89 Days of Oscar Nominees – #21 – The Dresser (1983)

In my attempt to have a more prolific repertoire of Oscar Nominated Films, I have taken it upon myself to watch 89 new Best Picture Nominees that I’ve never seen before between 1 Dec 2016 and The 89th Annual Oscars on 26 Feb 2017.

Here is my 21st review of the 89 chosen Films…

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“The critics? No, I have nothing but compassion for them. How can I hate the crippled, the mentally deficient, and the dead?” – Sir

Number of Times Seen – 1 (19 Dec 2016)

Brief Synopsis – During WWII, an assistant to an aging Shakespearean actor must do all he can to keep the production of plays to continue going despite the war and his boss’ strange quirks.

My Take on it – This is yet another film that I can’t really explain why I never have seen before and was pleasantly surprised at how much fun the film was.

Albert Finney is great as the eccentric and strange stage actor but Tom Courtney steals the show as his assistant.

Loved the way that this film shows the different kind of difficulties that the production encounters while still needing to deal with a prima donna actor.

This film probably resonates so well among people in the film/theater industry because it is all about the behind the scenes and it emphasizes the integral importance of having a great backstage crew to help make or break a production.

Many of the scenes were extremely funny because of the way that everything is laid out for us.

Not 100% sure that this film in and of itself was worthy of getting a BP nomination, but clearly Finney and Courtney both were worthy of their own nods.

Unfortunately, they both seemed to cancel each other out and neither was able to win the award that eventually went to Robert Duvall that year.

Bottom Line – Finney is great as the aging stage actor, but Courtney overshadows him as his assistant the entire time.  Loved the way that they showed how behind the scenes work in some ways is so much more important to the success or failure of a show. The film itself is far from perfect, but the performances make this so worth while watching. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Actors Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay both received Academy Award Best Actor nominations for this film. The picture is a rare instance where the one film received two Best Actor Oscar nominations, a feat that would be amazingly replicated the following year with another British film Amadeus (1984), where actors Tom Hulce and ‘F Murray Abraham’ were also both Best Actor Oscar nominated. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy

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