Supporting Actress 1974

Yeah, I know, I was gone for so long again. Just one of those things where life hits you hard and fast and I just didn't feel like writing or watching anything at all. I'm in a much better place now after my little break, just in time for another Oscar season which has reinvigorated me. Can't wait to finish up the 70s and try and keep this train moving. I've seen two of these nominees before and am somewhat intrigued by the other three. Just hoping for some good films and performances now that I'm back in action.

1974 Best Supporting Actress

Ingrid Bergman - Murder on the Orient Express

Oh boy. So if anyone has followed this blog at all or read even a few entries, it should be well known by now that I cannot stand when the Academy gifts an Oscar to a veteran actor just because they like them and because they are/were huge stars. And that's exactly what has happened here with Bergman's third Oscar win. I am saying this having only seen this one and Talia Shire's performance. But I already know it's an accurate statement. Bergman had last won almost twenty years before this so I guess it was time for the Academy to reward her again for some reason. Like in other wins, Bergman is decent! She's not bad at all playing a Swedish missionary aboard the Orient. She is a very religious woman with a thick accent (that apparently Bergman needed to relearn how to do since her English was so good) who you think is just caught up in a wrong place at the wrong time kinda deal. Bergman doesn't have all that much screen time in this film, though. It's a huge cast and she plays a minor role compared to others. Everyone seems to point to a scene where she and Hercule Poirot go through an interrogation as where she won the Oscar but nothing really stands out in that back and forth scene to me. She's okay, but I thought the other actresses were just as good in their scenes and Bergman never really stood out to me. I feel like they could have nominated Lauren Bacall, Wendy Hiller, or Vanessa Redgrave (without giving them the win, possibly) and it would have been justified. I dunno. I don't think Bergman deserved a third award and didn't earn it here, either. They wanted to reward her so they jumped at the chance, but like so many of these cases, the actor comes back a couple years later with a great performance that gets nominated that maybe would have been a little better for a win if they were so dead set on getting her a third (Autumn Sonata two years later). I can't stand when these types of wins happen and this one does nothing to shake my feelings on that.

Valentina Cortese - Day for Night

On Oscar night, when Ingrid Bergman won her undeserved third Oscar, she seemed to realize she probably shouldn't have won and basically said that she thought the award belonged to Cortese this year. Also kind of a slap in the face to the other three women but whatever. That should tell you that this performance is at least worth paying attention to and probably worth considering for a win. This film is a delightful one, about the making of a movie and what goes on behind the camera with the cast and crew. It's also a Truffaut film, so one of those influential French directors that everyone loves but who delivers a very accessible and loving picture here. Cortese plays an older actress whose stardom is in days past and now drinks a lot and forgets her lines. She's a bit difficult to work with but the director (Truffaut in a very nice performance) appeases her and goes along with her messy antics and the film perseveres. Cortese is a loud, drunken mess but also pretty entertaining like in the scene that she has to repeat over and over for forgetting her lines where she places written lines all over the set that she can read from but is hidden from the camera. She plays each take of that scene in a different way and is fun to watch the mess devolve into this flamboyant, diva-like creation. The thing about Cortese in this performance is that the character could be extremely cliche and take over a film with her loud actions but that doesn't happen. Cortese is restrained in the role and makes the character seem more natural and real in how she acts and thus doesn't become an annoyance in the film. I did want to see more from Cortese to see what else she could offer from the character but maybe it was best that she did have a more limited role so as not to become unbearable. Still, I enjoyed her performance and she is definitely worth thinking about for the win.

