20 Years of Streep: 1995 ("The Bridges of Madison County")

May 05, 2017 by Andrew Carden in 20 Years of Streep, Oscar Flashback

After steamrolling through the 1980s, racking up half a dozen Best Lead Actress Oscar nominations, Meryl Streep came across a more subdued reception in the early 1990s.

The decade started off on just the right note, with a ninth Oscar nod for Postcards from the Edge. Streep also garnered praise for her turn opposite writer-director-leading man Albert Brooks in 1991's Defending Your Life. The picture, however, was not a box office success, drawing roughly the same interest in theaters as 1989's She-Devil, which was deemed an unqualified financial disaster upon its release.

Streep's next project was among her most ambitious to date - a big-budget horror-comedy from filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, whose success with the Back to the Future trilogy and Who Framed Roger Rabbit gave him the license to go as extravagant as his heart desired. As the glamorous, exceedingly conceited Madeline Ashton, Streep is a comic delight in Death Becomes Her. The film's production was a troubled one, however, and Streep vowed to never sign on to another picture so heavy on the CGI. Hyped as one of the big summer releases of 1992, Death Becomes Her scored only fair box office receipts

Death Becomes Her was a big, fat hit, however, in comparison to Streep's 1994 film, Danish director Bille August's screen adaptation of the Isabel Allende novel The House of the Spirits. Despite a starry ensemble cast of Streep, Jeremy Irons, Glenn Close, Winona Ryder and Vanessa Redgrave, the film was laughed off the screen by critics and entirely ignored by audiences. With a $40 million price tag, House managed to reap just over $6 million in box office receipts - a colossal disaster well worse than Heartburn and She-Devil.

Streep's other 1994 release - the Curtis Hanson-directed adventure The River Wild - was not a failure on the level of The House of the Spirits but still met with a mostly middling response. (It is tough, though, to not get at least some kick out of Streep and a psychotic Kevin Bacon going mano a mano.)

While Streep searched for that next Oscar vehicle, Clint Eastwood - with whom Streep had never worked on a motion picture - was having stunning success. His 1992 western Unforgiven managed to even captivate audiences who'd never been terribly fond of his past work. The film won four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for Eastwood. He followed that up with a leading turn in Wolfgang Petersen's In the Line of Fire - again, marvelous notices and the highest box office receipts of his career at the time.

After Eastwood's A Perfect World evoked a collective shrug from viewers in 1993, the director turned to an unlikely source for his next project - Robert James Waller's best-selling novel The Bridges of Madison County, which focuses on the romance that blossoms between an Italian war bride in Iowa and the National Geographic photographer who rolls into town. While Waller advocated for Isabella Rossellini as the film's leading lady, Eastwood wanted Streep from the get-go - a pitch-perfect selection, as he was about to capture one of Streep's finest career performances, if not the best.

The 1995 Oscar nominees in Best Lead Actress were...

Susan Sarandon, Dead Man Walking

Sarandon portrays Sister Helen Prejean, a nun and teacher called upon by death row inmate Matthew (Oscar-nominee Sean Penn) to assist in his final appeal for a pardon. With that looking exceedingly improbable, Sister Helen emerges as more of a spiritual advisor to Matthew, stressing that redemption is possible if he takes responsibility for his crimes. This performance, which won her a Screen Actors Guild Award, marked Sarandon's fifth (and to date, final) Oscar nomination and first win.

Elisabeth Shue, Leaving Las Vegas

Shue portrays Sera, a Las Vegas prostitute who befriends Ben (Nicolas Cage, in a stirring, Oscar-winning turn), an alcoholic screenwriter in town with the goal of drinking himself to death. Their bond is built on one key condition - neither can interfere with the other's unsavory practices. This performance, which won her Best Lead Actress honors from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and National Society of Film Critics, marked Shue's first (and to date, final) Oscar nomination.

Sharon Stone, Casino

Stone portrays Ginger McKenna, hustler, former hooker and the apple of casino operator Ace (Robert De Niro)'s eye. Despite Ginger's wariness to marriage, she and Ace wed but it isn't long before their glamorous honeymoon period comes to an end. Ginger can't seem to escape her sleazy con artist ex Lester (James Woods, in a performance that makes you want to take a shower) but it's her involvement with Ace's violent and unpredictable pal Nicky (Joe Pesci) that really stirs trouble. This performance, which won her a Golden Globe, marked Stone's first (and to date, final) Oscar nomination.

Meryl Streep, The Bridges of Madison County

Streep portrays Francesca Johnson, a wife and mother who, while her family is away on a trip, engages in a brief, soulful affair with a National Geographic photographer (Clint Eastwood, also superb) who is visiting to capture the bridges of Madison County, Iowa. Ultimately, Francesca finds herself at a painstaking crossroads - she can continue her mundane existence or run away and travel the world with the man who has so lifted her spirits. This performance marked Streep's 10th Oscar nomination.

Emma Thompson, Sense and Sensibility

Thompson portrays Elinor Dashwood, eldest and most reserved and responsible daughter of three of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood. When their father dies, most of his estate is placed in the hands of his son, leaving the fortune-free sisters to move to a cottage. There, Elinor finds herself falling for the dashing Edward (Hugh Grant). If only Edward weren't engaged to be married. This performance, which won her a BAFTA Award, marked Thompson's fourth (and to date, final) Oscar nomination for acting. She won the prize in Best Adapted Screenplay for the picture.

Overlooked: Angela Bassett, Waiting to Exhale; Kathy Bates, Dolores Claiborne; Annette Bening, The American President; Sandra Bullock, While You Were Sleeping; Toni Collette, Muriel's Wedding; Julie Delpy, Before Sunrise; Jennifer Jason Leigh, Georgia; Shelley Long, The Brady Bunch Movie; Julianne Moore, Safe; Nicole Kidman, To Die For; Michelle Pfeiffer, Dangerous Minds; Alicia Silverstone, Clueless; Debra Winger, Forget Paris

Won: Susan Sarandon, Dead Man Walking

Should've won: Meryl Streep, The Bridges of Madison County

1994's race in Best Lead Actress was not the most exciting of affairs. That was the year in which Jessica Lange scored her Lead Oscar for Blue Sky, a picture hardly a soul remembers today (and deservedly so), over four contenders who weren't exactly at the tops of their games either. Too bad the Academy didn't have the guts to recognize a more offbeat turn like Kathleen Turner in Serial Mom or Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies, as opposed to Susan Sarandon in a Joel Schumacher-directed John Grisham adaptation.

The following year couldn't have been more different. 1995 marked a spectacularly crowded year for leading ladies, so much so that you have to figure Columbia Pictures, which released Dolores Claiborne (featuring Kathy Bates' most incredible work of her career) in March of '95, had to be regretting not getting that film out just a few months earlier. Bates, a towering tour-de-force, even more compelling than her Oscar-winning turn in Misery, could have been a real threat for the win in '94. By Oscar season '95, however, Bates and Dolores Claiborne were long forgotten, overshadowed by a dozen or more performances in flicks with far more Oscar-friendly release dates.

Most Oscar pundits seem to rave about the Academy's ultimate selections here, with one exception - Sharon Stone, who I'd wager most folks would've like seen replaced with Nicole Kidman, devastatingly great in To Die For and that year's Golden Globe winner in the Comedy/Musical field. And indeed, Stone was the most vulnerable of the five nominees to miss out on the nod, taking the Drama Globe but failing to show up at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Alas, Stone's aggressive self-campaigning paid off and she landed the nomination.

I happen to think, however, Stone's nod was a richly deserved one. But I'll get to her in just a bit. It's another contender who I'd happily boot from this category.

I love Emma Thompson. Her Oscar-winning work in Howards End is dead-on brilliant and she's even better in the next Merchant Ivory production, The Remains of the Day. It's that Merchant Ivory eloquence that I think is so sorely lacking in Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility, a sleepy, workmanlike picture that may still satisfy Jane Austen fans but leaves this non-Austin aficionado less than enthused.

