I loved this movie, but sometimes West is just ridiculous. She is so incredibly full of herself, and her walk drives me crazy!!! Didn't she feel retarded walking around on screen like that?
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I love her walk, it makes me laugh because it's so ridiculous. Of course she's full of herself - the whole movie revolves around her. She's larger than life - a unique creation.
"Where does imagination end and reality begin?" (Night Of The Demon 1957)
I had to laugh at the opening credits: "Story, Songs and All Dialogue by Mae West, with suggestions from Lowell Brentano." Ha, ha.
Today I watched this and had never seen a Mae West movie before. Knowing what I do from the popular culture (the quips, the walk), this movie seemed like a caricature. I know that's not possible - but Mae is so caricatured in so many things that to see them all packed into this one movie was a bit overwhelming.
"Good night, Vienna, city of a million something-or-others..."
I knew a woman about 20 years back who was of Mae's era. What was considered elegant, stylish, etc. back then, was rather far afield from what that is now (or was even 20 years ago!).
What drives me the craziest about Mae are her EYEBROWS!!! GAG! I cannot stand over-plucked, pencil thin brows; they are simply hideous! (An aside: check out Sean Connery's brows in the Hitchcock film, "Marnie" - I don't know who did that to him, but I'll bet he was hatin' life 'til they grew back!).
I am fascinated by Mae to a degree, which is odd because I find her incredibly tacky. Maybe it's what some of you have said - that caricature (sp?) quality, the "over-the-top-ness" of it all, and the subtlety of your average freight train. If a woman behaved like that today, men all over America would utter a collective "EWWW!" But who knows? Given the attentions of Cary Grant, perhaps I'd have behaved similarly...
People of her era would probably say "Ewww!" at the unbathed sexiness of the hippie era or about the multiple body piercings of today -- times change.
shareYou can't compare old movies or old stars, with current standars. The concept of glamour and what sexy is, naturally change over the decades.
She was no ridiculous AT ALL. She was a real Hollywood icon, and one of the most original-adorable celebrities EVER.
PS. I do love when she walks around on screen.
Miss Jane Russell ROCKS!!!
She was groundbreaking, broke taboos and had incredible power in Hollywood when women were typecast and forced into waif like second class citizens roles. She had something few women had; confidence, and it worked. She worked until she was 86 years old, let's see modern stars today achieve half of what she did for women, gays and people. She was unique and not afraid to be herself.
I'd say she had rather a lot to be confident about.
Quite a remarkable woman. Who knows what she might have done had the 'code' not been enacted in 1934? What a shame!
shareTouche, lacunaraze. Look at who she hired for her films: 4 black women in this one (okay they are maids but they are there and she treats them like gals not servants), the Indian jockey and stable boy in Goin into Town. I'm working my way through the glamour collection and can't wait to see what Mae does next.
shareShe was groundbreaking, broke taboos and had incredible power in Hollywood when women were typecast and forced into waif like second class citizens roles.
hmmm, your anger is really intense. Comes from someplace deeper than a critique of a Mae West film, no?
sharei admire mae west, but i don't agree about other female stars being forced into waif like second class citizen roles. there were plenty of strong female stars in her era - Greta garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Jean Harlow, Joan Crafwford, Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, Katherine Hepburn, Bette davis etc.
shareDont forget Virginia Bruce, Eleanor Powell, Ginger Rogers, and (in the 40s) Judy Garland, Lana Turner, and Esther Williams.
shareMae is spectacular. She slides frame to frame in all her glory. Film was invented for her. Her song to Grant was tops.
shareAnd your opinion is so remarkably valid that now, 78 years later, it still brings in the crowds to watch and enjoy. She was a total original and has yet to have anyone come close to equaling her schtick. Many tried to copy her and none even approach her comedic style and timing. She always did the same basic routine and played the almost the same part over and over, on stage, on screen and in her day-to-day life until she died at 85, because she knew it sold. Campy perhaps, but she was in on the joke and played it to the hilt.
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