RIP Ray Liotta

rags747

rags747

Well-Known Member
Messages
7,595
Reaction score
8,105
RIP Ray Liotta. A truly iconic role in Goodfellas, one of the best ever imo. How the hell he doesn't get an Oscar nomination for Goodfellas I don’t know. Who won it that year? 67 way so young, you just never know, live it up today baby, tomorrow is not guaranteed for anyone!
 
FloridaRob

FloridaRob

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,434
Reaction score
1,938
I am the same age as Ray. And yea, way too young. I loved his movies. Field Of Dreams and Heartbreakers were my favorite movies of his. Also when he played a bad cop in Unlawful Entry to Goldie Hawns husband whatever his name is. He could do drama and comedy with equal greatness. RIP Ray. You were one of the best.
 
DallasEast

DallasEast

Cowboys 24/7/365
Staff member
Messages
58,497
Reaction score
56,146
CowboysZone ULTIMATE Fan
rags747 said:
RIP Ray Liotta. A truly iconic role in Goodfellas, one of the best ever imo. How the hell he doesn't get an Oscar nomination for Goodfellas I don’t know. Who won it that year? 67 way so young, you just never know, live it up today baby, tomorrow is not guaranteed for anyone!
Click to expand...
It was 1991. And the Academy had their stupid five nomination restriction back then.

He could have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor but would have arguably still lost, like the other actual nominees, to his Goodfellas co-star Joe Pesci. Liotta's nomination would have pushed out either:

Bruce Davison, Longtime Companion
Andy Garcia, The Godfather, Part III
Graham Greene, Dances With Wolves
Al Pacino, Dick Tracy

In my opinion, Al Pacino received his nomination (in all due respect to his performance) as a concession for not getting a Best Actor nomination for The Godfather, Part III. Davison, Garcia and Greene were all better in their films than Pacino's Big Boy Caprice in Dick Tracy. It does not happen often but Goodfellas should have received double Best Supporting Actor nominations for Pesci and Liotta. Just my opnion.

Liotta and Pesci's performances were both similar, which made it *unlikely* Liotta would have gotten a Best Actor nomination. If he had been nominated though in that category, he would have faced off against ANOTHER Goodfellas co-star in Robert De Niro, who was nominated for another film, Awakenings, and sentimental Dances with Wolves favorite Ken Costner. The category also included Gerard Depardieu, Cyrano de Bergerac, and Richard Harris for The Field.

I think it would have been extremely difficult for Liotta to push any of that group out. If he had, I think it would have been De Niro. Depardieu was getting tons of gaga press. Harris' performance was number two out of the bunch in my book. Costner? Dances with Wolves was the *it* movie that season. I doubt Costner would have been left out.

And the fifth Best Actor nominee? Jeremy Irons. He won a bucket load of Best Actor awards for Reversal of Fortune. No way Liotta would have replaced him.

As far as the Oscars are concerned, Liotta's great performance was a victim of timing. If the Academy had removed their stick out of their butt back in the late 1970's, when Hollywood started getting more than enough deserving movies and performances annually, they would have stopped being snobbish and increased their nomination limit. Even a limit of seven or eight nominees would have gotten Liotta a surefire nod that year. Pathetic.
 
JohnnyTheFox

JohnnyTheFox

Achilleslastand
Messages
9,879
Reaction score
19,021
rags747 said:
RIP Ray Liotta. A truly iconic role in Goodfellas, one of the best ever imo. How the hell he doesn't get an Oscar nomination for Goodfellas I don’t know. Who won it that year? 67 way so young, you just never know, live it up today baby, tomorrow is not guaranteed for anyone!
Click to expand...

Best actor was Jeremy Irons-Reversal of Fortune. Joe Pesci did win best supporting actor though. Dances with Wolves won a ton that year.
 
rags747

rags747

Well-Known Member
Messages
7,595
Reaction score
8,105
DallasEast said:
It was 1991. And the Academy had their stupid five nomination restriction back then.

