Nearly Naked Boys Singing 1970s-Style - Stop Being Such Cynical Effing Douchebags Blogathon

Final Girl has instigated something called the "Hey, Internet! Stop Being Such Cynical Effing Douchebags!" Blogathon, in which she challenges internet movie writers to "write about something in the world of film that fills you with complete and total unbridled fucking retarded JOY." It's a brilliant call, really -- to demand that web cinephiliacs shirk their carefully constructed attitudes and let something delightfully embarassing hang right out there... And it took me a moment to settle on something, but thanks to a fleeting encounter with Grease2 on television this weekend, I was reminded of an obscure genre of cinematic pleasure which just stirs my very soul: unexpected musical numbers in films of the later 1970s and early 1980s in which men get nearly naked. I'm not sure why I thrill so. I suspect it's a combination of the innocent irreverence of male nudity in the 1970s, coupled with my giddy delight at the well-positioned (and well-proportioned) musical number, as well as my personal concupiscence when I first encountered these scenes. And they're all prior to that time when Tom Cruise lip-synched in his underpants, an admittedly excellent scene which nonetheless transformed the nearly naked musical number into something peculiarly innocent. No, there's something about the at once overt and oblique sexuality of these numbers that I do fill me with the requisite "complete and unbridled fucking retarded JOY." Truly, I could just watch these clips on loop for hours on end. Oh, I love each of them so... So, lovely reader, with my giddy blessing, please enjoy:

nearly naked boys singing 1970s-style
click images to be routed to video

Exhibit A
Airotica
A silly song transformed by the genius of Bob Fosse in All That Jazz (1979),
a sequence that instigated my peculiar fascination with the "dancebelt."

Exhibit B
The Aggie Boys
Silly, yes, but hicks doing high kicks while wearing jock straps? Good times.
Among the several stirring pleasures of 1982's Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

Exhibit Q
Black Boys/White Boys
The polymorphously perverse recasting of this lusty song
to involve both the military men of the draft board
as well as the hot mamas in the park
is among the gestures of true genius in
Milos Forman's 1979 adaptation of the legendary tribal love rock musical.

Exhibit X
The Floor Show
Don't dream it. Be it. With everyone in the pool.
At The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).

and perhaps my most favorite of all
Exhibit Z
The Hockey Striptease
Michael Ontkean gives all to win his team the championship
in the sports comedy Slap Shot (1977).

Did I miss any of your favorites?
Add to "the unbridled fucking retarded joy" in comments.

To Dos Day

___ Item 1: PREPARE YOUR POST.
Final Girl's called for a cinephiliac lovefest entitled "HEY, INTERNET, STOP BEING SUCH CYNICAL EFFING DOUCHEBAGS BLOG-A-THON!" in which y'all are charged with "writ[ing] about something in the world of film that fills you with complete and total unbridled fucking retarded JOY." StinkyLulu's got lots of retarded joy for film, so 'twill be innersting to see what emerges...

___ Item 2: SCROLL DOWN.
In the post just below this one, I've got StinkyLulu's version of that movie quote meme that's been washing over the film blogosphere. I'm really amused by this collection of quotes, which share something specific in common. Jakey, Joe and Matt swooped through and named a whole bunch (with Matt positing a theory of the shared feature) but there's still some of the funniest quotes that have yet to be claimed.

___ Item 3: CONSIDER HORTON'S POLITICS.
Apparently it's become a pro-life parable, contrary to the wishes and views of both Theodor and Audrey Geisel. But Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez gives a happy smackdown to the hijackers.

___ Item 4: KEEP RUBBING YOUR CRYSTAL BALLS.
Inspired by Nathaniel's 2nd annual Actress Psychic Contest, I'm still contemplating a mini-version for Supporting Actresses. If you would like to play Supporting Actress prognosticator, please do consider joining up. I'll run a real contest if I get 25+ folks (I've got about 3 or so folks now) interested in playing. To indicate your interest, shoot me a quick email and tell me your top 6 picks for Best Supporting Actress 2008, with a bonus/tie-breaker of your most likely Razzie nominee.

