1977: Diane Keaton for Annie Hall

In this Best Picture winner, Diane Keaton plays the title character, a nightclub singer in an on-and-off relationship with Woody Allen, I mean Alvy Singer.

I have mixed feelings about this movie. On the one hand, it's kind of fun and interesting, especially when it breaks the fourth wall, but I really don't understand why it's so often cited as Allen's greatest work. I definitely would enjoy it more if Woody Allen wasn't such a creep, but I know that's not the only reason because I like some of his other films better than this one. That being said, Annie Hall has some great moments, and I appreciate that it's artistically different from most films, so I don't have that much of a problem with it winning Best Picture (I was certainly okay with it back when I was doing that project, since I needed a break from long, epic war films). What I really don't understand is why Diane Keaton won Best Actress.

It's not that she gives a bad performance or anything; it's just that she doesn't get to do much. Even though the film is named after her character, it mostly centers around Alvy. There are many scenes focused on Alvy's relationships with other women, whereas we only really get to see Annie through Alvy's perspective. They have a few interesting scenes together, and she has one memorable catch phrase, but I feel like when someone wins the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, her performance should consist of more than that. The only leading role in this film is Woody Allen's; everyone else is merely a supporting player in his fantasy. He gets all the interesting lines, and for much of the film she's basically reduced to his straight man. She has some good moments, but they're few and far between. All in all, Keaton gives a decent performance - she's convincing in the role, and even has relatively good chemistry with Allen (although I have a hard time figuring out what anyone sees in him) - but not really an Oscar-worthy one.

This was Diane Keaton's first Oscar nomination, and her only win so far. After this, she was nominated once in each of the next three decades: for 1981's Reds, 1996's Marvin's Room, and 2003's Something's Gotta Give. Will she continue the trend and receive a nomination this decade? Or even another win? We'll see.

Next up: Jane Fonda returns for a second win

1976: Faye Dunaway for Network

In this brilliant satire, Dunaway plays Diana Christensen, who is in charge of programming for a TV network. When an old news anchor announces he's going to kill himself on live television because he's being forced to retire, most of the big shots want to get rid of him, but Diana has the idea to give him his own segment where he's allowed to rant and rave about whatever he wants, which turns out to be mostly about how everyone is spending too much time focused on TV rather than real life. Diana is included in this, as evidenced by her failed attempt at a relationship with an older man.

I had seen this once before several years ago, but I mostly just remembered Peter Finch yelling, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" The main thing I could recall about Faye Dunaway from watching it before was that she very noticeably never wore a bra. So I'm glad I watched it again focusing on her performance because there are many more noteworthy aspects than what she was - or wasn't - wearing.

To make satire work in film, the writing has to be kind of ridiculous, but the actors have to sell it. Early in the film, I felt like Dunaway was kind of overselling it, just a bit, but after the first couple of scenes she started nailing it every time. Probably the best example is her sex scene with William Holden. Throughout their entire encounter she rambles on and on about her job and the network, barely even noticing that Holden is there. It's an unusual scene, and she pulls it off brilliantly. It doesn't seem forced; this is just the way her character interacts with people. She has several other scenes like this, where she has to casually show that watching and working for TV has made her extremely callous, that she also does very well. I'd think it would be hard to keep from laughing in some scenes, given how witty the writing is, but her character is never allowed to notice any of the irony or ridiculousness of her situations, so she has to keep a straight face. She does that very well, too. Again, a couple of her scenes early in the movie are a little over-done, but other than that it's a solid performance, in a film full of solid performances.

This movie was nominated for five acting Oscars, and won a record-tying three. Peter Finch became the first actor to win an Oscar posthumously for playing the old, exploited news anchor, and Beatrice Straight gave the shortest ever Oscar winning performance, thoroughly earning Best Supporting Actress with only 5 minutes and 40 seconds of screen time. The film also very deservedly won Best Original Screenplay. I definitely did not fully appreciate the satire the first time I watched this movie, so I'm very glad I had an excuse to watch it again.

