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« Posterized: Jennifer Hudson | Main | Emmy Category Analysis: Main Title Design »
Friday
Aug132021

Breakfast with... the Magrath Sisters

by Nathaniel R

Tess Harper and Chocolate Covered Donut

This morning I had the most terrible urge to shove multiple pastries into my mouth. This was surely due to my diet (I've lost 10 lbs since June!) and unrelated to watching Crimes of the Heart (1986) at 6:30 AM. But, speaking of, my goodness those Southern belles have major sweet tooths...

Lenny (Diane Keaton) eats multiple cookies in the first scene, Babe (Oscar nominated Sissy Spacek) pours ungodly amounts of sugar into her lemonade throughout, and though Meg (Jessica Lange) mostly smokes and drinks she will indulge in multiple banana splits in flashback or a giant slice of birthday cake for the finale.

On the final morning of this three day narrative, Lenny and Babe have made what appears to be about 8 burnt waffles (bottom left) with half a jar of syrup on standby, in addition to the remnants of waffles, scrambled eggs, ham, and orange juice, we can see that they've already consumed. Even their nosey neighbor/cousin Chick (Oscar-nominated Tess Harper) is seen shoving a chocolate covered donut into her mouth on this very morning before her final scene. 

Over-acting burns lots of calories. Fuel up, ladies!

P.S. Have you voted on the 1986 Smackdown yet? You have 10 more days to get your votes in

 

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Reader Comments (15)

I tried to watch this movie on Amazon Prime, since I remember seeing it when it first came out and I think I liked it at the time. But dear God, overacting is right. The performances were all over the place and nothing felt even remotely real. I think I got through 30 minutes (?) before I finally gave up.

August 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterTommy Marx

I personally think Spacek is a goldmine here. Adore her nomination. Harper, on the other hand, is a mess.

August 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterDrew

Tommy Marx: And sometimes "none of the performances feeling remotely real" is a good/very good thing. But that description as a compliment is usually reserved for movies that are much more stylized than this. Universal Horror movies, for example.

August 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterVolvagia

They use sugar as a substitute for sex. We've all been there.

August 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPeggy Sue

My memory of these performances:
-- Diane Keaton: mannered and inauthentic
-- Sissy Spacek: steadily grew on me
-- Jessica Lange: I remember almost nothing (yikes)
-- Tess Harper: over the top, yes, but funny just the same

August 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterCash

I like the performances in this actually. Spacek is particularly wonderful.

August 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterJohn

Is it messy? Yes. Do I enjoy it? Yes. Seeing these actresses together during this time period for me is more than enough to keep me entertained.

August 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterJordan

Enjoyed it when it came out as a broad southern-fried comedy. Wonder what I'd think today. Still remember Lange's defense of smoking: "That's what I like about it Chick, taking a drag off death..." and Keaton's sad, exasperation over Spacek taking one bite out of all the chocolates in the box looking for one with a cherry inside: "they're CREAMS!"

August 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterDan H

How many times you see three of your favorite actresses in the same movie, like three for the price of one? How to Marry a Millionaire, Boccacio 70, Bombshell, Three Coins in the Fountain, The First Wives Club, The Witches of Eastwick.

August 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterSandra Deed

Sandra -- Agree. Love the poster so I bought the book cause it had the same picture of the goddesses in the cover.

August 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPeggy Sue

Sissy is a kind of 1980s Greer Garson.
The two fall in the favor of the Academy right in the beginning and become darlings with nominations and the award, the following decade the AMPAS interest ceased until a new nomination years later. Not that they have a similar style or persona; what they have in common are biopics and women, mothers, wives in dramatic stories. And exactly 15 years separate the penultimate and the last Oscar nomination from both.

August 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterFeline Justice

Congrats on your weight loss, Nathaniel <3

Now I want a chocolate donut ;( lol.

I think I've seen this film before, but honestly can't remember... which sounds about right. I was a theatre major at an arts high school so I saw a lot of film versions of popular plays, especially ones that revolve around ladies (particular soft spot for The Effect of Gamma Rays...). My better memory of this work is the production my university did when I was a theatre student there. It's... cute.

I was always surprised that Sissy Spacek was chosen out of the three leads for awards, but reading these comments, I guess it makes total sense.

August 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPhilip H.

Jessica Lange would never be nominated for this movie, as did Sissy Spacek. Because she is only nominated - and consequently a twice Oscar winner - when her movie title has one or two words:
Frances (82)
Tootsie (82)
Country (84)
Sweet Dreams (85)
Music Box (89)
Blue Sky (94)
With a movie titled "Crimes of the Heart", she would never get It.

August 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPrajhan

Positively bonkers movie. "Law and Order: Steel Magnolias" but not as fun as that sounds.

August 14, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterDave S. in Chicago

As a society, we do not talk enough about Sissy Spacek.

August 14, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterRama
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