___ Item 5: STILL SLACKING.
But I's hustling to get things back on track, I promise. The final Celebrity Rehab post is planned for Wednesday, the "dinner with" meme for Thursday, the return of Homo Heritage on Friday and the "Born in 1967" post on Sunday. Whew...

___ Item 6: SEEKING SMACKDOWNERS.
The 3rd Season of Supporting Actress Sundays is just around the corner and that means I'm starting to think about filling the roster of Smackdowners for the first half of the Smackdown season (April-August). If you'd like to join the Smackdowning fun, it's pretty simple. You must have a personal blog/website, the ability to access a wide range of older movies and the time to re-screen all five selections during the month you're a smackdowner. That's it. (FYI - if a selection is especially obscure, I'll try to help out but generally you're on your own). Keep in mind that we usually don't know the year for consideration until about 6 weeks before the Smackdown, which always happens on the last Sunday of the month. (And please note that April, May and July are the "short" months of Sundays this year, and June and August are the only two "long" months.) Also, since we will be experimenting with a variety of new ways of determining the choice for each Smackdown year, please do let me know if you're especially game for certain eras and I'll try to keep that in mind as the Smackdowns unfold. So, if you're interested, please send me an email that includes the following: your preferred name/handle; the username under which your comments currently appear; a link to your personal blog/website; and which months you're available for the project. I'm really looking forward to this year so consider joining up with the Smackdowner adventure. (Also, if you have contributed to a previous Smackdown and a link to you does not yet appear on my Smackdowner blogroll, or if corrections to the blogroll are needed, please do let me know as well.)

Have at it, lovelies!

Go To Your Closet And Pray - QUOTE MEME

I know I'm late to this meme-ishness...

IDENTIFY THE MOVIE QUOTE
by speaker/film in comments.
Or, if you prefer, enact them in sequence as a dramatic recitation.
But please - no googling, no imdb-ing, no cheating.

1. Do you eat ice cream? (Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine - Matt)
   
2. I don't know. Maybe we are, and maybe we're not. (Katharine Ross, The Graduate - Matt)
   
3. We won't bite you until we know you better.
   
4. You only live once, and once is enough if you play your cards right. (Maureen Stapleton, Interiors - Matt)
   
5. Things is gonna be changin' around here. Pass me them peas, boy. (Oprah Winfrey, The Color Purple - MrWeaver)
   
6. A woman can change better'n a man. A man lives sorta - well, in jerks. (Jane Darwell, Grapes of Wrath - Brad)
   
7. He's been there seventeen years and he's not a partner? This is the guy they send? (Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton - Joe)
   
8. Let's you and me get acquainted honey. You may be a number to others but not to me. Sit down in this chair, it's kinda roomy. (Hope Emerson, Caged - Brad)
9. No, we are not friends. I don't take this shit from friends. Only lovers. (Teri Garr, Tootsie - Matt)
   
10. Never burn bridges. Today's junior prick, tomorrow's senior partner. (Sigourney Weaver, Working Girl - Jakey)
    
11. My granny'd go around clickin' her teeth to the radio all day. Boy, was she a lot of fun, and cooked my favorite, roast beef. She was a sweetheart. She raised chickens too. (Ronee Blakley, Nashville - Brad)
12. I miss Dorothy. (Jessica Lange, Tootsie - Matt)
    
13. She went to shit and the hogs ate her! (Diane Ladd, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore - Catherine)
    
14. I'm sorry, hon'. Would it really make it easier for you if we settled on just one number? (Angela Lansbury, The Manchurian Candidate - Matt)
    

All but one of the above share
something very specific in common.
Any guesses?

