Beauty vs Beast: Why Must EVERYTHING Be a Contest?
Monday, January 14, 2019 at 7:00PM Jason from MNPP here - I'm sure if Faye Dunaway were to come to The Film Experience and stumble upon us wishing her a happy 78th birthday here today with a Mommie Dearest themed edition of our "Beauty vs Beast" poll she'd roll her eyes in that certain way she does that makes you quake in your slippers and utter some four-letter word... and that's just why we love her. She may not love the movie that turned her knobs up to Full Camp and then snapped right off, but we do, and we always will - her stratopheric take on Joan Crawford has the stuff of myth about it, as if she squeezed heaven and hell like a wet rag and drank down every last drop right before they said "Action!" That said... Joan's a tough vote all the same!
PREVIOUSLY I think this is the first time this has ever happened, y'all - we ended with a tie on last week's poll! Mahershala Ali's performance in Green Book & Rami Malek's turn as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody came down 50/50. So I guess we'll go with the most magnaminous comment then... said lylee:
"Recognizing these were both problematic movies, I still really enjoyed them - and these performances. Fine acting by a couple of fiiine men. I pick Don because I have a soft spot for brilliant pianists and Freddie seems like he'd get exhausting after a while."
Reader Comments (16)
I'm team Joan just because I love her morning beauty routine and her bathroom.
A tie? Suuuuuuure riiiiiiight wink wink nudge nudge.
Definitely Christina. Joan was evil and Christina does appearances at showings of Mommy Dearest.
I tink we r voting on the characters? not the real life figures behind them?
Faye's JC wins this hand down! To quote one notorious review at the time o release: Miss Dunaway doesn't chew scenery, no... she starts at the corners n swallow them WHOLE! Inch by inch!! 😂
Joan wld b soooo *proud*!! 😝😜
Joan may have been beautiful and desired, but at least Christina isn't a psychopath.
I vote Joan alone for plunging her face into that bucket of ice!!! She’s a baddd bitch!!
Almost forgotten to wish Miss Faye JC Dunaway a happy Joyous bday!! 🎊 🎂
Trivia: Both Crawford n Dunaway r born in the Year of Dragon based on the Chinese Lunar calendar.
Claran -- yes I should've made that clear, we are voting for the movie characters, not the actual Joan & Christina Crawford. We can have fun with the fictionalized choices made by everyone involved with the movie -- real world child abuse, notsomuch!
Team Joan because.... if I don't vote for her. She'll beat me up with a.... WHAT IS THIS? NO WIRE HANGERS! NO WIRE HANGERS EVER!!!!!!!
Faye Dunaway was great in that. That is over-the-top acting at its finest. Equal to what Al Pacino did in Scarface as both films are requirement for all budding actors to watch in terms of how to deliver over-the-top acting.
Faye should have been nominated for an Oscar. The Academy is so boring sometimes! Watch this movie and fall in love with the two actresses - Faye and Joan. By the way I watched recently Mannequin(1937), a lesser known MGM-Crawford romantic melodrama where she sings (with her own voice) an Oscar nominated song "Always and Always" and acts opposite Spencer Tracy for the first and only
time. A very charming movie with all the glamour of the studio to the star. And the movie was a box office hit!
I love MOMMIE DEAREST. In terms of Oscar eligibility, Faye Dunaway absolutely should have won the Oscar. Her performance is incredible and almost experimental. I think this is a rare example where the overused remark of losing one’s self in a role is warranted. The line between Faye Dunaway and Joan Crawford is blurred beyond distinction. Both actresses are so enthralling that seeing one as the other, Dunaway as Crawford, is so electrifying it borders on hyperreality.
Omfg!! I just learned tt Miss Dunaway is coming back to Broadway after 30++ yrs, to play KATE HEPBURN!!! 😱
First Crawford, now Hepburn, who's next for her?? Bette Davis!!?? 😂
Jason, I think you've just found the alternate title for your standing feature if you ever wish to change it LOL.
Have to go with Joan. Tina was a brat, JMO.
I agree, Faye should have been nominated. Here would be my lineup for '81:
Diane Keaton--Reds
Marsha Mason--Only When I Laugh
Jessica Lange--The Postman Always Rings Twice
Kathleen Turner--Body Heat
Faye Dunaway--Mommie Dearest
I hate leaving off Kate, but what a great year for Best Actress.
Claran--OMG, I need to get my ticket NOW!
My nominees for 1981
Bernadette Peters "Pennies from Heaven"
Faye Dunaway "Mommie Dearest"
Simone Signoret "I Sent a Letter to My Love"
Nancy Allen "Blow Out"
Karen Allen "Raiders of the Lost Ark"
All five performances treasurable and I'd be hard pressed to choose between Peters and Dunaway for the win.
Faye actually got a Razzie for Mommie Dearest and she's said the movie killed her career :(
Faye Dunaway has a handful of gems in her filmography: Bonnie & Clyde (1967), Chinatown (1974), Network (1976)... And had her sex symbol moments. However, Mommy Dearest is the movie of the *heart* of many of her fans.