Supporting Actor 1969

I am soooo happy to finally be in the 60s! This always felt like it would take forever to get to, if I ever did. Now we are getting into decades where I don't know a lot of the names and the films that are nominated so everything is new with the possibility of finding more hidden gems. That's what I love the most about doing this project. This category has some known names and actually has the very first African-American nominee in the category. I'm excited to see my first helping of the 60s will bring.

1969 Best Supporting Actor

Gig Young - They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

I have already talked about it a bit with Jane Fonda's review, but this is a strange, interesting film. I always thought it was going to be a Western film but that's definitely not what this is about. It's about a dance marathon which I guess was all the craze back in the Depression era. Young is the emcee and promoter of the event. Most of his performance is him narrating on stage to a listening audience what the couples are up to on the dance floor. He's got the polished emcee thing down pat and also does commercials for sponsors of the event and comes up with things to do to add excitement to the dance like having derbies. Mostly we see him on stage but he does interact with the dancers during their allotted breaks every hour or whatever it is. I would say that's more where Young is able to shine since anyone can emcee and do a good job at it. Young is almost like the villain of the story, though maybe antagonist is more apt as Young isn't evil or nasty or anything. He talks to some of the dancers and has one scene with Susannah York where she has mentally broken down and is in the shower with her clothes on and Young is able to get her to come out. He eventually lets Fonda know towards the end that the money they will win is kinda bogus as they will have to pay him back for costs incurred in putting on the event, which has gone on for over 1200 hours. Young has good energy in the emcee role and shows off his manipulation of the dancers when he's interacting with them one on one. It's two sides to the same role that give this performance some more depth than simply being a guy up on stage describing the action. Not having seen all the rest of this group so far, this was Young's third nomination and I wonder if this was a veteran win. Especially because from what I read, this was a departure for Young going away from comedic and happier roles. I guess I'll see how true that is at the end of this, but this is a decent enough performance that I can see it winning on its own merits.

Rupert Crosse - The Reivers

Rupert Crosse was the very first black nominee in the Supporting Actor category. It's crazy to me that it took until 1969 to have a black man nominated here. Crosse was part of The Actors Studio made famous by Lee Strasberg and tons of other famous actors. Crosse did a lot of TV work and a couple of films of which this was his last one before he died young of lung cancer. It's weird that we never hear about Crosse and I guess that's because his career was over too soon. In this film he plays Ned, a friend of Steve McQueen's in this adaptation of the William Faulkner book. It's about two guys and a young boy who drive to Memphis from Mississippi and have a few adventures along the way. It's part comedy and part drama and Crosse mostly plays a comedic role. He's a jovial black man always messing with McQueen's character and dancing and laughing and just having fun. At first, the performance felt almost a bit minstrelsy. Like an over exaggerated cliche of the happy black man but Crosse eventually settles into the role and keeps it from tipping too far into stereotype. There are some moments where the character gets more to do than just be there for comedic value like when an old, fat, racist sheriff tries to arrest their group. Crosse digs into the serious nature of those moments because you feel like it's coming from a place of experience. He stands up to the sheriff and it's probably the most dramatic part of the film. Towards the end of the film, Crosse gets to be a little more helpful and teach the boy with them how to race and again do more than just be there to laugh at. We see flashes of what Crosse can do, but the role doesn't call for much more than the broad comedy we get from a supporting role. It's not amazing on its own, but being the first black nominee has it's merits and this is worth watching for that fact alone. Wish we could have got to see more from Crosse before his untimely death, who knows what could have been.

