Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1986: Results

5. Raul Julia in The Morning After- Julia is going against a terrible film, but he does rise enough above it to give some depth to a role.

Best Scene: The Revelation.

4. Steve Martin in Little Shop of Horrors- Martin may peak with his song, but that is one entertaining peak to reach.

Best Scene: "Dentist!"

3. Brian Cox in Manhunter- Cox gives us his own Hannibal that emphasizing the intelligence once again, but with with a very effective more down to earth style.

Best Scene: Hannibal's introduction.

2. Daniel Day-Lewis in A Room With A View- Day-Lewis gives a brilliant portrayal of the ultimate Edwardian man which he makes amusing in the extremity yet completely natural to his character.

Best Scene: Lucy breaks off the engagement with Cecil.

1. Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet- Good Predictions Psifonian, Lezlie, Maciej, RatedRStar,  and Michael McCarthy. Despite this year having several strong strong supporting performances I have no hesitations in rewarding Hopper the win here. He is absolutely amazing with his searing and completely unforgettable depiction of the twisted Frank Booth.

Best Scene: "In Dreams" 

Overall Rank

1. Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet
2. Daniel Day-Lewis in A Room With A View
3. Tom Berenger in Platoon
4. Willem Dafoe in Platoon
5. Dean Stockwell in Blue Velvet
6. Michael Caine in Hannah and Her Sisters
7. Brian Cox in Manhunter
8. Steve Martin in Little Shop of Horrors
9. Ray Liotta in Something Wild
10. Michael Caine in Mona Lisa
11. Tom Noonan in Manhunter
12. John C. McGinley in Platoon 
13. Raul Julia in The Morning After
14. Lance Henriksen in Aliens
15. Dennis Hopper in Hoosiers
16. Vincent Price in The Great Mouse Detective
17. Michael Biehn in Aliens
18. Bill Murray in Little Shop of Horrors
19. Corey Feldman in Stand By Me
20. Levi Stubbs in Little Shop of Horrors
21. Robbie Coltrane in Mona Lisa
22. Paul Reiser in Aliens
23. Clancy Brown in Highlander
24. Bill Paxton in Aliens
25. James Hong in Big Trouble in Little China 
26. Alan Ruck in Ferris Bueller's Day Off 
27. Helmut Qualtinger in The Name of the Rose 
28. Woody Allen in Hannah and Her Sisters 
29. Jeffrey Jones in Ferries Bueller's Day Off
30. Jerry O'Connell in Stand By Me
31. Vincent Gardenia in Little Shop of Horrors
32. George Dickerson in Blue Velvet
33. Forest Whitaker in Platoon
34. Dennis Dun in Big Trouble in Little China
35. Max von Sydow in Hannah and Her Sisters
36. Keith David in Platoon
37. William Hope in Aliens
38. Forest Whitaker in The Color of Money 
39. Conrad Roberts in The Mosquito Coast
40. Ray McNally in The Mission
41. Victory Wong in Big Trouble in Little China
42. Kevin Dillon in Platoon
43. F. Murray Abraham in The Name of the Rose
44. Francesco Quinn in Platoon
45. Val Bettin in The Great Mouse Detective
46. Liam Neeson in The Mission
47. Val Kilmer in Top Gun 
48. Sean Connery in Highlander
49. Anthony Edwards in Top Gun
50. Denholm Elliot in A Room With A View
51. Ron Perlman in The Name of the Rose
52. Charles Dance in The Golden Child
53. Simon Callow in A Room With A View
54. Philip Bosco in Children of a Lesser God
55. Brad Dourif in Blue Velvet
56. Tom Skerritt in Top Gun
57. Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
58. Michael Lonsdale in The Name of the Rose
59. DeForest Kelley in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
60. Victor Wong in The Golden Child
61. Dennis Farina in Manhunter
62. Rupert Graves in A Room With A View
63. John Turturro in The Color of Money
64. Michael Ironside in Top Gun
65. Reni Santoni in Cobra
66. Jim Belushi in Salvador
67. Yuj Okumoto in The Karate Kid Part II
68. Martin Scorsese in 'Round Midnight
69. Alan Young in The Great Mouse Detective
70. James Hong in The Golden Child 
71. Danny Kamekona in The Karate Kid Part II
72. John Savage in Salvador
73. Stephen Lang in Manhunter
74. Alfonso Arau in The Three Amigos
75. John Getz in The Fly
76. David Kagen in Friday the 13th Part VI
77. Andre Gregory in The Mosquito Coast
78. Andrew Schofield in Sid and Nancy
79. Austin Pendleton in Short Circuit
80. Fisher Stevens in Short Circuit
81. Tom Fridley in Friday the 13th Part VI
82. Brian Thompson in Cobra

