Hibi Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 For those who have missed it and for those who want to experience it again (its rarely shown). Tonight at 10:30. Be there! Link to post Share on other sites
Stephan55 Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 "Bad" meaning good! Thanks Hibi, for the heads-up. I've got my DVR set. Never seen this version of MAME (1974) before. I had no idea it was such a rare treat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mame_(film) Hopefully my cable provider will cooperate tonight? Link to post Share on other sites
DougieB Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 It definitely has its moments, cringe-worthy but otherwise as well. Bea Arthur's a hoot, but the kid's impossible. Thanks for the heads-up, Hibi. The last showing I was aware of was many years ago. Link to post Share on other sites
Hibi Posted June 30, 2015 Author Share Posted June 30, 2015 I havent seen it since it came out. I had a great time (in the bad sense LOL) Hoping for more this time around. I'll have to record it though. Too late for me. Just wanted to share it with others. I've been reading reviews on imdb today to get in the "mood"...... Link to post Share on other sites
mr6666 Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 & NPG lists MAME ('74) as a Premiere (?)... 10:30 pm ET Color131 minTV-G musical Mame (1974) A wealthy eccentric takes in her orphaned nephew. Dir: Gene Saks Cast: Lucille Ball , Bea Arthur , Robert Preston . "But no other performer was given the critical drubbing in the role that greeted Ball upon the release of the Mame movie. Perhaps it was because of resentment that Angela Lansbury, the much-admired star of the Broadway musical, had not been cast in the film. Whatever the reason, critics for the nation's leading publications were out for blood, lambasting the 62-year-old Ball for everything from her age and appearance to her misconceived interpretation of the role, her singing and dancing and the way she was photographed.Newsweek noted, "There she stands, her aging face practically a blur in the protective gauze of softer-than-soft focus... looking alternately like any one of the seven deadly sins." The New Republic maintained that "She is too thick in the waist, too stringy in the legs, too basso in the voice, and too creaky in the joints." According to The New Yorker, "The sound is somewhere between a bark and a croak... and it doesn't quite match the movement of the lips." Drama-Logue wrote that, "Like the song says, 'She'll make the South revive again.' Unfortunately, it will probably be to lynch Lucy." Article: http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/82518/Mame/articles.html Link to post Share on other sites
Janet0312 Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 I'd rather stick needles in my eyes, but that's another thread. Link to post Share on other sites
Hibi Posted June 30, 2015 Author Share Posted June 30, 2015 I'd rather stick needles in my eyes, but that's another thread. LOL. Link to post Share on other sites
Bogie56 Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 I'd rather stick needles in my eyes, but that's another thread. Tomorrow we can resurrect that thread! I likened watching the two Mame movies as a worse alternative to water boarding. Link to post Share on other sites
LornaHansonForbes Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 thanks for the heads up, but I'm kind of scared after reading the write up on wikipedia. It's also worth noting that they did not use the Maltin review in the schedule because it's one of the rare films that he rates as "BOMB!" (this is, of course, the same Leonard Maltin who gave three and a half stars to Roger Corman's LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, if that gives you any kind of gauge.) Link to post Share on other sites
LornaHansonForbes Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Drama-Logue wrote that, "Like the song says, 'She'll make the South revive again.' Unfortunately, it will probably be to lynch Lucy" AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Addison De Wit at his most vicious could not write something half so deliciously bitchy as that line. Bless you for sharing that with us Link to post Share on other sites
im4cinema2 Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Oh turn up the sound during the Mame song and sing along waking up your neighbors and enjoy! Link to post Share on other sites
LornaHansonForbes Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Gah, in waiting for the 1974 version to begin, I'm now realizing just how damn long the 1958 version is. two and a half hours of everyone playing to the back row is a bit much. Link to post Share on other sites
film lover 293 Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 There's so much Vaseline on the camera lens,the edges of Lucys' outfits (!!?) don't show up(!?), like they do when she's out of camera range!! Her pearls around her neck in the hangover scene barely show up as dots???!!. What is with the camera??? Edit #2--Neither the brat or Lucy can sing--the instrumentals are being played loud to drown them out. That strategy almost works! Link to post Share on other sites
LornaHansonForbes Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Wonder how much the 8 second shot of Mame and her nephew sitting on the crown of the Statue of Liberty cost. (It was pretty damn impressive though.) Link to post Share on other sites
LornaHansonForbes Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 -the instrumentals are being played loud to drown them out. That strategy almost works! Yeah, I noticed that too. What a mess! Link to post Share on other sites
