Mommie Dearest **** (1981, Faye Dunaway, Diana Scarwid, Steve Forrest, Howard Da Silva, Jocelyn Brando) – Classic Movie Review 6645

‘Don’t f**k with me fellas. This ain’t my first time at the rodeo.’ – Joan Crawford. Co-writer/ director Frank Perry’s 1981 biopic of Joan Crawford is deliriously kitsch and trashy ultra-extravagant entertainment, now established as a camp classic.

Faye Dunaway is made up to look astonishingly like Joan Crawford, even spanning a period of 39 years, and gives a hugely entertaining and expertly extravagant performance that is quite the tour-de-force in a heady Grand Guignol account of the Oscar-winning star’s troubled, allegedly abusive relationship with her adopted daughter Christina (Diana Scarwid).

Based on Christina Crawford’s scathing biographical attack on her mommie apparently not dearest, but with many differences between the film and the book, this gaudy comic-strip movie is not to be taken seriously, just enjoyed. You will never look at a wire coat-hanger in the same light again.

Howard Da Silva plays MGM boss Louis B Mayer, and Steve Forrest plays Greg Savitt, one of Crawford’s lovers, with Jocelyn Brando as Barbara Bennett, Mara Hobel as Christina Crawford (child), Rutanya Alda as Carol Ann, Priscilla Pointer as Mrs. Chadwick and Xander Berkeley as Christopher Crawford (adult).

Of course they had to wait till Joan Crawford (1906–1977) died to tell this tawdry story. But luckily the Crawford legend as a great star and remarkable person is quite solid enough to withstand both the book and the film.

Mommie Dearest runs an epic 129 minutes, is a Paramount film, written by Frank Perry, Tracy Hotchner, Robert Getchell and Frank Yablans, shot in Metrocolor by Paul Lohmann, produced by Frank Yablans, scored by Henry Mancini and designed by Bill Malley.

Christina Crawford reflected: ‘Faye Dunaway’s portrayal was absolutely ludicrous. I’ve read she’s saying that she has been haunted by the ghost of Joan Crawford and, after watching her performance, I can see why.’

Crawford was not fired from MGM by Louis B Mayer as shown in the movie. She requested to be released from her contract, and two days later signed with Warner Bros, where she won her Oscar with Mildred Pierce (1945).

In 2017, there are parallels with the abusive mother (played by Allison Janney) in I, Tonya.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6645

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Movie Queens: Joan Crawford by Graeme Jukes.