Supporting Actor 1978

I find it funny that the times I really want to watch films for the project are usually when I can't because I'm at work or wherever. Then when I get home I get distracted or feel too tired to watch a two hour film or I don't want to watch one that I know has 3-4-5 reviews to write because I'll finish at midnight and have to get up early for work and I want to write when my memory of the performances is freshest. It would be cool if this was my job and if anyone wants to finance that, I'd be more than willing! Until then, I go at a slow pace. As per usual now, I haven't seen any of these but I'm interested to see the Vietnam war films and to see what Farnsworth and Hurt can bring.

1978 Best Supporting Actor

Christopher Walken - The Deer Hunter

I have waited so long to watch this film and performance and am glad that I can finally cross it off my list. I've always thought it was neat that Walken had an Oscar win, and not just a nomination, because we know of him as his own sort of signature style with the vocal delivery and the SNL skit and the dancing and all of that other stuff. But there was a time when he was a serious actor and won a damn Oscar for a very dramatic role. He's different in the separate acts of the film. In the first hour when the group of friends are still at home and dealing with the wedding stuff and going hunting, it is clear that Walken is the heart of the group, the one that cares about all the others and looks out for them. Walken does a good job in showing that side of his character and it's interesting to just hear him because he sounds like a normal person and not the Christopher Walken we know. Once the film moves to Vietnam and Walken is put into the Russian roulette scene, we see a terrified, confused, broken man. We see a wide range of emotions after he pulls the trigger and is still alive and I think Walken nails what his character is and should be feeling. Once they are free and Walken makes it onto a chopper while his other two friends don't, we see the radical change. He wanders around whatever city he's in lost and hopeless and broken in his mind before stumbling onto the Russian roulette gambling ring. That's after his breakdown scene that is subtle yet so believable in the military hospital and is really great acting when he's asked his parents' birthdates to prove who he is and you can see that's when everything comes crashing down mentally. The ending scenes shows there was no coming back for him as a person because he just couldn't escape the terrors that he saw and face reality and home and his friends any more. It's a different, yet similar, look at the whole PTSD angle of what happens after combat and, in Walken's character' case, torture. I'm glad that his win holds up as a legitimate win because I was worried going in that it was possible he won because the film itself won. But Walken is singularly great in this film and definitely deserved his Oscar.

Bruce Dern - Coming Home

I wasn't sure what to expect when it came to Dern's performance in this film. I enjoyed his nomination for Nebraska a lot and have seen him in a few more movies since then but I didn't know how he was as an actor before being the grumpy old man. I know he was well respected in Hollywood and his daughter is Laura Dern and all that. But I didn't know what his style was like in his younger days. In this film, Bruce plays a Marine Captain who is gung ho about going to fight in Vietnam and is married to Jane Fonda. He ships out early in the film and we reunite with him while on leave in Hong Kong as he meets up with Fonda. By then he's already changed as a person. He complains about being bored and how the war isn't what he thought and expected and he frankly seems a little pissed off by it. And that happens. War isn't a Hollywood cliche. It's boring and frustrating among many other things at different times but I felt Dern's portrayal of that sort of mental switch in thinking was interesting. Some of the knock on his performance that I read was about how Dern's character is generic and cliche and his turn isn't as convincing. But I disagree. I think Dern plays his role as it should be in the beginning as the gung ho Marine. Even how he acts towards Fonda in the domineering, military way is familiar to me and it works. I think Dern really shines when he returns home for good after getting shot in the leg. He's even more changed and angry and almost violent and it rings as very true to life. The way he explodes at Penelope Milford when she questions him shooting himself in the leg as an accident is so raw and real and I saw the damaged veteran in that moment. Even when he sorta holds Fonda and Voight at gunpoint is compelling because Voight appeals to him on a brotherly veteran level that shows where Dern's mind is at regarding the situation. He acts erratic and doesn't deal with the affair in a rational way and that is just another way that men come back changed from war - there's letdown in not being an actual hero. I just felt it was a strong portrayal of a veteran coming home and feel like Dern could have won an Oscar here.