AndyM108 Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 How on Earth could anyone ever expect Lucille Ball to match Rosalind Russell in a movie like with a plot and characters like this, especially at the age of 63 to Roz's 51? Let Lucy be remembered for her TV shows and her early movie career; that's more than enough to ensure her legacy. Link to post Share on other sites
LornaHansonForbes Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 44 minutes in. Wow. Just...wow. Ps- not "wow" in a good way. Link to post Share on other sites
LornaHansonForbes Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Oh no. Now she's on roller skates. Grandma's gonna break a hip. Link to post Share on other sites
LornaHansonForbes Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Maybe if they'd let Lucy keep the red hair and dubbed her and called it GRANNY MAME it might've come off a little better. Maybe... (and then again maybe not.) Link to post Share on other sites
film lover 293 Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Andy108--Yes, I'm laughing at the film--I'm mostly watching the film for Bea Arthur--she showed what the movie could have been in her 1st song, "The Man In the Moon is a Miss"--if properly cast, with All actors being able to sing, Mame could have been marvelous--& Lucy's legacy as Americas' funniest lady is safe--this film was just a misstep that can't erase 4 decades of film & television memories. Lucy has finally found a tenor range in her 3rd song & isn't the disaster the reviews said. Link to post Share on other sites
LornaHansonForbes Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Andy108--Yes, I'm laughing at the film--I'm mostly watching the film for Bea Arthur--she showed what the movie could have been in her 1st song, "The Man In the Moon is a Miss"--if properly cast, with All actors being able to sing, Mame could have been marvelous--& Lucy's legacy as Americas' funniest lady is safe--this film is just a misstep that can't erase 4 decades of film & television memories. Lucy has finally found a tenor range in her 3rd song & isn't the disaster the reviews said. I think you may be developing Stockholm Syndrome. Link to post Share on other sites
LornaHansonForbes Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Oh good. At least Lucy has red hair now. Link to post Share on other sites
Mr. Gorman Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Next week on TCM I'm doing the programming for Tuesday night and if you thought 'AUNTIE MAME' and then 'MAME' was cringeworthy have I got some movies for you! It's 'Romance Angle 73' from the 'Older/Younger' point of view. Here's what's up for your viewing enjoyment: -------------------------------------------------------------- 8 PM: Breezy (1973). D: Clint Eastwood. Color/108m. Rated [R]. William Holden, Kay Lenz, Roger C. Carmel. A hippie-ish romance from the early '70s. It's not that it's a bad movie, it's just that it is a little sappy at the end. Holden is a middle-aged businessman who ends up taking in youthful Kay Lenz. Roger C. Carmel is Wm. Holden's cynical friend. The acting in the movie is good and if not for said decent acting this would have been much worse than the ok movie it is. 10 PM: Ginger In The Morning (1973). D: Gordon Wiles. Color/89m. Rated [PG]. Sissy Spacek, Monte Markham, Mark Miller, Susan Oliver, Slim Pickens. There is some mind-frying hippie-love dialogue in this one. GAWD! This movie must be seen! Sissy is a young hitchhiker picked up by pushing-40 businessman Monte Markham. He doesn't have any filthy designs on young Sissy and she ends up staying with him for a while. Then Markham's idiot friend Mark Miller -- who's having marriage trouble -- shows up and blows everything for Monte and Sissy . . . or do they patch things up before the conclusion? ► Remember: Embrace the ♥ Bomb! 11:30 PM: Interval (1973-Mexican). D: Daniel Mann. Color/84m. Rated [PG]. Merle Oberon, Robert Wolders, Claudio Brook, Russ Conway, Charles Bateman. This was Merle Oberon's last film. She's a wealthy globe-trotter and finds love with a much younger man (Wolders, whom she married in real life). Leonard Maltin's review called this movie a "drippy May-December romance". He still gave it 2 stars for 'Average', however. I've seen this movie one time, but it's been many years and I don't recall that much about it. I do think some of this movie was filmed at Oberon's home in Mexico. After Merle's death in 1979, Robert Wolders went on to become Audrey Hepburn's companion until she died in 1993. OPINION: If TCM were to put these 3 movies on in a row for an evening it would make for a memorable night! Hee Hee. Link to post Share on other sites
film lover 293 Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 LornaHansonForbes--Lucy's getting her footing, singing-wise--she's not straining for the soprano range notes--but she should Not attempt a Southern accent. Disastrous start, film stabilized for 20 minutes--the hunt scene is next--oh no. Link to post Share on other sites
Mr. Gorman Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Thoughts on 'MAME' so far: I really am surprised by how much lower Ball's singing voice is than her speaking voice. I reckon smoking for all those years lowered her voice to some extent, but she was already 62 when 'MAME' was filmed and most people's voices get lower over time anyway whether they chomp cigs or not. IDEA! The producers should have hired Redd Foxx to do some duets with Lucy! Yowza! Link to post Share on other sites
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