Oh come on, Hollywood. That’s not right!
Don’t go crazy mad, go crazy happy during Snubbed 2: The Performances at the Museum of the Moving Image from Friday, Jan. 26, to Sunday, March 10.
This second annual showcase screens 31 top-notch films that received zero Oscar nominations. The lineup focuses on stars never taken seriously (i.e. Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe, Steve Martin), underappreciated workhorses (i.e. Michelle Pfeiffer, Amy Adams, Alfre Woodard), and roles that just weren’t Oscar bait (i.e. Anthony Perkins in Psycho, Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon).
Tickets are $15 with discounts for students and seniors ($11) and youth ($9).
The focus is on performances that went unmentioned on Oscar-nomination morning. One highlight is The Emperor Jones, featuring Paul Robeson in his breakthrough role in a film that was shot in what is now the Kaufman Astoria Studios. Watch it in an archival 35mm print from The Library of Congress on Feb. 3 at 1:30 pm and Feb. 4 at 3:30 pm.
Here’s the rest of the schedule with information on the actors who were snubbed.
Back Street (Snubbed: Irene Dunne) on Jan. 26 at 3 pm. Part of a double feature with Of Human Bondage. Director John M. Stahl, 1932, U.S., 93 minutes, with Irene Dunne, John Boles, George Meeker, ZaSu Pitts, Jane Darwell.
Adapted from a novel by Fannie Hurst, this intensely moving story has much to do with Dunne’s extraordinary performance as turn-of-the-century working-class gal Ray Schmidt, whose search for perfect love leads her into a relationship with an adoring but unavailable man who ends up marrying somebody else.
Of Human Bondage (Snubbed: Bette Davis) on Jan. 26 at 7 pm. Part of a double feature with Back Street. Director John Cromwell, 1934, U.S., 83 minutes, with Bette Davis, Leslie Howard, Frances Dee.
Based on W. Somerset Maugham’s 1915 best-selling novel, this melodrama follows a British painter-turned-doctor (Howard) who falls in love with a cruel and selfish waitress. When the Oscar nominations were announced and Davis was off the list, the uproar caused the Academy to change the rules and allow write-in votes.
Young Mr. Lincoln (Snubbed: Henry Fonda) on Jan. 27 at 1 pm and Jan. 28 at 12:45 pm. Director John Ford, 1939, U.S., 100 minutes, with Henry Fonda, Alice Brady, Marjorie Weaver, Arleen Wheelan, Pauline Moore, Ward Bond.
Fonda gave a legendary performance as Abraham Lincoln as an early-career lawyer trying a murder case in Illinois. Fonda exudes decency without simplicity, eschewing larger-than-life grandiosity in order to embody the difficulty of living morally in a dark world.
The Public Enemy (Snubbed: James Cagney) on Jan. 27 at 3:15 pm and Jan. 28 at 4:30 pm. Director William A. Wellman, 1931, U.S., 83 minutes, with James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods, Joan Blondell.
Starting out as bootleggers in Prohibition Era Chicago, Tom Powers (Cagney) and childhood friend Matt Doyle (Woods) gradually escalate to violence, usurping power from local criminals and flaunting their new wealth, until clashes with a rival gang change everything.
His Girl Friday (Snubbed: Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant) on Jan. 27 at 5:30 pm and Jan. 28 at 3 pm. Director Howard Hawks, 1940, U.S., 92 minutes, with Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart.
Hildy Johnson (Russell) is a newsroom reporter who’s desperate to scoop a story about a possibly innocent man scheduled to be executed for killing a cop. She spars with her editor—and ex-husband—Walter Burns (Grant), serving up one perfectly timed parry after another, while Grant thrusts back as only he can.
The Maltese Falcon (Snubbed: Humphrey Bogart) on Feb. 2 at 3 pm and Feb. 4 at 1:15 pm. Director John Huston, 1941, U.S., 101 minutes, with Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Gladys George.
Adapted from a Dashiell Hammett novel, this film noir features Bogart’s transformative performance as Sam Spade, a police detective who keeps his cool despite the vipers surrounding him.
Scarface (Snubbed: Al Pacino) on Feb. 2 at 6:30 pm and Feb. 3 at 5:15 pm. Director Brian De Palma, 1983, U.S., 180 minutes, with Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer, F. Murray Abraham, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Robert Loggia.