Carolyn Jones in The Bachelor Party (1957) - Supporting Actress Sundays (By Request)

This week's Supporting Actress Sunday profile (the first ever done "By Request") arrives as part of StinkyLulu's contribution to the recent fundraiser over at The Film Experience. Steve & Stephen's donation to the actressexual cause coincided with my offer of a "Supporting Actress Profile By Request" to the first three contributors to drop a certain amount of change into the collection plate. So, imagine my delight, when Steve & Stephen determined their choice -- a perennially undervalued actress's exhilarating if brief nominated performance in a fascinating, frank film of the later 1950s. After all, I'm always giddy to spend some time with...

...Carolyn Jones in The Bachelor Party (1957).

approximately 6 minutes and 4 seconds
3 scenes
roughly 6% of film's total running time

Caroline Jones plays The Existentialist, a startlingly attractive young woman whose path crosses that of Don Murray's Charlie, a young married man out on the town as part of a "bachelor party" for one of his work friends.
Charlie and the guys have been out carousing and are staggering from street corner to street corner in search of a better time. They're careening toward downtown (in search of "one of those Greenwich Village parties") when they encounter Jones' character waiting for the light to change. The guys -- all bookkeepers at some midtown office -- pretend to be out-of-towners as they follow Jones, their aggressive banter and jokes a clumsily flirtatious barrage. Jones bats away their whistles and insinuations, alternately bemused and amused and annoyed. Only when Murray's Charlie breaks character, revealing the truth with a sweet smile, does Jones' character deign to return his flirt (though she still refuses to allow him to escort her to the party).
After this chance encounter, the fellas continue their desperate pursuit of a real good time through the streets and the joints of New York City. Yet, Jones' ambiguous dismissal ("dump your friends and come back to the party") becomes their beacon, the only glimpse of true excitement all evening. And, finally, the guys do return to that "Greenwich Village party," with Charlie ready to see where his adventure with Jones may take him.
When Charlie and Jones's character reconnect at the party, we get our first real glimpse into this astonishingly pretty young woman. When on the street, Jones' maintained an enigmatic, absent-minded aloofness for the character; when on the stair at the party, however, we -- along with Murray's Charlie -- quickly discover that this young woman is, on the one hand, perhaps as intelligent as she is pretty and, on the other, capable of chattering your ear off.
At first glance -- to both Charlie and us -- Jones' character might seems like a marvelous Manhattan mystery woman. But as she continues to chatter, in a monologue delivered at breakneck speed and with exhilarating precision, Jones' character details both the events of her day and (thanks to Paddy Chayefsky's dexterity with character detail) her entire backstory. In swift character strokes, Jones' character transmogrifies from exotic urban temptress to a middle class girl from the suburbs who graduated some years ago from Vassar and who now finds herself battling off both the predations of masculine paramours and basic loneliness as she lives life as a single girl in the big city. With a barrage of non-stop chatter, and with uncommon wit and dazzling vocal dexterity, Jones crafts a precise character of incredible depth and detail. In so doing, and in the space of barely a minute, Jones also transforms the character from being an idealized fantasy to a being a complicated human being. This transformation also complicates Jones' character's relationship to Murray's Charlie. Moreover, as she reveals more about herself, we note Charlie becoming agitated. He doesn't want her to be a person; he wants her to remain a fantasy for his desperate use and so begins to bully her to join him upstairs where they might find some privacy. Jones' character first resists, accusing him of being primitive and unappealing, before assenting and leading Charlie upstairs where they fall into an embrace.
As Murray's Charlie begins pawing her, his mouth greedily seeking a kiss, Jones's character stops him with a single command: "Tell me you love me."
She goes on, "You don't have to mean it, just tell me you love me." With her sweet uncomplicated delivery of this line, Jones nails the character to our hearts. In it, Jones conveys the long history of experimented affections that have brought her to this moment.
Of course, Charlie follows her order and they begin to kiss with a brief passion, before stopping again, just as abruptly, and making plans to meet at a bar around the corner. Jones' character, half beseechingly, commands him to not disappoint her, once again sharing the profundity of her loneliness and hunger for genuine affection.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Murray's Charlie does disappoint her, leaving the bar to care for his friend before she arrives. Notably, however, Carolyn Jones' character continues to haunt the action, even though we neither see nor hear her again. Whereas the fantasy of Jones' character had previously nagged Charlie and his friends with the promise of all they might be missing, now the idea of her proves a haunting reminder of what might be in store for them if they squander the truth of the love already in their lives. Indeed, Carolyn Jones is charged with portraying less a character than an icon of masculine fantasy: alternately, the erotically thrilling woman through whom all masculine potential might be realized and the sexually threatening woman through whom all masculine power might be drained or dissipated.
Yet, as an actress tuned into her character's many compromises of self, Carolyn Jones inhabits this misogynist archetype with stunning empathy, mining the character details and vocal rhythms to craft "The Existentialist" as a formidably -- and, for Lulu, poignantly, unforgettably -- human figure.
Carolyn Jones' nomination for her performance as "The Existentialist" stands out as one of the most surprising and satisfying nominations in the category's history. You don't see a character, or characterization, like this very often. (And thanks to Steve & Stephen for allowing us the opportunity to once again savor the delights of Carolyn Jones.)

Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew Finale - Moment of Serenity

Alas.
The duties of my day job have once again intervened
to delay my recaplet of this extraordinary televisual event:

My recaplet will be posted in the coming days.
For now, I offer my favorite moment of serenity from the show:
"Under the Blanket with Dr. Drew."

Mmmmmmmmm.

But in the meantime...

SEE ALSO previous "Stinky Thoughts" on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew:
Episode 1 ("Intake")
Episode 2 ("Detox")
Episode 3 ("New Arrival")
Episode 4 ("Sex & Trauma")
Episode 5 ("Bye Bye Baldwin")
Episode 6 ("Friends and Family")
Episode 7 ("Retreat")
Episode 8 ("Graduation")
Episode 9 ("Finale")

Wishful Thinking Thursdays: Posteriors

What I wish I was watching tonight...

Posteriors
via Lady Bunny

Two of StinkyLulu's all-time fantasy boyfriends (Rakoff & Frechette) on the same stage making fun of Woody Allen and Maureen Stapleton? I swoon at the mere thought. Luckily, I have the Celebrity Rehabitants to keep me warmly amused (not to mention some survivors and supermodels)...

Previously in Interiors: 1 & 2.

5 Stinky Thoughts on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew - Episode 9: "Finale"

Each week I offer a quick recaplet on the latest episode of the new VH1 experiment in candid celebreality, Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. The fun continues this week with episode 9, "Finale."

Thought #1: How 'Bout That Red Carpet?
In a series loaded with bad/lame ideas from the producers (Catalina? Pool Party? You name it...), the red carpet staging of the "Coining Out Ceremony" proved a mostly interesting drama container. I especially appreciated how the "sober-living-is-the-only-way" mantra was complicated, productively, by the rehearsal of alternative post-rehab sobriety plans (ie. outpatient treatment, "90-Meetings-in-90-Days", intense 1-on-1 therapy). There are all kinds of ways to get sober, some of which you don't have to pay for, and it was nice that this episode -- after months of being basically a commercial for residential rehab -- did acknowledge some of the other paths of recovery. I also thought the graduation was cute, with the rehab techs all dressed up along one side. (Side note: why didn't we get to know the black woman rehab tech? I only really remember her as Jeff's designated handler/animal trainer. I got the impression that William did nights and NurseShelly did days, so what about this other lady?) Anyway, I first thought the whole GrandPapaDrew-delivers-sobriety-diplomas was going to be lame but, here, I was surprised that it proved as dynamic and fruitful staging device.

