Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1987: Results

6. Robert De Niro in Angel Heart- De Niro being the weakest of this bunch doesn't really say much of anything as he gives a very eerie turn as the ultimate evil.

Best Scene: Cyphre prepares an egg for consumption.

5. Vincent D'Onofrio in Full Metal Jacket- D'Onofrio gives a great performance first being rather moving as man not capable enough in the rough boot camp, then downright terrifying once he gets into the swing of things.

Best Scene: Late at night in the latrine.

4. Dennis Hopper in River's Edge- Hopper gives a cohesive portrait of a complex man and despite playing a drug dealer murderer somehow becomes the moral center of the film.

Best Scene: Feck's confession. 

3. R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket- Ermey gives a relentlessly brutal as well as slyly satirical performance as the drill sergeant that would make an average drill sergeant squirm.

Best Scene: Hartman's introduction.

2. Richard Dawson in The Running Man- Richard Dawson turns his work on Family Feud askew brilliantly in making a menacing and entertaining 80's action movie villain who steals his film without question.

Best Scene: "Only in a Rerun"

1. Mandy Patinkin in The Princess Bride- This year is one of the all time greats for supporting performances that goes even beyond the six I reviewed here and the fairly solid line up offered by the academy. My favorite performance from the year though has to go to Mandy Patinkin's extremely endearing, very funny, and even quite moving portrayal of Ingio Montoya.

Best Scene: "Hello my name is Inigo Montoya you killed my father prepare to die."

Overall Rank:

1. Mandy Patinkin in The Princess Bride
2. Richard Dawson in The Running Man
3. Morgan Freeman in Street Smart
4. R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket
5. Dennis Hopper in River's Edge
6. Vincent D'Onofrio in Full Metal Jacket
7. Robert De Niro in Angel Heart
8. Peter Falk in Wings of Desire
9. Peter O'Toole in The Last Emperor
10. Daniel Roebuck in River's Edge
11. George Wyner in Spaceballs
12. Kurtwood Smith in Robocop
13. Will Patton in No Way Out
14. David Strathairn in Matewan
15. Christopher Guest in The Princess Bride 
16. Andre The Giant in The Princess Bride 
17. Ying Ruocheng in The Last Emperor
18. Chris Sarandon in The Princess Bride
19. James Earl Jones in Matewan
20. Wallace Shawn in The Princess Bride
21. Ian Bannen in Hope and Glory
22. Vincent Gardenia in Moonstruck
23. Bob Gunton in Matewan
24. Billy Crystal in The Princess Bride
25. Denzel Washington in Cry Freedom
26. Gene Hackman in No Way Out
27. John Goodman in Raising Arizona 
28. Mel Smith in The Princess Bride
29. Erik King in Street Smart
30. Danny Aiello in Moonstruck
31. John Malkovich in Empire of the Sun
32. Robert Prosky in Broadcast News
33. Mel Brooks in Spaceballs
34. Tom Waits in Ironweed
35. John Candy in Spaceballs 
36. Peter Falk in The Princess Bride 
37. Kiefer Sutherland in The Lost Boys
38. William Forsythe in Raising Arizona
39. Gary Busey in Lethal Weapon
40. Forest Whitaker in Good Morning, Vietnam
41. Dick Van Patten in Spaceballs
42. Ronny Cox in RoboCop
43. Jack Nicholson in Broadcast News
44. Hal Holbrook in Wall Street
45. Miguel Ferrer in Robocop 
46. Bill Duke in Predator 
47. Bruno Kirby in Good Morning, Vietnam
48. John Mahoney in Moonstruck
49. Barnard Hughes in The Lost Boys
50. Robert Englund in Nightmare on Elm Street 3
51. Gene Hackman in Superman IV 
52. Sean Connery in The Untouchables
53. Otto Sander in Wings of Desire
54. J.C. Quinn in Barfly 
55. Yaphet Kotto in The Running Man 
56. Fred Gwynne in Ironweed
57. Andy Garcia in The Untouchables
58. Nigel Havers in Empire of the Sun
59. J.T. Walsh in Good Morning Vietnam
60. Dean Stockwell in Beverly Hills Cop 2
61. Corey Feldman in The Lost Boys
62. Joshua John Miller in River's Edge
63. Robert De Niro in The Untouchables
64. John Rhys-Davies in The Living Daylights 
65. Victor Wong in The Last Emperor
66. Judge Reinhold in Beverly Hills Cop 2
67. Mick Fleetwood in The Running Man
68. Terence Stamp in Wall Street
69. Carl Weathers Predator 
70. John Ashton in Beverly Hills Cop 2
71. Noble Willingham in Good Morning, Vietnam
72. Trey Wilson in Raising Arizona
73. Brownie McGhee in Angel Heart
74. Michael O'Keefe in Ironweed 
75. Arliss Howard in Full Metal Jacket
76. Martin Sheen in Wall Street
77. Dann Florek in Angel Heart
78. Billy Drago in The Untouchables
79. Joe Don Baker in The Living Daylights 
80. John C. McGinley in Wall Street
81. Kurt Fuller in The Running Man
82. Randall Cobb in Raising Arizona
83. Charles Martin Smith in The Untouchables
84. Fred Savage in The Princess Bride
85. Will Oldham in Matewan
86. Christopher Connelly in Strike Commando
87. Andreas Wisniewski in The Living Daylights
88. Wallace Shawn in Prick Up Your Ears  
89. Jeroen Krabbe in The Living Daylights
90. Jesse Ventura in The Running Man
91. Frank Stallone in Barfly
92. Jay Patterson in Street Smart
93. Marvin J. McIntyre in The Running Man
94. Sam McMurray in Raising Arizona
95. Jim Metzler in River's Edge
96. Andre Gregory in Street Smart
97. David Hayman in Hope and Glory
98. Jesse Ventura in Predator
99. Alex Vitale in Strike Commando
100. Jon Cryer in Superman IV

