Oscar Got It Wrong: Best Actor 1975

The Contenders:

Al Pacino: Dog Day Afternoon
James Whitmore: Give ‘em Hell, Harry!
Maximilian Schell: Man in the Glass Booth
Jack Nicholson: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (winner)
Walter Matthau: The Sunshine Boys

Dewey Defeats Truman

Film: Give ‘Em Hell, Harry!
Format: Internet video on The Nook.

Of all the films I’ve reviewed here, and I’ve reviewed a lot, I don’t think I’ve come across one like Give ‘Em Hell, Harry!. This is not a traditional film in any sense of the word. What this is, in fact, is a filmed performance of a one-man show of the same name with James Whitmore taking the role of Harry S Truman during the years of his presidency. The film was made, evidently, by staging nine cameras around a live performance of the show in Seattle and editing it live, essentially as if it were being done on live television. In that respect, it’s pretty impressive.

During the course of the show, Truman talks to the audience, tells stories about his history, and also talks about what were current events for him at the time. It appears that the show is in two acts, the first covering Truman’s first presidency started on the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The second concerns his second term, and the only one he was elected to. Throughout, Truman not only talks to those in the crowd, but to “people” who come to visit him, holding conversations where we can hear only his side, but where he also gives us enough information to follow both sides. In a sense, these moments are like listening to Bob Newhart on the phone.