Crazy in Alabama (1999)

An abused wife heads to California to become a movie star while her nephew back in Alabama has to deal with a racially-motivated murder involving a corrupt sheriff.

Director:

Antonio Banderas

Writers:

Mark Childress (novel), Mark Childress (screenplay)

Stars:

Melanie Griffith, David Morse, Lucas Black

3 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Melanie Griffith	...	Lucille Vinson
David Morse	...	Dove Bullis
Lucas Black	...	Peter Joseph 'Peejoe' Bullis
Cathy Moriarty	...	Earlene Bullis
Meat Loaf	...	Sheriff John Doggett (as Meat Loaf Aday)
Rod Steiger	...	Judge Louis Mead
Richard Schiff	...	Norman the Chauffeur
John Beasley	...	Nehemiah Jackson
Robert Wagner	...	Harry Hall
Noah Emmerich	...	Sheriff Raymond
Sandra Seacat	...	Meemaw
Paul Ben-Victor	...	D.A. Mackie (as Paul Ben Victor)
Brad Beyer	...	Jack
Fannie Flagg	...	Sally the Waitress
Elizabeth Perkins	...	Joan Blake

Storyline

A backwoods Alabama boy named Peejoe -short for Peter Joseph- gets a quick education in grown-up matters like freedom in 1965. The catalyst is an unlikely source - his glamorous, eccentric Aunt Lucille, who escapes from her abusive husband and takes off for Hollywood to pursue her dreams of TV stardom.

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Plot Keywords:

alabama | murder | dream | sheriff | boy | 

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Taglines:

Sometimes you have to lose your mind to find your freedom

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Genres:

Drama | Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some violence, thematic material, language and a scene of sensuality

Details

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 October 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Locos en Alabama

Filming Locations:

Laurel Valley Village Museum - 595 Highway 308, Thibodaux, Louisiana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$1,010,596 (USA) (22 October 1999)

Gross:

$1,954,202 (USA) (5 November 1999)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation, Green Moon Productions, Global Entertainment Productions GmbH & Company Medien KG

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

It is mentioned in one of the scenes, that Melanie Griffith's character, who is an aspiring actress, should visit Alfred Hitchcock's agents. Griffith's mother is actress Tippi Hedren, who rose to stardom in two of Hitchock's movies-The Birds and Marnie.

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Quotes

Lucille: He said no, when he should've said yes. Mama, I killed him, cut his head off.

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Connections

Features Bewitched (1964)

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Soundtracks

"Right Kind Of Girl"
Written and Performed by Nate Adams
Courtesy of Night Train International
By Arrangement with Ocean Park Music Group

User Reviews

Decent performances and well made, but contains too complex of a script. **1/2 (out of four)

CRAZY IN ALABAMA / (1999) **1/2 (out of four)

By Blake French:

"Crazy in Alabama" is actually very well constructed; with good performances by a strong supporting cast, including David Morse ("The Green Mile"), Rod Steiger ("End of Days")" Meat Loaf Aday ("Fight Club"), and a compelling leading performance by director Antonio Banderas' wife, Melanie Griffith. Based on the novel by Mark Childress, who also wrote the screenplay, the movie suffers not from poor quality of filmmaking, but from the filmmakers trying to cram way to much material in the 111 minute movie.

The performers are hard at work here, but they can not possibly conquer the problems the production experiences due to the overcrowded script, which actually includes three separate stories of equal importance. The first details a woman named Lucille (Melanie Griffith), who dreams of becoming a famous actress in Hollywood after chopping off her cruel husband's head. She commits the murderous act to escape his overbearing clutches. "There are a lot of ways you can kill a person. There are fast ways, and there are slow ways. Chester was killin' me the slow way for thirteen years." Obviously Lucille preferred the fast way when it came to putting an end to her spouse.

The next story revolves around a civil right movement in Alabama. A young black teenager, Taylor Jackson (Louis Miller) is killed by a local prejudice sheriff named John Doggett (Meat Loaf Aday), who angrily pulls the innocent victim off a fence after he and his friends protest against the prohibition of swimming in the city pool. The late boy's parents attempt to lead a civil right crusade while trying to build a case to make Doggett pay for his crime.

Through another story is where these stories are linked. We see these events through the point of view of a young man's realization of life in the South without parents. This character, named Peejoe (Lucas Black), is the nephew of Lucille. She trustingly reveals all her secrets to Peejoe before she heads for Hollywood. He is also the only witness the violent act of Sheriff Doggett, placing him in the middle of the civil rights movement. Peejoe is not the center of the movie, however, and his character is completely unneeded and only adds additional complexity to the screenplay. He is simply an excuse to interlock the other two plots, and the attempt does not work.

The stories by themselves are very interesting, with inventive and original ideas and some thought-provoking messages. The film feels convincing in its development of the setting and atmosphere; the 1960's are captured with intrigue. Although it is his first feature film, Antonio Banderas, also a well-known actor starring 1999's Viking drama "The 13th Warrior," he should have realized the complexity of the plot as a negative contribution. There are movies in which multiple stories make the production unique and innovative, like "Traffic," "Magnolia," and "Pulp Fiction," but those movies blended their narratives together carefully, "Crazy in Alabama" only makes excuses for its actions.