IMDb >
Mommie Dearest (1981)
Watch It
Buy it at Amazon
Rent it at blockbuster.com
Discuss in Boards More at IMDb Pro Add to My Movies Update Data
BETA
Discuss in Boards More at IMDb Pro Add to My Movies Update Data
Quicklinks
Top Links
trailers and videosfull cast and crewtriviaofficial sitesmemorable quotesOverview
main detailscombined detailsfull cast and crewcompany creditstv scheduleAwards & Reviews
user commentsexternal reviewsnewsgroup reviewsawardsuser ratingsparents guiderecommendationsmessage boardPlot & Quotes
plot summaryplot synopsisplot keywordsAmazon.com summarymemorable quotesFun Stuff
triviagoofssoundtrack listingcrazy creditsalternate versionsmovie connectionsFAQOther Info
merchandising linksbox office/businessrelease datesfilming locationstechnical specslaserdisc detailsDVD detailsliterature listingsNewsDeskPromotional
taglines trailers and videos posters photo galleryExternal Links
showtimesofficial sitesmiscellaneousphotographssound clipsvideo clipsMommie Dearest (1981) More at IMDbPro »
| Photos (see all 14 | slideshow) |
Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
18 September 1981 (USA) moreTagline:
To my darling Christina, with love...Mommie Dearest morePlot:
Mommie Dearest, best selling memoir, turned motion picture, depicts the abusive and traumatic adoptive upbringing of Christina Crawford at the hands of her mother...screen queen Joan Crawford. full summary | full synopsisAwards:
6 wins & 7 nominations moreNewsDesk:
(9 articles)
Pell James--The Hollywood Interview (From The Hollywood Interview. 25 June 2009, 10:23 AM, PDT)
Five Movies You Shouldn’t Watch With Mom On Mother’s Day
(From MTV Movies Blog. 10 May 2009, 6:07 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
"Hollywood Royalty Edition" DVD Resuscitates Crawford Camp Classic Embodied by an Overcommitted Dunaway moreCast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Faye Dunaway | ... | Joan Crawford | |
| Diana Scarwid | ... | Christina Crawford (adult) | |
| Steve Forrest | ... | Greg Savitt | |
| Howard Da Silva | ... | Louis B. Mayer | |
| Mara Hobel | ... | Christina Crawford (child) | |
| Rutanya Alda | ... | Carol Ann | |
| Harry Goz | ... | Alfred Steele | |
| Michael Edwards | ... | Ted Gelber | |
| Jocelyn Brando | ... | Barbara Bennett | |
| Priscilla Pointer | ... | Mrs. Chadwick | |
| Joe Abdullah | ... | Captain | |
| Gary Allen | ... | Jimmy | |
| Selma Archerd | ... | Connie | |
| Adrian Aron | ... | Wedding Guest | |
| Xander Berkeley | ... | Christopher Crawford (adult) |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
129 minCountry:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
Color (Metrocolor)Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 moreSound Mix:
MonoCertification:
Canada:AA (Ontario) | Iceland:16 | UK:15 | UK:AA (original rating) | Sweden:15 | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Australia:M | Singapore:PGFilming Locations:
Chadwick School - 26800 Academy Drive, Palos Verdes Peninsula, California, USA moreFun Stuff
Trivia:
It was reported that in an interview that Joan Crawford said only Faye Dunaway had the talent and guts to be a true star. moreGoofs:
Audio/visual unsynchronized: After young Christina is defeated by Joan in the pool race scene, Christina's line "it's not fair to win twice" can be heard a second time underneath Joan's line "Ah, but nobody ever said..." moreQuotes:
Joan Crawford: [Joan is pouring booze from her flask] Hey, you know where I got this from?Christina: Uh uh.
Joan Crawford: BATISTA himself.
Christina: Yeah?
Joan Crawford: When I opened a plant outside Havana.
Christina: That's all they gave you?
