Mommie Dearest (Hollywood Royalty/Special Collector's Edition)
I remember watching part of this movie as a kid with my own Mother, who thankfully is nothing like Joan. Honestly, aside from the local news stations, I think Lifetime is the only channel my Mother has ever really known. I can remember being about nine or ten years old watching movies on Lifetime on Saturdays in the winter with my Mom, and in the rare chance that I'm in Ohio for more than a week visiting I still try to talk her into watching another movie on Lifetime with me just for old-times sake.
I only vividly remember watching two parts of the movie, the infamous wire hanger scene and the earlier scene with Christina and Joan by the swimming pool. I had a hard time understanding why this girls Mom was so mean and nasty to her children, and all my Mom could say was that she wasn't always a very nice lady. That was enough for me, I didn't need any other explanation.
Years later though, I want to revisit this movie and watch it again this time with friends. I'm curious to find out if there's a more underlying explanation as to the source of some of Joan's wild rants that I was just to young to pick up on when I watched the movie for the first time.
After having watched the movie:
(Possible spoilers below)
I got to watch this movie with my friends, Wil and Kristen and I got really excited to watch the movie with both of them when I realized neither of them had seen the movie before. I think because I had seen parts of the movie before, it didn't really shake me or disturb me too much to watch Joan berate these Christina and Christopher at the drop of a hat. I noticed during the movie at times both Wil and Kristen had a difficult time watching parts of the movie. At one point Wil even said, "I've never slapped a bitch, but I'd certainly shake one."
After watching the movie in its entirety, years later, I think the scene that is most upsetting is still when Joan continues to bully Christina into practicing her diving form, and later challenges her to race just to prove to her daughter that she is a better swimmer. Although, there are many moments throughout the movie when you kind of stop and think, "these poor children."
As far as the box office is concerned, when the movie was released no one took it seriously. In no time at all people started taking Ajax and wire hangers into theaters in order to "participate" in the movie the same way audiences continue to do to this day with The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Which certainly came as a big shock to Faye Dunaway, who believed her performance to be Oscar worthy at the time. Many years after the fact, or at least until offered a book deal, Faye Dunaway absolutely refused to discus the movie in interviews. Which kind of makes me hate her a little. It's also one of the many reasons why I absolutely adore Susan Sarandon though. Susan unlike Faye, is able to say, "Yeah, I made that one really bad movie" share a story or two about it and move on.
Final thoughts: I don't think this is a movie for anyone who is very sensitive about the subject matter. Joan is at times both mentally and physically abusive to her children; she beats with Christina with a wire hanger in the middle of the night. However, from a purely Cult-Classic perspective, this is a movie I think everyone should see at least once. And on a more personal note, it has successfully painted Faye Dunaway in a new light, and I'll admit I'm a little less excited about watching Bonnie and Clyde as a result.
OFFICIAL COUNT 94 DOWN 271 TO GO
Next up: Poltergeist
P.S. I perhaps should have mentioned this earlier, but I had known for some time the movie is based off of the book Christina Crawford wrote also titled Mommie Dearest. In the book, from my best understanding, there are more tales of Joan's wild and outlandish rants and from Christina's perspective. It's one that I have wanted to read for some time, and I think after watching the movie the book may warrant a special trip to the book store.
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