I finally saw this movie and was blown away by both Signoret and Harvey in their respective roles. For sure Signoret deserved her Oscar. I know Harvey was nominated. Who beat him out of the Oscar that year? What made Harvey's performance great is how he kept Joe sympathetic. I can see the potential that Alice saw in him. This movie really reminded me of A Place in the Sun.
shareHarvey was beaten out by Heston in Ben-Hur. Heston was good but I think Harvey's role was more challenging. He provably lost because he was certianly not as big a star as Heston.
shareand because Heston played an underdog and delivered as well as that movie tapping into revitalized evangelicism via Billy Graham which was happening in America.
shareReligious movies were always getting nominated back then. It's like "Ben-Hur, Done that". I'll see myself out now.
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I have no doubt this is one of Harvey's greatest performances. It's good to see some attention given to him here. Everyone agrees about Signoret's deserving praise, but so does Harvey. I just watched the film again and his performance is full of small, telling details that bring "Joe Lampton" to life.
By the way, his performance in the followup, LIFE AT THE TOP (just came out on Network DVD) may be even greater than this, and in that film Heather Sears is replaced by Jean Simmons who is also at her best.
Laurence Harvey was great, but ...
the competition was:
Paul Muni for "The Last Angry Man",
James Stewart for "Anatomy of a Murder",
Charlton Heston for "Ben Hur", and
Jack Lemmon for "Some Like it Hot".
Heston won the Oscar, but that year any of the five nominated actors would have been a worthy winner.
I believe Larry should have won the Oscar for this movie. Sure Simone did a great job and deserved her award, but she had things easier since Alice is basically the most touching character in the entire movie and the only one who inspires complete sympathy . In the entire Braine saga I mean, all other characters in both "Room" and "Life" are more flawed and controversial.
Larry did such an amazing job because the Joe Lampton character was more difficult and complex than Alice. And in the end he became also more iconic, Oscar or not, as we had the sequel and the mediocre tv series , "Man at the Top". Larry embodied the classic unscrupulous social climber from that era to perfection. Mediocre in many ways, but ultimately charming . And above all, despite all his personality flaws, you manage to sympathize with the character. That was a brilliant job. And when the movie was released the reviews he got were as good as Signoret's and many believe he would have won had he not found Heston on his way. The studio had launched a huge public relations campaign for Chuck and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for it. Personally I found Heston to be by far the least deserving of the five nominees.
Overall a strong year for the category ( if you exclude Chuck , who was OK , but not great IMO ) .
My ranking is :
1.Laurence Harvey
2.Jack Lemmon
3.James Stewart
4.Paul Muni
5.Charlton Heston
Yes, he was incredible and better than Simone Signoret who was also brilliant. He's certainly my choice for best actor that year after James Stewart, I can't believe Charlton Heston won!
shareWell I can.
Okay, Heston is a big ham and far from a great actor, but "Ben Hur" is a monumentally huge film, and very few actors could have dominated it the way he did. He gave a great star performance, which is a very different thing than great acting, but it's always fun to watch.
"Room at the Top" is a small, realistic, "kitchen sink" drama, and a lot of actors can give great performances in small films like that... but damn few can do what Heston did.
Ugh - really? I thought Signoret rang rings round him and that Matthew McNulty was a much more convincing and multi-layered Joe in the recent BBC adaptation.
shareHe was the best thing about the movie .
shareI agree.
When you consider that Lampton was prepared to turn his back on wealth and be with Alice then he is meant to be a more sympathetic character than the cold, emotionless man that Harvey portrayed him as.
Harvey is good at cold, unfeeling characters which is why he was so right for The Manchurian Candidate.
Agreed. He was amazing in this.
shareLaurence Harvey starred opposite three actresses who won Best Actress: Simone Signoret ("Room at the Top"), Elizabeth Taylor ("Butterfield 8") and Julie Christie ("Darling"). He also starred in an AFI Top 100 movie, "The Manchurian Candidate." I'm not sure why critics disliked him so much, but I think he's a much underrated actor, and it's time that he was rediscovered.
shareLaurence Harvey starred opposite three actresses who won Best Actress in his films: Simone Signoret ("Room at the Top"), Elizabeth Taylor ("Butterfield 8") and Julie Christie ("Darling"). He also starred in an AFI Top 100 movie, "The Manchurian Candidate." Geraldine Page was nominated for an Oscar opposite him in "Summer and Smoke." I'm not sure why critics disliked him so much, but I think he's a much underrated actor, and it's time that he was rediscovered.
share1959 was a banner year for great films and outstanding performances. But the best was "Room at the Top" and its leading players Simone Signoret and Laurence Harvey. All three deserved Oscars.
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he played a great cad in this one.
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