Thompson's performance isn't a bad one - she has an enchanting screen presence in even her most lackluster films - but I don't think her work or the film itself ever quite take off. Even the costumes and production design seem too subdued. Thompson's screenwriting Oscar should have gone to George Miller and Chris Noonan for Babe or perhaps even Mike Figgis for Leaving Las Vegas. I know Sense and Sensibility has plenty of admirers but I just can't get there.

Beyond Thompson, this line-up is sheer heaven.

I see-saw between Stone and Sarandon. The former is the more limited actress but Casino marks the best turn of her career, hands down. Sarandon can do no wrong, and I'm OK with her triumphing for this, but I don't quite consider Dead Man Walking her finest effort.

I L-O-V-E Casino and happen to think it's among Martin Scorsese's best, if not the finest Scorsese picture. It has a sprawling, epic feel to it - those three hours go by faster than any three hours ever have in cinema - and De Niro, Pesci and Stone are all on fire. Scorsese's usual team - film editor Thelma Schoonmaker, production designer Dante Ferretti and cinematographer Robert Richardson, among others - all turn in exemplary work. I fucking adore this movie.

Stone largely coasts through the first half of Casino on sheer charisma. She looks phenomenal and is even more captivating to watch than she was three years earlier in Basic Instinct. Once Ginger descends into alcoholism and starts hitting the white powder, however, Stone goes into "give me that Oscar nomination" mode and delivers a gangbusters, scenery-chewing performance that even manages to overshadow De Niro's engrossing work. She turns her drop-dead gorgeous beauty into a truly pathetic and kind of scary sight. It's an impressive piece of acting from an actress who unfortunately never quite captured the proper the follow-up.

With Sarandon, there are decidedly no coked-up fits of hysteria. Dead Man Walking finds a solemn and conservative Sarandon, not unlike her even better (and also Oscar-nominated) turn in Lorenzo's Oil from a few years prior. She is completely convincing as the kind and empathetic Sister Helen, well-directed by then-partner Tim Robbins, who turns in a remarkable piece of filmmaking for someone on only their second project (following Bob Roberts). Just as brilliant is Sean Penn, arguably even stronger here than in his two Oscar-winning turns (Mystic River and Milk). It's a fascinating sight watching these two improbably dig for a speck of humanity in the vile Matthew Poncelet.

On an intriguing note, the Independent Spirit Awards in 1995 did precisely the opposite of the Academy - awarding Penn the Best Male Lead prize and Shue the Best Female Lead trophy. I tend to like the ISA's thinking this year because Shue - star of such critically hailed Oscar-winners as The Karate Kid and Adventures in Babysitting - is truly gut-wrenching in Leaving Las Vegas. It's a revelatory turn from an actress who sadly seemed destined to never land one.

Leaving Las Vegas is one grueling picture to watch. It's an all-around superb film, no doubt, with Cage and obviously Shue doing career-best work, but it all feels almost a little too real. And the doomed relationship that blossoms between Ben and Sera might just be among the most devastating pairings to ever grace the silver screen. Shue's performance isn't a terribly showy one but it sure does still pack a punch. By the end, she completely shatters you. It's breathtaking work from an actress who, not unlike Stone, never managed to land another role anywhere near on the same level.

And then there's Streep. You must be thinking, "why the hell did this guy embark on a Streep Oscar project when he's never going to select her for the win?" The thing is, in different years, I totally could have supported Streep victories for both Sophie's Choice and Silkwood - Jessica Lange and Shirley MacLaine just happened to be in the way, respectively. In 1995, however, I am delighted to (at last!) side with Streep, and frankly by a comfortable margin.

There have been times over the past decade when I actually preferred Shue or even Stone for the victory here. In recent years, however, I'm come along to the conclusion that The Bridges of Madison County is the most exquisite work of Streep's career and really should have marked her third Oscar (or first, if I had my way).

Streep looks absolutely ravishing under Eastwood's sumptuous direction but there's of course a whole lot more to admire here than just looks. Her chemistry with Eastwood is not exactly sizzling but instead something very sincere and special. The first word that comes to mind when I consider Eastwood's filmmaking here is sensitive. This is a delicate and understated picture that takes its sweet time, refreshingly so, in tracing its characters' journey.

This performance reminds me so much of Katharine Hepburn's turn in Summertime, which in fact happens to be my favorite turn of that incomparable performer's filmography.

Neither is necessarily the biggest, most extravagant performance of either career but there's something about Streep here and Hepburn there is that is truly extraordinary and exceedingly improbable to replicate. It's as if both actresses managed with Bridges and Summertime to finally find the directors best-suited to their immense talents (David Lean did the Hepburn flick) and the movie magic pretty much just came naturally.

When I look back and consider all of Streep's performances, I'm not sure any scene will be able to top that of Francesca Johnson at the ultimate crossroads. With her kind but passionless husband beside her and newfound soulmate Robert mere feet away, waiting in his car for Francesca to make her move toward him, she has the most grueling of decisions. It's an experience that manages to prove just as taxing for us as it does Francesca.

Sorry, Sophie's Choice and Unforgiven. I love you both but The Bridges of Madison County has my heart.

The performances ranked (thus far)...

Jessica Lange, Frances
Whoopi Goldberg, The Color Purple
Meryl Streep, The Bridges of Madison County
Meryl Streep, Sophie's Choice
Shirley MacLaine, Terms of Endearment
Meryl Streep, Silkwood
Jane Alexander, Testament
Sally Kirkland, Anna
Maureen Stapleton, Interiors
Glenn Close, Dangerous Liaisons
Mariel Hemingway, Manhattan
Glenn Close, Fatal Attraction
Sigourney Weaver, Gorillas in the Mist
Cher, Moonstruck
Marsha Mason, Only When I Laugh
Elisabeth Shue, Leaving Las Vegas
Debra Winger, Terms of Endearment
Kathy Bates, Misery
Anjelica Huston, The Grifters
Susan Sarandon, Dead Man Walking
Sharon Stone, Casino
Diane Keaton, Reds
Meryl Streep, Kramer vs. Kramer
Meryl Streep, The Deer Hunter
Julie Andrews, Victor/Victoria
Meryl Streep, A Cry in the Dark
Melanie Griffith, Working Girl
Meryl Streep, Postcards from the Edge
Jessica Lange, Sweet Dreams
Sissy Spacek, Missing
Joanne Woodward, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge
Geraldine Page, The Trip to Bountiful
Jane Alexander, Kramer vs. Kramer
Jodie Foster, The Accused
Susan Sarandon, Atlantic City
Meryl Streep, Out of Africa
Holly Hunter, Broadcast News
Julie Walters, Educating Rita
Candice Bergen, Starting Over
Maggie Smith, California Suite
Katharine Hepburn, On Golden Pond
Meryl Streep, Ironweed
Anne Bancroft, Agnes of God
Debra Winger, An Officer and a Gentleman
Emma Thompson, Sense and Sensibility
Meryl Streep, The French Lieutenant's Woman
Dyan Cannon, Heaven Can Wait
Penelope Milford, Coming Home
Barbara Barrie, Breaking Away
Julia Roberts, Pretty Woman

20 Years of Streep: 1990 ("Postcards from the Edge")

April 29, 2017 by Andrew Carden in 20 Years of Streep, Oscar Flashback

By 1989, Meryl Streep had graced the silver screen in 15 motion pictures. Thirteen of these were dramas, with the exceptions being Manhattan (in which Streep had a small supporting role) and Heartburn (a critical and financial failure for the many A-listers involved). So, it was about damn time that Streep at last scored a leading role in a successful comedy.

She-Devil, released in '89, found Streep in the broadest, loosest form of her career. Portraying flamboyant romantic novelist Mary Fisher, opposite Roseanne Barr of all people, Streep herself garnered positive notices but the picture flopped even harder than Heartburn, spending one measly week in the box office top 10. Barr's film career was pronounced dead. Streep, of course, was here to stay.

Her follow-up to She-Devil had shades of Heartburn on paper. Postcards from the Edge would reunite Streep with director Mike Nichols (fresh off his success on Working Girl), with Carrie Fisher adapting the screenplay from her best-selling book (not unlike Nora Ephron's page-to-screen adaptation of her Heartburn). In September of 1990, Postcards hit theaters and - whew - was not a catastrophe. Reviews were warm for both Streep and co-star Shirley MacLaine and the picture just did fine at the box office, debuting in the top slot.