Thought #2: Severe Chronic Assholism?
An aspect of "Severe Chronic Assholism" which commenter Beth has called me on is how I use "Severe Chronic Assholism" as way to express my annoyance with people. Which I have done, and will likely continue to do. But this week, I had a lot of empathy for everyone as they "acted out." Everyone's clearly very frightened and (with the exception of Seth who's totally clear on what he's doing and thus able to be calm about it) everyone's fairly frightened , either of disappointing DrDrew and/or being challenged by him for making their own choice. All of which reminded me of a crucial part of what I call "Severe Chronic Assholism." For me, "Severe Chronic Assholism" most essentially describes the drug-seeking behaviors that survive abstinence and pop up in vulnerable moments of sobriety, often as cues that the person is getting ready to "use" again (if not their drug of choice, then some other way to "check out" of the moment). In my use of the phrase, I am also usually talking about when someone uses the same behaviors they used to get people out of their way so they could do their drug of choice -- bullying, rationalization, aggrievement, righteousness, victimhood, etc -- using those same behaviors to get people out of their way so they can get their way. And this week, I think we saw this aspect of "Severe Chronic Assholism" in Jaimee's agitated willfulness (especially about that horrible "no TV after midnight" rule), which DrDrew seemed right to be concerned about, as well as Mary's anxious, people-pleasing equivocations. Addiction rehearses people in being assholes, and those habits are sometimes nearly as hard to break as the drinking/drugging.

Thought #3: Moments of Clarity with NurseShelly.
Of course, the perfect NurseShelly moment came when all the Rehabitants had left the building and, surveying their residual wreakage, NurseShelly wistfully observes: "This place is still a mess. Unbelievable." But the truly best NurseShelly moment came, unsurprisingly, from Ricco (whose love-hate relationship with NurseShelly really warrants its own video mashup). During his goodbye testimonial, Ricco offered his thanks to everyone in the facility, "Even Shelly the Shark." He went on to address the group ("She's always got the answers and that's why I don't like her") before turning again to NurseShelly to say, "I owe you an apology but, at the same time, I want to thank you for being so tough on me." And then Ricco started to cry. For reals. Behold the power of NurseShelly. I love NurseShelly.

Thought #4: What I Didn't Need To See.
While I thought the "Coining Out Ceremony" was full of genuinely interesting stuff, the fact that the producers clearly seem to have rehearsed the Rehabitants in framing their outgoing testimonies. All simply to amplify the suspense of the reveal. In particular, I found the heavily teased MaryEllen/DrDrew smackdown to be especially tedious. But whatever. I suppose I should cut the producers some slack. They clearly thought they were doing a rehab edition of Celebrity Fit Club or something like Surreal Life Goes to Rehab when this thing warranted a whole 'nother genre. But between the tricksy chronologies, bad idea scenarios, and conspicuous drama-stirring, the inelegant, inexpert and ill-advised producerly shenanigans remain the only truly sub-par features of this strangely compelling show.

Thought #5: Celebrity Rehab's Lessons in Sobriety.
I caught a snippet of a Tyra episode last Friday in which she featured DrDrew and some of the Rehabitants reporting on some of their experiences post rehab. All I can say is, "wowza" (especially to Jessica, who seemed completely, beautifully transformed and who has one heckuva post-Celebrity Rehab tale to tell). So, I confess to watching this episode with some additional information, all of which makes me more obsessed with the 90-minute (!) reunion special set to air tomorrow night. And that awareness really does underscore what seems to be this episode's lesson in sobriety: no matter how many tools a rehab -- or a therapist, or a 12-step program, or a therapist, or a spiritual path, or whatever -- no matter how many tools an addict is given to accomplish the day-to-day work of sobriety, it's up to the recovering addict to use those tools. It takes what it takes for each individual to discover their route to true personal recovery and this episode underscores just how complex and challenging that journey is. But all I can say is: bring on the drama of the reunion! I can't wait!!!

But please bring on your drama in comments, beloveds.
SEE ALSO previous "Stinky Thoughts" on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew:
Episode 1 ("Intake")
Episode 2 ("Detox")
Episode 3 ("New Arrival")
Episode 4 ("Sex & Trauma")
Episode 5 ("Bye Bye Baldwin")
Episode 6 ("Friends and Family")
Episode 7 ("Retreat")
Episode 8 ("Graduation")
And be sure to tune in on Friday for every addict's favorite thing: MORE!!!

