Hush (1998)

A couple with jobs and apartment in NYC, decide to move to his mom's farm, get married and have the baby there. They can also make the changes to get a better price for the farm. However, there's something seriously wrong with his mom.

Director:

Jonathan Darby

Writers:

Jonathan Darby (story), Jonathan Darby (screenplay)

Stars:

Jessica Lange, Gwyneth Paltrow, Johnathon Schaech

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jessica Lange	...	Martha Baring
Gwyneth Paltrow	...	Helen Baring
Johnathon Schaech	...	Jackson Baring
Nina Foch	...	Alice Baring
Debi Mazar	...	Lisa
Kaiulani Lee	...	Sister O'Shaughnessy
David Thornton	...	Gavin
Hal Holbrook	...	Dr. Franklin Hill
Richard Lineback	...	Hal Bentall
Richard Kohn	...	Clayton Richards
Faith Potts	...	Georgina Richards
Tom Story	...	Priest
Jolene Carroll	...	Church Warden
Jacob Press	...	Usher
Joe Inscoe	...	Doctor

Storyline

Helen is the young girlfriend of good-looking Jackson Baring. When Helen gets pregnant and marries Jackson, they decide to move to his family farm, Kilronan, and have a baby there. But his mother Martha, who lives there, starts to do weird things, and obviously she's not too friendly to Helen.

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Plot Keywords:

farm | borderline personality disorder | injection | bare chested male | boy | 

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Taglines:

Don't Breathe A Word

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some violence, sensuality and brief strong language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 March 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bloodline

Filming Locations:

Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$21,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,742,431, 8 March 1998, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$13,513,622, 29 May 1998

Company Credits

Production Co:

TriStar Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Many scenes in the trailer did not make the final cut because they re-shot the movie almost two years after it was first finished. The original version had, among other changes, a climatic fight between the two ladies with one dying. It was re-shot following bad feedback from test audiences.

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Goofs

Helen and Jackson get married and then return to New York. This whole time the couple is in New York, Helen is not wearing her wedding ring. When they return to Kilronan, she is wearing the wedding ring. This maybe suggests that the filming in New York took place before they shot the wedding in the country.

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Quotes

Martha Baring: [Just after turning on the cold water tab of the steam bath where old, ill and heart-weak Alice is immobilized] Now you STAY AWAY from my boy!
Alice Baring: Ahh... Ahhhhhh...
Martha Baring: You understand?
Alice Baring: AHHH... AAAAAAHHHHHH!
Martha Baring: I'll take that as a AAAHHHH... YES!
[She turns the tab off]
Martha Baring: Goodbye Alice.
[Martha leaves the bathroom]
Martha Baring: [When leaving the retirement home Martha bumps into a nun in charge of care. Talking about Alice and changing her anger in a gentle, lovely attitude] Oh! Sister... She wants a little more time, she ...
[...]

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: U.S. Marshals/Hush/The Big Lebowski/Twilight/Men with Guns (1998)

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Soundtracks

As I Walked Out One Evening
Written by W.H. Auden (1938)
Used by permission of Curtis Brown Ltd.

User Reviews

Hush hush sweet Gwen!

If you take it for what it is,a feast of camp,then this movie (and particularly Lange) is much fun to watch.Probably influenced by Davis's (see "hush hush sweet Charlotte") and Crawford's end of career ( see "straitjacket"),Jessica Lange gives an over the top performance of the bitchiest mother-in-law you can think of.Always a beaming smile on her face even when she 's at her most sadistic.Her bubble head son seems not to have overcome his Oedipus complex;when at the turning of the year,"Auld lang syne" is played,he dances with his mom.As for the wedding ,he seems to marry her. Besides,being able to lead a normal life

after what we learned from his "education" is hard to believe ;a boy like him would have normally ended up like cousin Sebastian in "Suddenly last Summer".

This extravaganza has also intellectual pretensions:in the church ,Martha keeps on reciting her act of contrition while quoting the Ruth Book in the Bible;in her troubled mind ,her unfortunate daughter-in-law becomes Ruth ,whose affection to mother-in-law Naomi reflects her own situation.

If you're not a highbrow,and if you like old-fashioned cheesy melodramas "Hush" is made for you.If you're a "pulp fiction" fan,well,please pass by.