Amazingly, however, it would take five years post-Postcards for Streep to make her 10th appearance at the Oscars.

The 1990 Oscar nominees in Best Lead Actress were...

Kathy Bates, Misery

Bates portrays Annie Wilkes, disgraced former nurse and number one fan of best-selling author Paul Sheldon (James Caan, inexplicably not Oscar-nominated). During a wild snowstorm in which Paul's car flies off the road, Annie rescues the writer from sure death and brings him back to her place to recover. Annie is none too pleased, however, when she reads a manuscript for Paul's upcoming novel and isn't keen on letting him leave without a rewrite. This performance, which won her a Golden Globe, marked Bates' first Oscar nomination and win.

Anjelica Huston, The Grifters

Huston portrays Lily Dillon, longtime con artist and estranged mother to small-time grifter Roy (John Cusack). Dillon, who plays horse races for the intimidating bookie Bobo (Pat Hingle), pays a visit to Roy while on business in Los Angeles and finds her son in rough physical shape. Fearful he'll die if he continues, Lily urges Roy to quit conning but that's easier said than done, especially since he's dating a grifter himself, the manipulative Myra (Oscar-nominee Annette Bening). This performance, which won her Best Lead Actress honors from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and National Society of Film Critics, marked Huston's third (and to date, final) Oscar nomination.

Julia Roberts, Pretty Woman

Roberts portrays Vivian Ward, a Los Angeles hooker (with a heart of gold, of course) who's picked up one evening by dashing corporate raider Edward (Richard Gere). Romance blossoms as Roxette and Roy Orbison fill the air. This performance, which won her a Golden Globe, marked Roberts' second Oscar nomination.

Meryl Streep, Postcards from the Edge

Streep portrays actress and recovering addict Suzanne Vale who, upon leaving rehab, must move in with mom Doris (Shirley MacLaine, one of her all-time great turns) as a condition of remaining employed. Maintaining her sobriety (and sanity) proves a challenge for Suzanne, who for her whole life has yearned to escape the shadow of her mother, a brash, boozy and beloved Hollywood legend. This performance marked Streep's ninth Oscar nomination.

Joanne Woodward, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge

Woodward portrays Mrs. India Bridge, a wife and mother who, alongside husband Walter (Paul Newman), struggles to keep up with the changing times in 1940s-era Kansas City. While Walter is emotionally distant and squarely focused on his law practice, India is a warmer, more optimistic presence, yet can't establish any sort of independence from her husband, nor fully relate to her children, who have grown wary of their parents' traditional values. This performance, which won her Best Lead Actress honors from the New York Film Critics Circle, marked Woodward's fourth (and to date, final) Oscar nomination.

Overlooked: Laura Dern, Wild at Heart; Mia Farrow, Alice; Whoopi Goldberg, The Long Walk Home; Michelle Pfeiffer, The Russia House; Winona Ryder, Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael; Sissy Spacek, The Long Walk Home

Won and should've won: Kathy Bates, Misery

Another year, another downright mind-boggling Mia Farrow snub.

By this point in Farrow's career, she deserved a minimum of two Oscar nominations (for Rosemary's Baby and The Purple Rose of Cairo), arguably three (she's terrific in Hannah and Her Sisters, albeit the least compelling of the three ladies). Alice totally should've been the vehicle to at last secure her a nod and indeed, Farrow roared out of the starting gates in the 1990 awards season with a Best Lead Actress victory from the National Board of Review. Then came Oscar nominations morning and - sigh - nada, again. This, despite Woody Allen garnering a screenwriting nod for the film.

What makes the Farrow omission all the more egregious is the Academy's fivesome in 1990 isn't that spectacular. While I am fond of four of the recognized performances, there's not a true powerhouse turn to be found. In hindsight, forget just a nomination, this probably should've been the year Farrow won an Oscar.

Soft a spot as I have for the late filmmaker Garry Marshall, the one nominee I'm not terribly fond of here is Roberts, in the Marshall-directed box office smash Pretty Woman.

It's not hard to see why Pretty Woman was such a sensation upon release. Roberts and Gere, both more or less at their peaks on the A-list, have rarely looked so fetching and do share some dynamite chemistry. Also, 1990 was not exactly a fertile year for romantic comedies. At a time when the lackluster likes of Bird on a Wire, Crazy People and Joe Versus the Volcano represented the genre, there was a palpable hunger for a halfway decent romcom.

Much as I love a good romance, however, I've never been quite on board with Pretty Woman, nor Roberts' performance. Marshall was a director very much capable of filming a fine turn - Michelle Pfeiffer, for instance, would've been a deserving Oscar nominee for his Frankie and Johnny the following year - but I don't think Roberts in Pretty Woman is among them. Yes, she's a solid match for Gere and sure, the soundtrack is aces, but this isn't a remarkable piece of acting in any way. Frankly, I think I prefer Roberts' work in another Marshall-directed film, 1999's Runaway Bride, not that I would have recognized her for that either. I know she has her passionate proponents and I respect that. I just think it's kind of an absurd nomination when someone like Farrow was stuck on the sidelines.

The other four honorees are leaps and bounds superior to Roberts though, as I said, there's not really a Goldberg in The Color Purple among them.

Mr. and Mrs. Bridge is not, I would argue, among the top tier of Merchant Ivory productions. It lacks the sumptuous look and feel of a Howards End or The Remains of the Day and, for much of the proceedings, moves like molasses. It is, however, completely worth a look for at least one reason - it's the final feature film pairing of real-life husband and wife Newman and Woodward. And, even if their film largely fails to make the leap from ordinary to extraordinary, both actors are in sublime form.

Both leading turns are restrained ones, effectively so. Neither Newman nor Woodward are presented with a plethora of 'Oscar-scenes' but couldn't be more convincing as a couple stuck in their stuffy, conservative ways. Woodward quietly and powerfully conveys India's struggles to maintain a sanguine outlook on life while her priggish husband and more forward-thinking children are at such odds. It's not an extravagantly showy turn in any way but still a memorable one and what a pleasure it is to see Woodward, who won her Oscar for The Three Faces of Eve in 1958, garnering recognition into the 1990s.

Streep places a respectable third for me this year, in her first Oscar-nominated comic turn. I think Postcards from the Edge should've been even more potent than it ultimately is - the starry supporting players are underused and at just over an hour and a half, it feels curiously fleeting - but still, given the brilliant work of Streep and MacLaine, plus plenty of powerful dialogue from Fisher, it satisfies.

I actually think MacLaine, taking on the Debbie Reynolds role, is even more riveting than Streep here (the "I'm Still Here" scene is among the all-time great MacLaine movie moments and Postcards often loses its potency when she's off-screen) but the latter still has plenty of meaty material to work with. The picture's best scene, in which Suzanne and Doris let off some steam on the latter's staircase, gives both Streep and MacLaine the license to really tear it up. I'm also particularly fond of a less hostile scene between the two toward the film's end, when Suzanne visits her mom in the hospital.

In the end, however, this race is more or less a jump ball for me between Huston and Bates, two of my very favorite actresses.

I say Huston's Oscar should've come not for 1985's Prizzi's Honor (in which she's memorable but hardly on the level of that year's Color Purple honorees), for which she actually took home the prize, but for her devastating turn opposite Martin Landau in 1989's Crimes and Misdemeanors. Huston was instead nominated for that year's Enemies: A Love Story, in which she's very good, but there's something so haunting about her work in the Woody Allen picture.

I do think The Grifters is the strongest of her three Oscar-nominated performances. It's an exhilarating, often unsettling turn that runs a gamut of emotions and it's clear Huston had an absolute blast in the role. She's also so much stronger than Cusack and Bening. I think what I love about Huston is how lived-in she is in all of her roles. By comparison, her two co-stars here seem to be playing dress-up.

I would have been whole-heartedly fine with Huston picking up a second Oscar here. Alas, by the tiniest of margins, I think I prefer Bates here.

