Originally Posted by Thomas
The clinging, overreaching desperation worked much better in The Sterile Cuckoo.
The clinging, overreaching desperation worked much better in The Sterile Cuckoo.
FYC Oscar consideration, Miss Sally Field, as Mary Todd Lincoln
Yeah I hated Minnelli in Cabaret. There were good elements to the movie though, like Grey who I thought deserved to win more than the Godfather guys - being better than 2 of them and being actually supporting unlike Pacino.
If she'd lost then maybe we could've gotten an Oscar for the career of the amazing Ullmann who got the Drama Globe and NYFCC that year, and is by far the biggest winner of critics' awards to be Oscar-less - only Streep + Nicholson have more from LA/NY/NSFC/NBR.
Plus, Ullmann's other nom was the year of my favorite winner of the 70s, Dunaway, but it's largely because her perf in Network was a warmup for her legendary one in Mommie Dearest.
Ang Lee - The only 2x Bafta/DGA/Oscar-Winning Director!
Meryl on Oscars: Y’see these little babies? These are my best f***ing friends
and they never let me down. Try to get ‘em away from me and I’ll eat you alive.
Minelli was best when performing the songs, which is when she blew me away. Otherwise the acting itself was passable.
Yeah, Joel Grey was far and away the best thing about Cabaret.
One can only imagine what an actress such as Julie Christie could have done with the part.
Yeah because a husky voice coughing in the middle of “Maybe This Time” is exactly what the role needed.Maybe you’ve forgotten there was a non-musical version of this story, maybe there your thesping thirst can be satiated.
I understand what you say about her acting, but don’t totally agree. More than amateur, to me it just comes off as “barely acting”. As dear Canela once said, it’s just Liza Minnelli being Liza Minnelli. You don’t believe for a second that she’s a flapper from the 20’s immigrating to Germany in the 30’s. She’s instead a 70’s Broadway star acting as a 70’s Broadway star regardless of what surrounds her, putting on a show and acting for an audience all the time. Of course that works when, within the film, she’s supposed to actually be acting for an audience, that is, in her musical numbers in the Cabaret. For the rest of the film, it may be funny for some but it’s not good acting. But, the musical numbers… I like her voice even more than her mother’s, and her singing of “Maybe This Time” is just one of the best things in film in the 70’s. For those alone, her Oscar is not bad at all. She wouldn’t be my choice, but I’m glad that song performing was awarded somehow.
ETA: And with this and my post in Random Film Thoughts, I’ve defended Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli in the same day. Do I get a “Gay of the Month” medal, or something?
Yeah Joel Grey is very deserving of his Oscar.
Between this and you being Spanish, I think you get a "Gay of the Year" subscription to faaabulous fiercenezz.
I always preferred the original Broadway star of Cabaret, Jill Haworth, to LiZa actually. There's more of a razor edge quality to her voice - the character is NOT supposed to be a fantastic Broadway style singer - LiZa takes me out of the story - she's supposed to be a 2-bit, mediocre singer straining to get by - the flash and sizzle of Broadway that LiZa brought it just plain the wrong approach. Which is why when it came back to Broadway, they went for a Sally far like the original Broadway version when they cast an excellent ACTRESS, rather than another LiZa, in Natasha Richardson.
Jill's original Broadway version of Cabaret will always be my favorite - so much more flavor and character in it!
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptAdY1D53c0"]Cabaret Original 1966 Broadway Cast - YouTube[/ame]
There this Judi Dench, who also "gets" how Sally is supposed to be portrayed and sung as she does here in the original, original London production of it, back in 1968:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9FI96AB9sI"]Judi Dench - Cabaret (Cabaret London Cast Album) - YouTube[/ame]
What we here from both is not "perfect" singing but it's not supposed to be. It's blowsy and a bit ragged and flat at times but utterly awesome in it's expression and emotion.
