De Bergerac- Ferrer is very strong in every speech he makes from his most explosively and overly dramatic ones to his more tender romantic ones. I do not think the film uses his performance particularly well, and Ferrer does not have anyone who can really act all that well with, but nonetheless gives a strong performance.

1. James Stewart in Harvey- James Stewart tops this list although I am not going to say I am completely sure about even this placement, but it is the placement for the moment. Anyways I put him here because the film he is in and everything with in it would have been an absolute incredible failure if Stewart was not able to make Elwood such a likable, poignant, endearing, and most importantly believable character. Elwood is an incredible challenge and Stewart manages to meet it.

Deserving Performances:
Edmond O'Brien in DOA
Toshiro Mifune in Rashomon

Best Actor 1950: Spencer Tracy in Father of the Bride

Spencer Tracy received his fourth Oscar nomination for portraying Stanley T. Banks, the titular father, in Father of the Bride.

Father of the Bride is an okay comedy of sorts, that shows an example of the problems and responsibilities a father must face when his only daughter is getting married.

Spencer Tracy's performance in this film is the foundation of the film for his entire time. It begins coming in on him tired from his dealings with the marriage of his daughter and his narration carries us through the story as he had to deal with the various requirements of a father at this time. Tracy does just fine as a character to follow through this ordeal, with his nice demeanor and fairly to the point narration. Tracy is allowed to have some fun great fun with his performance, because the narration gives his real thoughts as Tracy has to put on a facade at times. Tracy goes for the right amount of humor in a very relaxed simply fashion through the differences in showing his true thoughts with his face and reactions combined with his narration.

Spencer Tracy besides these scenes get many scenes of going through the motions. This is not about his performance but about what the character has to do. He has to go through the motions of being the father of the bride such as meeting the fiancee, and the in laws, and dealing with the various minor problems with the wedding such as tending bar. Tracy does a fine job as the father and is always believable and charismatic enough to watch through these tasks. Tracy also always tries to add a little humor whenever he has a chance to. In all actuality the film could have been incredibly boring without Tracy, since all the other performance are fairly simple, and it really just focuses on the father. Tracy keeps his performance interesting enough which keeps the film interesting enough.

Tracy's performance is not one ever of that much of challenge. He shows all his emotions as they should be, and gives a fine semi nontraditional leading performance. He never is all that amazing, but he is always watchable in this performance, and always shows the right amount of warmth and intelligence for this performance. He does add more when he is required to such as the sense of time passing and changing involving how much his daughter is grown. Tracy puts the right amount of heart into his performance without ever making it sappy or overriding his humor portion of the film. Overall his performance is not ever obvious or all that assuming but it is a good one.

Best Actor 1950

And the Nominees Were:

William Holden in Sunset Boulevard 

James Stewart in Harvey

Jose Ferrer in Cyrano De Bergerac

Spencer Tracy in Father of the Bride

Louis Calhern in The Magnificent Yankee

What is your prediction? Who do you pick?

Best Actor 1955: Results

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