Smoking
The most disturbing aspect about this film is Bette had a cigarette in practically every scene of this film. She's worse than Lucille Ball in The Facts of Life.
shareHow is this disturbing, exactly?
Bette was a lifelong smoker, as was her character, Edith.
I think the OP was just remarking on how much Bette smoked, it must seem odd today. I saw Bette on a late night talk show many years ago, and she claimed did NOT inhale while smoking. And anyone can clearly see she DOES inhale and heavily. Smoking or not...she was one of Hollywood's best actresses.
"Self-sacrifice is the real miracle out of which all reported miracles grow"
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Smoking is smoking... it's no better or worse then the habbits that most younger people have today. I find it funny that it is commented upon. Most of you obviously have never watched anything older than Harry Potter. LOL
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Back in the 40's through 60's probably half the adult population of the US smoked. What seems like it's being artificially hyped in those old movies was just the way it was. Back then you could even smoke in patient rooms at the hospital and that was just the way it was. Doctors smoked and some did ads recommending certain brands of cigs.
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It's difficult for most people to situate films in their own time-frame. Dead Ringer is one of my favorite bad movies. And though nobody is asking, here is a list of the 10 most memorable heavy-smokers (in the picture) in film history:
Humprhey Bogar in "Casablanca"
Bette Davis in "Now Voyager"
Hume Cronyn in "Sunrise at Campobello"
Jean-Paul Belmondo in "Breathless"
Anouk Aimee in "Eight and a Half"
Judd Hitsch in "Ordinary People"
Al Pacino in "The Godfather I/II"
Jane Fonda in "Agnes of God"
Sissy Spacek in "In the Bedroom".
I'm not sure if Dustin Hofmann in "All the President's Men". If not, there's room for one more.
Bette Davis in "Old Acquaintance". She smokes throughout the film.
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ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED??!!
Maximus Decimus Meridius
I disagree. She may completely inhale once or twice, but she usually takes the smoke into her mouth, lets it hang there for awhile, then blows it out. Check out the scene where Edie confronts Margaret about the baby, in Edies room. Davis deliberately uses the smoking for effect, puctuation if you will, in this and many other scenes.
shareI never could tell, was BD a smoker in real life or was it just a prop? Did she inhale. Sometimes it looks like she is inhaling and sometimes not. I wonder because she lived a very long life and I think I heard that she was a smoker but I'm not sure.
"You think you know, what you are, what's to come--You haven't even begun." BtVS
This was 1964, even Doctors were doing cigarette commercials at the time telling us how 'healthy they were. Heck, anyone watch Fred and Barney lighting up behind the house hiding from Betty and Wilma? Great TV commercial and very funny! Fred and Barney even did beer commercials too! Like others have said, most people have an addiction whether it's cigs, alcohol, drugs, or food. Live with it. My daughter always watches old movies with me and at some point watching a 30s or 40s film she asked, 'Dad, why do all the men and women wear hats all the time?' It was a large back-shot of a major city street (maybe New York) and she said, 'Look, all of THESE PEOPLE HAVE HATS ON! WHY!? I cracked me up and I explained it was the style of the time. I have a question about present day. Over the years we've had fantastic 'Made for TV Movies' and shows like Columbo etc. Why do we have so many dumb Reality Shows and why in the world do people keep watching them? I actually saw an ad for a show called 'Basketball Wives'? I'm worried about our countries future if people find entertainment in this. I haven't watched one reality show yet but the TV ads are more than enough to keep me away. I'd rather watch people wearing hats and smoking... Thank God for DVDs and TCM (I'm watching Dead Ringer right now!)
You're damned if you do and damned if you don't ~ Bart Simpson
You are dead-on right; she does not inhale! She does exactly what you said; she holds the smoke in her mouth, and then blows it out like an exclamation point, always. People who say she inhaled know nothing about smoking. And honestly, all the anti-smoking nuts are quite tiresome; I'd love to know what unhealthy vices they indulge in! People minding other people's business has become the number one American pastime.
shareIt's a half inhale. My mother taught me to do this Bette Davis way of smoking. You drag on the cig. Blow most of it out. Inhale a little. And exhale the small amount that was left over.
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