Pacino is Cuban-refugee-turned-Miami-drug-lord Tony Montana. His performance is a thing of gaudy, gonzo brilliance done up in sunset orange and candy pink.
Strangers on a Train (Snubbed: Robert Walker) on Feb. 3 at 12:30 pm and Feb. 4 at 4 pm. Director Alfred Hitchcock, 1951, U.S., 101 minutes, with Robert Walker, Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Pat Hitchcock, Leo G. Carroll.
When wealthy Bruno Antony (Walker) meets handsome tennis star Guy Haines (Granger) on a train, Bruno suggest they swap murders. Bruno will kill Guy’s philandering wife so he can marry his girlfriend. In return, Guy will bump off Bruno’s domineering father. Hitchcock’s thriller takes off from there.
The Emperor Jones (Snubbed: Paul Robeson) on Feb. 3 at 1:30 pm and Feb. 4 at 3:30 pm. Director Dudley Murphy, 1933, U.S., 80 minutes, with Paul Robeson, Dudley Digges, Frank H. Wilson, Fredi Washington.
Robeson made his breakthrough with this film, becoming the first African-American leading man in a mainstream movie.
Psycho (Snubbed: Anthony Perkins) on Feb. 3 at 3 pm and Feb. 4 at 6 pm. Director Alfred Hitchcock, 1960, U.S., 109 minutes, with Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam.
Hitchcock’s horror masterpiece thrilled and terrified audiences. Petty office thief Marion Crane meets her untimely, violent, and nonsensical end during a chance rest stop at the Bates Motel.
Bus Stop (Snubbed: Marilyn Monroe) on Feb. 9 at 3 pm and Feb. 10 at 12:30 pm. Director Joshua Logan, 1956, U.S., 96 minutes, with Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray, Arthur O’Connell, Betty Field, Eileen Heckart, Hope Lange.
This adaptation of a William Inge play is a blend of character study and situational humor during which Monroe showcases her talent for embodying fragility, resilience, and self-deprecating humor. She plays Chérie, a chanteuse at a diner in Phoenix who is swept off her feet—quite reluctantly—by an uncouth Montana cowboy (Murray) who’s dropped into town to take part in a rodeo. He wants to marry her instantly, but unwilling to be owned by this rude stranger, she tries to assert her independence and force him to earn her respect.
Opening Night (Snubbed: Gena Rowlands) on Feb. 9 at 6:30 pm and Feb. 10 at 2:30 pm. Director John Cassavetes, 1977, U.S., 144 minutes, with Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara, John Cassavetes, Joan Blondell, Zohra Lampert.
Rowlands gives a virtuoso performance as Myrtle Gordon, a successful-but-neurotic actress in her forties who’s conflicted about portraying an older woman.
Clemency (Snubbed: Alfre Woodard) on Feb. 10 at 3:30 pm and Feb. 11 at 3:30 pm. Director Chinonye Chukwu, 2019, U.S., 113 minutes, with Alfre Woodard, Aldis Hodge, Richard Schiff, Wendell Pierce, Richard Gunn, Danielle Brooks.
As prison warden Bernadine Williams (Woodard) prepares to execute another inmate, she confronts the psychological and emotional demons her job creates, ultimately connecting her to the man (Hodge) she is sanctioned to kill.
The Last Seduction (Snubbed: Linda Fiorentino) on Feb. 10 at 6 pm and Feb. 11 at 2:45 pm. Director John Dahl, 1994, U.S., 110 minutes, with Linda Fiorentino, Peter Berg, Bill Pullman, J. T. Walsh.
After stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from her husband, Bridget Gregory (Fiorentino) fless NYC for Chicago, only to get waylaid in a small town in upstate New York, where she gets a job at an insurance company and ends up using and emotionally abusing a local loser (Berg) who’s reeling from a bad breakup. Soon she begins roping him into increasingly complex criminal plans of her own.
Gilda (Snubbed: Rita Hayworth) on Feb. 11 at 12:30 pm and Feb. 16 at 3 pm. Director Charles Vidor, 1946, U.S., 110 minutes, with Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready.
As with so many beautiful movie stars, glamour and erotic force got in the way of a full appreciation of Hayworth’s acting talent. In this drama, she plays the wife of a dastardly criminal (Macready) in Buenos Aires. By reconnecting with an old flame (Ford), she has a chance to escape her horrible marriage.
