The 10 Most Disturbed Best Supporting Actor Performances of All-Time
5. Christopher Walken in The Deer Hunter
If you've not seen The Deer Hunter, you need to not watch the following clip. Take my word for it that Christopher Walken plays a soldier transformed by the Vietnam War who, by movie's end, looks like the grimmest Edvard Munch portrait in existence. For those who have seen the movie, I'm sure you still don't need to revisit the following clip. In fact, why did I post it?
4. Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds
Like Woody Allen before him, Quentin Tarantino loves a fine supporting character -- whether ferocious and feminine, fierce and villainous, or outright demonic. That's the case with Hans Landa, the trilingual breakout role for Christoph Waltz that added colorful flourish to our boring old perceptions of heinous Nazis. So dashing in his unscrupulousness!
3. Walter Huston in Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Before crazed freaks regularly won Academy Awards, there was Walter Huston in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Though when we meet him he's rugged and smart, we soon watch him unravel and enact one of the most disturbing dances ever recorded on film. You laugh because you're nervous not to.
2. Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight
Leonard Maltin once noted that Heath Ledger's turn as the Joker in The Dark Knight is so disturbing that it's hard to derive any pleasure from watching him. That's pretty damn disturbing. The lip-smacking magic trick aficionado legitimized Christopher Nolan's Batman reboots for eternity, and the role now stands as the jarring coda of Heath Ledger's short life.
1. Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men
Nothing says "psychopath" like engaging in motiveless massacres, right? That's the definition, essentially? As Anton Chigurh, Javier Bardem tortures the United States-Mexico border with a magnificent firearm, the deadest eyes in cinema, and a senseless pudding-bowl haircut. He was the aughts' most obvious shoo-in for the Oscar, and the sting of his performance is unforgettable. Don't even bother locking your doors with this lunatic around.
Pages: 1 2
Subscribe to the new Movieline on YouTube
Comments
most disturbed best supporting actor performances, billy. does Han Solo seem disturbing to you?
Quirky just made a bit of a twat of himself. The Oscars are meaningless. Anthony Hopkins had a supporting role to Jodie Foster's lead. It's her character arch the film's narrative is driven by. Just like Tom Cruise was a supporting actor in Collateral. Half-wit.
Ledger's Joker may be the best performance by an actor in movie history. It may top Pacino's Michael Corleone in the first two "Godfather"s. Maltin is right on but why do I keep going back to Ledger's scenes over & over again.
Bardem is actually scarier in his brief, but oh-so-memorable turn as Felix in "Collateral". The Joker had no plan. Felix's plan was to fuck to hell anybody who got in the way of his plan.
The Academy doesn't like the idea of giving an Oscar to someone for playing a Nazi? That would be news to Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz.
I think that Fiennes was terrific in Schindler's List, and I think he was more deserving of an Oscar that year than Tommy Lee Jones was. But I doubt that Fiennes losing had anything to do with his character being a Nazi.
Most voters had never even heard of Ralph Fiennes before Schindler's List came out. Tommy Lee Jones, on the other hand, was a well-respected Hollywood veteran who had never won an Oscar before - in other words, he was exactly the kind of actor who the Academy loves to recognize.
The Academy should only focus on the quality of the performances, of course...but we all know that a lot of the voters take other things into account.
I think you'll find that all 10 won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for their performances. That was THE criteria for the list.
Heath Ledger's 'The Joker'=Number 1. naff said.....
« Previous