I have long been enamored with Bates and Misery, though I would concede Dolores Claiborne is the superior Stephen King film adaptation all-around (absolutely nuts that Columbia Pictures dumped that one with a March release date but we'll get to that in the 1995 race). A horror buff and Bates super-fan, I have been watching Misery on an annual basis since at least age 10, perhaps even earlier. I can recall having my parents constantly rent the film out for me from the local video store...damn you, you cockadoodie R-rating!

Bates (and Caan, who's just as fantastic) hits all of the right notes as the cheery-turned-chilling Annie Wilkes. Toward the start of the picture, Annie couldn't be a warmer, more wonderful presence, hardly the second-coming of Nurse Ratched. Then, there's some eyebrow-raising behavior, which becomes exasperated when Annie is rubbed the wrong way. By the film's midway point, the audience feels just as horrified and helpless as Paul Sheldon. Bates is served well by Rob Reiner's direction - he no doubt saw the bravura performance he was capturing, so he allows his leading lady to completely take over the screen, giving her the license - and a very effective one at that - to speak directly to the camera on several occasions.

I wouldn't label Bates' turn in Misery as the finest of her career - I don't even consider it her best Oscar-nominated performance (that's Primary Colors) - but it's still one hell of an effort and a richly deserved win.

The performances ranked (thus far)...

Jessica Lange, Frances
Whoopi Goldberg, The Color Purple
Meryl Streep, Sophie's Choice
Shirley MacLaine, Terms of Endearment
Meryl Streep, Silkwood
Jane Alexander, Testament
Sally Kirkland, Anna
Maureen Stapleton, Interiors
Glenn Close, Dangerous Liaisons
Mariel Hemingway, Manhattan
Glenn Close, Fatal Attraction
Sigourney Weaver, Gorillas in the Mist
Cher, Moonstruck
Marsha Mason, Only When I Laugh
Debra Winger, Terms of Endearment
Kathy Bates, Misery
Anjelica Huston, The Grifters
Diane Keaton, Reds
Meryl Streep, Kramer vs. Kramer
Meryl Streep, The Deer Hunter
Julie Andrews, Victor/Victoria
Meryl Streep, A Cry in the Dark
Melanie Griffith, Working Girl
Meryl Streep, Postcards from the Edge
Jessica Lange, Sweet Dreams
Sissy Spacek, Missing
Joanne Woodward, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge
Geraldine Page, The Trip to Bountiful
Jane Alexander, Kramer vs. Kramer
Jodie Foster, The Accused
Susan Sarandon, Atlantic City
Meryl Streep, Out of Africa
Holly Hunter, Broadcast News
Julie Walters, Educating Rita
Candice Bergen, Starting Over
Maggie Smith, California Suite
Katharine Hepburn, On Golden Pond
Meryl Streep, Ironweed
Anne Bancroft, Agnes of God
Debra Winger, An Officer and a Gentleman
Meryl Streep, The French Lieutenant's Woman
Dyan Cannon, Heaven Can Wait
Penelope Milford, Coming Home
Barbara Barrie, Breaking Away
Julia Roberts, Pretty Woman

20 Years of Streep: 1988 ("A Cry in the Dark")

April 22, 2017 by Andrew Carden in 20 Years of Streep, Oscar Flashback

When Meryl Streep first collaborated with filmmaker Fred Schepisi, reaction to their work was, at best, muted. 1985's Plenty came and went from theaters in no time, spending all of one week in the box office top 10. In 1987, both Streep and Schepisi found better luck, the former with her Oscar-nominated turn in Ironweed and the latter directing the popular Steve Martin comedy Roxanne.

In 1988, Streep and Schepisi gave it another shot and ultimately redeemed themselves for the failure of Plenty. While A Cry in the Dark, adapted from John Bryson's 1985 book Evil Angels, was hardly a crowd-pleaser and in fact bombed at the box office, the picture and Streep's performance garnered abundant critical acclaim. The film would mark Streep's final drama until 1993's The House of the Spirits.

The 1988 Oscar nominees in Best Lead Actress were...

Glenn Close, Dangerous Liaisons

Close portrays the cool and conniving Marquise de Merteuil, who challengers former lover Valmont (John Malkovich) to seduce the virginal Cecile (Uma Thurman). Valmont has a bold counter-challenge - he bets he can instead bed the moral and married Madame de Tourvel (Oscar-nominee Michelle Pfeiffer). While Valmont is overcome by contrition during this quest, however, the Marquise becomes all the more fierce. This performance marked Close's fifth Oscar nomination.

Jodie Foster, The Accused

Foster portrays Sarah Tobias, a young woman violently gang raped by three men in a bar, while onlookers cheer them on. Sarah is furious when district attorney Kathryn (Kelly McGillis), assigned to the case, arranges a plea bargain to result in limited jail time for the assailants. After an accident involving one of the men encouraging the rapists, Sarah convinces Kathryn to prosecute him and two others who were cheerleading the attackers that night. This performance, which won her Best Lead Actress honors from the Golden Globes (tied with MacLaine and Weaver) and National Board of Review, marked Foster's second Oscar nomination and first win.

Melanie Griffith, Working Girl

Griffith portrays Tess McGill, a New York City secretary with aspirations of someday becoming a business executive. When self-absorbed boss Katharine (Sigourney Weaver, who should've taken home the Oscar for this savagely funny turn) is injured in a skiing accident, Tess decides to pose as her employer. A natural talent in business, Tess quickly finds success and becomes romantically involved with a top investment broker (Harrison Ford). Then, however, Katharine recovers. This performance, which won her a Golden Globe, marked Griffith's first (and to date, final) Oscar nomination.

Meryl Streep, A Cry in the Dark

Streep portrays Lindy Chamberlain, mother of baby Azaria, who goes missing from the tent in which she was sleeping while on family vacation in the Australia outback. Lindy is convinced she saw a dingo leaving the tent with an object in its mouth and while the initial inquest into the disappearance supports Lindy's belief that the dingo took Azaria, public opinion gradually turns against the Chamberlains, who are viewed as too stoic in light of the tragedy. Before long, law enforcement cobbles together new "evidence" that lands Lindy in prison. This performance, which won her Best Lead Actress honors from the New York Film Critics Circle, marked Streep's eighth Oscar nomination.

Sigourney Weaver, Gorillas in the Mist

Weaver portrays zoologist Dian Fossey, who leaves the United States for Africa to devote her life to studying the primates of Rwanda and Uganda. Fossey becomes entranced by the lives of the region's mountain gorillas and is able to develop a means of communication with them. Fossey grows concerned that the rampant poaching of gorillas for their skins will ultimately result in the extinction of the species. She takes her case to the local government and, when her concerns are dismissed, emerges a fierce animal rights activist. This performance, which won her a Golden Globe (tied with Foster and MacLaine), marked one of two Weaver Oscar nominations in 1988, the other for Working Girl.

Overlooked: Jamie Lee Curtis, A Fish Called Wanda; Barbara Hershey, A World Apart; Amy Irving, Crossing Delancey; Christine Lahti, Running on Empty; Shirley MacLaine, Madame Sousatzka; Elizabeth McGovern, She's Having a Baby; Bette Midler, Big Business; Michelle Pfeiffer, Married to the Mob; Gena Rowlands, Another Woman; Susan Sarandon, Bull Durham; Sean Young, The Boost

Won: Jodie Foster, The Accused

Should've won: Glenn Close, Dangerous Liaisons

Yowsa. And I thought 1987 was a gangbusters year for leading ladies!

1988 is decidedly not among my favorite Oscar seasons. Three of the year's Best Picture nominees (The Accidental Tourist, Mississippi Burning and Rain Man) don't float my boat in the slightest and soft a spot as I have for the film, I find it flabbergasting that I flirt with the idea that Working Girl perhaps should've triumphed in the top category. Dustin Hoffman and Geena Davis? Love them both but not here. And much as I love Kevin Kline, that should've been Martin Landau or River Phoenix's Oscar.

