Smackdowns. Available Years
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 11:00AM The Supporting Actress Smackdown will resume in March 2022. Final Season!
Happy Smackdown to you Happy Smackdown to you
Happy Smackdown you actressexuals,
Happy Smackdown to youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!
After StinkyLulu graciously let us continue/revive the series here eight years ago (eep!) we've done 42 episodes: 1937, 1938, 1941, 1943, 1944, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1957, 1960, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, and concurrently with Oscar races as they happened 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2021
So, where to now?
THE REMAINING YEARS
1951 Joan Blondell (The Blue Veil) | Dunnock (Death of a Salesman) | Grant (Detective Story) | Hunter (A Streetcar Named Desire) | Ritter (The Mating Season)
1997 - Basinger (LA Confidential) | Cusack (In & Out) | Driver (Good Will Hunting) | Moore (Boogie Nights) | Stuart (Titanic)
2004 -Blanchett (The Aviator) | Linney (Kinsey) | Madsen (Sideways) | Okondo (Hotel Rwanda) | Portman (Closer)
We might offer up a reader poll to choose one of the years that were done a long time ago at StinkyLulu, too. We'll see.
Smackdown
Reader Comments (55)
These two race is my favourite, Moore and Blethyn should have won!!!
1997 - Basinger (LA Confidential) | Cusack (In & Out) | Driver (Good Will Hunting) | Moore (Boogie Nights) | Stuart (Titanic)
1998- Bates (Primary Colors) | Dench (Shakespeare in Love) | Blethyn (Little Voice) | Griffiths (Hilary and Jackie) | Redgrave (Gods and Monsters)
The '98 race is such a good one, largely due to who was left out (Joan Allen and Lisa Kudrow), but also because each of those performances and characters are such supporting actress archetypes yet remain so strong in their own right. Destined to be a smackdown to remember!
How on earth is 1997 still remaining?
Julianne Moore in BOOGIE NIGHTS will blow away the competition!
#1 - 1937
#2 - 1951
I would love a Smackdown on 1937 and 2004.
Fun! Excited for 37, 51, 97 (!), 98 (!), 00 and 04. Honestly surprised there are so many fun years left.
2004!
1946 and 1998
‘97!
A full year with 9 Smackdowns!! Anxious to see what will be first.
All will be wonderful to revisit but if you're asking for opinions of what should be first I vote for 1951 if only for the joy of sitting through The Mating Season again!! The Blue Veil might be tough to track down. It's pretty gooey and Joan Blondell has had better roles but I know it's out there, albeit in a crappy print.
The mashup photo for the post makes me wish the pair up of Thelma and Meryl could have happened somehow. Would love to see Thelma giving one of her patented dress downs to put Meryl's character in her place!
1. 2000 is a fun year because that season was so varied. Even the nominees list kept changing.
2. 1937
Looking forward to 51!
I love Lee Grant & it's interesting that she won the Best Actress at Cannes that year for Detective Story. It was also her film debut.
Sheesh 1946 is going to be a tough year to talk about, with possible only the dated but fundamentally stiff-upper-lipped Somerset Maughan of The Razor's Edge the only one that doesn't come with a viewers discretion notification.
1997! Yes!
I'm just curious if you're going to do Supporting Actor next?
I guess some of these are still remaining because they'd be a blowout (e.g. Wiest in '86), but 2004 would be really interesting. Haven't seen most of them in a while, and I wonder how Blanchett's fun mimicry in Aviator would stand up against Madsen's empathetic perf in Sideways!
I am excited for the coming smackdowns. I'll be interested in the discussion regarding the 46 lineup which IMO is the worst assembled set of nominees for supporting actress ever.
It would be great to talk part as a panelist if there's the option. Either way I'm excited for these smackdowns because similar to the recently conclusion And the Runner Up is I have used the smackdown for years to fill a lot of my film blindspots dependent on the years discussed.
I look forward to 51 simply to hear discussions about Streetcar which is my all time fav film
My Top 5
1.) 1986
2.) 1946
3.) 1997
4.) 1937
5.) 1998
So you’re going to do all 9?
