Supporting Actress 1973

Supporting Actress is always interesting. It's usually where there are these completely random films that if not for this category and these nominations, no one would ever remember them. This year doesn't look like this is the case but I do like that I get some different flavors in this category. I have seen a couple of these and am looking forward to the others based off what I've heard.

1973 Best Supporting Actress

Tatum O'Neal - Paper Moon

I have made no effort to hide the fact that I mostly despise child acting nominations. For the most part they are all pretty bad or too precocious or just are not actual acting (looking at you Quvenzhane Wallis). Sometimes they are actually not bad (Anna Paquin) and I am glad that those performances exist. So when I see child actors pop up from time to time, I instantly groan and then hold my breath that it will be something worth watching. This year has two child actors and a winner that has been held up as a legit child acting win. Let's also preface this by saying this is blatant out and out category fraud. Tatum is clearly a leading actress in her film and is only in this category because it gave her a better shot to win and because Academy politics at the time seemed to push all kids to Supporting. But how is the actual performance you ask? Tatum is better than most child actors and she gets the bonus of acting with her dad which clearly put her at ease in most scenes. It also helps that director Peter Bogdanovich treated her like any other actress and made her do take after take to get the desired performance. With all that said, Tatum really was perfect for the role of a young girl who looks like a boy and is mature enough to quickly understand the world around her. Thus she works well as a budding young con artist with her dad, playing up the young/female angle but acting wise beyond her years when it comes to interacting with dad and other grownups. She also has an expressionless face that allows her to come off as being more than a precocious, bubbly acting kid. That expression also shows that she's watching the world around her and reading every situation and how to act accordingly. Tatum is good with instantly changing from her usual controlled self to a whiny or annoying typical young girl. There are some moments where you can see some instinctual acting where Tatum let's us into the mind of her character and it's nice to see how natural she can be. I think I like the performance because it isn't the typical showy nominated type of thing. She's kind of an asshole and she plays her character with a unsentimental flourish. Not sure if she'll be my winner but at least she was enjoyable to watch even if this is category fraud through and through.

Linda Blair - The Exorcist

And now the other child actor nomination. Blair was only a couple years older than Tatum and was found after an exhaustive search that even her on agent didn't think she would be good for. Her mother had to take her to the audition. Now everyone knows Linda Blair purely for playing the possessed girl who spewed green pea vomit and masturbated with a crucifix. I'm sure she loves that. But what I think is the best thing about Blair's performance is the actual physicality of what is needed from her character. In the beginning she plays the precocious young girl and does a great job with that. I thought her reactions seemed true and didn't seem like forced young actress fluff. But the physical nature of this role is what is impressive. All of the bouncing around her bed and being contorted into all kinds of shapes and acting with all of her demon makeup on while saying outrageous things was something I feel a lot of kids would have failed at. People were amazed at that aspect as well as the voice acting, which wasn't known until after nominations that it was actually Mercedes McCambridge (herself an Oscar winner). Many people were surprised to learn that truth and even wanted to rescind her nomination but Academy rules forbid that from happening. I still think she deserved a nomination just for everything that she as put through and giving an adult level performance. I don't think it's this amazing piece of acting on the level of a Meryl Streep, but it certainly was really impressive for a 14-15 year old girl. Especially considering that the possessed girl has to be believable and scary enough to drive the story and the impact of the film as a whole. Blair succeeds in doing that and the film is much better for her efforts.

Candy Clark - American Graffiti

This is such an interesting performance. It's one that you really have to see to grasp all the things that get said about it. Clark plays a ditzy blonde bimbo who hangs out with the uber nerd of the film and the two hit it off. Cliche a bit, yes, but Clark's interpretation of the stock role is anything but cliche. Her line readings are strange, like she is slurring her words or has never acted before. Yet, the way she speaks is part of her charm. It can be hard to understand her, but I'm paying extra attention when she talks. She's very beautiful and the role could easily become some vapid characterization of a dumb blonde, but Clark plays her role as the restless and bored woman trying to get hers. Yeah, she's opportunistic and maybe deliberately obtuse when it comes to believing Toad, but she makes the character interesting. When's the last time you found a pretty, dumb blonde role to be actually interesting and worth keeping an eye on? It's the blase way she says things and interacts with Toad that is just so intriguing to watch. It's like she's acting in her own film that just happens to coincide with this one. Normally that would be a negative mark, but here it kinda works. I have no idea why she was singled out in this cast, maybe because the other roles are all sorta basic, I dunno. But at least a performance in this film decided to something a little different. The story really doesn't care about Clark but she makes us pay attention to the character. And good on her for doing something different, whether intentional or not. Maybe the Academy wanted to get behind an up and coming actress like they have done so many times, I don't know. But it gave us a really interesting take on a very cliched and boring role.