Next Year: 1978 Lead

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Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1987: Robert De Niro in Angel Heart

Robert De Niro did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Louis Cyphre in Angel Heart.

Angel Heart is an effective thriller about a private eye Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke) given the fairly simple task of finding a man, although there is not anything simple about the task.

Robert De Niro plays the man who hires Harry to find the elusive Johnny Favourite. It is obvious from his appearance though that he is not just a run of the mill sort rather something far more sinister, a 70's era Martin Scorsese, which means the most frightening creature of all, the devil. This really is not something hidden in anyway instead it is abundantly obvious right down to his name, his ring and his long finger nails which he uses to tear apart open the shell of an egg which Cyphre does not mind explaining that the egg often is used to represent the soul.

With the way Louis Cyphre is set up as a character De Niro doesn't mind playing the part of the devil in a rather blunt manner. De Niro plays off the fact that Cyphre obviously is the devil by giving the right type of knowing style of a performance. De Niro does not play it as knowing toward the audience but rather knowing in terms of what Cyphre knows. De Niro always has an off putting assurance in his performance that establishes well the fact that Cyphre clearly knows more then he is letting toward Angel, and that in every twist and turn that Cyphre knows exactly why they are occurring even if he won't let on.

De Niro actually has a few scenes but he is a strong highlight of the film through his simple but very effective portrayal of Cyphre. De Niro makes Cyphre basically the fate of the film. His devil is the ultimate manipulator who doesn't only move the chess pieces but own the chess board the whole time. De Niro's performance has the intelligence of the all knowing beast in it. De Niro instead of going really big in the role is very terrifying by staying so very chilling through just how relaxed Cyphre is during every single dark turn in the film which Cyphre knows will happen when he wants it to happen.

Every single movement and physical gesture that he gives are striking and captivating in both their oddness but as well in the way in which they creation the demonic puppet master. De Niro in every  one of his appearances builds the grim atmosphere that overpowers film. When De Niro finally unleashes the true devil it has a truly fierce some quality and works particularly well because De Niro crafted in such an eerie fashion to begin with. In his few scene De Niro realizes the devil in this world and when his eyes glow a most unnatural quality, De Niro has made only a natural transition.

 De Niro is listed in credits as giving a special appearance in the film. This is probably the perfect description for his role in the film. De Niro does not have a lot of screen time, but he makes a tremendous impact with each and everyone of his scenes. Louise Cyphre is actually far more difficult role then it might seem as the way he dresses and the way he looks could easily have illicit the wrong kind of laughter. De Niro is in top form though making a vivid depiction of the prince darkness and giving a very compelling performance where De Niro unassumingly controls the entire film without really even seeming like he's trying to.

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Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1987

And the Nominees Were Not:

R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket

Vincent D'Onofrio in Full Metal Jacket

Dennis Hopper in River's Edge

Mandy Patinkin in The Princess Bride

Richard Dawson in The Running Man

Robert De Niro in Angel Heart

For prediction purposes I'll give the honor to Ermey out of the two Full Metal Jacket men. 

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