OTD: The Whisperers, Marlee Matlin, and "The Power of Love"
Thursday, August 24, 2017 at 9:00AM On this day (August 24th) in showbiz-related history...
1890 "Father of modern surfing" and part time movie actor Duke Kahanamoku born in Hawaii. We've written about him before. Where's his biopic?
1967 The Whisperers premieres in London. It's about an old poor woman living in solitude who is beginning to lose her grip on reality. Dame Edith Evans sterling work was instantly lauded - she won Best Actress at Berlinale and from such disparate groups as the NYFCC, NBR and the Golden Globes. She landed her third and final Oscar nomination in the Best Actress lineup (sadly only the winner, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner's Hepburn, was less than superb in that shortlist!). At the time Evans was the oldest Oscar nominee of all time in any acting category having just turned 80 years old. That record has since been undone but she's still the third oldest lead actress nominee after Jessica Tandy for Driving Miss Daisy (also 80, who won) and Emmanuelle Riva for Amour (who was 85). Have you ever seen The Whisperers? It's haunting and quite a time capsule of contemporary British cinema of the time. [And check out Nick Davis' 5 star review of this legendary performance]
1985 Huey Lewis and the News hit #1 with their theme from Back to the Future "The Power of Love". The music video had a cameo by the car and Christopher Lloyd's "Doc" though it was mostly just the band playing in a bar. Best Original Song was one of the film's 4 Oscar nominations (it won for sound effects editing). In case you haven't yet heard, 1985 will be our "year of the month" in September as we build to the next Smackdown.
2012 Remember that movie where Michael Shannon was evil (wait, that's not helpful) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt was a bicycle messenger (now that's more specific). Premium Rush opened on this day. Isn't it weird how some movies, like that one, feel much more ancient than they actually are while others from years earlier feel fresh as daisies?
Happy Birthday to Them!
← Oscar Winner: Usurper of Kathleen Turner's and/or Sigourney Weaver's Best Actress statue. More generously we must admit that it's super impressive that Matlin trailblazed by refusing to be a one hit wonder, turning that splashy debut into such an unlikely but full career. She's been working ever since!
Oscar Nominees: Ava DuVernay (13th), Anne Archer (Fatal Attraction), Ronee Blakley (Nashville), Robert Pulcini (American Splendor)
Cool Talents: Actress Elizabeth Debicki, Wit Stephen Fry, Auteur Takashi Miike, Novelist A.S. Byatt
80s Touchstones: Steve Guttenberg (Cocoon, Can't Stop the Music, and so many more) and Gordon Wanecke (My Beautiful Laundrette!)
Reader Comments (20)
I like The Whisperers and Evans is brilliant in it.
Jane Fonda was so happy to see Marlee Matlin win her Oscar.
Shamelessly promoting my 5-star review as well: http://fritzlovesoscars.blogspot.de/2010/06/best-actress-1967-edith-evans-in.html
Fuck off
Marlee Matlin's career is quite remarkable, and she *was* really good in Children of a Lesser God. What a face and pair of eyes she had for emotional expression and communication.
(Gabourey Sidibe is another Oscar-y actress [nominee, not winner, sadly] who I'm so happy has been able to make a fairly rich career from an impossible-to-beat debut, defying expectations and Hollywood convention along the way.)
Happy b-day, Marlee and Steve Guttenberg, my boyfriend in perpetuity!
Dame Edith should have had the Oscar and Marlee was a gr8 winner even if Weaver's role is now become Iconic and legendary unlike Turner's who is all wrong as Peggy Sue.
How on earth did Hepburn win in that lineup? Because it had nearly been 35 years since she won? Even more sad considering she won again the next year.
Marlee's performance was quite good. It may not have been the best in its year, but it's definitely solid, so I can't complain. I'm glad she's had a steady career, too.
Also, I can't believe that Elizabeth Debicki is only 27. She always comes across as being older/more mature in her films, and I mean that in a very good way.
How I miss Nick Davis' writing in his wonderful blog. The detail of his analysis of each nominee was incredible And, of course, there are so many! At one point he mentioned a possible book deal. There's nothing on Amazon. Do you Nat (or Nick if you're reading) have any news in that respect?
Evans is extraordinary indeed - even in one of the all-time great Best Actress line-ups, she wins in a cakewalk for me!
Matlin, on the other hand...well, at least she's better than Fonda in THE MORNING AFTER.
Fonda's is gr8 in The Morning After fully deserved nomination,the film is messy though.
Evans was a revelation in her role and should have won the Oscar.
Hepburn should have ONE Oscar... her GWCTD and On Golden Pond were not worthy of the statuette.
Morning Glory was a so so role.
That five star review got me to watch The Whisperers and hot damn was Evans as wonderful and off-the-wall and hauntingly haunted as Nick Davis said. I'm with Marcos. I know he's doing professorial things, living a life, but it'd be a treat to get a performance review like that sometime soon. Maybe short or long lists of personal ballot contenders from recent years?? A girl can wonder.
Marlee's such a joy in all the TV shows I've seen her in. Hope I can find Children of a Lesser God soon.
I live around the corner from where The Whisperers was filmed. It's bizarre to think that less than 70 years ago there were parts of the town that were virtual slums.
The Whispers was playing on Amazon Prime streaming video last year. I caught days before they expired it. It's a revelation of a film even outside of Evans' work. I think I'd still take Bancroft of that '67 Actress lineup but she's an easy runner up.
Hepburn is a kind of terrific actress who won three times for so so performances while being ignored when she was fantastic in fact. This is what happens when your better side is comedy. You have to go drama to be respected.
At least she won for her magnetic and awesome work in Lion in The Winter.
I finally caught Children of a Lesser God on the Movies channel this week and, while I'm still a diehard Sigourney/Ripley fanatic, I can see why Matlin won: I, too, was mesmerized by her. And she certainly did capitalize on that win; her Emmy-nominated turns on Picket Fences, Seinfeld, and especially The Practice are outstanding. One of the very few times in this category that I believe the Academy got it right.
It should have been Kathleen
I would have voted for Kathleen.
Although I think she should have won for Romancing The Stone
I was underwhelmed with Kathleen Turner in Peggy Sue got Married. But I'd give an Oscar to her for Serial Mom for sure.