Leading Actress 1980

I always come up with interesting introductions to write when I'm thinking to myself in the shower but then I forget to write them down so now you're stuck with a visual of me thinking about movies in the shower, so there you go. I've seen Spacek's performance a bunch and know it's very good so I'm looking forward to if anyone else can compete.

1980 Best Actress

Sissy Spacek - Coal Miner's Daughter

I most associate Spacek with this role, probably because I watched it a few times growing up, instead of say, Carrie or another film. I always liked her performance when I watched and thought she was a great singer. I didn't realize it was Spacek actually singing, though, which is super impressive to me because she sounds amazing. And that is the strength of the performance because you actually believe she is Loretta Lynn because she sounds so country and so good. If the singing was mediocre or bad or clearly dubbed, I think the performance would fail entirely. I also like that Spacek grows the character from the beginning. Now, she doesn't look like a 13 year old girl when the film starts, obviously, but her mannerisms and voice and demeanor all seem appropriate for the age. What I like is that Spacek shows the confidence of Loretta growing as she gets older and wiser and more weathered in the ways of the world. Contrast a moment towards the end of the film where Spacek gives this intense, almost pained look that says a lot more than words could with a moment from the beginning of the film where Spacek is shyly hiding on the couch and looking like a teenager. Those two moments show the range in which Spacek had to work to make Loretta into a believable character for the film. Spacek nails both ends of the character and everything else in between, too. She has great chemistry with Tommy Lee Jones who plays her husband, even when they are arguing and it's fun to watch them both go at it because they clearly both elevate each other's game. I also like that Spacek isn't a loud actress. By that I mean, she has a lot of subtlety in her performance and doesn't rely on theatrics and broad acting to create the character. Even when singing, it looks and feels natural and not like a performance. Spacek inhabits Loretta's essence or persona, so to speak, and becomes the country music legend and it doesn't feel a slight bit out of place. She embodies the tough, back country gal who works hard at her music and even harder at her marriage and family life. Spacek is fun to watch become Loretta Lynn and there's no doubt she deserved her Oscar here.

Ellen Burstyn - Resurrection

This film is actually pretty interesting and I luckily found a very good copy on Youtube to watch. It's about a woman who gets into a car accident that also kills her husband and she has a near death experience. She sees the light and various people from her life all hanging out in this in between kinda world. It's a brief thing in the film but it affects her profoundly. She is severely injured but she finds out eventually that she has the power to heal people, even herself. So she does and this film riffs on the scientific and spiritual issues that presents to her. The role can be a difficult one. Burstyn has to sell being crippled and then her recovery where she demonstrates she can walk to her family. All of that could be corny but Burstyn manages to keep realistic and impactful for the audience. She also has to make the healing process believable. For that, she lays hands and talks to the person and even contorts and moans for some of them. Obviously, the chance for that to come off looking ridiculous as hell is high but I think Burstyn does a good job of grounding those moments and not letting the scenes get away from her. Burstyn grows into the role, too, from a wounded, desperate, crippled woman to a confident, strong, hopeful woman. The transition is organic to the film and is interesting to watch Burstyn become this healer. She also has outside pressure from her boyfriend who is convinced that she is the second coming, her father who thinks she's a devil whore, religious folk who think she's a phony, and scientific folk who want to poke and prod her for research. Through all that, she handles herself very well and keeps a mostly calm demeanor with occasional emotional outbursts that are understandable. There isn't anything flashy to the performance, which I like, ad Burstyn is the conduit through which you think about faith and love and healing and spirituality and hope. She allows the viewer to use her as a blank stand in for how we might act. Burstyn's performance is strong and I even liked her final scene that so many people seem to outright hate. In that one, she's older and running the gas station she visited in the beginning of the movie and has gray hair and doesn't look much older. I didn't care about the look, I just enjoyed her acting with the little boy no matter how saccharine and cliche the scene plays out. It doesn't make anything that comes before it any less intriguing or good.

Goldie Hawn - Private Benjamin

I'm not going to lie, I really thought this was going to be a mess of a film. When you read the description of this being a Goldie Hawn vehicle where she enters the Army and ends up in Europe, your eyes can't roll fast enough back into your head. But I have glowing remarks for Hawn and the film. First for the film, most Army movies just don't get the little things like patches and language and uniforms and all that right. I pay attention to all that because I am an Army veteran so it bugs me when things are not accurate. This film is legit spot on with it being highly accurate. It surprised me that it was so accurate because most films just don't take the time needed to get things right. Hawn, too, was pretty great. She's funny and she does the expected too good for the Army funny thing and sells it well. The thing I like and admire is that she respects the Army with her jokes. I know probably no one else is writing a review like that but I appreciate that she really went through the training before filming and also didn't make it a farce on film. She shows that you can use what's real and make it hilarious as anyone that's ever served realizes. This is a starring vehicle for Hawn and I feel like she carries the film perfectly. This is something that she can nail down and give a great performance with. It's funny but also a little telling of women in the armed forces at the time. I like that she becomes a Thornbird but also exposes the rampant sexual misconduct that goes on even today. It's done in a natural way, too. As for it being a vehicle for a female star, I don't think you can get any better. Hawn shows all kinds of strengths while still being sexy and kind and warm and funny and all kinds of great accolades. This isn't a winner, obviously, but I do feel like you could show this to a young woman (with caveats) and say that's a strong female. I might not like the ending and the wedding and all that. I feel the film fails once Hawn stops being a soldier. Which is weird because I sorta kinda know Armand Assante, her French boyfriend, through my local film fest and have talked to him and he's a good dude. But it's weird seeing someone you've met and know making out with Goldie Hawn. Anyway, I think this is probably the perfect vehicle for Hawn and she really knocked it out of the park. I think her being nominated for an Oscar is just a cherry on top of a long process.

