Issue Date: July 16, 2006
What's her big hang-up?
A connoisseur of camp critiques "Mommie Dearest," a clunker that's crept its way into cult status.
THE PLOT: Based on the best seller by Joan Crawford's adopted daughter Christina, "Mommie Dearest" descends into the dark places of the screen siren's psyche. Faye Dunaway plays an over-the-top Crawford, who terrorizes her tots, compulsively cleans and bemoans her crumbling career.
Insider's credentials: John Wilson created the Golden Raspberry Awards, or Razzies, which celebrate cinema's biggest bombs and favorite flops. In 1981, "Mommie" nabbed five of the "awards," including worst picture, screenplay and actress (Dunaway tied with Bo Derek for "Tarzan, the Ape Man").
Some dramas are so bad they're comedies: Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford in "Mommie Dearest" (1981).
Paramount's "Hollywood Royalty Edition" is available now on DVD.
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OVERVIEW: "What sets 'Mommie Dearest' head and shoulder pads above other bad movies is that every single element -- the dialogue, costumes, makeup, wigs, sets and editing -- is ridiculous.
We love it because every child has probably seen his parent go out of control at some point. But there's something cathartic about seeing Crawford [lose it]. She always presented herself to the public as perfection."
Scene 1: Joan -- The opening shows a faceless woman performing beauty rituals. She is revealed to be Crawford.
"My wife worked at Paramount and invited me to the press screening in 1981. I had some horrible flu and was too ill to go. But she called from the studio lot and said that, though an invited audience came, the movie was laughed off the screen. The pivotal moment was when Dunaway finally turns to the camera to show what she'll look like as Crawford after all this buildup."
Scene 9: "No wire hangers ... EVER!" -- Crawford beats Christina(Mara Hobel) after discovering some of the child's expensive clothes were not on quilted hangers.
"My favorite shot in the whole movie is after Joan whomps on her child and is about to drag her into the bathroom to make her scrub the floor. She looks into the camera and goes, 'Come here.' With her white hair band and white makeup, she looks like some Kabuki demon. This scene is one of the most laughable seven minutes ever put on film."
Special feature: "Mommie Dearest: The Revival of Joan" -- A behind-the-scenes look at how the best seller was adapted for the big screen.
"People remember this movie as one of the greatest bad movies ever made. My biggest disappointment with the DVD is that they don't own up to the thing being a clunker. They keep making euphemisms like, 'Drag queens loved it!' That's because they laugh at it!"
-- Rebecca Louie
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