Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Actor 1990

The Contenders:

Robert De Niro: Awakenings
Gerard Depardieu: Cyrano de Bergerac
Kevin Costner: Dances with Wolves
Richard Harris: The Field
Jeremy Irons: Reversal of Fortune (winner)

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Actor 1950

The Contenders:

Jose Ferrer: Cyrano de Bergerac (winner)
Spencer Tracy: Father of the Bride
James Stewart: Harvey
Louis Calhern: The Magnificent Yankee
William Holden: Sunset Boulevard

Panache

Film: Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)
Format: DVD from DeKalb Public Library/Internet video on laptop.

In the more than five years I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve had surprisingly few technical problems. Sadly, that was not the case with the 1950 version of Cyrano de Bergerac. Somewhere before the 30 minute mark, the DVD flatly stopped playing. It just wouldn’t get past that point. Thankfully, the film was completely available on YouTube. I think, though, this is one of the only times I’ve been forced to watch a film on multiple formats. It’s all to the good, though. The YouTube video turned out to be of much better quality than the DVD. Then, due to internet connection problems, I had to switch back to the DVD. The things I go through for this blog.

Cyrano de Bergeracis, at least in my mind the quintessential tragic romance. I know the traditional choice is Romeo and Juliet, but Cyrano is a better story in my mind. The bulk of the reason for that is the character of Cyrano himself. Cyrano (Jose Ferrer) is in many ways the perfect tragic hero. He’s everything a hero should be and has a single tragic flaw: his nose. Cyrano is smart, witty, courageous, filled with panache, and is cursed with a nose three or four times larger than that of the average man. That nose is in fact the reason for Cyrano’s courage and flair. Only the bravest or most foolhardy would dare tease him about his nose.

By a Nose

Film: Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)
Format: DVD from NetFlix on laptop.

It’s always a mild surprise to me that years ago Gerard Depardieu was a sex symbol. This was obviously in the years before his diet consisted entirely of butter and goose livers. It’s hard not to see the man as a sex symbol when watching one of his early films. So what’s the premier French sex symbol to do to enhance his status at the height of his sexy beast stage? One option that would be hard to pass up is the chance to play one of the great tragic romantic heroes in Cyrano de Bergerac.

When people talk about great tragic romances, most go right to Romeo and Juliet. I don’t, because I don’t really like that story. The only character I like gets killed in the middle and our two principle characters are kind of dumb and end up dying mostly because they are kind of dumb. No, for me the best of the tragic romances is Cyrano. I’ve liked every version of this story that I’ve seen, be it the classic tragic version or the upbeat Hollywood rewrite as Roxanne.