1940 – Henry Fonda
The Grapes of Wrath
Now here was an Oscar-worthy performance. Fonda had gravitas, screen presence, great acting chops, and a very well-written script. The entire cast was good. Even the extras. But Fonda stood out as a cut above the rest, save one. Jane Darwell, who played his mother, may have out-shined him, but that’s debatable. They were both so good. Fonda was perfectly cast.
For one thing, he really looked the part, and not just on the surface. Watch his eyes. Just like the character of Tom Joad, his face had both innocence and a barely hidden darkness. There was kindness and an unmistakable propensity for violence. There was the desire to be good, and a comfortableness for being bad. Fonda was able to bring all these things to the character. And more than that, it all appeared to be a part of not just the character, but the actor as well.
You see, Tom’s character arch starts off with him being on parole, freshly out of prison. He’d been incarcerated for murder, and he seemed to have no compunctions about letting people know his crime. But the story took place in the Great Depression, and I imagine there were a lot of angry young men during that difficult time in history. But despite his sordid past, he was constantly trying to be a good son, a good worker, a good man. It was only when he began to see the widespread injustice being visited upon the common folk of the land, tho poor, the downtrodden, that he allowed his anger to control him. He witnessed a friend getting killed by the well-to-do men of the law, and he lashed out in rage, killing yet again. By the end of the film, he had to go on the run to avoid being taken back to prison. The movie was actually kind of a downer. But Fonda played the part in such a way that despite the tragic and depressing circumstances of the times, he retained that innocence. It made the character redeemable and almost justified in his actions. That dichotomy must have been difficult to portray, but Fonda did it with room to spare. He was just a great actor. Actually, I’ve never seen him play a part badly in any movie. In fact, I might have voted for him to take home the 1940 Best Actor award instead of James Stewart.