Today’s Recall the Gold examines the 1998 campaign for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The winner that year was James Coburn for his turn as Nick Nolte’s drunken, abusive father in Affliction. Coburn was a beloved Hollywood vet who’d never won an Oscar, and it seemed Hollywood was paying him tribute with an overdue honor. I think, however, that Coburn actually deserved the award that year for his truly frightening turn. His chief competition was probably Ed Harris as the godlike overseer in The Truman Show, the biggest hit among the Supporting Actor nominees. Harris did a typically fine, subtle job in the role, as did Robert Duvall as the wily corporate lawyer in A Civil Action; both men made sympathetic characters out of roles that, in lesser hands, could have been cartoon villains. Even subtler (and heartbreaking) was Billy Bob Thornton as the troubled simpleton in A Simple Plan; had more people seen the film, and had he not just won for writing himself a similar character in Sling Blade a couple years earlier, he might have taken home the trophy. Geoffrey Rush’s chances were probably hurt as well from his recent victory in Shine, but he was very funny (and broadly hammy) as the exasperated theatrical manager in Shakespeare in Love.
Looking back from today’s perspective, which of these performances doyou think is the best? Vote in our poll, and list your comments below.(For a refresher, watch the clips embedded after the jump, whichmay contain some NSFW language.) Remember, we’ll be running the Recall the Gold surveys every Tuesdayand Thursday until January, so you may go back at any time and vote inthe other polls (click hereto see them all), reexamining the Oscar races of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25years ago. On Thursday, October 23, we’ll look at the 2003 Best Supporting Actresscompetition. Watch also for commentary and context throughout EW.com,including on Dave Karger’s new Oscar Watch blog.
James Coburn’s Oscar victory for Affliction, with short excerpts of all five nominated performances
Robert Duvall in A Civil Action
Ed Harris in The Truman Show
Geoffrey Rush in Shakespeare in Love
Billy Bob Thornton in A Simple Plan
UPDATE: A correction has been made to the text above, where I accidentally referred to Coburn’s movie once as Addiction. D’oh!
I think there might be an inherent flaw in the polls here…people will naturally gravitate towards the films that are still relevant as opposed to focusing on the performances themselves. So I think down the line, you’re going to see a proportional vote to how the film did at the box office and its current place in the cultural pantheon. This is not necessarily problematic; maybe because Truman Show is still the most relevant of these films, Ed Harris should have been recognized for his part. But I’m not sure this results in a frank assessment of the actual quality of the performances.
First, Gary, you call the movie ADDICTION in your post, but it’s actually AFFLICTION…
And too bad you couldn’t find a Shakespeare in Love clip with more Geoffrey Rush! He’s fab in the movie, but he’s hardly in the clip… 
This is why I’m glad the public doesn’t vote on the Oscars.
Broadly hammy?
This might be the first time I’ve ever seen the words “Ed Harris” and “subtle” in the same sentence.
Coburn def deserved to win – his performance, the film itself, it so rough, its almost hard to watch. But would like to have given the other 4 smaller oscars -they were all sooo good – each def deserved to be nominated.
Geoffrey Rush is one of my real favorites, and is fantastic in “Shakespeare in Love”, but he was better in another film that year, “Elizabeth” .
Please do one of these “RECALL THE GOLD” on:
2000 Best Actress: should have gone to Ellen Burstyn for “Requiem for a Dream” NOT Julia Roberts for “Erin Brockevich”
Also, the 1980 Best Actress race: although Sally Field was amazing in “Norma Rae”, the gold should have gone to Bette Midler in “The Rose”.
Thank you.
uh joseph fiennes for Elizabeth or Shakespeare in Love. Poor guy got overlooked. I love Geoffery Rush though.
James totally deserved it for Affliction. Great performance.
I remember I didn’t see James Coburn’s performance til after the Oscars…and at the time of the Oscars, I thought “he won? no one was talking about him at all as a possible winner”…but once you actually saw his performance, he totally deserved it.
How about John Goodman in “Big Lebowski” or Bill Murray in “Rushmore.” Not even nominated. WTFF!?
This is the first do-over that I haven’t repeated the actual winner. Billy Bob got robbed.
Ed Harris gave a superb performance in “The Truman Show” IMHO. I think the Oscar belonged to him in ’98.
James Coburn totally deserved that award.