Traditional Mother's Day Quote from Joan Crawford

Every year on Mother's Day, we like to quote Joan Crawford. For many years, the Criterion Cinema in New Haven, Conn., screened "Mommie Dearest," a 1981 film about Crawford starring Faye Dunaway on Mother's Day. Yesterday, the Denver Film Society screened the picture with Rutanya Alda, the then-child actress who played Crawford's daughter. Today (Sunday), the family film "The Parent Trap" with Hayley Mills was shown at the Film Forum in New York (Crawford was not in that film).

Here is her quote:

"I, Joan Crawford, believe in the dollar. Everything I earn, I spend."

http://www.filmforum.org

http://www.denverfilmsociety.org

http://www.joancrawfordbest.com

http://www.legendaryjoancrawford.com

Happy Mother's Day from Bette Davis

Every year, around this time, we always say: "Happy Mother's Day from Joan Crawford." But, we decided that was now a trite cliche so we are saying "Happy Mother's Day from Bette Davis."

They were both in the good, but campy, film "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?"



Happy Mother's Day from Joan Crawford

Today is Mother's Day, an occasion celebrated around the world, so we thought we'd wish you a Happy Mother's Day from the Joan Crawford (1905-1977) who was the subject of the controversial, campy biopic "Mommie Dearest" (1981) with Faye Dunaway playing Crawford. Dunaway reportedly hates the film with a passion, so it's highly unlikely that she was the Bow Tie Cinema in Reston, Va. (a suburb of Washington, DC) for this morning's screening of the film, which cult film director John Waters adores.

"Mildred Pierce" (1945), arguably Crawford's best role, airs tonight at 10 p.m. New York Time on TCM.

 One of our favorite Crawford quotes is the following:

"I was born in front of a camera and don't really know anything else."http://www.tcm.comhttp://www.joancrawfordbest.comhttp://www.legendaryjoancrawford.com

Last Ten Films I've Seen.....Includes a Certain Warren Beatty Flick

I was going to add some commentary about Warren Beatty (pictured here from "Shampoo") in light of the fact that Peter Biskind's new book about allegedly suggests that he has made love to 12,775 women! And, in the '60s, he was actually close to marrying Joan Crawford who is the star of "The Story of Esther Costello," which also among the last ten films I've seen.
But, we are pressed for time. There are reviews of Biskind's book in back issues of "Film Comment" and "The New Republic" with more 'gory details.' It is supposedly more than 500 pages in length!
We should point out, so Gavin Smith (managing editor of "FC") doesn't start harassing me on Facebook ('course, we say this in jest) that I got this idea from his publication, which in my opinion is far and away the best American magazine on film. It could also be the best film magazine in the world, but it's been a very long time since I read the British film magazine "Sight and Sound."
Character actor Jack Weston (1920-2006) was in three of these films: "Shampoo," "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" and "Donovan's Reef."

Here are the films:

1. "Bliss" (Turkey. 2007/Abdullah Oguz)
2. "Runaway Train" (w/Jon Voight. 1985/Andrei Konchalovsky)
3. "Shampoo" (1975. Hal Ashby)
4. "The Story of Esther Costello" (UK. 1957/David Miller)
5. "Lemon Tree" (Isr/Palestine. 2008/Eran Riklin)
6. "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" (w/Doris Day. 1960/Charles Walters).
7. "Hell's Angels" (w/Jean Harlow. 1930/Howard Hughes)
8. "Donovan's Reef" (w/John Wayne and Lee Marvin. 1963/John Ford).
9. "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" (UK. 1971/John Schlesinger)
10. "The Seven Year Itch" (w/Marilyn Monroe. 1955/Billy Wilder).

Happy Joan Crawford Day! (In Advance)

Since tomorrow is Mother's Day, we thought we'd continue our annual tribute on this day to the late Joan Crawford (1906-1977) since she has been synonomous with domineering mothers since the movie "Mommie Dearest" (1980) came out about her alleged over-the-top antics and abusive behavior towards her daughter Christine Crawford.

The Criterion Cinema in New Haven, Conn., has traditionally shown "Mommie Dearest" on Mother's Day weekend, but that appears not to be the case this year. Though they are screening "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" (1985) at 11:30 p.m., next Friday and Saturday night.

Crawford's 1964 film "Strait Jacket" is actually available through free streaming for Netflix members.

We just learned this week, that the iconic '40s-'50s movie star was also romantically involved with Warren Beatty (?!) even though he was 29 years younger than her in the 1960s. Of course, Beatty was romantically involved with lots of gals back then.

Faye Dunaway, who played Crawford in "Mommie Dearest," was Beatty's co-star in the legendary film "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967).

Here is our traditional quote from Crawford:

"Hollywood is like life, you face it with the sum total of your equipment."

Yeah, we're not sure what exactly she's talking about either!

Special Quote of the Day from Joan Crawford

Today, in honor of Mother's Day, we are posting two quotes from Joan Crawford who was depicted by Faye Dunaway in the 1981 'classic,' "Mommie Dearest" on our two respective blogs. This is actually an annual tradition on this blog.

"Mommie Dearest" will be playing at Movieland @ Blvd. Square in Richmond, VA., this evening. We expect they will not be the only ones shwoing the film.

Here is the first of two quips from Crawford:

"I think the most important thing a woman can have-next to talent, of course, is her hairdresser."

For the other Crawford quote go to 'Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time" which you can access through our links.