Mary Tyler Moore - Ordinary People

I have seen some of Moore's TV work on like Nick at Nite and reruns in my youth but I don't know her all that well from her TV stuff. So I don't carry any TV baggage into this on what to expect from her performance. I use that caveat because prior exposures lead to unwarranted expectations. Moore plays the mother/wife who is dealing with the death of her son and we see how the family moves on from that. I think you can sum up the character in the scene where she is taking a picture with her son and she says hurry up and gets restless at her husband for taking so long for a simple picture. It's telling and honestly, very brutal for the relationship with her son. She can't even stand to fake a smile in a picture with him for more than four seconds. Moore's wife/mother is such a cold, stand offish woman that it's hard to figure out when she is actually being a caring human being. She had this tragedy occur yet she goes on like life hasn't changed but is also clearly upset with the surviving son who was there. Obviously, her way of dealing with tragedy is to pretend everything is okay and just deal with things. The upsetting thing to me is that Moore almost never blinks in this film. Watch her! She has these cold, dead eyes that are probably Moore's actual eyes and this isn't a stylistic choice, but she just stares, unblinking, wide eyed and it's disturbing but also contributes to how her character is unloving. I like Moore's intensity but she's just not a pleasant character. And then at the end of the film, she takes off and it seems to me like she leaves the family even though Donald Sutherland as the father tries to play it off as her taking a vacation. Moore's character just wasn't equipped to handle being a part of a non perfect family. That's the vibe I get in that Moore just isn't a person who tolerates or wants to deal with things. In this regard, Moore is great in the acting though I'd call it very one note. It might be against type for what people know of Moore but it's still just the same distant mother type of role. Moore is very good at being the distant, cold mother, however, and I feel like she belongs on this list.

Gena Rowlands - Gloria

I can definitely see why Rowlands was nominated for this role. She is a tough as nails, badass, gangster type of chick. It's unfortunate that the film she is in is pretty awful. This is a John Cassavetes film, but one that even he didn't really like. He admitted that he wrote the script just to make money with no plans on directing it before no one else wanted to and the studio begged him. So he employed his wife, Rowlands, and we got this film. It's about Gloria, a neighbor to a family who is about to be murdered by the mob who takes in their young son to protect (along with some book of payments or numbers or something). The film drags on with her running from motel to motel with the boy in tow avoiding the gangsters who want to kill the boy and take the book back. The boy is also really annoying for the most part, coming of too cutesy and precious so that contributes to me not liking the film as a whole. But Rowlands does a good job with what she has to work with. Like I said already, she's this badass woman who doesn't think twice about killing the gangsters to protect the kid and herself. She's like an action star without this being an action movie. You don't see many roles like this for women, especially going back into the 80s, so it's nice to see a strong woman role even in a mostly boring film. Rowlands is the only reason to watch the film with her energetic performance and devil may care attitude. It's actually refreshing to see, but man, the film around her is just not interesting. While Rowlands is indeed entertaining and gives an interesting performance, it's not amazing or anything. I think it's just more that it is different than what you usually see in this category. Rowlands is good but I certainly don't see it as worthy of a win. I'm cool with her being nominated for this role, though it's not a very complicated performance by any means. Rowlands is worth checking out but be forewarned the film isn't very good so your mileage may vary.


Sissy Spacek is clearly the easy winner in this group as I feel she separates herself from the rest with a really awesome performance that I'm happy to watch again and again. Unfortunately, Rowlands has to act opposite an annoying kid actor in a not very good film and can only do so much with the role in those circumstances. She's a badass female gangster, which is actually pretty cool and we certainly don't see very much of that in this category, but the film hurts the performance too much. As for the three stuck in the middle, I keep going back and forth in my mind on where to place them. Burstyn is interesting in a warm, compassionate performance about a healer dealing with her gift. Hawn is a very funny Army recruit whose performance takes a nosedive once she begins her romantic subplot part towards the end. And Moore gives a very cold, distant, seemingly unemotional performance as a mother who has lost a son. I liked all three overall and was surprised that Hawn actually had some depth to her performance. Burstyn delivers about what you'd expect, I think, and Moore goes against type in a role that leaves you feeling chilly but is no doubt great acting. I guess it's more about who you like than anything technical. Maybe just do a pick em and see who you get? Moore, Burstyn, Hawn seems like a good lineup. Good thing is that none of the performances this year were bad, just some lesser films, really. Luckily, the Academy got the winner right as Spacek is the only logical choice to me.

Oscar Winner: Sissy Spacek - Coal Miner's Daughter
My Winner: Sissy Spacek - Coal Miner's Daughter
Mary Tyler Moore
Ellen Burstyn
Goldie Hawn
Gena Rowlands