Beloved (Snubbed: Oprah Winfrey) on Feb. 11 at 5 pm and Feb. 17 at 12:45 pm. Director Jonathan Demme, 1998, U.S., 172 minutes, with Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Thandiwe Newton, Kimberly Elise, Beah Richards.
In this adaptation of Toni Morrison’s supernatural novel, Winfrey is Sethe, an escaped slave living in Ohio whose life with her teenage daughter is interrupted by the arrival of a most unexpected visitor: Beloved, the ghostly manifestation of her long-deceased baby girl.
New York, New York (Snubbed: Liza Minnelli) on Feb. 16 at 6:30 pm and Feb. 18 at 5:30 pm. Director Martin Scorsese, 1977, U.S., 163 minutes, with Robert De Niro, Liza Minnelli, Lionel Stander, Mary Kay Place, Diahnne Abbott.
This film depicts the difficulty of a marriage between two independent creatives: a jazz singer and a saxophonist. The final half hour, when Scorsese gives the film over to pure movie musical magic, makes for one of his most sustained feats of grand filmmaking.
My Own Private Idaho (Snubbed: River Phoenix) on Feb. 17 at 3:45 pm and Feb. 18 at 3:15 pm. Director Gus Van Sant, 1991, U.S., 102 minutes, with River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves, William Richert, James Russo, Udo Kier.
Mike (Phoenix) is a narcoleptic street hustler secretly in love with his best friend, Scott (Reeves), the rebellious son of a wealthy family. Phoenix gives a performance of poignancy, providing the strong emotional core for a movie populated by oddballs and derelicts.
The Heartbreak Kid (Snubbed: Charles Grodin) on Feb. 17 at 6 pm and Feb. 25 at 6 pm. Director Elaine May, 1972, U.S., 106 minutes, with Charles Grodin, Cybill Shepard, Jeannie Berlin, Eddie Albert, Audra Lindley.
Working from a Neil Simon script, this anti-romantic comedy follows a newlywed (Grodin) who decides to leave his Jewish wife (Berlin) for an icy shiksa goddess (Shepard) . . . on their honeymoon.
Top Hat (Snubbed: Fred Astaire) on Feb. 18 at 12:45 pm and Feb. 23 at 3 pm. Director Mark Sandrich, 1935, U.S., 101 minutes, with Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton, Erik Rhodes, Eric Blore.
Astaire mixes his legendary dance abilities with screwball comedy and unparalleled sensual chemistry with Rogers.
Jackie Brown (Snubbed: Pam Grier) on Feb. 23 at 6:30 pm and Feb. 24 at 6 pm. Director Quentin Tarantino, 1997, U.S., 154 minutes, with Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Robert De Niro, Bridget Fonda, Chris Tucker, Michael Keaton.
Grier’s a fatigued forty-something flight attendant and reluctant money smuggler who falls in love with Forster’s cucumber-cool bail bondsman Max Cherry.
The Fugitive (Snubbed: Harrison Ford) on Feb. 24 at 1 pm and Feb. 25 at 3:15 pm. Director Andrew Davis, 1993, U.S., 130 minutes, with Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, Sela Ward, Julianne Moore, Jeroen Krabbé, Joe Pantoliano.
This adaptation of a hit 1960s television series gave Ford one of his greatest roles as Dr. Richard Kimble, a surgeon who has been sentenced to death after being framed for the murder of his wife. He escapes prison during a freak bus accident.
Out of Sight (Snubbed: Jennifer Lopez and George Clooney), Feb. 24 at 3:30 pm and Feb. 25, 12:45 pm. Director Steven Soderbergh, 1998, U.S., 123 minutes, with George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Albert Brooks, Don Cheadle, Ving Rhames, Catherine Keener, Viola Davis.
A career bank robber and a neophyte U.S. marshal are unable to deny their mutual attraction. Lopez and Clooney proved themselves movie stars once and for all with off-the-chart chemistry and roles that fit them like suede leather gloves.
3 Women (Snubbed: Shelley Duvall) on March 1 at 3 pm and March 2 at 1 pm. Director Robert Altman, 1977, U.S., 124 minutes, with Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Janice Rule.
