Part Two 

Mildred brings a sample of her pies into the diner and they're a big hit with the customers. Soon she gets an order for 35 pies a week and the orders start to pile up from other restaurants... See full summary »

Director:

Todd Haynes

Writers:

James M. Cain (novel), Todd Haynes (teleplay)

Stars:

Kate Winslet, Brían F. O'Byrne, Melissa Leo

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Kate Winslet	...	Mildred Pierce
Brían F. O'Byrne	...	Bert Pierce
Melissa Leo	...	Lucy Gessler
Morgan Turner	...	Veda Pierce
Quinn McColgan	...	Ray Pierce
Evan Thompson	...	Man with a Cap
Brenda Wehle	...	Mrs. Turner
Murphy Guyer	...	Mr. Pierce
Diane Kagan	...	Mrs. Pierce
James Le Gros	...	Wally Burgan (as James LeGros)
Ken Jennings	...	Small Man
Robb Webb	...	Radio Announcer (voice)
Todd Aubrey Davis	...	Houseman
Hope Davis	...	Mrs. Forrester (credit only)
Tommy Nelson	...	Newsboy

Storyline

Mildred brings a sample of her pies into the diner and they're a big hit with the customers. Soon she gets an order for 35 pies a week and the orders start to pile up from other restaurants as well. Veda discovers her waitress uniforms and Mildred is forced to admit what she does for a living. The selfish Veda thinks it's all so degrading. Mildred tells her she plans on opening a restaurant of her own and eventually asks Wally to develop an estimate of what it would cost to set herself up, but he has another idea for her. With a divorce from husband Bert she's able to buy and convert a house into a restaurant. On her last day at the diner, she leaves early to spend time at the beach with one of the customers, Monty Beragon. She returns home the next day to learn that her youngest daughter is seriously ill in hospital.

---

Plot Keywords:

man wears boxer shorts | waitress | auteur tv | cooking over a fire | beach house | 

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Certificate:

TV-MA

Did You Know?

Goofs

Just after Monty and Mildred leave her house in the car for the first time they pull up to an intersection that has a diamond shaped stop sign with white letters on a red background. However, the octagonal shaped sign was adopted in 1922 (almost a decade before the film is set) by the American Association of State Highway Officials and used thereafter for "STOP" signs, in part so that drivers could recognize that it was a stop sign from behind and prevent confusion with other traffic signs, and from 1924 through 1954 were composed of black letters on a yellow background. It was changed in 1954 to the present white on red background to reflect the "red equals stop" of street lights.

---

Connections

References The Public Enemy (1931)

---

Soundtracks

When Erastus plays his old Kazoo
Written by Sammy Fain, Sam Coslow and Larry Spier
Performed by The Garden Dancing Palace Orchestra
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 March 2011 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Home Box Office (HBO), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Killer Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

62 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD