Butterfield 8
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Movie Reviews of Butterfield 8
Movie Review: BOTH Fullscreen and Widescreen!
Summary: 5 Stars
It's a guilty-pleasure movie for sure, but I like those. And i LOVE that we, the consumer, can actually CHOOSE and not have it dictated to us whether we wish to view "Butterfield 8" in 'Widescreen' or 'Standard' (Fullscreen).
Of course, this DVD release was manufactured in 2000, and 7 years later, we are not often given a choice. If 'Gone With The Wind' can (and is) a full-screen presentation, please do NOT insist that, say,'Valley of The Dolls'-- a guilty pleasure if ever one existed--MUST be available ONLY in letterbox since its release last year-- it ruined an otherwise lovely retro 60's style deluxe DVD issue of it. But that's another review...
THANK YOU, WARNER HOME VIDEO for titles such as 'Butterfield 8' that you offer with both Fullscreen and Widescreen versions available.
Oh, and though I am in the minority, for me Ms. Taylor's performance was even better here, more nuanced, in 'Butterfield 8' than in 'Virginia Woolf'- her 2 Oscar performances. "Butterfield" may be glossy and a tad trashy, but her performance elevates it to ACADEMY AWARD gloss 'n trash :)
(Very good supporting performances here also by the catty friend of the mother of Taylor's character 'Gloria', ditto Dina Merrill; with Eddie Fisher just fine as Gloria's ex-stepbrother, or whatever he is. Also in 'Butterfield 8,'-- 8 years prior to portraying Streisand's mother in 'Funny Girl', Kay Medford has some fun with the role of the proprietor of a motel "Gloria" will visit on occassion...Every occasion she can :)
Movie Review: BAD GIRLS & MARRIED MEN.....
Summary: 5 Stars
No, Liz did not deserve the Oscar for this in 1960. But she deserves credit for delivering a campy performance of rare distinction. Based on a trashy novel of the same name, this is a cleaned up screen version that's still trashy enough to wallow in as a guilty pleasure. It's not even a good movie. But Liz makes it watchable anyway. She plays Gloria Wondrous (that NAME!) a "model" (i.e call girl) who lives a depraved life of booze, money and men until she falls for a "trick" (Laurence Harvey) who's married. She tries to make it work but he won't give her the respectability she craves so she drives her hot little red sports car off a cliff. Mildred Dunnock is her denial-ridden mother and Betty Field wraps it up as a wise-cracking neighbor who knows what Gloria is and won't give it a rest. "How's church?" she deadpans at Gloria. Gloria's response? "Why don't you go sometime and find out!" I can't recommend this for serious movie lovers but for lovers of glossy trashy camp this is a must.Movie Review: A Monument to Ms. Taylor and Past Times...
Summary: 5 Stars
I mourn the passing of the glamorous Hollywood movie and the Stars who made them. It seems to me that the big money in todays films go to pay for technology, rather than the actual production and the humans performing in the film.
Styles may change, but good acting is good acting. That doesn't change.
Whenever I need a shot of the 50's style movie, this is one of the films that I pull from my collection to watch and enjoy. This is the quintessential 50's melodrama.
Ms. Taylor didn't want to make this film. At the time, she was suffering from
"Cleopatra-itis" and tried every excuse to avoid making "Butterfield 8," so she could go ahead and make her first million dollar role as the Egyptian Queen.
I think of Ms. Taylor as the last of the glamourous Movie Stars and BUtterfield 8 being one of the last melodramas. What a fantastic combination.
I love it every time I watch it. I hope you do too.
Movie Review: It's a Classic!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not embarrassed to admit I think this is a great movie and that Elizabeth Taylor gives BY FAR her best performance in it. She's luscious but vulnerable. Laurence Harvey gives an outstanding performance as well and the cast includes Kay Medford and Midred Dunnock, the latter one of the giants of the Broadway stage (the original Mrs. Loman in Death of a Salesman & the original Big Mama in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof). Butterfield 8 LOOKS really good, too - beautiful set-ups, great lighting - it's a wonderful paean to the 1950s. And I don't care what the prissy latter-day puritans say about how many kinds of trash it is (another sad measure of our politically-correct brainwashed times) - like all John O'Hara stories it's got lots of meat and poetry in it - and it's a classic modern-day tragedy. At least it was until the advent of feminism, AIDS & political correctness.
Movie Review: One amazing star: Elizabeth Taylor
Summary: 5 Stars
Gotta say, I've always been saddened to know that Elizabeth hated this movie and referred to it as "smut". Her performance is so much fun to watch: this woman could ACT. Look at her face when she writes "NO SALE" on wealthy Weston's bathroom mirror. Wow! Another fav moment is in the bar when she digs her stiletto heel into the top of his shoe to get him to let go of her arm. That is one amazing scene.
As a total guilty pleasure, I enjoy watching "BUtterfield 8" and "Suddenly Last Summer" one after another, a movie none of the other reviewers mentioned. Sometimes I'll follow that up with a viewing of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" for a total immersion into the wit, passion, talent and amazing beauty that Elizabeth Taylor brought to the big screen. I'm too young to have seen them as theatrical releases, so hooray for DVDs!