“Glory” (1989)
Washington lost his “Cry Freedom” Oscar to Sean Connery in “The Untouchables,” but he didn’t have to wait long to pick one up — two years later, he beat out Marlon Brando, Martin Landau, Danny Aiello and Dan Aykroyd for his performance in Ed Zwick’s “Glory.” Like “Cry Freedom,” it’s a white man’s black history movie, with a miscast liberal hero (Matthew Broderick), and black characters that aren’t much more than archetypes. But there’s no denying that Zwick makes his tale of the 54th Massachussets regiment, one of the first all-black units in the Union army in the Civil War, work like gangbusters, and Washington, whose big-screen career was still on the rise, was the stand-out in a strong cast. As freed slave Trip, he’s as prickly and vengeful as Biko was calm and saintly, and is a much needed stand-in for the contemporary black voice in the film. But when the time comes, he’s just as heroic as any of his comrades. Were there better performances in his career, more deserving of an Oscar? Sure (see the next entry). But this was the part that put him on the path from ridiculously handsome character actor to bona-fide A-lister, so we don’t begrudge him that win, especially as he is so strong in the film.
“Malcolm X” (1992)
Washington had already played divisive leader Malcolm X once, on stage in 1981 in the play “When The Chickens Come Home To Roost,” but despite that, and him being the first choice of Norman Jewison, who was originally set to direct the project before Spike Lee came on board, it proved to be a controversial piece of casting, with some members of the black community angry that Washington was too light-skinned, had the wrong hair color, was too much of a sex symbol, to play Malcolm X. They needn’t have worried: Washington gives a performance so towering, so titanic, that it could have filled all five slots on this list. To be accurate, it’s closer to three performances — the zoot-suited hustler of the opening act, the firecracker orator rising through the ranks of the Nation of Islam, and the more serene man that returns from Mecca — but Washington lends something that makes the three cohere. Lee’s film has its problems, but its star delivers a perfect turn, letting us see every facet of the man and the icon, and you suspect it’ll never be equalled in his career. The idea that he lost the Oscar to Al Pacino in “Scent Of A Woman” makes us feel a little bit ill.
