Is The Lucy MAME Movie Really That Bad?? — Page 2

It may not have been filmed the same way at all. Gene Saks was so concerned with having to shoot Ball in a flattering way (through gauze and vaseline as the joke goes) and shoot around the fact that she was too old to do most of the physical comedy required that it straight-jacketed every shot (remember Mame is on screen 95% of the time). One can only imagine what Saks might have been able to do with a young, vibrant leading lady like Lansbury who didn't care how she was shot, could move and dance as well as anyone in the chorus (footage of her onstage in "It's Today" shows she was a first rate dancer) and perform all of the physical comedy required without a problem. He could have freed his camera to actually move and it would have added a real vibrancy and energy to the proceedings. Lansbury's presence alone would have turned a fiasco into -- at the very least -- a pretty good movie.

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I will not say it's a great film. It did always cross my mind how someone like Gene Saks, who directed it on B-way turned it into a mish-mash, but the same thing goes for The Last of the Red Hot Lovers which was also a BOMB, which Saks directed on b-way too. It's a mystery we shall never know the answer too. It would be nice to have either a nice remake or tv-production of it. I did hear that they wanted to do something like that, rumor had it once that Cher was in the running to play MAME.

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MAME is to movies what IN MY LIFE is to stage musicals.

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So bad, I love it.

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Remember on I Love Lucy when Ricky would never let Lucy into the show because she couldn't sing and dance? Well, Lucy finally found someone who would let her into the show. And she stinks.

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Don't get me started on this ****fest. Pardon the language
Lucy looks like Marcia Cross in most of her closeups. She sings like a frog and well...does dancing really make her that happy?

I love this film and will defend it to my dying day. That's the great thing about this board - we all can talk about our likes, dislikes and our opinions.

Case in point, "Departed," which one Best Picture last year at The Oscars, I thought was probably one of the worst films I've ever seen. It was so predictable......every cop was on the take, the Boston accents came and went, Jack Nicholson was so over the top as he always is nowadays. People get upset when he's not playing "Jack." And, that closing shot of the mouse at the end of the movie. A piece of trash film.

Why dig up a three year old thread just to say you hated the movie?

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"What a shame Lansbury did not do it"

Why? Only three years earlier she starred in a big screen Disney musical "Bedknobs And Broomsticks" and she wasn't particularly good or memorable in it. Her talents didn't keep it from bombing.

I find Bedknobs and Broomsticks an infinately more successful film than Mame. It is flawed, but not the cinematic dog that Mame is.

To me Lansbury is a joy to watch in B&B. Her "Age of Not Believing" is thoughtful, matter-of-fact, and poignant.

I think Margo's thoughts on what the film might have been if Lansbury was in it are right on target.

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The producer actually told Jerry Herman, "One day, you'll thank me for this." It was in that book, A Fine Romance.

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I've only seen it once, but I enjoyed it. It's strange, I don't know whether it was for camp value or if I genuinely enjoyed the film...maybe a bit of both.

It's just too bad that the dvd of "Mame" doesn't have any bonus materials.....no extra features. Back then, no one thought to save deleted scenes and featurettes and the like.

When "Mame" was being filmed, it got TONS of publicity and Lucy did a lot of press for the film.