This was Faye Dunaway's third and final Oscar nomination, at least so far. She was previously nominated for 1967's Bonnie and Clyde and 1974's Chinatown. She hasn't been in too many movies lately, but as far as I know she hasn't officially retired, so she could still be nominated again.

Coming up next: Diane Keaton, in the sixth Best Picture winner to feature a Best Actress winning performance

1975: Louise Fletcher for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

In this Best Picture winner, the second of three films to win all five major Academy Awards, Louise Fletcher plays the infamous Nurse Ratched, the cold, unfeeling head of the ward in the mental institution where Randle P. McMurphy is sent instead of prison. Though McMurphy does everything he can to bring mayhem to the ward, Nurse Ratched refuses to relinquish her control.

Unless I'm remembering wrong, this is the first time anyone received the Best Actress Oscar for playing the antagonist. There were portrayals of unlikable characters before, but the story was always told from their perspective, or occasionally from their love interest's perspective. I've seen this movie a couple times before, but because I was specifically watching for her this viewing, it was the first time that I noticed that Nurse Ratched actually doesn't appear in very much of the movie. We mostly see McMurphy and the inmates without her around. Yet her presence permeates the entire film. She is the most disturbing character in a profoundly disturbing story. I don't really like McMurphy, but he's infinitely preferable to Ratched.

The fact that Nurse Ratched is often cited as one of the greatest movie villains of all time proves that Fletcher did an amazing job of portraying her. Usually acting requires a lot of different facial expressions; her character requires two. She's always either firmly emotionless or angry, and the only time she's angry is towards the end. The vast majority of her performance is made up of a blank face and a calm voice. I can't even imagine the amount of focus and willpower it must have taken to maintain that demeanor, especially when the rest of the characters were literally going crazy around her. But she managed it, and while it's usually not very complimentary to say a performance has no expression, it was perfect for this character. Because she is in so little of the film, there isn't much time to develop her character, yet she has to be seen as the villain for the story to work. Thus the audience has to strongly dislike her throughout the film without having much time to get to know her, and it's Fletcher's chilling, almost inhuman performance that makes this possible. Jack Nicholson's incredible and all, but without Louise Fletcher, I don't think this film would be nearly so highly acclaimed.

This was Fletcher's only Academy Award nomination, which makes sense because I feel like it's pretty much the only thing she's known for, especially as far as movies are concerned. She has appeared on a lot of TV shows, but they've mostly been single-episode guest appearances. I think she's still working, though, so there's still a chance that she'll give another Oscar-winning performance someday. But even if she doesn't, her iconic performance in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest has already ensured that her name will be remembered for a very long time.

Up next: Faye Dunaway, in the second, and so far last, movie to win three acting Academy Awards

1974: Ellen Burstyn for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

As the title character, Burstyn plays a housewife living in Socorro, New Mexico. When her husband dies, she decides to take her 11-year-old son to her hometown of Monterey, California so she can start a new life there as a singer. The only problem is, she doesn't have enough money to get there, but she is determined to overcome that and any other obstacles she may face.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this movie because I had a lot of trouble finding a way to watch it. The library didn't have it, I couldn't find a way to buy a copy for a reasonable price, and it wasn't on any of the usual streaming websites. Ultimately I ended up renting it on demand, which I really didn't want to do, but I am just as determined to watch all the Best Actress winners in order as Alice was to get to Monterey, so I had to cave in and pay the $3.99. After watching it, I'm sad this movie isn't more readily available because it's actually quite good, and I think other people would like it if they had an easier way to watch it.

Burstyn's performance overall is wonderful. My main criticism would be that her singing isn't really that great for someone who's only ever made her living as a singer, but I think that enhances the character. It makes her situation seem more desperate and hopeless that her only job experience is at something she's not even very good at to begin with. By far the best aspect of her performance is her interaction with the kid who played her son. They have one of the most believable mother-son dynamics I've ever seen portrayed on screen, although maybe I just think that because pieces of it reminded me of the way my mom and my brother interact. The way they jokingly tease each other and share fun moments that no one else would really understand: I've seen that in real life a lot, but I hardly ever see it on the screen. So that was my favorite part.