While most of 1988 leaves me sighing, that isn't the case at all in Best Lead Actress. The Academy's selections are all-around fantastic, with even the weakest nominee (in this case, the winner, actually) leaving a potent impression. What's so incredible about this year is you could have replaced the Oscar five with an entirely different line-up - say, Curtis, Lahti, MacLaine, Pfeiffer and Rowlands - and had just as sensational a fivesome. This cycle was stacked.

Foster's Oscar-winning performance is perhaps my all-time favorite turn to triumph in Lead Actress. By that, I mean her work as Clarice Starling, three years down the road in The Silence of the Lambs. That isn't to say she's not note-worthy in The Accused - she very much is, and it's one tough role. The thing is, The Accused is no The Silence of the Lambs.

The Accused feels dated and, beyond Foster's performance, has the look and sophistication of an early Lifetime TV movie. Kelly McGillis may have been aces in Witness three years earlier but she phones it in big time here, in a turn that curiously reminds me of Jane Fonda's sleepwalking in Agnes of God in 1985. The film is just not very good, unlike the other four films here, and it does drag a bit on Foster's work, bold as it may be.

It may be hard to be believe now, given the downward spiral of her career in the 1990s and beyond, but Griffith was one sizzling-hot up-and-comer in the 1980s, not just with moviegoers overall but especially critics.

Prior to Working Girl, which briefly catapulted Griffith onto the Hollywood A-list, she garnered legit raves for turns in pictures like Body Double and Something Wild. Just about everyone at the time was rooting for her to land a leading turn on the level of Working Girl, so imagine the frustrations when her follow-ups to that turned out to be the likes of The Bonfire of the Vanities and Shining Through.

Griffith may have racked up her fair share of Razzie nominations in the decade to come but she couldn't be more of a delight in Working Girl. Tess McGill rings of a role Audrey (maybe even Katharine) Hepburn could have magically tackled in her heyday and while Griffith is obviously no Hepburn, she brings a uniquely down-to-earth, lived-in feel to the character. No doubt, she's helped immensely by Mike Nichols' rock-solid direction and the fabulous Kevin Wade screenplay but Working Girl is a legit star-is-born vehicle for its leading lady. She not only has marvelous chemistry with leading man Harrison Ford (at his comic finest) but supporting players Alec Baldwin and Joan Cusack too. Griffith's line deliveries ("I have a head for business and a bod for sin," among others) are aces here. What a shame she was never able to find another project even half as successful as this one.

Amazingly, I find himself torn as to whether the Melanie Griffith performance or the Meryl Streep turn is superior this year. Right now, I lean ever-so-slightly toward the latter, whose work in A Cry in the Dark isn't without its dissenters.

Streep's portrayal of Lindy Chamberlain is a tad on the blank side but purposely so. This was a woman who refused to let herself show much in the way of emotion, so Streep accurately plays her on the frosty side. For some, this may make the performance rather frustrating but I'm not in that camp. I think it's a wholly convincing turn, sporting one of Streep's most challenging and believable accent jobs to date. She's matched nicely by the supremely underrated (and understated) Sam Neill, who portrays Lindy's pastor husband. A Cry in the Dark isn't terribly remarkable beyond its central performances but boy, the picture is a real must-see for Streep and Neill alone.

Much as I like Foster and love Griffith and Streep, it's Weaver and Close who I'm really enamored with.

It royally sucks Weaver went home empty-handed on Oscar night in 1988. It totally should have been a repeat of Jessica Lange in 1982, when she garnered the Supporting prize for Tootsie as a consolation for the inevitable loss in Lead for Frances. Going into the big evening, Weaver looked shaky in Lead, bunched up with Foster, Griffith and Close (only Streep didn't have a real prayer), but Supporting seemed like a slam dunk. The competition wasn't even as potent as Lange's six years earlier. Alas, out of nowhere, came the Geena Davis victory, in spite of The Accidental Tourist star not showing up at a single precursor. The selection of none other than co-star Griffith and Griffith's then-husband Don Johnson to present the Best Supporting Actress prize was a testament to how sure the Academy was of a Weaver win. Oh well.

Not sure if I'm more smitten with Weaver in Working Girl or Gorillas in the Mist. Obviously, she has heaps more screen time in the latter but I think her Katharine Parker is an even more vivid characterization than her portrayal of Dian Fossey. That isn't to say Weaver isn't brilliant as Fossey, though - she is Gorillas in the Mist, critical to all of the film's success. The turn has shades of Streep in Out of Africa, except this picture is significantly less sluggish than the Sydney Pollack film and Weaver seems a bit more at-ease in Fossey's shoes than Streep in Karen Blixen's. Fossey's transformation from curious scientist to impassioned radical is fascinating to watch and Weaver is completely convincing every step of the way.

I believe there was a time when I most loved Weaver of this line-up but - admittedly, perhaps I'm in part saying this because I recently saw this lady legit set the stage on fire on Broadway in Sunset Boulevard - I think I now adore Close just a tad more.

Dangerous Liaisons had a rather funky awards season run in 1988. The film was given a limited release at the 11 o'clock hour by Warner Bros, barely in time for Oscar consideration, and had little presence to speak of at all during the precursors. Yet, come nominations morning, it was up for seven prizes, including Best Picture. Thankfully, Close was among the nods.

The Stephen Frears film doesn't leave me quite as hot and bothered as it does some film buffs (blame Keanu?) but Close still stuns me as the scheming Merteuil. The performance strikes just the right notes, meticulously tailored to the silver screen, whereas co-star Malkovich often seems to be playing to the last row of the balcony. Close is deliciously cunning here, better-directed by Frears than she was Adrian Lyne in Fatal Attraction, and walks away with just about all of her scenes. She. Is. Amazing.

If only Close and Weaver had Oscars, all would be right in the film world.

The performances ranked (thus far)...

Jessica Lange, Frances
Whoopi Goldberg, The Color Purple
Meryl Streep, Sophie's Choice
Shirley MacLaine, Terms of Endearment
Meryl Streep, Silkwood
Jane Alexander, Testament
Sally Kirkland, Anna
Maureen Stapleton, Interiors
Glenn Close, Dangerous Liaisons
Mariel Hemingway, Manhattan
Glenn Close, Fatal Attraction
Sigourney Weaver, Gorillas in the Mist
Cher, Moonstruck
Marsha Mason, Only When I Laugh
Debra Winger, Terms of Endearment
Diane Keaton, Reds
Meryl Streep, Kramer vs. Kramer
Meryl Streep, The Deer Hunter
Julie Andrews, Victor/Victoria
Meryl Streep, A Cry in the Dark
Melanie Griffith, Working Girl
Jessica Lange, Sweet Dreams
Sissy Spacek, Missing
Geraldine Page, The Trip to Bountiful
Jane Alexander, Kramer vs. Kramer
Jodie Foster, The Accused
Susan Sarandon, Atlantic City
Meryl Streep, Out of Africa
Holly Hunter, Broadcast News
Julie Walters, Educating Rita
Candice Bergen, Starting Over
Maggie Smith, California Suite
Katharine Hepburn, On Golden Pond
Meryl Streep, Ironweed
Anne Bancroft, Agnes of God
Debra Winger, An Officer and a Gentleman
Meryl Streep, The French Lieutenant's Woman
Dyan Cannon, Heaven Can Wait
Penelope Milford, Coming Home
Barbara Barrie, Breaking Away

20 Years of Streep: 1987 ("Ironweed")

April 16, 2017 by Andrew Carden in 20 Years of Streep, Oscar Flashback

On paper, 1986's Heartburn had the sound of a surefire smash.

The picture would reunite the insanely talented trio from Silkwood - leading lady Meryl Streep, director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Nora Ephron (adapting from her eponymous best-seller). Production on the film hit a snag in the early-going, as Nichols, seeing no magic between he and Streep, fired leading man Mandy Patinkin after mere days of shooting. Things would presumably still be A-OK, however, if not better, considering Patinkin's replacement was none other than Jack Nicholson, hot as ever with his Oscar victory for Terms of Endearment and success the year prior with Prizzi's Honor. Among the other actors signed on were Stockard Channing, Maureen Stapleton, Catherine O'Hara and Jeff Daniels, so this simply had to be incredible, right?

