DID "BESTIALITY" HAVE A DIFFERENT MEANING IN 1964?
DON'T FENCE HER IN
Just keep telling yourself, "I was in Gone with the Wind...I was in Gone with the Wind..."
OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND, DIRECTOR WILLIAM GRAUMAN, AND COSTUME DESIGNER EDITH HEAD. THEIR EXPRESSIONS SAY IT ALL.
I love this film! Olivia is so high-minded at the start and then degenerates, just as the montage photo shows. I think the bestiality refers to James "Gorilla" Caan who has body hair out the wazoo (and who, thankfully, shows it off in a bathtub scene.) Throw in the gay son and Ann Sothern and it's a real treat.
ReplyDeleteI saw it for the first time about 2 years ago, and have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, Olivia is delicious; Ann Sothern is ALWAYS worth watching; and James Caan has a menacing sexuality that I, sadly, find very attractive. But the mood is relentlessly bleak and ugly, with no room for "Strait-Jacket"-esque camp to lighten the mood.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, don't you think that Olivia looks rather like The Half-Sister Who Shall Remain Nameless in the first two shots of that montage?
I recall feeling that way, too, the first time I saw it! Next time, when you already know how tough it's going to be, you may be able to release some of your personal tension and focus on the goofier aspects of the dialogue and the acting. It worked that way for me, anyhow. Like when Liv STARES DOWN her air conditioner and wills it to work! lol (PS - Joan is not Liv's half-sister! They're full on blood - accent on blood - siblings!)
ReplyDelete