4 for 4

For some reason the other day, this little irrelevant tid bit of information decided to dawn upon me, that there has not been a movie made since 1981 that has secured nominations in all four major acting categories. That's 27 years. Before then, there was, on average, at least two films a decade to achieve that honor. Here's the whole list:

My Man Godfrey (1936)
Best Actor: William Powell
Best Actress: Carole Lombard
Best Supporting Actor: Mischa Auer
Best Supporting Actress: Alice Brady

Mrs. Miniver (1942)
Best Actor: Walter Pidgeon
Best Actress: Greer Garson (won)
Best Supporting Actor: Henry Travers
Best Supporting Actress: Teresa Wright (won)

For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
Best Actor: Gary Cooper
Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman
Best Supporting Actor: Akim Tamiroff
Best Supporting Actress: Katina Paxinou (won)

Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Best Actor: William Holden
Best Actress: Gloria Swanson
Best Supporting Actor: Erich von Stroheim
Best Supporting Actress: Nancy Olson

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Best Actor: Marlon Brando
Best Actress: Vivien Leigh (won)
Best Supporting Actor: Karl Malden (won)
Best Supporting Actress: Kim Hunter (won)

From Here To Eternity (1955)
Best Actor: Burt Lancaster
Best Actor: Montgomery Clift
Best Actress: Deborah Kerr
Best Supporting Actor: Frank Sinatra (won)
Best Supporting Actress: Donna Reed (won)

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Best Actor: Richard Burton
Best Actress: Elizabeth Taylor (won)
Best Supporting Actor: George Stevens
Best Supporting Actress: Sandy Dennis (won)

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Best Actor: Warren Beatty
Best Actress: Faye Dunaway
Best Supporting Actor: Gene Hackman
Best Supporting Actor: Michael J. Pollard
Best Supporting Actress: Estelle Parsons (won)

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (1967)
Best Actor: Spencer Tracy
Best Actress: Katherine Hepburn (won)
Best Supporting Actor: Cecil Kellaway
Best Supporting Actress: Beah Richards

Network (1976)
Best Actor: Peter Finch (won)
Best Actor: William Holden
Best Actress: Faye Dunaway (won)
Best Supporting Actor: Ned Beatty
Best Supporting Actress: Beatrice Straight (won)

Coming Home (1978)
Best Actor: Jon Voight (won)
Best Actress: Jane Fonda (won)
Best Supporting Actor: Bruce Dern
Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Milford

Reds (1981)
Best Actor: Warren Beatty
Best Actress: Diane Keaton
Best Supporting Actor: Jack Nicholson
Best Supporting Actress: Maureen Stapleton (won)

So yeah. But Reds (1981) was the last.

We will be coming up, in the new year, on to the 81st Academy Awards and have not seen a 4/4 nominated film since the early 80's. I don't know what that is supposed to elude to, but perhaps it is once again time to see a well rounded cast for a change.

From the previous years, the film that I believe would have come closest to achieving this feat would have been Chicago in 2002 had Richard Gere received the much deserving Best Actor nomination. Because, even if they had gotten that right, as well as putting Catherine Zeta-Jones in the Best Actress category WITH Renée Zellweger, they still would have had Queen Latifah and John C. Reilly filling the supporting ballots. I don't believe any other movie since then has had a chance to fill a spot in all 4 acting categories. Little Miss Sunshine (2006) I guess could have done it, had the actors in the film not cancelled out each other's performances and forced them all for Best Supporting Actor contention...leaving Toni Collette to also be considered a supporting performance. I'm sure that's the way it would have had to have gone down.

There have of course been numerous well-acted films since 1981, but alas, none of them have really expanded themselves into the well rounded films that the 12 previous that accomplished the honor did. Some of the competitors lacked just one of the categories when being nominated. Last year's Michael Clayton had all but the Best Actress. The same was the case for Brokeback Mountain in 2005. Million Dollar Baby (2004) and As Good As It Gets (1997) were a Best Supporting Actress away from doing it. Then of course there are all the fantastic ensemble movies that fail to generate a single leading role, forcing the actors to all vie for a Supporting nod. It's just not the same as it used to. I really just think that we are due for a phenomenal movie where the cast is made up of a competitor for all of these trophies.

This year doesn't look like it will fair any better. The closest that we'll come will most likely be The Curious Case Benjamin Button, which is generating massive buzz for all the categories but Best Supporting Actor. Rachel Getting Married might be recognized for four acting nods, but lacks a leading man to fill that title and may be awarded with two Best Supporting Actress contenders instead. There are others that might be able to get two in the same category, but none that I can think of that will fill all of them.

The whole concept of having a complete cast used to be something that was expected in movies. It used to be a necessity to the plot to have a lead male and female being surrounded by equally impressive character actors in significant supporting performances. I realize that it wasn't seen in every movie, but obviously, we have strayed so far from that course of filmmaking, that we have forgotten how great a well rounded cast can be.

So I just want to bring it to the attention to anyone who would care to know that I want - no, NEED, a rounded out cast. I've been quite content with the amount of ensembles that we've been getting over the years, and I'm not even complaining about a lot of the star vehicles where one or two actors give the tour de force performance. Really, all I'm asking is to give us the best in all the areas you can. I mean REALLY give it to us. We've waited long enough, and if you don't write one soon, I might have to.




P.S. I just want to bring to the attention of everyone that my writing in the previous "Things That I Love Today" entry was quite awful. Truly sub-par. Plainly atrocious.