HERE'S TO YOU, MRS ROBINSON!
Anne Bancroft, one of our finest actresses of stage and screen died some years ago, quietly, after battling cancer. Lately I've been reviewing some of her best, and most intimate flix.
'NIGHT, MOTHER stars Bancroft as the cheery, candy eating mother of Sissy Spacek. Spacek has methodically gone about planning her own death by suicide, right under Mother's nose. This small film, based on Marsha Norman's Pulitzer Prize winning play, is taut with compelling performances and dialogue, as Bancroft tries to talk her daughter out of doing the deed. Possibly one of middle-aged Bancrofts lesser known projects. Unfortunately NOT available on DVD.
Shirley MacLaine co-stars in THE TURNING POINT, an utterly fantastic view into the precarious world of Ballet Theater. Bancroft is the retiring, over-the-hill Prima Ballerina, MacLaine the friend from the early days who chose to marry Tom Skerrit and raise a family. Together they sire a daughter with major potential as a dancer, and Bancroft swoops in and takes the girl under her wing. This film features one of the greatest cat-fights ever brought to the silver screen. Co-starring Mikhail Baryshnikov's shapely buttocks.
Bancroft is Annie Sullivan in THE MIRACLE WORKER, Helen Keller's nearly blind teacher determined to teach deaf/blind Patty Duke some manners. Bancroft won the Oscar (accepted by Joan Crawford), and Patty Duke got the mini-kiddie statuette. You know the story.
Speaking of stories you know: THE HINDENBURG. One of those bloated. over-wrought disaster epics from the '70s features an all-star cast headed by George C. Scott. Bancroft has a minor role as The Duchess, a card playing woman with a past. What that past is, we have no idea, but Bancroft looks swell in period costumes.
Of course, we all know THE GRADUATE, Mike Nichols' flick about Dustin Hoffman's seduction by the ever-sultry older woman. Bancroft is a marvel in this one. Sexy as hell, and dressed mostly in animal prints, this is another of those great films from the late '6os that pushes every envelope and feature that oh, so mod mise en scene we love soooo much. Famous soundtrack by Simon and Garfunkle.
Now why I had to revisit BRIDESHEAD REVISITED when I already own the entire three disc collection of the classic '80s mini-series, I have no idea. I did, so you don't have to. Emma Thompson is OK, but no Claire Bloom, she. Michael Gambon is OK, too, but no Laurence Olivier. The few nobodies who play the youth in the film undoubtedly will NOT have the careers that Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews have. What can I say about a film that used the same Castle Howard as a location and prominent character in this distilled version of a great already-been-done classic. Even Sebastian's Teddy Bear is diminished. In order to cram this epic into 2.25 hours, the characters are overdrawn, bloated and boring. Perfect for the short attention span of today's youth.
Speaking of distilled (or should I say EMBALMED), last night I dropped into our local "gay" bar, Rumours Cabaret and Show Lounge. All the usual suspects, sitting like crustaceans on bar stools, hooting and hollering like the white gah-bahge they are. If someone would finally fill David L. with helium and set him aloft, he might pull a Hindenburg and explode in a fiery holocaust over the parking lot. Frankly, I had no interest in mingling with THOSE people, who so remind me of the slime I used to deal with at Pomona's Alibi East, but managed to sequester myself away in a corner with someone who actually COULD make a conversation. Yes, Cameron, KISS KISS, BANG BANG is now in my Netflix queue.
Sometimes it's best to just stay home with your old, dead friends.
Here's to you, Miss Bancroft.
Anne Bancroft, one of our finest actresses of stage and screen died some years ago, quietly, after battling cancer. Lately I've been reviewing some of her best, and most intimate flix.
'NIGHT, MOTHER stars Bancroft as the cheery, candy eating mother of Sissy Spacek. Spacek has methodically gone about planning her own death by suicide, right under Mother's nose. This small film, based on Marsha Norman's Pulitzer Prize winning play, is taut with compelling performances and dialogue, as Bancroft tries to talk her daughter out of doing the deed. Possibly one of middle-aged Bancrofts lesser known projects. Unfortunately NOT available on DVD.
Shirley MacLaine co-stars in THE TURNING POINT, an utterly fantastic view into the precarious world of Ballet Theater. Bancroft is the retiring, over-the-hill Prima Ballerina, MacLaine the friend from the early days who chose to marry Tom Skerrit and raise a family. Together they sire a daughter with major potential as a dancer, and Bancroft swoops in and takes the girl under her wing. This film features one of the greatest cat-fights ever brought to the silver screen. Co-starring Mikhail Baryshnikov's shapely buttocks.
Bancroft is Annie Sullivan in THE MIRACLE WORKER, Helen Keller's nearly blind teacher determined to teach deaf/blind Patty Duke some manners. Bancroft won the Oscar (accepted by Joan Crawford), and Patty Duke got the mini-kiddie statuette. You know the story.
Speaking of stories you know: THE HINDENBURG. One of those bloated. over-wrought disaster epics from the '70s features an all-star cast headed by George C. Scott. Bancroft has a minor role as The Duchess, a card playing woman with a past. What that past is, we have no idea, but Bancroft looks swell in period costumes.
Of course, we all know THE GRADUATE, Mike Nichols' flick about Dustin Hoffman's seduction by the ever-sultry older woman. Bancroft is a marvel in this one. Sexy as hell, and dressed mostly in animal prints, this is another of those great films from the late '6os that pushes every envelope and feature that oh, so mod mise en scene we love soooo much. Famous soundtrack by Simon and Garfunkle.
Now why I had to revisit BRIDESHEAD REVISITED when I already own the entire three disc collection of the classic '80s mini-series, I have no idea. I did, so you don't have to. Emma Thompson is OK, but no Claire Bloom, she. Michael Gambon is OK, too, but no Laurence Olivier. The few nobodies who play the youth in the film undoubtedly will NOT have the careers that Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews have. What can I say about a film that used the same Castle Howard as a location and prominent character in this distilled version of a great already-been-done classic. Even Sebastian's Teddy Bear is diminished. In order to cram this epic into 2.25 hours, the characters are overdrawn, bloated and boring. Perfect for the short attention span of today's youth.
Speaking of distilled (or should I say EMBALMED), last night I dropped into our local "gay" bar, Rumours Cabaret and Show Lounge. All the usual suspects, sitting like crustaceans on bar stools, hooting and hollering like the white gah-bahge they are. If someone would finally fill David L. with helium and set him aloft, he might pull a Hindenburg and explode in a fiery holocaust over the parking lot. Frankly, I had no interest in mingling with THOSE people, who so remind me of the slime I used to deal with at Pomona's Alibi East, but managed to sequester myself away in a corner with someone who actually COULD make a conversation. Yes, Cameron, KISS KISS, BANG BANG is now in my Netflix queue.
Sometimes it's best to just stay home with your old, dead friends.
Here's to you, Miss Bancroft.
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