Not so much, I'm afraid. That summer, Heartburn hit theaters to reviews that ranged from lukewarm to scathing. Roger Ebert called it a "bitter, sour movie," while Pauline Kael took particular aim at Ephron's adaptation. The film opened to decent box office receipts but quickly dropped like a rock, leaving theaters after just one month.

Thankfully, the failure of Heartburn would not prevent Streep and Nicholson from collaborating on another picture. In fact, it would be a mere year before the two reunited and, this time around, their film didn't send critics running for the hills.

The 1987 Oscar nominees in Best Lead Actress were...

Cher, Moonstruck

Cher portrays Loretta Castorini, an Italian-American widow who accepts the marriage proposal of the decidedly unstimulating Johnny Cammareri (Danny Aiello), only to fall head-over-heels for Johnny's colorful kid brother Ronny (Nicolas Cage) while her new fiancee is away. Loretta tries to resist Ronny's advances but can't seem to snap either one out of it. This performance, which won her a Golden Globe, marked Cher's second (and to date, final) Oscar nomination and first win.

Glenn Close, Fatal Attraction

Close portrays Alex Forrest, a Manhattan editor who engages in a steamy fling with attorney Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas) while his wife (Anne Archer) is away. Dan tries to break off the relationship upon his wife's return but the distance doesn't sit well with Alex, who proceeds to attempt suicide, harass Dan at work and home and do some not-so-nice things to the family bunny. This performance marked Close's fourth Oscar nomination.

Holly Hunter, Broadcast News

Hunter portrays Jane Craig, a neurotic network news reporter who falls for the handsome, vapid new anchorman Tom (Oscar-nominee William Hurt), in spite of him representing all she loathes about the trend in evening news toward entertainment. Meanwhile, Jane's colleague and best friend Aaron (Albert Brooks, also Oscar-nominated) has long pined for her and understandably isn't thrilled about Tom's entrance. This performance, which won her Best Lead Actress honors from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (tied with Sally Kirkland), National Board of Review (tied with Lillian Gish) and New York Film Critics Circle, marked Hunter's first Oscar nomination.

Sally Kirkland, Anna

Kirkland portrays Anna, an actress who was once a star of the silver screen in her homeland of Czechoslovakia but now struggles to merely land off-Broadway gigs in New York. She takes in the young Krystyna (Paulina Porizkova), who has immigrated from Czechoslovakia to meet her idol, only to watch as Krystyna becomes an unexpected hit in showbiz. This performance, which won her a Golden Globe and honors from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (tied with Hunter), marked Kirkland's first (and to date, final) Oscar nomination.

Meryl Streep, Ironweed

Streep portrays Helen Archer, a long washed-up, terminally ill former radio singer who is stumbled upon by former lover and drinking pal Francis (Oscar-nominee Jack Nicholson) when he wanders into their hometown of Albany, NY. Francis takes on odd jobs to support Helen while dealing with devastating memories from his past. This performance marked Streep's seventh Oscar nomination.

Overlooked: Ellen Barkin, The Big Easy; Faye Dunaway, Barfly; Mia Farrow, September; Lillian Gish, The Whales of August; Clare Higgins, Hellraiser; Diane Keaton, Baby Boom; Bette Midler, Outrageous Fortune; Elisabeth Shue, Adventures in Babysitting; Barbra Streisand, Nuts

Won: Cher, Moonstruck

Should've won: Sally Kirkland, Anna

1987, the year yet another prestige picture (The Last Emperor, in this case) bulldozed over a batch of crowd-pleasing box office hits (Broadcast News, Fatal Attraction and Moonstruck), was truly an embarrassment of riches for leading ladies on the silver screen.

Beyond the Academy's fine selections, you had Dunaway and Gish in exquisite comeback turns; Keaton and Midler in prime comic form; and Streisand in perhaps the finest dramatic role of her career. So, I think it's kind of a shame, given all of these options, that the Academy opted to overlook those and other fabulous performances and instead award Streep a seventh Oscar nomination for her convincing but negligibly memorable and borderline-Supporting work in Ironweed.

Hector Babenco's Ironweed - the filmmaker's follow-up to his Oscar-winning Kiss of the Spider Woman from two years prior - is a fascinating picture, with a distinct, supremely bleak look and feel. It sports one of Jack Nicholson's most decidedly un-Nicholson leading turns. His Francis is a hopeless, tortured man and, amazingly, we buy Nicholson in this form from the get-go. He's matched by not only Streep but also Carroll Baker, superb as Francis' estranged wife.

Much as I'd rather see Dunaway or Gish in her slot, Streep's work in Ironweed isn't without its moments. She's plenty believable as the suffering, homeless Helen and her performance of the tune "He's My Pal" - the first occasion in which Streep sang in a motion picture - is haunting stuff. Plus, she has the advantage of being in a terrific film here, unlike, you know, The French Lieutenant's Woman. Ultimately, however, it's only the third-best performance in Ironweed and really isn't among the more notable Streep turns. It's kind of remarkable she managed to garner this nomination, given both how poorly the film fared at the box office and Streisand's aggressive behind-the-scenes campaigning. This isn't the worst Streep Oscar nod but it's still toward the bottom.

James L. Brooks' Broadcast News was once among my all-time favorite comedies, if not films of any genre. I remember first catching it on cable (on Bravo, I think?) and finding Joan Cusack's wild sprint across the news station to be just about the funniest thing I'd ever witnessed on film. I still love Cusack and a lot of other things in the picture, especially Brooks' brilliant turn, but my enthusiasm has waned a bit in recent years. The film seems dated in a way that something like Network just isn't. I don't think Brooks' writing is as sharp as in his Oscar-winning Terms of Endearment and Hurt, perhaps purposely so to some extent, just seems to sleepwalk through the proceedings.

Between this and Raising Arizona, Hunter had a gangbusters 1987 and, when I consider the two performances collectively, I'm cool with the Oscar nomination, even if I'd have probably recognized another contender first. She strikes a nice balance between temperamental and irresistible in Broadcast News and has plenty of chemistry with both of her male co-stars. Watching the film, I think what a shame it is Hunter didn't go on to tackle more romcoms. That said, I think it's really Brooks, not Hunter, who walks away with the film. It's only his scenes that seem to leave me overjoyed with Broadcast News these days.

The remaining three nominees, while not quite on the level of a Lange in Frances or Goldberg in The Color Purple, are all fantastic and among my favorite Lead Actress Oscar nominees of the decade. Ranking them is an improbable task but hey, I'll give it a shot.

I'm completely cool with Cher's victory here. Moonstruck is all sorts of amazing (I say it should've taken Best Picture) and Cher's Loretta is a supreme delight. Her transformation from dowdy to dazzling is fabulous and Cher has a pitch-perfect grasp on John Patrick Shanley's brilliant dialogue. (I'm personally most fond of "In time, you'll drop dead and I'll come to your funeral in a red dress!") Her rapport with the entire cast - Oscar-winner Olympia Dukakis and Oscar-nominee Vincent Gardenia, plus of course Cage - is aces and, while Moonstruck did not mark Cher's screen debut, the turn nonetheless has the feel of a star-making role.

Is Cher required to flex her acting muscles to the same extent Close and Kirkland are asked? Perhaps not but I still can't find any real fault in the performance.

Speaking of Close, the American Film Institute's ranking of her Alex Forrest as the seventh all-time greatest screen villain on its list of "100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains" is a richly deserved honor. While Adrian Lyne's Fatal Attraction isn't without its occasional misstep (the filmmaker has never been one renowned for great subtlety), Close strikes just the right notes as the unhinged Alex.

What's so compelling about Close here, not unlike in the case of Cher, is watching the metamorphosis of her character. Alex is already a bit off-putting right out of the starting gates but still plenty approachable and appealing. The gradual shift from that to flat-out batshit crazy is a remarkable sight and Close keeps herself nicely reigned-in for the most part, despite a screenplay that's obviously hungry for scenery-chewing. She and Douglas (who's much more interesting here than in Wall Street, for which he won the Oscar) make a dynamite match and engage in some of the most convincing and arousing lovemaking to perhaps ever grace the screen, especially at that time in a major motion picture.