To Dos Day

___ Item 1: SAY HI.
StinkyLulu's Blog Crush #31108: When I Look Deep In Your Eyes. (Love ya, Cuddles!)

___ Item 2: FORGIVE ME.
Yes yes yes - I've been a big old blogging slacker, iknowiknowiknow. Between the full-tilt boogie of the university at midterm and my recent academented travels to the city of boxtys and bloggerly love, I've gotten real behind. In the next days, however, look for StinkyLulu to get back on track -- starting with a make-up Celebrity Rehab recaplet on Wednesday, with my post on the reunion quick to follow on Friday. (For those of you who are just not on the Celebrity Rehab train, this week is marks the end of the adventure in addiction, with next Friday bringing a return -- I think -- of Homo Heritage Fridays.) This Sunday will also bring the first of "The Film Experience Fundraiser" Supporting Actress profiles and, at some point very soon, I'll offer my response to ModFab's tag on the recent "My Dinner With" meme. So, we're back on track, lovelies, I promise.

___ Item 3: MARVEL AT THE WONDERMENT.
Watch as my recent obsession Raquel Welch collides with Janis Joplin on The Dick Cavett Show circa 1970. Now that's a hot tranny mess.

___ Item 4: CLICK AND THEN CLICK AGAIN.
Just click.

___ Item 5: HABLAMOS.
Learn some especial espanish in this helpful video.

___ Item 6: RUB YOUR CRYSTAL BALLS.
Nathaniel's reintroducing his 2nd annual Best Actress Psychic contest today. Not only was last year's venture a total hoot but the whole enterprise, as Nick reminded me this past weekend, is essentially "Fantasy Football for Feygelahs." So, despite my 55th place finish, I can't wait to play again. All such Best Actress excitements, of course, start me to pondering Supporting Actresses. Now, I'm not going to run a comparable contest -- I so could never track such a thing -- but I am contemplating running a mini-version for Supporting Actresses. So, lovely reader, what do you think? Would you like to play Supporting Actress prognosticator? How 'bout this: I'll run a real contest if I get 25+ folks interested in playing. To indicate your interest, say so in comments or shoot me a quick email. For now, let's start warming up in comments. (And feel free to start speculating, you will of course be allowed to revise your picks for an actual contest...just have fun for now.) So, hit it, dear ones: Tell me your top 6 picks for Best Supporting Actress 2008, with a bonus/tie-breaker of your most likely Razzie nominee.

Have at it, lovelies!

To Dos Day

___ Item 1: SAY HI.
StinkyLulu's Blog Crush #3408: Self-Styled Siren. (My swoon for this gorgeous writer never abates fully, but this week she gots me giddy with crush all over again.)

___ Item 2: BE WARNED.
StinkyLulu will likely be going on a mini-hiatus as professional obligations whisk me away to yet another academented fandango. Moreover, my presentation at said fandango has obliged my careful, sustained and repeated screening of movies like this, this, this and especially this -- so I have no idea what mental state I'll actually be in when I finally descend into that fresh pit of academentia. Luckily, I'll be surrounded by friends of StinkyLulu, including the fantabulous Nick and Bluegum (as well as the glorious MsK), while also enjoying the opportunity to finally make the realworld acquaintance of Middento and (dearly departed) QTA. I'm very much looking forward to this trip, though it will mean that postings here in StinkyLuluLand will likely be off their routine a teensy bit.

___ Item 3: PITY ME.
In order to arrive to Item #2 in appropriate time, I will be boarding a "red-eye" flight on Wednesday evening. So what? I'm frankly shocked you even have to ask, lovely reader. This travel schedule (booked months ago) forces me to MISS the broadcast of the Project Runway finale!!! (I know. Can you believe it? MrStinky is still fundamentally peeved about this turn of televisual events.) But, yes, poor little StinkyLulu will be on a plane when the world finds out whether our spritely little sissy prevails in his campaign of fabulous fierceness. (Alas, I have a sneaking suspicion that the teflon princess will snatch the trophy from his fierce little fingers. But never you mind, lovely ones: Ferosha Coutura will not retire quietly into obscurity...her quest for world domination through high fashion will continue to wreak glamorous havoc FOREVER!!!) Watch what happens, beloveds, and know that I'm floating above you all. (Perhaps I'll bump into Elisa while I'm up there.)