In addition to her relationship with her son, I found most other aspects of her character very believable because she embodies them so well: the frustrated but still devoted wife, the wannabe singer, the disappointed waitress. The only thing I didn't find believable was her relationship with Kris Kristofferson's character. They keep saying they're in love, but they don't really act like it. It's not even that they have a dysfunctional relationship that they've mistaken for love; it's more like they have no relationship. He just kind of appears out of nowhere and suddenly they're sort of involved, but we don't really see them interact that much, and they don't have very good chemistry. I don't think he should be billed as her co-star; the story's mostly about Alice and her son, not Alice and random sort-of-lover-boy. But other than that, it's a moving performance in an engaging story, and I'm very glad I found a way to watch it.

Ellen Burstyn has been nominated for six Academy Awards: five Best Actress and one Best Supporting Actress. She was first nominated for her supporting role in 1971's The Last Picture Show. She was then nominated for 1973's The Exorcist before winning for this movie. After this she was nominated for 1978's Same Time, Next Year, 1980's Resurrection, and 2000's Requiem for a Dream. Burstyn is now in her 80s, but she's still working, so it's possible she'll receive another nomination, or even another win, at some point. We'll have to wait and see.

Next up: Louise Fletcher, in the fifth Best Picture Winner to feature a Best Actress winning performance, and the first in 33 years.

1973: Glenda Jackson for A Touch of Class

In her second Oscar winning performance, Jackson plays a recent divorcee who runs into a married man and decides to have a brief affair with him. The affair gets off to a very rocky start, but eventually they start to care for each other and try to keep it going longer than they originally intended. But he's still devoted to his wife and kids, which makes things complicated.

There's a little bit of a kick to it, but mostly this is a fairly typical romantic comedy, which is not at all typical Oscar fare. So I was very surprised to learn that it was actually nominated for Best Picture. It lost to The Sting, which was definitely the right choice. But I actually enjoyed this movie a lot more than I thought I was going to, and certainly way more than Glenda Jackson's previous Oscar-winning movie, Women in Love. At least A Touch of Class is entertaining, and Jackson actually gets more of a chance to demonstrate her talent. She has such a fabulous speaking voice, and her delivery of sassy comebacks is simply marvelous. Particularly in the first half of the movie, that's most of what her role consists of, so it works out perfectly. She and George Segal play off each other remarkably well, although they are one of the weirdest couples ever and I'm not sure why someone would think to put them in a movie starring opposite each other. But it actually works. I wouldn't call this one of the best movies ever, or even one of the best rom coms ever, but it's surprisingly entertaining. Jackson's performance isn't mind-blowing or anything, but it's still good. Most of the movie's flaws - like she's a single mom and we never see her kids after the first scene - have to do with the writing and the story itself, rather than her performance. Her character's a little on the ridiculous side, but she clearly had fun with the role, which is what was required. Was it an Oscar-worthy performance? Probably not. I haven't seen any of the other performances she was nominated against (yes, I'm admitting that I haven't seen The Exorcist) so I'm not sure if hers was the best, but I would be very surprised if it was. That being said, far worse performances have won this award, and I'm not at all sorry I had to watch this movie.

This was Jackson's second of two Oscars, and third of four nominations. Her final nomination was for 1975's Hedda. I haven't seen her in much else, but I'm pretty sure that she, like many actresses, didn't win Oscars for her best performances. She did win an Emmy for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in the 1971 mini-series "Elizabeth R," which I remember being a fantastic performance, although it's been a while since I watched it. Jackson continued acting until 1992, when she was elected to Parliament, making her the first, and so far only, Oscar-winning British MP. She decided to stand down this year, but whether she will return to the screen or simply retire (she is 79 years old, after all) only time will tell.

Next up: Ellen Burstyn

1972: Liza Minnelli for Cabaret

In this disturbing, thought-provoking musical, Liza Minnelli plays Sally Bowles, an American performer working at a cabaret in 1931 Berlin. Sally's too busy having a good time and trying to become an actress to worry about politics, but 1931 Berlin is a time and place when everyone should worry about politics.