Richard Farnsworth - Comes a Horseman

This was Farnsworth's first real speaking role after being a stunt man and background actor for almost 40 years prior. He was noticed and finally given a good role and got rewarded with an Oscar nomination for it. I loved the hell out of his second nomination for The Straight Story and he should have won the Best Actor Oscar for it despite the heavy, super famous actors he was up against. This feels like the natural start to the progression of that character. Meaning I can see this character become the old man riding a lawnmower. I think it speaks to Farnsworth's ability that he was easy to view as a ranch hand as he was here. He was Jane Fonda's go to ranch hand and was clearly perfect for the part. He's talkative in his short scenes and funny when shown but the film doesn't care about him as a character until convenient. That is the life of most supporting characters and Farnsworth makes the most of it given his previous experience. I'm sure if I was back in 1978 that I'd be mad that this got nominated but knowing how good Farnsworth is makes this nomination more than okay. He's great in the role and I like it. But I can't say "if I was back then" always because I wasn't and it accomplishes nothing so we go off today. I'm sure, though, that his history of being a stunt man and background actor for like 40 years contributed to him getting the nomination here and I can't fault anyone for that. Farnsworth was fine for a Supporting role.

John Hurt - Midnight Express

I was very let down by this performance and this film as a whole. I had heard so much about this film as it being a genesis for the Turkish prison reference. Hurt was great in Alien and The Elephant Man and a bunch of other films after this, but he isn't all that amazing here. This film is about an American kid who gets stopped for smuggling hashish in Turkey and has to deal with the unfairness of the Turkish judicial system as he rots in prison. Hurt is an Englishman who has been in the prison for seven years and knows everything including the right lawyers. Yet, Hurt's character isn't a prominent figure in the film. He answers the American's questions and is part of the trio who tries to escape but he doesn't do much. He does drugs in prison and shows the weariness and degradation of his being that you'd assume one goes through in a Turkish prison. Hurt gives us more of a wisp of a performance and I'm not sure if that was intentional on his part or just because he wasn't a big part of the main story. I wanted to know more about his character and see him be more than just a mythical, shadowy, reactionary presence. The film is worth watching but Hurt isn't going to be your main draw unfortunately. He's decent but could have been much more important to the story and thus give a better performance overall.

Jack Warden - Heaven Can Wait

I like Jack Warden as a character actor in some of his later work, and looking through his filmography, he's been in a bunch of really classic, great films. That doesn't come as a surprise because he is a very good actor and that shines through in this puff piece performance. I say puff piece because it's not a lot of hard acting for Warden. He plays the LA Rams trainer that is friends with Warren Beatty who dies prematurely due to an error in heaven and who then has to find a suitable body to switch into to try and still be the QB for the Rams. It's a light comedy and a remake and a concept you've seen a countless number of times. Warden provides the comedic relief and is very funny at times like when he's training the old millionaire who Beatty leaps into along with his mansion staff. So he's there for support (naturally) and brings added levity to the situations and does a great job of just being a fun, likable character. I would say his real Oscar moment is at the end where he is in the locker room after the Super Bowl when Beatty has leaped into the actual Rams QB's body for good but doesn't recognize Warden as the original QB. It's a sad, emotional realization for Warden's character and is well done by him. This was never going to win but I enjoyed his performance and that's a win in and of itself.


This category was so much better than 1979 and was a welcome relief from that year. I liked all of these performances even if some were weaker than others. Farnsworth unfortunately comes in last because his role is fine but nothing all that amazing. You can tell he's actually a great actor and it only took like 40 years for him to get the recognition which is something I think plays into his nomination. I'm fine with that. Warden is enjoyable but the film is so not Oscar worthy that he suffers from being a slight character in the film. Probably not Oscar worthy itself, but Warden is good. I dunno, it's a weird one. Hurt disappointed me as he doesn't do much in the film but is still good at being mysterious and a druggie. Dern was fantastic and would have won if not for Walken being amazing. Which I'm glad that Walken is a winner because it just feels like he should have one. It was a decent enough year, but I do wish that I could get some better films and stronger performances instead of just liking them all even if they aren't Oscar worthy. I know I'll get there again.

Oscar Winner: Christopher Walken - The Deer Hunter
My Winner:  Christopher Walken - The Deer Hunter
Bruce Dern
John Hurt
Jack Warden
Richard Farnsworth