___ Item 4: GO COLD TURKEY.
Of course, Item #2 also means that I will be otherwise occupied during the graduation ceremonies of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, thus delaying my usually prompt commentary until sometime next week. (I doubt the hotel will have VH1 but, if they do, I'll do my best to pound out a recaplet.) But it'll be ok, dear ones, you can make it without a StinkyLulu appraisal of the Rehabitants's latest adventures with NurseShelly and DrHunk. I know it'll be challenge. But you can do it. Just take things one day at a time.

___ Item 5: CHECK OUT THE HUNK.
Who's the dreamboat at the center of this magazine feature? (I love how the words seem to be just emanating from him. Or rippling from the sheer force of his charisma. Or something... I just love it.) (via Kenneth in the 212)

___ Item 6: SHARE YOUR DEEP DARK ACTRESSEXUAL SECRET.
As Item #2 indicates, I've been spending a good deal of time the last several weeks contemplating the complex concatenation of wonderment that is Raquel Welch. And, after much serious and sustained consideration, I can state confidently -- call the NYT! StinkyLulu's got NEWS! -- the woman is an extraordinarily bad actress. BUT, at the same time, I must also affirm: Raquel Welch is also just fascinating, especially when she's up to no good acting-wise. In this way, she actually reminds me of actresses like Elizabeth Taylor (who's most enthralling when she's teetering on or beyond the verge of appalling) and, as Blog Crush #3408 reminded me this week, of actresses like Gale Sondergaard (of whom I wrote last year, "She's rarely an interesting actress -- but fascinating, she is always that"). So, lovely reader, do tell. Who are your favorite actresses of this brilliantly bad variety. Share your bad-actress fetishes in comments.

Have at it, lovelies!

Lisa Gay Hamilton in Honeydripper (2007) - Supporting Actress Watch

Well, that was a Supporting Actress Sunday to remember. Between the profile, the smackdown, the could and the should poll, as well as the broadcast itself -- 'twas a perfect storm of Tilda. But for all the wonderment of Oscar getting the Supporting Actressness so right this year, it's almost fitting that the one screening I caught this week trained my attention on a 2007 film that flew almost entirely under StinkyLulu's radar. Released in NY & LA on December 28 (making it, I s'pose, ineligible for 2008 award consideration), this poignant revisioning of one of cinema's most hackneyed genres also contains StinkyLulu's first glimpse of brilliant actressing at the edges in 2008, in the form of the radiant work of...

...Lisa Gay Hamilton in Honeydripper (2007).

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Lisa Gay Hamilton plays Delilah Purvis, a hard-working woman in 1950's Alabama. She's the patiently devoted wife (to Danny Glover's PineTop, proprietor of a struggling juke joint); the protective mother (to Yaya DaCosta's -- yeah yeah, that Yaya -- China Doll, a delicate beauty with a heart condition); and the attentive domestic (of Mary Steenburgen's Amanda Winship, a sad wealthy white woman). Yet amidst this bundle of stock character tropes, Hamilton's Delilah is also a complex person with an independent inner life: she's a woman with a discomfiting past, who's anxious about the present and frankly fearful about the future.

