By John H. Foote Never say to me John Wayne could not act. Ever. The great film historian John Milius once said, “I think John Wayne in The Searchers is the greatest performance in the history of cinema.” It certainly is one of them. Wayne believed in planting his feet and telling the truth, that…
By John H. Foote The art of acting evolved slowly throughout the 1940s, but in 1947, it was forever altered when Marlon Brando stepped onto the New York stage as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. His gritty, explosive performance changed the very fabric of acting more than it had been changed in 30…
By John H. Foote The art of film acting was evolving in the 30s and did not reach its peak until the 50s with the explosive arrival of Marlon Brando. With the introduction of sound, Hollywood began looting the Broadway stage for actors with effective voices such as Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, James Stewart, elevating…
By John H. Foote I love acting – not doing it – but appreciating it. So much more goes into a performance than the untrained eye might realize. The lines are agonized over, not just learning them but how they are delivered. A line delivered too strong can be silly, whereas not enough underplays the…
By John H. Foote Dustin Hoffman has always been at his finest when the character he is portraying has an edge to him, a meanness that sets him apart from the rest of humanity. He twice has won Academy Awards for Best Actor, but never has he won for his finest work, which was Tootsie…
By John H. Foote Watching this film for the first time, I remember thinking as Lange moved into the frame, “I am watching pure carnality”, so great was her sexual power. As Cora, the very dangerous young woman stuck in a dead-end marriage to a loud, brash immigrant who owns a diner in the Depression…
By John H. Foote One of the dumbest rules ever created for the Academy Awards is that an actor is eligible for nomination only once in the same category each year. So, if someone has three brilliant performances in three different films, they must decide which one they are going to campaign for the nomination.…
By John H. Foote So many fine performances this year, each category for acting at the Academy Awards is jammed packed with potential nominees, with five slots for each. Rather than listing them by category or even by preference, I just wrote them down, lead and supporting together, again in no particular order. These were…
By Alan Hurst John’s recent look at the Oscar snubs of Nicole Kidman and Tom Hanks got me thinking. They’re both winners and multiple nominees, but they also have a resume of performances that somehow Oscar overlooked. Coming from another generation of stars, Shirley MacLaine is another one who can be listed with Kidman and…
By John H. Foote Tom Hanks is often hailed as America’s most beloved actor. Despite this, the ever-fickle Academy seems to take every opportunity it can to bring him down a notch. The Academy has a long history of ignoring talent once they have received a few nominations. Case in point, Mr. Hanks. Yes, he…