Eep! You’ll have to do one a year each year from then to cover 06, 07, 08 etc... I’ve been so looking forward to these ones as recency bias wears off. I know some were done already but time makes everything different so worth redoing as a special one shot each year!
How exciting - the best thing on this site!
2000 would be great, too.
Gay Harden better be getting nothing but fives. That has to be one of my all-time favorite wins in the category. And no fraud, since I know that’s a big taboo here in these parts! Haha!
All the years from 1986 and on I would be delighted to see, please :)
Should 2019 be added to the list? Last year the awards season was so busy that there wasn't a proper smackdown. It's only been a year so most of the films would be easy for the readers and panelists to track down and watch.
volvagia -- we've weighed options but in truth people just wouldn't be interested enough in supporting actor. It often has the laziest nominations of the 4 acting categories. That said, we might consider doing a single short season of like 4 eventful races. because ei can think of a few that people might really get into discussing
like maybe
1950 all about eve, broken arrow, mister 880, asphalt junglee, sunset blvd
1956 lust for life, bus stop, friendly persuation, bold and brave, written on the wind
1962 baby jane, sweet bird of youth, birdman of alcatraz, lawrence of arabia, billy budd
1972 the godfather, haertbreak kid, cabaret
1982
1993
2016?
i dunno there's only like one interesting race per decade in supporting actor
I would love to see 2000, mostly because I have no idea who would win.
1997
1986 that race is not discussed enough,I've read about 98,97 on here ane lots of other blogs countless times in the past few years so 86 for me.
Please lets not do them all at once. Save a few for 2022-23 unless you plan to retire to Florida or something.
Great news. Can't wait to hear what year is first and who gets lined up for the panel. March is almost here!
Please, do not consider doing smackdowns of the same year we are on. I love the idea to revisit past winners and check out how has the performance and film has grown old.
Contrary to the last poster, I don't understand why you don't do recent years, where many of your readers have seen more of the films and/or the films are more readily available for viewing?
dtsf -- it's because it has to be fun for us as it's a lot of work and revisiting films that are only a year or two old is well those conversations feel played out if its only in the past few years.
1997! Though I was still in high school, I had seen all five of the supporting actress nominees by the time of Oscar night and was thoroughly invested. And what a variety: comedy, epic, noir, drama, and, of course, everything about Amber Waves in the greatest movie of all time!
The 1946 race is a truly wild time capsule.
Apart from Anne Baxter, you have: Flora Robson in blackface(!), Gale Sondergaard in yellowface(!), Lillian Gish in a film featuring brownface(!) and Ethel Barrymore being Ethel Barrymore.
I literally just rewatched The Razor’s Edge last night and three things struck me -
1) the movie is much better than I remembered
2) why is it called ‘The Razor’s Edge?’
2) despite being somewhat overwrought in parts, there are moments in Baxter’s Oscar winning performance that are truly electrifying. A particular line reading when talking to Tyrone Power about the poetry she wrote as a child quietly blew me away.
Long story short, I guess I vote for ‘46.
Wow! Very interesting stuff left.
Would love love love to see how things shake out for 1986, 1998 and 2000. But always love a Smackdown with older movies I'm less familiar with, which makes 1937 and 1946 seem interesting.
Would you ever consider revisiting some of the races that Stinkylulu covered?
TJ- The Razors Edge was first published as a book in 1944 by W. Somerset Maugham. In the book’s epigraph, the quote refers to the book’s title: “The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard."
Anne Baxter devastates me in that film!
Some people I would love to see on the Smackdown, if you can get them, and some I'd love to see back
RETURNING:
- Angelica Bastien
- Ali Benzekri
- Be Kind Rewind
- Joel Kim Booster
- Donna Lynne Champlin
- Justin Chang
- Nick Davis
- Dana Delany
- Mark Harris
- Nikki M. James
- Guy Lodge
- Karina Longworth
- Melanie Lynskey
- Sean Maguire
- Rory O'Malley
- Thomas Mizer
- Matt Rogers
- Kyle Turner
- Louis Virtel
- Nick Westrate
- Patrick Vaill
- Emily VanDerWerff
- Ben Yahr
NEW:
- Michael Breslin
- George Civeris
- Rose Dommu
- Cole Escola
- Sam Fragoso
- Hunter Harris
- Connor Jessup
- E Alex Jung
- Julie Klausner
- Michael Koresky
- Richard Lawson
- Marc Malkin
- Alicia Malone
- Adam Nayman
- Rory Peluse
- Zita Short
- Michael Urie
- Natalie Walker
- Bowen Yang
LOVE this series! 1997 is gonna be a bloodbath in the Smackdown itself and the comments! I can't wait. lol
1951 - thelma ritter's last [smackdown] stand!