Madeline Kahn - Blazing Saddles

I've seen this film a few times and didn't know who Madeline Kahn was. I thought she was an older lady that said crazy things, but she is not. This film is held up as one of the funniest films ever and it is indeed flipping hilarious at times. Mel Brooks is a bonafide genius. But this kind of film could never get made today which is kinda sad to think about. Anyway, Kahn actually plays Lili von Shtupp, a heavily accented German seductress who is hired to kill the black sheriff. Oh, in case you didn't know (which you should have seen this film before, come on) a black man is hired as a sheriff for a small western town in hopes that will drive the residents away but backfires. She fails by the way and legit is only in the film for a couple scenes. Her only real scene is the song 'I'm Tired' which is actually decently funny but not in the slightest Oscar worthy. I'm really at a loss as to why Kahn was nominated. She was nominated the year before in 1973 so maybe she just had some momentum. Maybe they wanted to reward the film or Mel Brooks on a great year and gave Kahn the nod but while the song is funny, it's not something that could ever win an award. Hilarious film that you should see once because it ranks up there in the all time greats, but not an actual piece of great supporting actress acting. Maybe the joke is on me for not getting it but hey, you got to watch Blazing Saddles out of the deal so you really do win on this one.

Diane Ladd - Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

This is the last performance I watched for the group and spoiler alert, none of them are really that amazing. For the most part I liked them, but having to choose one of these as a winners feels a bit empty since I don't know if any would be a good winner. In saying that, I did enjoy Ladd's performance and liked her character but there isn't all that much to her. Though her character, Flo, has become a stereotype in itself and even spawned a TV series called Alice. So I guess you can say Ladd left her mark with Flo. But I review only the performance and Ladd is the sassy, foul mouthed, loquacious waitress who juxtaposes Ellen Burstyn's timid, unsure, emotional character. Ladd has confidence in spades and her filthy phrases are pretty funny to hear and she just has that vibe of a gruff, southern tinged busy diner waitress. It's essentially a trope at this point in time but back then might have been a bit different, I don't know. But she uses the sass to great effect and another reviewer called her "sweet and sour" which is a pretty apt description. She'll call anyone out and doesn't care what they think about her or what she says about them but also has tender side that recognizes when to pull aside Burstyn and talk with her about whatever is making her emotional. It's a limited performance that Ladd wrings out everything she can from and while it's not an amazing piece of acting, it's effective and entertaining and in this year that might just be enough to win.

Talia Shire - The Godfather Part II

I kinda feel like Shire was included as part of the sweep of nominations the film garnered rather than explicitly on the merits of her performance in this film. I also think you could say this might even be a leftover nomination from the previous film which had no women nominated at all. The thing about Shire's performance is that she's not around in this film all that much. She shows up in the beginning at the christening with a new man after her divorce and Michael doesn't approve which causes tension for her. She comes off like a spoiled brat, which she is, and that's essentially what her character and performance are for this first part of the film. Then she mostly disappears for the rest of the film until the very end where she finally comes back and ask to be with the family again and live with Michael and basically be a good, obedient sister again. She really becomes in charge of Michael's kids but that's about the breadth of her performance. Really not much else to it, unfortunately. There's not many strong female characters in the series and Shire doesn't really stand out except for being the only female in the Corleone family (besides the mother, of course). It's a basic performance that is here solely because of the film it's in and that's it.



This is a mostly disappointing group. I was really hoping for much better than this. I mean we start off with Bergman's third win and you think that maybe there's a reason she won a third for this. But no, it's a career achievement handout that is easily the worst of the bunch. And probably one of the worst decisions by the Academy for a win. It's totally undeserved. The next two spots are pretty meh, honestly. Shire gets carried along by her film and really doesn't do much compared to the first one, so this nomination just seems weird. Maybe a make up for not nominating her for the first one? Who knows. Easy 4th. Kahn is kinda funny and entertaining but one song and not much depth brings her down. It's cool a comedic performance like that was nominated but it would be a 5th in most years. Now the final two performances I liked, but neither wowed me. They are both truly supporting and I'm fine with them being nominated but I can't say I would champion either as a winner in most other years. I liked Ladd's character a lot and thought Cortese had an interesting play on an old drunk actress. I think right now I'd give an ever so slight edge to Ladd even though I liked Cortese's film more. A disappointing year with a ho hum winner.

Oscar Winner: Ingrid Bergman - Murder on the Orient Express
My Winner:  Diane Ladd - Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Valentina Cortese
Madeline Kahn
Talia Shire
Ingrid Bergman