Madeline Kahn - Paper Moon

Having just seen Kahn as a German seductress who dances and sings in Blazing Saddles, I was hoping to see a different side of Kahn's acting ability. Though she is a carnival dancer/entertainer in this film, we at least don't see her do any actual dancing. Yet she still plays the same type of character, albeit with out the thick accent and comedic touches. I was really hoping for something different to see how broad her acting chops were but we get a lot more of the same in this performance. She is a seductress but in a different way where in this one she latches onto men and uses them for their money before moving on. It's still somewhat of a comedic role, she kinda plays a goofy fool going from place to place using her beauty and bosom to make a living. In most films, she would be the needed shot in the arm of waking up a sagging picture, but her presence here sort of interrupts the father-daughter dynamic that is actually compelling and built up the right way. Kahn feels like a detour in a pretty good film. Not to say Kahn is awful in the part, just that the film doesn't need that shot in the arm. Kahn gets her moment to shine in a scene where she is trying to convince Tatum to get back in the car after a picnic and has a real heart to heart with her - in a very Kahn-esque way. It's a bit of funny mixed with honesty and sincerity from a woman who knows she will be moving on to the next guy soon but also doesn't really want to be inconvenienced or hated by Tatum. She wins Tatum over by saying tits (which Kahn in real life didn't want to do because it was too raunchy so her embarrassed look is real) and in that scene we get why Kahn is nominated. It's a truly supporting job that does a lot to build up our understanding of Tatum as it is to have some lighthearted, yet emotional realism. She's a desperate woman trying to make her own way in the world, just as Tatum and her dad are. It's a decent performance and I don't mind the detour, just wish it was more picnic acting than flirty exotic dancer acting we also get. Basically, more of the emotional honesty stuff.

Sylvia Sidney - Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams

This was a scary one! No, not the performance, but in actually being able to find this film online. I've only ran into about 3 or 4 that I've either had to buy or spend days in the bowels of Google searching for a copy. Luckily I found a good one and was able to watch Sidney as an old New York woman who calls up her daughter for a routine day out where they nitpick at each other and act like annoyed family members. They go see a movie and Sidney dies of a heart attack. This only about 20 some minutes into the film and that's all we get of Sidney besides late in the film when she appears as a hallucination of Joanne Woodward, her daughter. That is literally it. She has the smoker's voice coated with the New York accent and nags her daughter, but takes just as much as she gives. Sidney isn't bad, but obviously we don't get nearly enough of her in the film. It's a wisp of a performance and the film would probably have been better off with her in it for the entirety. The film is severely disjointed and a little odd in tone so having Sidney around to get some zingers in on her daughter would have been fun to watch. By the end of this film, you'd swear Sidney was in something else entirely. Competent but just not enough for me to do anything with unfortunately. Sidney was really nominated because she had been out of the film business for like 17 years and this was her return. So as the Academy does, they rewarded her with a career achievement nomination for whatever reason. Why Sidney? I don't know, but I won't hate on this one too much. She's entertaining in her short time and that's about it.



Not a terrible group by any means, but definitely a minor supporting group. I actually watched two child performances that I mostly liked, so at least this year had that going for it. The others, though, are pretty brief or at least feel very minor as far as supporting roles go. Sidney just isn't in the film enough and is probably nominated for the wrong reasons anyway. If there was more to the role, I probably would have liked it. While I liked Clark with her unique take on a ditzy, fun loving blonde, her nomination just feels like a representation of the acting in the film as a whole. As if the Academy wanted to nominate someone and chose Clark in this category. It happens and nothing really wrong with it, but she's not gonna win this ever. Next up would be Kahn. I liked some of the performance and was meh on the other, so right in the middle feels apt for her. She was an okay detour that wasn't totally necessary for the film itself. I can't really muster up anything else to say about it. Now the choice comes down to the two child actors. I liked both Tatum and Blair. Tatum is clearly the Lead in her film and is obvious category fraud, so it's kinda tough to even compare them. Tatum has so much more to work with and actually do with her character. I do like that Blair was perfect in the physical aspect of her role. If it was a truly supporting group, I'd give it to Blair. But Tatum at least is more fully realized and we can see a character arc with her and she's actually fun to watch (as is Blair). So she gets my win also and that might be a first and only time a child actor wins with me!

Oscar Winner: Tatum O'Neal - Paper Moon
My Winner:  Tatum O'Neal - Paper Moon
Linda Blair
Madeline Kahn
Candy Clark
Sylvia Sidney