Elliot Gould - Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice

I really enjoy Elliot Gould as an actor. He always seems to be funny without doing much and is perfect for many of the roles he played throughout his career. In this film, he is the Ted in the title and his performance is one mostly of disbelief and incredulity and bewilderment. He just has that look about him throughout the film as his friends first discuss this retreat they went to that has left them sharing their feelings and being peaceful and open and honest to a fault. Then when Carol tells them Bob had an affair and eventually when Bob tells them that Carol had an affair, Gould just reels like he's not sure if he should be shocked and disgusted or impressed at their honesty. His performance is also pretty hilarious to me at times. I don't know why but I find his subtle humor to be so funny and he's very good at the physical humor in this as well. The scene with Alice in bed is perfection from both of them but especially Gould, like when he goes to get her birth control and fumbles with the drawer and takes it out and has trouble putting it back in. Reading that sounds terribly unfunny but he makes it special. There's nothing really flashy about the performance and it does feel a bit same all the way through, but he serves the role so well and makes the film better because he is in it. His bathroom break at the end of the film is also really funny to me and it's done in this matter of fact way. That's the genius of Gould to me, though. It's not much of an arc but it is a pretty fun performance.

Jack Nicholson - Easy Rider

This is a gorgeous film to watch with all the scenes of the bikers out on the road throughout America. It's also Nicholson's first Oscar nomination and thus my final time reviewing his work. This is a great film to close out on then as we see the young Nicholson and the sparks of what would become a legendary career. Nicholson is, to me, the best part of this film. He pops into the film and steals the show for the entire time he's on and is the only real character in the film. Nicholson plays a a guy that Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda meet when they are put in jail for crashing a parade on their bikes. He wakes up after a drunken night in jail and helps get them out since he's a lawyer. He then agrees to go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras with them and is a breath of fresh air in the film. Nicholson has this southern twang and actually gets to say things and be like a real life person. He's funny and charismatic and we see how great he will become in the future in this short performance. A lot of it is because he's the only real character in the film as Hopper and Fonda are more into being moody and looking cool or being high and drunk. But Nicholson manages to inject some life into the film with his presence alone and he's sorely missed when he's gone. This is a good first nomination and I'm glad I got to watch so many of his performances throughout this project.

Anthony Quayle - Anne of the Thousand Days

At first I was thinking of Anthony Quinn when I got to Quayle but this is definitely not Quinn. Quayle plays Cardinal Wolsey. If you know anything about Henry VIII you know about Cardinal Wolsey. You'd also know about him if you've seen the wonderful show, The Tudors. Knowing that, you realize that the Cardinal is a force behind the scenes and someone with great power during that time. It's unfortunate that we don't see any of that in Quayle's character. We get very brief flashes but his contribution to the events is never really touched on as this is a story about Anne Boleyn. So saying all that, Quayle just kind of gets to play the stern religious man for the first half before he exits the film. Henry gets what he wants and there's not much resistance from Wolsey. For someone that I know has a great impact on the story, it was disappointing that we got a neutered Wolsey and that Quayle didn't have all that much to do. Wolsey is mostly just the token religious guy hanging around and that's about it. I certainly wanted more and it's unfair to Quayle to not give him much of a performance. Maybe it would have been better if it was Anthony Quinn instead?


This is a pretty good start to the 60s, all things considered. The big question in this group is between Young and Nicholson. I like what Young did and now for sure see it as a veteran win but in reality who else was going to win here? Nicholson is my winner but it was his first time out for the Academy. For me, he injected much needed life into a dead film. Yeah, I love the motorcycle scenes in his film, but it was just meandering to nowhere until Jack showed up and saved the film. That's a true supporting role and why he gets my win. Now Quayle gets last because, through no fault of his own, he just plays a character that doesn't get to shine like he does in other iterations of the story. It was disappointing to see. Crosse is next because there is some things to like in the performance though it is far from being very good. It's more historical than anything else. Gould just makes me laugh. I love him as an actor. He's the easy third. Young gets second by virtue of Jack just being so good. But I'm not upset at all since Nicholson has three Oscars anyway and Young has his one. As I said, a decent start though not overwhelming by any means. Hoping to find some gems along the way through the 60s, though!

Oscar Winner: Gig Young - They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
My Winner:  Jack Nicholson - Easy Rider
Gig Young
Elliot Gould
Rupert Crosse
Anthony Quayle