1997 - but only if my write in vote for sigourney weaver in 'the ice storm' counts
2004 - because of the lovely laura linney, duh
I just rewatched Closer earlier today so I’m attached to 2004 for Natalie Portman. I love her usually, but I can’t figure out if I loved her here. The dialogue is so delicious and I don’t know if she did it justice or not. I may need it to sit with me.
@par - count on me for another write in vote for Sigourney in 1997! I love The Ice Storm, perhaps too much, but I don’t care.
So excited for the return of the smackdown, but not ready for a series finale (despite the fact that we are literally out of options, lol)... I for one was hugely grateful for the amazing supersized TFE smackdown season during 2020!! Thanks again Nathaniel!
I really hope you do 1986 b/c I have been meaning to see a couple of the films for years and that would make me finally do it. Plus I would love to watch Wiest in Hannah & Her Sisters again - hers was one of my favorite wins of that era.
Perhaps you have explained why before, but why aren't 1971, 1974,1975 and 1976 remaining? Were they done by Stinkylulu? I think 75 & 76 would be especially interesting
What’s the deal with 2019? I don’t recall.
Sigourney in The Ice Storm should’ve been an all-time fantastic win. Basinger’s was probably the most undeserving win of the decade in that category, even though it was somewhat of a foregone conclusion. So wooden and aloof.
Firstly, thank you SO much for reviving this absolutely wonderful series!! I remember waiting for the Smackdown Sundays at Stinkylulu's blog back in the day, and it nearly brings a tear to my eye that this will be the final season. Thank you for spotlighting so many wonderful actresses and performances over the years, it always brings joy.
That said, PLEASE do 1937 and 1946 in this last season! Anything to bring more attention and interest to these fabulous 30s & 40s actresses is a win in my book, and it's so rare to see those performances featured anywhere with such depth, creativity and insight. On top of that, I adore Alice Brady in everything and In Old Chicago is no exception. She has such a warmth and strength, and her solid comic timing shows through as well. The contrast from My Man Godfrey showcases her range, plus how many other winning performances feature full-on disaster sequences?! In Old Chicago's is spectacular. Claire Trevor is also dynamite IMO with a very small role in Dead End, and 1937 might be my favorite movie year ever.
To echo TJ for 1946, not only is Anne Baxter strong and fresh as ever, but we also have beloved Ethel Barrymore, silent screen legend Lillian Gish and the truly wild duo of Flora Robson in blackface and original Best Supporting Actress Gale Sondergaard as a Thai royal. I'd be curious to re-examine those 2, along with Jennifer Jones in Duel in the Sun, through a 2021 racial justice lens.
Thank you again! :)
97!
And 2000... I still wish Julie Walters had won the Oscar that year, but what a fun race.
1998! It's gonna be so messy, and I'm here for it! Also curious to see who would win over Basinger in 1997, b/c that foolishness can't be repeated here, right?
2004
So weird seeing Blanchett won for a nothing performance
Can't wait - esp. for '86 and '98!
I'm with the others who say you should break these up over two years. It was too hard to watch all the Smackdown movies last summer.
And yes, Marcia better win 2000. That was a fantastic performance.
@SH: I'm also def rah-rahing for 1937 & 1946! Last year I really enjoyed watching those old Beulah Bondi and Billie Burke films (can't remember off the top of my head what year it was but it was the 30's), and probably would never have thought to seek them out w/o the Smackdown to spur me on. SO: 1937 & 1946 would be my top choices along w/ 1986. But honestly, any and all years chosen will be great! I'm only sad this will be the final season.