Jason Robards + Oscar

Like Spencer Tracy, Robards made acting look effortless.

"I don't use a pen: I write with a goose quill dipped in venom!"---W. Lydecker

I thought both of Jason Robards' Oscars were richly deserved. I also would have nominated him for THE BALLD OF CABLE HOGUE and MAGNOLIA, but I digress. I remember when I first saw JULIA in the theaters, I couldn't believe how amazing Robards was...I remember saying to myself that he deserves Best Supporting Actor again and I never thought they would give it to him because he won the previous year. but they did. I think both performances were on the money and how many actors have won two Oscars for playing real-life figures? I'm pretty sure he was the only one but if someone else did, fill me in.

Maximilian Schell's showier performance may be a shade better, but Robards is very good indeed in his subtle, touching performance.

I agree partly with you - I do not agree he deserved the Oscar for Julia , but considering the weak lack of nominees that year, it is not surprising. His competition was Peter Firth in Equss - young nominee ( he did win the Golden Globe ) Mikhail Baryshnikov in the boring Turning Point ( I'm sorry - I do not even know why he was nominated) He is a brilliant dancer, not so much an actor. Alec Guinness for Star Wars- superb actor ,but I think since he won before and it was a popular " popcorn" movie - it was prob the nomination was its own reward. kind of like Ian Mckellan in Lord of the Ringsand finally Maximillian Schell for Julia whom I thought was better than Robards. I don't hink he really deserved a nomination. He looked alot like Hammett , but I can't say he was Oscar Worthy.
In 1976 for All the President's Men - he was very good and I don't begrudge him that Oscar win - Personally - I would have picked Ned Beatty for Network for his absolutely dynamic cameo, or Burgess Meredith for Rocky. That year had a tough roster of nominees and frankly any of the nominees would have been deserving, but Robards for Julia is a head scratcher.

Agreed, and I feel the same way about Redgrave's winning: I liked her acceptance speech better. Incredibly, Maximilian Schell was nominated for best supporting actor and was named Best Supporting Actor by the NY Film Critics Circle. Though it's vapid, Julia was nominated for 10 Academy Awards.

Robards' performance in Julia is great acting, even though the role is slight and immaterial to the "plot". Examples: The way Hammett (Robards) fights with Helmann, and pushes her to be a better writer, without smothering her. He is paternalistic and charming. And you also get a sense of him being a genius which is what Hammett was after all. He also had lots of weird little idiosyncracies. He managed to pack a lot into a very small role.

If anyone shouldn't have won an Oscar, it's Vanessa Redgrave. All she did in this movie was get a prosthetic leg and tell Jane Fonda to stop crying in a really patronising pompous way.

I thought his performance in All the President's Men was much better and really deserving of the Oscar, he was still quite good in Julia but I think the competition was pretty weak that year (Peter Firth, Maximillian Schell, Alec Guiness).... that is what usually happens when someone wins back-to-back Oscars: weak competition in the second year. Ironically even though Jane Fonda has two others Oscars, I consider her performance in Julia to be her best work ever - she inhabits that character unlike in most of her other roles, where you can always "catch" her acting in one scene or another, she is virtually flawless here. In a weird sort of way, I think Redgrave and Robards both won, almost as a way of honoring her again.

I agree. I'm stymied by Robard's win. To win two consecutive Oscars, that second performance better raise the dead. I kept on waiting for some stellar scene by Robards, but I never even came across one that registered anything memorable. He delivered a few decent lines...but that's a testament to the WRITER!

Now I can understand Redgrave's win more. Though she just had a few minutes on screen, she was luminent. I don't think that alone warrants the Oscar - she was more deserving than Robards.