The Terrifying Beauty of The Pfeiffer
Friday, September 13, 2013 at 8:00AM
NATHANIEL R in Michelle Pfeiffer, The Fabulous Baker Boys

My friend Joe Reid didn't write this Michelle Pfeiffer list for me. Tribeca Film pays him, yknow and The Family is now in theaters so the time is right. But all things Pfeiffer pfeel like they're pfor me anyway so I'll take it. If you have any love for La Pfeiff you'll want to read it. Joe memorably ranks 18 of the great's roles in order of how well the film uses her terrifying beauty. (I quibble with a few rankings here and there -- and where the hell are Ladyhawke and Wolf and Sweet Liberty which all trade memorably on her bewitching glares??? -- but I loved every second of it.)

On The Fabulous Baker Boys, her pantheon-sealing triumph, which ranks 8th:

It's all relative, of course. There's no real "danger" when Susie Diamond is singing "Making Whoopee" atop that piano. But the way she's wielding her considerable sensuality, it sure feels like someone's in trouble.

That someone was Jeff Bridges in the right then. And all of the Pfans... pforever.

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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