Altman’s dreamlike study of down-and-out women existing in a luminal state between reality and fantasy in a California town shows the filmmaker at the summit of his powers as a surreal image-maker and humane storyteller.
The Age of Innocence (Snubbed: Michelle Pfeiffer) on March 1 at 6:30 pm and March 3 at 3 pm. Director Martin Scorsese, 1993, U.S., 139 minutes, with Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder, Miriam Margolyes, Richard E. Grant, Geraldine Chaplin, Joanne Woodward.
Scorsese’s rendering of Edith Wharton’s novel about the social mores of turn-of-the-century New York is a visual feast and a profoundly moving drama of unrequited love.
The House of Mirth (Snubbed: Gillian Anderson) on March 2 at 3:30 pm and March 3 at 5:45 pm. Director Terence Davies, 2000, U.S., 140 minutes, with Gillian Anderson, Eric Stoltz, Dan Aykroyd, Eleanor Bron, Anthony LaPaglia, Laura Linney.
This faithful adaptation of Edith Wharton’s 1905 novel is a sumptuous triumph, but its beating, battered heart belongs to Anderson, who evokes Wharton’s tragic heroine Lily Bart, a social butterfly whose position in turn-of-the-century, upper-class New York City proves precarious after her financial situations take a turn for the worse—and she refuses to compromise her virtue or her romantic idealism.
Arrival (Snubbed: Amy Adams) on March 2 at 6:15 pm and March 3 at 12:30 pm. Director Denis Villeneuve, 2016, U.S., 116 minutes, with Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg, Mark O’Brien.
Adams is Louise Banks, a linguist touched by personal tragedy who’s hired by the U.S. military to decipher and translate messages from extraterrestrial spacecrafts.
Support the Girls (Snubbed: Regina Hall) on March 8 at 4 pm and March 10 at 5:15 pm. Director Andrew Bujalski, 2018, U.S., 93 minutes, with Regina Hall, Haley Lu Richardson, Dylan Gelula, Zoe Graham.
Hall is magnetic as Lisa, the general manager of the sports bar Double Whammies, in this easygoing comedy. Over the course of one long, difficult day, the nurturing and protective protagonist has her optimism tested at every turn.
Something Wild (Snubbed: Melanie Griffith and Ray Liotta) on March 8 at 7 pm and March 9 at 3:30 pm. Director Jonathan Demme, 1986, U.S., 113 minutes, with Melanie Griffith, Jeff Daniels, Ray Liotta.
Demme was at the height of his madcap powers with this rollicking comic adventure starring a breakout Melanie Griffith as the maniacally free-spirited Lulu (donning a Louise Brooks wig) and Jeff Daniels as the buttoned-down yuppie she picks up in a Manhattan diner at lunch hour.
All of Me (Snubbed: Steve Martin) on March 9 at 1:30 pm and March 10 at 3:30 pm. Director Carl Reiner, 1984, U.S., 93 minutes, with Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin, Victoria Tennant, Madelyn Smith.
Martin plays Roger, an attorney who has put aside his musical dreams to focus on his career and his relationship with his boss’s daughter. Things go haywire when eccentric millionaire client Edwina (Tomlin), dying from an illness, arranges for her soul to be transferred into the body of a younger, healthier woman (Tennant). Of course, Edwina’s soul accidentally ends up in Roger, allowing for Martin’s full-body heave of a performance.
Happy-Go-Lucky (Snubbed: Sally Hawkins) on March 9 at 6 pm and March 10 at 1 pm. Director Mike Leigh, 2008, U.S., 118 minutes, with Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Andrea Riseborough, Alexis Zegerman, Sinead Matthews.
There has never been a movie protagonist quite like Sally Hawkins’s Poppy, a bouncy primary school teacher from North London who takes life’s challenges, pains, and pleasures with big doses of optimism and bonhomie. The brilliance of Hawkins’s performance is that she welcomes the viewer to try and understand her without giving clues or reasons for the state of her psychology or the meaning of her ebullience.
MoMI is located at 36-01 35th Ave. in Astoria’s Kaufman Arts District.
Snubbed 2: The Performances is organized by MoMI Curator of Film Eric Hynes, Associate Curator of Film Edo Choi, and Michael Koresky, who’s co-editor of the Reverse Shot publication.
Images: Museum of the Moving Image