Is Fatal Attraction the best Oscar-nominated Close turn? Perhaps but, as we'll see the following year, she has been recognized for other, comparably magnificent turns as well.

My favorite, by a hair, of the five ladies recognized is Kirkland, who's not only a tour-de-force in the title role of Anna but also happened to run one of the all-time great Oscar campaigns.

Anna, which is more or a less an arthouse All About Eve, was distributed in the fall of 1987 by Vestron Pictures, the small film distributor that struck expected gold with that year's Dirty Dancing, yet still couldn't dig itself out of financial squalor (Vestron went completely defunct in 1991). No surprise, Vestron didn't have a dime to invest in an Oscar campaign for Kirkland, who after years of bit parts in motion pictures like The Sting, The Way We Were and A Star Is Born, at last landed a meaty starring turn.

So, Kirkland took matters into her own hands and embarked on one of the most aggressive and effective self-campaigns in Oscar history. She personally hosted a plethora of screenings in Los Angeles and New York and took out her own For Your Consideration ads. Kirkland's Golden Globe victory came no doubt in part to her attention paid to members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Of course, it's a whole lot easier a task to win over a minuscule body like the HFPA, comparative to the thousands who make up the Academy's membership.

That's not to say, however, Kirkland's recognition came exclusively as a way to honor the chutzpah of her campaigning. She is astoundingly great in Anna. It's a real master class of a performance that both actors of the stage and screen could learn plenty from. Her reading of "Humpty Dumpty" during an audition for a play might just be the most awe-inspiring rendition of the nursery rhyme ever captured on record. Kirkland has many fabulous moments too alongside co-stars Porizkova and Daniel Fields, the latter portraying Anna's on-and-off boyfriend.

Perhaps the most devastating moment of Anna, however, is when the title character attends a New York screening of one of her old pictures, only to find the theater nearly empty. Then, the reel melts, at a critical moment in the film. It's a haunting moment in an obscenely underseen film that happens to sport one of the '80s finest leading turns.

The performances ranked (thus far)...

Jessica Lange, Frances
Whoopi Goldberg, The Color Purple
Meryl Streep, Sophie's Choice
Shirley MacLaine, Terms of Endearment
Meryl Streep, Silkwood
Jane Alexander, Testament
Sally Kirkland, Anna
Maureen Stapleton, Interiors
Mariel Hemingway, Manhattan
Glenn Close, Fatal Attraction
Cher, Moonstruck
Marsha Mason, Only When I Laugh
Debra Winger, Terms of Endearment
Diane Keaton, Reds
Meryl Streep, Kramer vs. Kramer
Meryl Streep, The Deer Hunter
Julie Andrews, Victor/Victoria
Jessica Lange, Sweet Dreams
Sissy Spacek, Missing
Geraldine Page, The Trip to Bountiful
Jane Alexander, Kramer vs. Kramer
Susan Sarandon, Atlantic City
Meryl Streep, Out of Africa
Holly Hunter, Broadcast News
Julie Walters, Educating Rita
Candice Bergen, Starting Over
Maggie Smith, California Suite
Katharine Hepburn, On Golden Pond
Meryl Streep, Ironweed
Anne Bancroft, Agnes of God
Debra Winger, An Officer and a Gentleman
Meryl Streep, The French Lieutenant's Woman
Dyan Cannon, Heaven Can Wait
Penelope Milford, Coming Home
Barbara Barrie, Breaking Away

20 Years of Streep: 1985 ("Out of Africa")

April 08, 2017 by Andrew Carden in 20 Years of Streep, Oscar Flashback

In 1984, after making three consecutive Oscar appearances in Best Lead Actress, Meryl Streep was a no-show on nominations morning for her turn opposite Robert De Niro in the instantly forgotten Falling in Love. The odds of a Streep return to the ceremony looked strong, however, in 1985. Two projects were lined up, both awards-calibur on paper, with Oscar-friendly release dates.

The first of these two projects landed with a whimper that September. Plenty, directed by acclaimed Australian filmmaker Fred Schepisi (later of A Cry in the Dark) with a screenplay by David Hare (later of The Hours), cast Streep as an Englishwoman searching for fulfillment in life after serving with the French Resistance in WWII. While the film has its passionate defenders to this day, Plenty garnered a remarkably lukewarm reception upon release, with many arguing Streep was miscast and/or upstaged by supporting players John Gielgud and Tracey Ullman.

Plenty would be long out of theaters by the time Streep's second picture hit the silver screen in December. This one, thankfully, was a big, fat hit. Working under the direction of Sydney Pollack (in his follow-up to the even bigger, fatter hit Tootsie) and alongside leading man Robert Redford, Streep was about to headline her first Best Picture Oscar-winner since Kramer vs. Kramer.

The 1985 Oscar nominees in Best Lead Actress were...

Anne Bancroft, Agnes of God

Bancroft portrays the domineering Mother Miriam Ruth who clashes with Dr. Livingston (Jane Fonda), the court-appointed psychiatrist sent to evaluate Sister Agnes (Oscar-nominee Meg Tilly), a young nun found in her room, covered in blood beside a dead baby. Livingston's investigation into what happened is constantly interrupted by the overbearing Mother Miriam, who seems to know more about the tragedy than she's willing to admit. This performance marked Bancroft's fifth and final Oscar nomination.

Whoopi Goldberg, The Color Purple

Goldberg portrays Celie Johnson, an African-American woman grappling with life in rural Georgia over the first half of the 20th century. At age 14, Celie is raped and impregnated by her father (Adolph Caesar), who forces her into a marriage with the comparably abusive "Mister" Albert (Danny Glover, somehow not Oscar-nominated for his chilling turn). Celie spends all too much of her adulthood subjected to Albert's violence and the rampant racism of the south. Events, however, like the entrance of the colorful and strong-willed Shug Avery (Oscar-nominee Margaret Avery) give Celie reason to keep on going. This performance, which won her Best Lead Actress honors from the Golden Globes and National Board of Review, marked Goldberg's first Oscar nomination.

Jessica Lange, Sweet Dreams

Lange portrays Patsy Cline, the talented and beautiful country singer who, early on in her career, is stuck in a loveless marriage and relegated to the most unrewarding of gigs. After meeting and falling for the charming Charlie (Ed Harris), Patsy ditches her dud of a husband, marries Charlie and at last starts to find success as a musician. Just as her star is rising, however, her marriage to Charlie goes downhill and, at age 30, tragedy strikes. This performance marked Lange's fourth Oscar nomination.

Geraldine Page, The Trip to Bountiful

Page portrays Carrie Watts, a high-spirited senior citizen who bolts from her tiny apartment, over the objections of her obnoxious son and daughter-in-law, to venture on a bus trip to visit her childhood home one last time in Bountiful, Texas. On the way, she befriends Thelma (Rebecca De Mornay), a young woman who is fascinated by Carrie's memories from the past. This performance marked Page's eighth and final Oscar nomination and first victory.

Meryl Streep, Out of Africa

Streep portrays aristocrat Karen Blixen who, alongside husband Bror (Oscar-nominee Klaus Maria Brandauer), moves to Africa with the intention of opening a dairy farm. Things don't quite go as planned, however - Bror instead uses Karen's wealth to invest in a coffee plantation and engages in extramarital affairs that ultimately lead to Karen contracting syphilis from her husband. Karen leaves Bror and becomes involved with the dashing Denys (Robert Redford), a big-game hunter who adores her but has little interest in marriage. This performance, which won her Best Lead Actress honors from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, marked Streep's sixth Oscar nomination.

Won: Geraldine Page, The Trip to Bountiful

Should've won: Whoopi Goldberg, The Color Purple

Overlooked: Norma Aleandro, The Official Story; Rosanna Arquette, Desperately Seeking Susan; Cher, Mask; Mia Farrow, The Purple Rose of Cairo; Sally Field, Murphy's Romance; Joyce Hyser, Just One of the Guys; Kathleen Turner, Prizzi's Honor

Dammit, 1982 and 1983 Best Lead Actress, you so spoiled me!

