Some big names here that we are going to start to see more of as we keep going back in time, so I'm looking forward to these below. Taylor's first Oscar I know has some controversy attached to it, but I'm hoping it's at least a good performance. Let's see.
1960 Best Actress
Elizabeth Taylor - BUtterfield 8
What is crazy about this nomination and win is that Taylor herself hated this film. Loathed it. It was the final film done to satisfy her contract with MGM after some legal wrangling and she didn't want to do it. So she did it along with her new husband Eddie Fisher, who is not very good in the film. It's about a call girl, prostitute, whore; whatever you want to call her. She is mad that a john gave her like $250 and her dress was ruined and so she steals a mink coat at his place. That john is Laurence Harvey and the two reconnect and start a relationship that damages his relationship with his wife. There are some complications but that is the film. I have always hated the title of this film and realize it had to do with an area code where BU and 8 equals 288. Also, the only reason Taylor won the Oscar here is because she was on death's door, literally dying, and that is why everyone voted for her. Like no shit, she had some pneumonia or something and was dying and the Academy was like oh, no! We haven't rewarded her yet so let's do it for this truly awful performance. And her accepting the Oscar was like this Jesus rising from the dead moment. The film is terrible and Taylor does nothing to make it great. It's just a whore who tries to get away with being awful and is confronted with her reality. Watch the film to see how it ends, but it's not good. That previous sentence seems harsh, but it is accurate for the film and the performance so I'm letting it stand. This in no way deserves a nomination, let alone a fucking Oscar win! It's crazy that because Taylor got sick that they just decided to say fuck it and give her a win. She deserves an Oscar for other works, but deserves garbage for this performance. It's not that great and deprives the others in this category of possible glory.
Greer Garson - Sunrise at Campobello
Wow, this is not what I expected from a Greer Garson performance. I know that she won the Oscar in this category for her role in Mrs. Miniver and I am excited to watch that film, but this performance just ain't it. I get that Garson is a respected actress but this is a totally awful performance that just misses on all accounts. Her choice to use that lilting accent that goes up and down as she speaks is horrendous. It makes no sense and sounds nothing like her and is just an odd choice. And that permeates the whole performance to where you can't really shake it and get over it. She looks nothing like Eleanor Roosevelt, which by the way I probably should have mentioned earlier, and just looks like Garson with fake teeth. The film itself is about Franklin Roosevelt's early years after he gets polio. Which the film can't say polio because of the production code, like what the fuck? God, I wish the Code never existed so we could have decades of films without that hindrance and maybe move Hollywood forward in the process. Anyway, the film only is good at the very end when we get to see the political maneuverings of picking a Presidential nominee which is fascinating and more media needs to be on that. Before that, the whole film is mostly filmed in rooms because it was based on a play so we get a ton of boring content of FDR in bed or at a desk. Garson is fine, whatever. She's really not great at all and something to overlook and wonder why she talks that way. A truly forgettable performance that should not have been nominated, not sure what the Academy was doing here.
Deborah Kerr - The Sundowners
Kerr (pronounced like Car, by the way, because I've been pronouncing it wrong for forever) has the distinction of most Best Actress nominations without a single win. This was her sixth and final nomination, though she would get an Honorary Oscar years later from the Academy. We will be getting very well acquainted with Kerr in the next decade so I was excited to see how she was in this film. I've seen her in a couple of her other nominated roles and just other films in general and she was always solid to great. That's no different here as she plays a wife and mother in a roving sheep herder family in the Australian Outback. One of those films where we follow a family through their trials and tribulations. Kerr is solid as expected and she really pairs well with Robert Mitchum who were good friends in real life and it shows. She plays the wife and mother role perfectly and is a sort of bedrock for the family and others they encounter like when she helps a woman give birth or encourages her husband to do a sheep shearing contest. She is supportive and caring and understanding, never really letting her frustrations of wanting to settle down get the best of her or her family. Kerr helps make this an entertaining film with a solid performance where she can play sexy, strong, lively, funny, and a hundred other adjectives. It's a good introduction to Kerr if you have never seen her on screen before. We will be getting to her more well known works in short time and I can't wait for that.
I always forget that MacLaine's lone Oscar win was for Terms of Endearment and not this film and it feels like she should have more than five acting nominations. I think that speaks to just how charming and talented an actor she is that I expect her to have many more. This is one of those films that people point to as being perfect or one of the best of all time and some of that is due to just how great MacLaine is in the role of Fran. She's so cute and charming but in a non purposeful way. She is just being herself and not some manic pixie dream girl and that's what attracts me most to the performance. It seems so effortless and she absorbs a lot of the attempts at flirting that the men in the film throw at her. She is unfazed at Jack Lemmon trying to take her out that it feels real. I love when the woman in a story is just nonplussed by whoever the lead of a film is that is trying to get in her pants or even just get her attention. It's better when the woman isn't some one dimensional piece of meat. MacLaine is certainly not that as her character has a range of emotional depth to mine. Without ruining the film, she has some dark moments and tough scenes to get through that she gives the seriousness they deserve. She can also have some great comedic moments and it's this balance that makes the performance so successful. I like that her character is not just being used and manipulated by the men in the film and she makes her own decisions for the most part. It's nice to see a well developed female character and that MacLaine can go toe to toe with anyone. It's just a really charming and effective performance from a really terrific film that everyone should see at least once.
Melina Mercouri - Never on Sunday
Another foreign actress getting a nomination, this was in the thick of the Academy rewarding actresses outside the norm. Mercouri is a Greek actress who won best performance at Cannes for this role, so it's not like it came out of nowhere. The film was well received by the Academy with five nominations, including Best Director and a win in Best Song (the first song from a foreign film to win). The film is a short one that essentially is a combination of Pygmalion and the hooker with a heart of gold trope. Mercouri is an independent prostitute who sets her own rules and enjoys her lifestyle. An American named Homer is trying to find himself and after seeing Mercouri, puppy dogs her everywhere. He actually comes off creepy at times just showing up in her room unannounced and following her everywhere. He doesn't like that she's a hooker and tries to change her into a more intelligent woman. Mercouri goes along with it for a bit and then is like nah, I like my old life way more. Mercouri is fine in the role although it didn't really wow me or anything. She is very fierce and independent and this take charge and take no shit kind of person. Mercouri leans into that mentality and runs with it to great effect. Definitely a pro woman type of film and it was interesting to watch. Mercouri does well with the role, but the performance just didn't stand out all that much to me. Worth watching for a very feminist type of film from the early 60s that feels a little fresher than being 60 years old.
What a fucking mess of a category, holy shit! At least two of these probably should not have been nominated at all. Taylor is a weak performance in a bad film that won because the Academy thought she was dying. So absurd! At least her second win was well deserved. Greer was just painful to watch. A boring film with a really awful performance from Greer. That just felt like the Academy rewarding someone they liked over liking the actual content. Mercouri was fine and it was a bit of an interesting film, but honestly if she wasn't nominated I'd be fine with that. Just not a big fan of the hooker roles, no matter who or what they are about because they are so overdone in this category. Kerr is solid and I am excited to watch more from her in the next decade. I guess I give my award to MacLaine who was pretty great in a wonderful little film. I feel she does a bit more than Kerr so she gets the win. What a terrible year to end the 60s on for this category. Really hoping to avoid disasters like these in the 50s, but we shall see.
Oscar Winner: Elizabeth Taylor - BUtterfield 8
My Winner: Shirley MacLaine - The Apartment
Deborah KerrMelina Mercouri
Elizabeth Taylor
Greer Garson
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