He could have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor but would have arguably still lost, like the other actual nominees, to his Goodfellas co-star Joe Pesci. Liotta's nomination would have pushed out either:

Bruce Davison, Longtime Companion
Andy Garcia, The Godfather, Part III
Graham Greene, Dances With Wolves
Al Pacino, Dick Tracy

In my opinion, Al Pacino received his nomination (in all due respect to his performance) as a concession for not getting a Best Actor nomination for The Godfather, Part III. Davison, Garcia and Greene were all better in their films than Pacino's Big Boy Caprice in Dick Tracy. It does not happen often but Goodfellas should have received double Best Supporting Actor nominations for Pesci and Liotta. Just my opnion.

Liotta and Pesci's performances were both similar, which made it *unlikely* Liotta would have gotten a Best Actor nomination. If he had been nominated though in that category, he would have faced off against ANOTHER Goodfellas co-star in Robert De Niro, who was nominated for another film, Awakenings, and sentimental Dances with Wolves favorite Ken Costner. The category also included Gerard Depardieu, Cyrano de Bergerac, and Richard Harris for The Field.

I think it would have been extremely difficult for Liotta to push any of that group out. If he had, I think it would have been De Niro. Depardieu was getting tons of gaga press. Harris' performance was number two out of the bunch in my book. Costner? Dances with Wolves was the *it* movie that season. I doubt Costner would have been left out.

And the fifth Best Actor nominee? Jeremy Irons. He won a bucket load of Best Actor awards for Reversal of Fortune. No way Liotta would have replaced him.

As far as the Oscars are concerned, Liotta's great performance was a victim of timing. If the Academy had removed their stick out of their butt back in the late 1970's, when Hollywood started getting more than deserving movies and performances annually, they would have stopped being snobbish and increased their nomination limit. Even a limit of seven or eight nominees would have gotten Liotta a surefire nod that year. Pathetic.
Click to expand...
Great roundup of what was going on that year. Thx…
 
Runwildboys

Runwildboys

Confused about stuff
Messages
50,386
Reaction score
94,365
CowboysZone DIEHARD Fan
DallasEast said:
It was 1991. And the Academy had their stupid five nomination restriction back then.

He could have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor but would have arguably still lost, like the other actual nominees, to his Goodfellas co-star Joe Pesci. Liotta's nomination would have pushed out either:

Bruce Davison, Longtime Companion
Andy Garcia, The Godfather, Part III
Graham Greene, Dances With Wolves
Al Pacino, Dick Tracy

In my opinion, Al Pacino received his nomination (in all due respect to his performance) as a concession for not getting a Best Actor nomination for The Godfather, Part III. Davison, Garcia and Greene were all better in their films than Pacino's Big Boy Caprice in Dick Tracy. It does not happen often but Goodfellas should have received double Best Supporting Actor nominations for Pesci and Liotta. Just my opnion.

Liotta and Pesci's performances were both similar, which made it *unlikely* Liotta would have gotten a Best Actor nomination. If he had been nominated though in that category, he would have faced off against ANOTHER Goodfellas co-star in Robert De Niro, who was nominated for another film, Awakenings, and sentimental Dances with Wolves favorite Ken Costner. The category also included Gerard Depardieu, Cyrano de Bergerac, and Richard Harris for The Field.

I think it would have been extremely difficult for Liotta to push any of that group out. If he had, I think it would have been De Niro. Depardieu was getting tons of gaga press. Harris' performance was number two out of the bunch in my book. Costner? Dances with Wolves was the *it* movie that season. I doubt Costner would have been left out.

And the fifth Best Actor nominee? Jeremy Irons. He won a bucket load of Best Actor awards for Reversal of Fortune. No way Liotta would have replaced him.

As far as the Oscars are concerned, Liotta's great performance was a victim of timing. If the Academy had removed their stick out of their butt back in the late 1970's, when Hollywood started getting more than enough deserving movies and performances annually, they would have stopped being snobbish and increased their nomination limit. Even a limit of seven or eight nominees would have gotten Liotta a surefire nod that year. Pathetic.
Click to expand...
Why "Best Supporting Actor", for Goodfellas, when he was the star of the movie?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top