A True Story Well Told

Judy Davis is my favorite present-day actress, Glenn Close being a close second, while Barbara Stanwyck is my all-time favorite. The last major feature I saw her in was the 1997 flick Blood and Wine with Jack Nicholson, Jennifer Lopez, Michael Caine, and a young Steven Doorf. This was the film that Nicholson should have won the Oscar for, not As Good As It Gets. Davis stole every scene she was in, and she was the ideal actress to portray the Countess Mary Lindell in the 1991 made-for-t.v. movie One Against the Wind. She had worked with Sam Neill before and the chemistry between them is wonderful. No wonder they both won Golden Globes.

It's a shame that Davis did not win an Emmy for this, although I am grateful that she was nominated. She should have won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress (along with Miranda Richardson for Damage) for her performance in Husbands and Wives in 1992, but what does the Academy know? They gave it to Marisa Tomei, who did not deserve it for My Cousin Vinny, and who has bragged about it ever since. Davis would have had (and still has) the class to keep her mouth shut. If my memory is correct, both Siskel and Ebert were disappointed that neither Davis nor Nicholson were nominated for Blood and Wine. One compensation for me is that the now defunct Movieline magazine devoted one of its greatest performance tributes to Judy for her pivotal role in Husbands and Wives. A lot of Oscar winners as well as non-nominees have been given that honor but hers was the most deserving and noteworthy.

I would love to have this gem on DVD, but maybe I'll get lucky and they'll put One Against the Wind on Netflix. This would be great because I am a fan of Kate Beckinsale's, too.