This category could've been a dynamite affair in 1985. Keep Goldberg, boot the rest and bring on board the heartbreaking Aleandro, hilarious Arquette, revelatory Cher and brilliant (as usual) Farrow, and this would have been one hell of a line-up. Alas, the Academy's selections here come a lot closer in quality to the leading ladies from 1981. They simply, I guess, just couldn't resist nominating Lange and Streep (again), plus the legendary Bancroft and Page, even if all were up for substandard performances.

This was, of course, the infamous year in which the Academy showered Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple with heaps of affection on Oscar nominations morning - 11 nods in total - only to award it with an an across-the-board shutout on the big night. Among the losers was Goldberg who, at the time, marked only the fifth African-American to grace Best Lead Actress at the Oscars. Unlike Dorothy Dandridge (Carmen Jones), Diana Ross (Lady Sings the Blues), Cicely Tyson (Sounder) and Diahann Carroll (Claudine) before her, Goldberg had a legitimate shot at taking home the golden statute. Alas, that never came to fruition, as the sentimental vote won the day. I'll get to Goldberg's performance in just a bit.

First, I'll start with Bancroft, an actress I generally have enormous affection for - her stirring turn in The Miracle Worker is among my very favorite winners in this category - but who by the 1980s was prone to devouring every single inch of scenery on the film set. Her performance as the Mother Superior from Hell in Agnes of God kind of reminds me of Rosalind Russell's hammy work as another Mother Superior, in the Angels series from the late 1960s. The difference, of course, is Russell's performance worked and was entertaining in a comedy like The Trouble with Angels. In an overwrought drama like Agnes, Bancroft's histrionics are just plain distracting.

I do, however, have a few kind things to say about Bancroft here. One, at least her performance has a pulse, which is more than I can say about co-star Jane Fonda, who sleepwalks her way through the picture. I can't think of a time when Fonda was in more anemic form and yes, I've seen Old Gringo. Two, Bancroft does have one nice scene, where Mother Miriam lets loose a bit with Dr. Livingston by indulging in a cigarette. (It's the only moment with some levity in this maudlin picture.) Third, most significant, Mother Miriam might just be a downright impossible character to play. Agnes of God is pretty lackluster stuff and it's hard to see just what director Norman Jewison saw in the John Pielmeier play, which garnered mixed reviews on Broadway earlier in the decade, that screamed 'NEEDS FILM ADAPTATION!'

Oddly enough, it was none other than Geraldine Page who originated the role of Mother Miriam in the Broadway production and something tells me, given Page's history, her performance probably wasn't packed with subtlety either.

As for Streep's sixth Oscar-nominated performance, I'm admittedly not super-fond of Out of Africa, nor her performance in it, though I wouldn't quite throw it in the dumpster with something like The French Lieutenant's Woman.

While there's much to like about the Pollack picture, including David Watkin's sumptuous photography and the stunning John Barry music, the thing moves like molasses and is at least half an hour too long. I can appreciate the chemistry between Streep and Redford (who knew shampooing hair could be so orgasmic) but this just isn't among the most exciting acting by either of these two greats. It's actually Brandauer who gives the one amazing performance here and probably should've prevailed over that travesty of a Best Supporting Actor win for Don Ameche (Cocoon). What an oddity to see a picture sweep the way Out of Africa did and not carry along with it a victory for its strongest player.

Like Ameche, Page was able to withstand the Out of Africa lovefest and (at last!) score a victory at the Oscars. Now, that isn't to say Page's turn is on the same level as Ameche's extremely modest performance - there's a lot more to like - but I'm awfully skeptical either of them would have prevailed had they already taken home the golden fella in the past.

The Trip to Bountiful finds Page in fine form though, not unlike Out of Africa, I can't help but find the proceedings a little sleepy. It's a reliable vehicle for a leading lady but rather mundane beyond that. The flair-free direction by B-movie director Peter Masterson and high school-play level of acting by the rest of the ensemble don't much help, other than to make Page look all the better, I guess. Much like Bancroft, Page's late-career turns tended to become more and more affected but here, she actually reigns it in quite nicely, while still turning in a lively and colorful performance.

Presenter F. Murray Abraham wasn't far-off when he opened up that envelope on Oscar night and gleefully proclaimed Page "the greatest actress in the English language." I could totally make a case for a Page victory on several of her other nominations, including Sweet Bird of Youth and Interiors. The Trip to Bountiful, though, is just a little too slender for me to agree with the Academy on. I'm delighted Page was able to finally grab that Oscar, I just wish it were for another, better turn.

As was the case in 1982, I happen to prefer Lange over Streep here, not that Sweet Dreams is even half as compelling an effort as Frances.

On the heels of the grand success of Coal Miner's Daughter in 1980, it was all but inevitable Hollywood would quickly pump out a similar biopic on Patsy Cline, who perished in a tragic plane crash at the mere age of 30. Coal Miner's Daughter was a solid, if workmanlike piece of cinema (though I happen to strongly prefer Mary Tyler Moore over Sissy Spacek in Lead Actress that year) and Sweet Dreams can't even reach those modest heights. Perhaps it had something to do with being the follow-up picture for the director of..wait for it, wait for it...The French Lieutenant's Woman!

Sweet Dreams isn't without its pleasures. It does feature a rich, Oscar-calibur supporting turn from the insanely underappreciated Ann Wedgeworth as Cline's mother and also sports a nice early Ed Harris appearance. Lange is in good but not great form here. No doubt in part on account of the distracting lip-syncing to the old Cline tunes, I just don't find her terribly convincing in the role. She has several nice scenes with both Wedgeworth and Harris but ultimately doesn't transcend the disheveled production around her, like she so masterfully did three years prior. At the time same, for what it's worth, I still actually prefer this performance to her Oscar-winning one in Blue Sky. Go figure.

Ultimately, the only exceptional performance recognized here - and one of my all-time favorite nominees in this category period - is Goldberg, in her film debut, absolutely killing it in Spielberg's splendid The Color Purple.

I recognize the Spielberg picture isn't without its detractors (just look at what came to fruition on Oscar night), often strongly in opposition to his adaptation of the Alice Walker novel, but I don't think I've come across many, if any criticism to Goldberg's turn.

This is a legit powerhouse of a performance, a harrowing master class in acting from someone who somehow hadn't done a whole lot of acting beforehand. We feel Celie's suppressed anger toward Albert and society and want to leap out of our seats for a standing ovation when she at last stands up to her husband. ("Everything you've done to me..." is basically the epitome of an Oscar clip.) We're overcome by the same onslaught of emotions when Celie discovers all of the letters from her sister that Albert had for years hidden from her. And we're of course bursting into tears and applause at the film's sublime conclusion.

I know most of us adore Oda Mae Brown but come on, this, not Ghost, should've been Goldberg's Oscar.

The performances ranked (thus far)...

Jessica Lange, Frances
Whoopi Goldberg, The Color Purple
Meryl Streep, Sophie's Choice
Shirley MacLaine, Terms of Endearment
Meryl Streep, Silkwood
Jane Alexander, Testament
Maureen Stapleton, Interiors
Mariel Hemingway, Manhattan
Marsha Mason, Only When I Laugh
Debra Winger, Terms of Endearment
Diane Keaton, Reds
Meryl Streep, Kramer vs. Kramer
Meryl Streep, The Deer Hunter
Julie Andrews, Victor/Victoria
Jessica Lange, Sweet Dreams
Sissy Spacek, Missing
Geraldine Page, The Trip to Bountiful
Jane Alexander, Kramer vs. Kramer
Susan Sarandon, Atlantic City
Meryl Streep, Out of Africa
Julie Walters, Educating Rita
Candice Bergen, Starting Over
Maggie Smith, California Suite
Katharine Hepburn, On Golden Pond
Anne Bancroft, Agnes of God
Debra Winger, An Officer and a Gentleman
Meryl Streep, The French Lieutenant's Woman
Dyan Cannon, Heaven Can Wait
Penelope Milford, Coming Home
Barbara Barrie, Breaking Away