Most conspicuously, the film's title refers to the name of PineTop's juke joint, but it seems to me that the title also cues the tone and style of John Sayles's confident filmmaking. Honeydripper is a movie that takes its sweet time to honor its complicated characters as they discover their ability to trust in miracles. Sure, Honeydripper moves slowwwwwwly, its internecine map of distinctive characters sauntering an easy weave with little concern for the film's wisp of a plot. Yes, Honeydripper is also densely sweet. With anyone but Sayles at the helm, this piece would likely make most sense on the Hallmark channel. And it might be easy to fault this film for not moving with a Frank Oz-ian subtlety or with a Chris Columbus-ian nuance. Yet, under Sayles's assured hand, there emerges an artisanal richness in the sweet, a soulful pungency to the slow, which transforms Honeydripper's treacle into something nearly transcendent. Indeed, Honeydripper elevates the formulaic, feel-good music narrative to the realm of a quiet sublime. In Honeydripper, music operates with redemptive power -- as a catalyst for valuing memory, history, futurity, community, and self. And no one character is as attuned to this fact more than Hamilton's Delilah.
When we meet her, Delilah is clinging to life by her fingernails. Outwardly, she's holding it all together -- helping her husband, saving money for her daughter to go to beauty school, working as a domestic in the mayor's home. Yet, inwardly, Delilah's experiencing a crisis of faith. She's literally "between churches" and dutifully attending revival meetings in the sincere hope that she'll hear the call of the spirit. A former nightclub singer, Hamilton's Delilah carries a weight from her past that we never see (is it something to do with the night PineTop supposedly killed a man? is it something to do with China Doll's real father?). But just as we never see Delilah sing, so too do we never see the actual contours of Delilah's past pain. In her meticulously human performance, Hamilton holds Delilah's pent up fears and pains with tender care, allowing us witness their reality while never asking our sympathy. And thereby breaking our heart all the more effectively...
Even more, Delilah's crisis of faith anchors the film's actual climax -- an emotional endoskeleton for the narrative's exoskeleton. As the anxious preparations are underway for the big Saturday night that will either make or break the future of PineTop's Honeydripper club, Hamilton's Delilah is hard at work, cooking in the kitchen, when she discovers that PineTop has raided her secret stash of savings. In a desperate rage, Hamilton's Delilah tears from the kitchen, confronts PineTop about how he's stolen China Doll's future, before she quits the whole thing to go to the revival's last meeting. In a gorgeous sequence of scenes, Sayles permits Hamilton to show the depth of Delilah's determination to find God in the church, as she grimly steps forward to accept salvation. What Sayles and Hamilton craft in this sequence is an elegant portrait of Delilah's spiritual integrity -- she believes in God, and genuinely wants God in her heart, but she can't seem to hear God in her life. As Delilah steps into the aisle, Hamilton -- with a blend of steely determination and vulnerable tenderness -- wordlessly conveys the depth of Delilah's crisis of faith, that it's not her resistance to God, but her resistance to affirming a false testimony with which she struggles.
Of course, this being a feel-good genre picture, Delilah finds her connection to God in a place she might have never have known to look had she not chosen to follow her heart. And with Hamilton's confident, bold performance, Delilah's journey enriches Honeydripper's exuberant, magical finale in ways that open the redemptive power of music for all the film's characters. Lisa Gay Hamilton remains one of the most reliably exceptional actresses working today (though not, to my mind, frequently enough). And her performance in Honeydripper presents an especial opportunity to patiently savor the transcendent marvels of actressing at the edges.

This Week in Supporting Actressness

Judi Dench in Chocolat (2000) on E!
Olympia Dukakis in Moonstruck (1987) on TCM
Andrea Leeds in Stage Door (1937) on TCM
Jean Hagen in Singin' in the Rain (1952) on TCM
Piper Laurie in Carrie (1976) on A&E
Celeste Holm in All about Eve (1950) on TCM

Piper Laurie in Children of a Lesser God (1986) on TCM
Shelley Winters in The Poseidon Adventure (1972) on AMC
Gladys Cooper in Now, Voyager (1942) on TCM
Gladys Cooper in My Fair Lady (1964) on TCM
Renee Zellwegger in Cold Mountain (2003) on USA
Grayson Hall in The Night of the Iguana (1964) on TCM
Nina Foch in Executive Suite (1954) on TCM