Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Actor 1968

The Contenders:

Cliff Robertson: Charly (winner)
Alan Bates: The Fixer
Alan Arkin: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Peter O’Toole: The Lion in Winter
Ron Moody: Oliver!

Still Depressing with the Sound Off

Films: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Format: DVD from Manhattan-Elwood Public Library through interlibrary loan on laptop.

I should’ve know what I was getting into with The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, based as it is on the work of Carson McCullers. McCullers depresses me. Her stories tend to focus on misfits who don’t fit in with society and who can’t decide if they want to be a part of society or remain apart and aloof from it. Many of her characters have grandiose dreams that far exceed their ability to achieve them. That’s not specifically the case with our main character here, but it’s certainly the case with just about everyone else in the story.

This is the story of John Singer (a nominated Alan Arkin), a deaf-mute living in the South. His lone friend is Spiros Antonopoulos (Chuck McCann), an overgrown man with the mind of a child. Spiros is constantly in trouble because he doesn’t fully understand the idea of consequences or that (for instance) breaking the front window of the bakery and taking the cookies is a problem. Shortly after this incident, Spiros is sent off to an asylum by his frustrated uncle. John, having nothing to keep him in town, moves closer to where Spiros is and attempts to gain legal guardianship of his friend.