Next Year: 2009 lead

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Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1986: Steve Martin in Little Shop of Horrors

Steve Martin did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Orin Scrivello, DDS, in Little Shop of Horrors.

Little Shop of Horrors is a very enjoyable musical comedy about a sad sack Seymour (Ric Moranis) who discovers a most unusual plant that offers him fame and fortune but it wants human blood in return. I should note I actually prefer the good ending found in the theatrical cut. This is for several reasons. Firstly stage and screen are not the same and tonally things do not always transfer perfectly so changes need to be. Secondly having the lead be Moranis makes it so the happy end is the best because he is just so darn likable, even when he is making Faustian deals you can help but feel for him. Thirdly the whole "Don't Feed the Plants" scene may be impressive to look at, but it just goes on for way too long.

Steve Martin plays the abusive boyfriend of Seymour's love interest Audrey (Ellen Greene), that's not the important part of his character. The important part is that being a sadistic dentist which is portrayed in a hilarious song number as he describes his reasons for his profession which is simply because of his love of causing things pain. Martin is usually best known for his dead pan comedic performances but this one is a broadly comic portrayal which was probably unavoidable considering it involves a song sequence. Anyway Martin plays the role as basically a twisted Elvis impersonator as he tries to inflict as much pain as possible to other around which is best shown in his first and best scene his song.

Martin's performance is completely hilarious in the song as he delivers with the song particularly brilliantly. He changes from one moment to the next with whether it is emphasizing the impersonation, or at times kind of the big singing known in the fancier type of romantic musicals, and other times with a psychotically intense voice. Each switch is perfectly place to accentuate the hilarity of the sequence. To only add on top of that his physical performance is also comedic gold as he wields his arms almost as weapons of death constantly threatening all humans who may be nearby him. Martin pulls out every single possible ounce of humor in the scene and he successfully makes the whole dentist song scene one of the strongest in the film. 

Martin other great scene is when he has a patient played by Bill Murray who unfortunately for him is a masochist. The two comedians play off each perfectly with with Martin going as intense as possible in his the pleasure he gets out of his vicious attempts to cause the man discomfort, and Murray playing off it by showing the man to love every single moment of it to well an orgasmic extent. The best moment of the scene though easily comes when Martin's character throws him out and it is ridiculously funny just how much disgust Martin displays in the dentist, as it is quite obvious that the dentist only likes it when he is the one having fun. That also is a great scene, and Martin is only in about four scenes to begin with.

Well the other two are a little less funny, but then again that is a bit hard to match considering the quality of the other two. Don't get me wrong he is still quite enjoyable in these two other scenes particularly his expression when he realizes he's going to die from his laughing gas machine. They are not nearly as entertaining as the other two but that is far less Martin and much more caused by the limitations presented to him. Nevertheless Martin proves himself quite capable in the broader style of comedy and is still one of the best parts of the film. Although he's merely good in two of his scenes opposed to being great like he is in his other two scenes, but I suppose that's good enough.

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Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1986

And the Nominees Were Not:

Daniel Day-Lewis in A Room With A View

Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet

Brian Cox in Manhunter

Steve Martin in Little Shop of Horrors

Raul Julia in The Morning After

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