Every time I watch this movie, I am in awe of how well done it is. The way the silly, dramatic cabaret numbers are set up to mirror the very serious, devastating events that are happening outside conveys a powerful message without belaboring it. And it's impossible to talk about this movie without mentioning Joel Grey's incredible, eerie portrayal of the Master of Ceremonies, which very deservedly earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. But despite the fact that Grey kind of steals the movie, Minnelli's performance is also quite stunning, and certainly Oscar-worthy.

For one thing, she has a killer voice, so her songs are fabulous. The way she belts out the title number still gives me chills, and it's one of my most-played songs. She also does some great dancing, especially in "Mein Herr." Her performance would be worth watching for the musical aspect alone, but it's not just the singing and dancing; her acting is spot-on as well. She perfectly embodies every aspect of this character. She delivers her lines, some of which are very bizarre, as though it's exactly the way she always talks. Maybe it is, but I kind of doubt it. Sally is utterly ridiculous, and I've never met anyone remotely like her, but I still find her believable. It would have been very easy, especially with that makeup, to ruin the character by going way over-the-top with this performance, but Minnelli refrains from doing so. Not to say that she's never over-the-top, but it's only when it makes sense for the character to be over-the-top. Basically, Liza Minnelli is perfect for this role, and her performance is incredible to watch. If you haven't seen it, you're missing out.

Given that she's the daughter of Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli, Liza surprised exactly no one by ending up in the entertainment field. She made her first appearance in a movie when she was a toddler. However, most of her career has been spent on the stage, so this is her only Academy Award. She was nominated for Best Actress once before, for 1969's The Sterile Cuckoo. She's still around, but she hasn't made any movies for a while so I'm pretty sure this will remain her only Oscar. It's also her most famous, and quite possibly best, performance, which is unusual.

Coming up next: Glenda Jackson's second win

1971: Jane Fonda for Klute

In her first Oscar winning performance, Jane Fonda plays Bree Daniels, a call girl with a homicidal stalker. Private Detective John Klute thinks that her stalker might be connected with his missing friend, and the two of them develop an interesting relationship as they try to track him down.

This was my first time watching this movie, and I really need to watch it again at some point because I was kind of confused for a lot of it. But it was very different from the confusion I felt when watching the previous year's winner, Women in Love. I still haven't figured out why that won Best Actress. With Klute, however, that was the thing I was least confused about. The movie kind of dragged and I wasn't sure I always understood what was going on, but Fonda's acting was superb.

The way the story works depends largely on the audience's perception of Fonda's character. She does a remarkable job of making Bree sympathetic enough for us to be completely on her side while still portraying her as a deeply flawed human being - which in a way makes her even more sympathetic. Though the movie is named after Donald Sutherland's character, and I guess you'd call him the protagonist, Bree is really the central focus of most of the film. There isn't a lot of dialogue; most of the talking comes from tape recordings and sessions with her psychiatrist. This allows us to see her from different perspectives: in the actions of her daily life and in the recordings, she is generally manipulative and self-controlled, but with her psychiatrist she is vulnerable and honest. As her relationship with Klute develops, and as it becomes more and more clear that someone is indeed trying to kill her, that vulnerability begins to appear more and more outside the psychiatrist's office. Fonda makes the audience feel not only that Bree is a real person, but also that we know her inside and out. We understand her fears and insecurities, even as she tries so desperately to hide them from the rest of the world. Without such a deep connection between the audience and Bree, the movie could not have worked. Thanks to Fonda, it does. It's really as simple as that. Sutherland and the other actors do a good job, too - although I swear the creepy guy seems like a different person every time we see him - but it's her performance that brings it all together.

Being the daughter of legendary screen star Henry Fonda, it's not too surprising that Jane turned out to be an incredible actress. She has been nominated for seven Oscars - six Best Actress and one Best Supporting Actress - and won two. This was her second nomination, the first being for 1969's They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Her third nomination was for 1977's Julia, and then she won for her fourth nomination for 1978's Coming Home. So I'll be talking about that before too long. But next up is Liza Minnelli, another daughter of a legendary screen star.