Mommie Dearest- Page 2

[StockardFan]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 12:54pm

Oh that's ok! Thanks though!

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 3:02pm

Dunaway gave one of the best performances of the eighties in MD....rivaled only by Isabelle Adjani in POSESSION for total stylized unhinged-ness. You don't see actors going this far out on a limb anymore. You really don't.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 3:18pm

I thought Day Lewis in THERE WILL BE BLOOD hit some bold new heights of unhingedness in the final scene.

MOMMIE DEAREST is a dreadfully bad film that has what should have been the performance of a lifetime from Faye Dunaway. There was a fascinating film about Joan Crawford to be made starring Dunaway, it's a shame we're stuck with the muckraking crap of MOMMIE DEAREST.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 3:52pm

Oh please get off your high horses! It was a celebrity biopic of a larger than life dragon lady. Well made, well acted and fabulously entertaining.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 3:53pm

well acted

Especially Diana Scarwid!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 3:59pm

I remember seeing it in the theater and not knowing what to think- was it bad? Was it good? Was Dunawway great or awful? And while I had no idea who Diana Scarwid was there was SOMETHING about that performance. We talked about it in an acting class and I think it was the first time I ever realized that you don't HAVE to give a naturalistic performance in a role. The whole film strikes me now as an homage to the 30's and 40's women's pictures, where each act is slightly over dramatized, each small gesture a portent of the disaster to come. Anyway I guess I understand that it might not be to everyone's cup of tea but it's not mindless trash- there is some incredible craft to that film.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 4:00pm

Do you like it, Phyllis? I'd love to get your perspective!

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 4:13pm

If we're on our high horse for thinking the film crap, what horse are you on, who think it art?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 4:17pm

What horse am I on? I'm on the horse you rode in on right now. You're next.
Updated On: 12/12/08 at 04:17 PM

[Elphaba]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 4:18pm

thank you Joe and Phyllis, I totally agree. And it's a Hell of a lot of fun!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 4:50pm

Joe, I never know when you are kidding or not. For the record, I think Diana Scarwid is atrocious in it. Granted, I've not seen the entire Scarwid oeuvre, but it was the late nineties before I ever saw in something where she was anything but dead-eyed and monotone.

As for the movie, I haven't seen it in a long time, but I remember appreciating it for its camp value; however, several years ago it was on in the other room and I was half-listening to it, and it was just kind of gruesome to hear without the visuals. It kind of made me think about how awful it would be to be an abused child and have your story become a camp classic on film. That said, I understand that the charges lodged against Crawford may have been exaggerated, but I guess I just find the whole thing a little skeevy.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 4:59pm

Crawford was seriously, probably bi-polar.

But back to the movie! Don't forget Rutanya Alda as the enabling hanger-on assistant! She reminds me of what Mrs. Danvers must have been like before Rebecca croaked.

Alda shows up on the "Hollywood Royalty" DVD. She looks great!

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 5:19pm

You always DID know where to find the boys AND the booze.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 7:12pm

Rare Color Joan Crawford clip.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 11:32pm

I've always wanted to teach a film class to discuss the intentions of the director and writer, and if it is really good or really bad.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/12/08 at 11:33pm

And doesn't the book Mommie Dearest claim that Crawford and her assistant slept in the same bed?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 1:07am

Of course if she was abused it's horrible- But if Christina made it all up to make her mom look bad she's horrible too. I think two people can have two entirely different perspectives on the exact same actions too.

It gets interesting because there are people who insist Crawford was a great mom to those kids- and people who worked with her and thought she was nuts. Read about her behavior during "Baby Jane" and you can totally believe she was nuts. Or at least I can.

My favorite Crawford legend was that she claimed to have sucked every dick in Hollywood. Of course, Rock Hudson had zero interest in her and she said she understood but wanted to be friends. She invited him over for a swim in the pool, and when he was showering in the pool house after, she turned off the light and came into the shower stall. As she kneeled down she said "It's dark--you can pretend I'm Tab Hunter"

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 1:19am

I watched a Joan Crawford biography, not that long ago, where one of her other daughters, who talked like a zombie without ever moving anything but her mouth, called Christina's stories hogwash. I can't get the moment where she said, again in zombie-like tones, "I just adored mother" or something to that extent.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 2:28am

She was one of the twins who weren't really twins, right?

There is a truly bizarre anecdote in Bette Davis's daughter's book, My Mother's Keeper, where on the set of Baby Jane, Joan holds court with Bette's daughter BD, points out her twin daughters and tells her to stay away from them because they are nice, clean girls who shouldn't be sullied with the likes of her, or something like that/

[StockardFan]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 10:01am

This is actually a pretty interesting subject!

[Auggie27]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 3:10pm

less frequently quoted, equally memorable:

"You don't know what hard feelings are."

"Hollywood royalty?"

"It's done, Joan."

"They asked me how I would describe the marriage of the soft drink king and the queen of Hollywood -- I said 'it's a helluva match!"

"Joan, fans have wri-ten that you must be proud of Christina... "

"Who wants to go swimming?!"

"Hello, Daddy."

"That's all he gave you?" "Yeah, that's it."

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 4:44pm

I have a hardbound copy of her book, "My Way Of Life" SOMEWHERE, and it's filled with stories about how to make a 'nice household' that makes Martha Stewart look totally sane.

One of the quotes I remember was how she always served vegetables that matched the color scheme of the holiday (Red and Green for Christmas, Orange for Halloween, Browns for Thanksgiving, etc.)

The book is out of print, but I want to turn it into a one-woman show, as if Joan was still alive and she was the new 'Martha'.

And yes, she talks about 'a well disciplined child..."


Don't believe me, read some reviews!

Updated On: 12/13/08 at 04:44 PM

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/13/08 at 5:11pm

"Box Office Poison?!"

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 12/14/08 at 2:00pm

Another favorite moment: Mara Hobel, with the gravitas of a full-blown adult, looking at the ceiling and groaning "Jee-sus Christ!"

[Auggie27]

Posted: 12/14/08 at 2:46pm

Rutanya Alda's performance as the beleagured Carol Ann is THE classic portrayal of codependency on screen. Especially when she's explaining MILDREN PIERCE to Christina, how Joan had to play the role based on identification. Christina look at her like "you are bananas, lady." But I'll never forget sitting in the theater -- the East 80's, I think it's gone, now -- when they first cut to Carol Ann in old age (senior class play styled) make up. The place roared. They turn her into the Ruth Buzzi LAUGH-IN lady, minus the hairnet.