Mommie Dearest!!! Extended Cut Special Edition!!! Will it ever come??? (1 Viewer)

[Will Krupp]

Well, I'll agree that she IS startling and ferocious!

 

[Claude North]

Warners has commentaries by Lipsynka and Charles Busch planned for their re-release of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, which I found disappointing.

Personally, I loathe the overuse of the word 'camp' to describe anything that doesn't conform to an ultra-ironic, hipper-than-thou, above-it-all mentality. I suspect it's only a matter of time before Citizen Kane and Grand Illusion are labeled as camp.

Having watched Mommie Dearest many times, I think it has more to offer than mere campy thrills, and I wish Paramount had lined up a commentator who could provide a fresh outlook on the film.

 

[Mark B]

ARRRGH! It's bad enough he sat with Patty McCormick and ruined what could have been great due to his interrupting her in mid-sentence (leaving her with many unfinished thoughts which I wanted to hear the rest of) and not having his facts straight. He didn't do his research, threw out false information, and treated the film as a joke. Disgusting. Some of us love these films as films; not as something to laught at and to use as inspiration for a drag act.

 

[Thomas T]

It might also be noted that Faye Dunaway almost won the New York Film Critics Award for best actress in 1981 for Mommie Dearest. She was the second runner up in votes after the winner, Glenda Jackson for Stevie and ahead of third runner up Diane Keaton for Reds.

 

[Will Krupp]

I have to say Thomas, I think you're just plain wrong about what that Pauline Kael quote is saying about Dunaway's performance. Ferocious, extravagant, operatic, and self-mesmerized are NOT ringing endorsements of her performance. They are, however, accurate adjectives to describe her unrestrained and over-the-top star turn.

What Kael is actually saying is that, as bad as the movie is (and she IS saying that it's bad), it doesn't get in the way of its star playing it for all that she's worth. The problem with Faye Dunaway, like Bette Davis before her, is that she needs a strong director to restrain her into a sublime performance.

I was twelve when the movie came out and I saw it in its first week of release. I also remember the reviews at the time and, if it wasn't universally panned, the critics were overwhelmingly negative in their comments. In the first few weeks it looked like a box-office bomb until the crowds started coming to laugh at it. I can also clearly remember when they changed the marketing concept to play up its "camp" aspects (the new logo was a giant wire hanger with the words "The Biggest Mother of Them All" written across the top of it.)

And the sad fact remains that no one's career (with the possible exception of Howard DaSilva's) survived this. IF you love the movie, great. If you think Dunaway gives her best performance, so be it. Let's not rewrite history, though. In 1981 Faye Dunaway was a respected actress and A-List star, but just three years later she was reduced to "special guest villain" status in SUPERGIRL and it's not just because of THE CHAMP.

 

[Thomas T]

Well, Will, it's clear you are as clueless about Kael as you are about Dunaway's performance. There's no need to "interpret" Kael, she wrote in plain English. Trust me, I know people who knew Kael and she admired Dunaway's performance and judging from Dunaway's placing in the 1981 Film Critics Awards, Kael was not alone. You wanted a "restrained" performance by Dunaway in Mommie Dearest ... LOL ... she was playing Joan f***ing Crawford for God's sake! Even Kael when watching Dunaway play out a scene from Mildred Pierce noted that it illuminating to see Pierce played by a "real" actress.

No one is trying to re-write history. No one is trying to make claims about Mommie Dearest as cinema. As a film, it is ultimately a failure, no one disputes that. Dunaway's work, as Kael noted, transcends the jumbled mess that was/is Mommie Dearest. That Dunaway's career suffered because of Mommie Dearest may or may not be fact. Her subsequent career choices of films like The Wicked Lady or Burning Secret wouldn't have done Meryl Streep's career any good either. The fact remains she gives an astonishing performance in a film whose quality fails to match her work.

Great performances in mediocre films happen all the time. For example, Jessica Lange deservedly won a best actress Oscar for Blue Sky. The film, however, is almost inadequate in every other respect, so much so that it sat on the shelf for almost 3 years before being let out of the can.

That Dunaway gives a poor performance is your opinion. That Dunaway gives a great performance is fact. And by the way, Dunaway is pretty damn good in Supergirl too and no is is not an endorsement of the film.

 

[Brian W.]

That Dunaway gives a great performance is fact.

No, Thomas, that's your opinion. You can't prove she gave a great performance any more than Will can prove she gave a poor one. There's nothing provable about this either way. It's all opinion.

My opinion: A performance can't be truly great if it's unintentionally humorous.

An alternate opinion: Her performance has very clearly stood the test of time... people are still watching and arguing about the film. Some might think that in itself meets the definition of great.

 

[Ruz-El]

I'll probably pick this up BECAUSE of the John Waters Commentary. He's always entertaining to listen to, and he has spoken highly of this film in the past.

 

[Thomas T]

Brian, some things are facts and some things are opinion.

You and I, Brian, are sitting on a bench and I observe how blue the sky is. That is a fact. You state that it is my opinion but the sky is gray, not blue. Actually, to YOU the sky is gray when in fact it IS blue. When I yank off the shades you're wearing, you will acknowledge that the sky IS, indeed, blue and the shades colored your judgement. When I stated the sky is blue, was I giving an opinion or a fact?

Is Lawrence Of Arabia a great film? I suppose it is. It's greatly admired it and influential. Do I like it? Not very much. Because I don't like it, does that make it a poor film? I just leave it and take it that others see something there that I clearly don't. There are many other films admired I don't particularly care for. It's A Wonderful Life, The Wizard Of Oz, 2001 A Space Odyssey among them. Are they great films? Not to me they aren't but I wouldn't be so presumptuous as to say it's merely someone's opinion they are great films.

 

[Will Krupp]

Oh My God Thomas, lighten up already! Recognizing that Dunaway gives a great performance is the same as seeing that the sky is blue??? You've got to be kidding!

As I said before, if you love her in this then great. I will never agree and I can assure you that I am neither clueless, mentally challenged, nor missing anything (and I'm not wearing shades either.)

And just so we're clear, a performance does not have to be quiet to be restrained. I was never suggesting that she play this caricature of Joan Crawford like a nun.

LARENCE, WIZARD OF OZ, and 2001 are universally praised as great cinema, Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford is not. If you want to believe it's great art, then it's great art to you. I believe it's self indulgent crap, therefore it's self-indulgent crap to me. And please don't insinuate I'm somehow stupid or presumptuous for not agreeing with you.

Thanks

 

[Corey]

Paramount Home Entertainment have announced the Region 1 DVD release of Mommie Dearest: Hollywood Royalty Edition for 6th June 2006. Outrageous and controversial, this is the story of legendary movie star Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway) as she struggles for her career and battles the inner demons of her private life. This torment was manifested in her relationships with her adopted children, Christina (Diana Scarwid) and Christopher (Xander Berkeley). The public Crawford was a strong-willed, glamorous object of admiration, but Mommie Dearest reveals the private Crawford, the woman desperate to be a mother, adopting her children when she was single and trying to survive in a devastating industry that swallows careers thoughtlessly. The rage, the debilitating strain, and the terrifying descent into alcoholism and child abuse are graphically - and unforgettably � depicted in this film, based upon Christina Crawford's best-selling book.