My choices:
1970 Carrie Snodgress, in Diary of a Mad Housewife
1971 Hanoi Jane, in Klute
1972 Diana Ross, in Lady Sings the Blues
1973 Harriet Andersson, in Cries and Whispers
1974 Faye Dunaway, in Chinatown
1975 Carol Kane, in Hester Street
1976 Liv Ullmann, in Face to Face
1977 Diane Keaton, in Looking for Mister Goodbar
1978 Ingrid Bergman, in Autumn Sonata
1979 Bette Midler, in The Rose
FYC Oscar consideration, Miss Sally Field, as Mary Todd Lincoln
OMG, I haven't been in Film Polls and Lists in a year and I just peak in and find myself referenced! Poor Liza. Her singing was great in Cabaret. The acting was just Liza doing her Liza thing. Like watching kooky,zany Liza on the Tonight Show with black green nail polish. If you listen to the soundtrack album and don't watch the film, she deserves a prize but if you think it's nice that song performing was rewarded perhaps that Oscar rightly belongs to Diana Ross, who IMO deserves it for LSTB. (It was the same year, no?) I mean Liza is always good, faggy fun but really,she's always Liza the Entertainer or Personality. The Sterile Cuckoo is grating on the nerves. Her best performance for me is in Sex And The City 2.Yeah because a husky voice coughing in the middle of “Maybe This Time” is exactly what the role needed.
I understand what you say about her acting, but don’t totally agree. More than amateur, to me it just comes off as “barely acting”. As dear Canela once said, it’s just Liza Minnelli being Liza Minnelli. You don’t believe for a second that she’s a flapper from the 20’s immigrating to Germany in the 30’s. She’s instead a 70’s Broadway star acting as a 70’s Broadway star regardless of what surrounds her, putting on a show and acting for an audience all the time. Of course that works when, within the film, she’s supposed to actually be acting for an audience, that is, in her musical numbers in the Cabaret. For the rest of the film, it may be funny for some but it’s not good acting. But, the musical numbers… I like her voice even more than her mother’s, and her singing of “Maybe This Time” is just one of the best things in film in the 70’s. For those alone, her Oscar is not bad at all. She wouldn’t be my choice, but I’m glad that song performing was awarded somehow.
ETA: And with this and my post in Random Film Thoughts, I’ve defended Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli in the same day. Do I get a “Gay of the Month” medal, or something?
1.Jackson - Women In Love
2.Dunaway - Network
3.Fonda - Klute
4.Keaton - Annie Hall (though I loved her more in Looking for Mr. Goodbar)
5.Fonda - Coming Home( I loved this performance and seem to be in the minority. Haven't seen it in years but I can imagine the film possibly doesn't age well)
The others are all about even with me. All good. Can't complain. Even Jackson's second win is for a fun performance. I like it but wouldn't have given her the Oscar. Except for Sally Bowles. Gotta put Liza's acting at the bottom of this pile.
6. Ellen Burstyn /Sally Field/ Nurse Ratched/Glenda2 are about even with me.
10.Liza - Cabaret
1. Jane Fonda, Klute
2. Ellen Burstyn, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
3. Diane Keaton, Annie Hall
4. Glenda Jackson, Women In Love
5. Faye Dunaway, Network
6. Louise Fletcher, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
7. Sally Field, Norma Rae
8. Jane Fonda, Coming Home
9. Liza Minnelli, Cabaret
10. Glenda Jackson, A Touch Of Class
Bree Daniels was a fascinating and challenging role and Fonda handled it brilliantly. The therapy sessions are devastating in their honesty and simplicity.
Burstyn is a close second and shows how it is done so much better than e.g. Helen Hunt's decades later win in somewhat kind of role.
The second Oscar for Jackson was just baffling.
Fletcher gets the point for not overdoing or going overboard with such a character.
I don't like Liza Minelli as an actress and she is same in most of her roles (and even in real life!) Amazingly one note.
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