Thursday, June 3, 2010

1983 Best Actress rankings


5
. Julie Walters, Educating Rita - 3 Stars

Walters is her charming sassy self in Educating Rita. A charming rom com that catapulted Walters career.


4. Jane Alexander, Testament - 4 Stars

Alexander is heartbreaking in a flawed yet moving film. Her scenes as her life is destroyed by a nuclear bomb are incredibly moving. It's a tough film to watch but its worth it just for Alexander's performance.


3. Meryl Streep, Silkwood - 4 1/2 Stars

Streep finally drops the accent and connects with the audience. I think its her most accessible performance and her best. It was a brave moving performance that allowed Streep to let us feel her and care deeply for the character of Karen Silkwood something I failed to do with some of Streep's most praised accent laden work.


2. Shirley Maclaine, Terms of Endearment - 4 1/2 Stars

Maclaine and Winger make for one of the best 1-2 female combos in cinema history. Terms of Endearment may not be The Godfather but I for one cannot understand the criticism I read of it. It's an engaging film filled with memorable performances. It makes you laugh. It make your cry. And when you are dishing out 20 bucks to go the movies these days I would certainly love for a film to atleast make me to do one of those let alone both.

Maclaine is wonderful as Aurora. She has some fantastic comedic and dramatic moments. Her "Give My Daughter" the shot scene is the most talked about but her best scene is the one with her smacking Winger's oldest son. It was an incredibly powerful scene.



1. Debra Winger, Terms of Endearment - 5 Stars

I cannot say enough about Winger's work in this movie. It floors me when I see other lists rank her mid tier. To me its easily one of the top female performance of the 1980's. She literally inhabited this character. She became it. There was not one false baity note to it. I still to this day believe that Emma Horton Greenway was a real person. Where are the Debra Winger's of today? Where is the natural beauty and talent of today? You just don't see them. Her death bed scenes with her sons are incredibly moving and easily earns her my vote as the Best Actress winner of 1983.


People mention 1950, 1962, 1974 and even 1988 a lot when they talk of the strongest Best Actress lineups. 1983 deserves to be in that discussion as well. Every lady in this category gives their career best performance, and yes I include Streep in that as well.


5 Stars= Excellent 4 Stars= Very Good 3 Stars= Good 2 Stars= Fair 1 Star= Poor











1 comment:

  1. Just discovered your blog! :)

    Well, Jane Alexander would be my winner here. Completely heartbreaking and convincing!

    ReplyDelete