Joan Crawford: That's it. Cheap bastards.
more
Soundtrack:
Im Sitting On Top Of The World moreFAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more
Message Boards
Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Mommie Dearest (1981) moreRecommendations
If you enjoyed this title, our database also recommends:
Show more recommendations
|
|
|
|
|
| Terms of Endearment | The Godfather | The Mystery of Natalie Wood | A Star Is Born | Inside Daisy Clover |
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
Related Links
| Full cast and crew | Company credits | External reviews |
| News articles | IMDb Biography section | IMDb USA section |
| Add this title to MyMovies |












Even though she was the first runner-up for the New York Film Critics Award, Faye Dunaway disavows her performance as screen icon Joan Crawford because the camp following this 1981 potboiler has developed over the years has probably been overwhelming. To put it mildly, she is certainly watchable. However, every line she utters seems to have an exclamation point, and every gesture feels so grandiose that it's hard to figure out just what empathetic qualities Crawford had to engender her long-standing popularity. The glibly titled 2006 Hollywood Royalty Edition DVD package makes no bones that this is a movie that now caters to its huge gay following. Dunaway's snub in participating (as well as director Frank Perry's death) means having flamboyant director John Waters pinch-hit on the commentary track, and he manages to be both funny and insightful as he shares lots of apocryphal gossip and zingy one-liners to bring a whole new flavor to the execrable film.
Among his many errors in judgment, Perry decided to film the story of Crawford's mid-to-late years (or more appropriately, her adopted daughter Christina's version of it) as if the movie was one of Crawford's own overripe films. The problem with his serious-minded approach is that it veers so unpredictably back and forth between soap opera and pure camp that the only consistency is its artifice. The story begins as the movie star's career is in free fall at MGM in 1939 (when she was forced to film a true atrocity called "Ice Follies of 1939"). Aware of her professional dilemma, Crawford decides to adopt a baby regardless of being a twice-divorced single career woman. With the help of her studio lackey lover Greg Savitt, she adopts a daughter and later a son. Forever the publicity hound, Crawford presents her happy family in the most pretentious manner in front of the Hollywood press, yet hides a streak of cruelty that manifests itself into military-like parenting and savagely violent episodes. Not living up to her mother's exacting standards, Christina is shuttled off to boarding school and then convent school. She grows up to become a struggling young TV actress, as her mother becomes a corporate wife-turned widow slipping deeper into alcoholism.
Perry makes a fundamental mistake in switching the film's narrative perspective from Joan to Christina midway through the film. The consequence is that neither of their stories is fully told with any objectivity, especially what could have happened in Crawford's earlier years that would have led to such excessive behavior. Instead, we are given an endless parade of over-the-top moments the tree chopping, the tile scrubbing, the wire hangers, the out-of-control strangulation - that the movie is simply too exhausting to keep up with the episodic storyline. With her reasonable resemblance to the movie star in full make-up, Dunaway carries herself confidently within the Crawford public persona and even achieves some remote moments of poignancy in between the shouting matches. Her strenuous efforts at verisimilitude, however, push her into an unsavory, demonic level of commitment to the larger-than-life role. It's too bad that almost everyone else is quite awful by comparison Diana Scarwid frustratingly wooden as the adult Christina, Rutanya Alda irritatingly earnest in her blind devotion as Crawford's confidante Carol Ann, Steve Forrest looking like aged beef as Savitt and Howard Da Silva merely smarmy as MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer. The one exception is little Mara Hobel, who brings genuine cunning to the younger Christina.
The Hollywood Royalty Edition includes three dishy featurettes. The 14-minute "The Revival of Joan Crawford" shows the genesis of the movie from Christina's red-hot best seller with contributions from Scarwid, Alda and producer Frank Yablans, who speaks candidly about Dunaway's tempestuous perfectionism. The 14-minute "Life With Joan" focuses on Dunaway's total absorption in the part during the stormy production and includes an extended opening sequence that was deleted before release. The 16-minute "Joan Lives On" speaks specifically to the film's cult status with Waters and Crawford impersonator Lypsinka providing particularly comic insight to its gay following. There is also a photo gallery and the original trailer. It's truly for lovers of cinema camp.