Where were you when you first watched Mommie Dearest? Acclaimed and reviled in equal measure upon its release, the movie has been a camp phenomenon in some segments of our LGBTQ+ community for over four decades now. Watching it has become a rite of passage for many.
My late, beloved grandmother Phyllis was a fan of Hollywood legend Joan Crawford, and I fondly remember attending an opening weekend screening of the movie with her in September, 1981 (I was a mere 14 years old at the time). I recall we both thought it was well-done, even if a few over-the-top scenes strained credibility. But I also recall seeing a report on TV’s long-running Entertainment Tonight just a week or so later about how the movie was becoming a cult experience, with some male viewers dressing in drag as Joan and wielding wire coat hangers. If you’ve seen the film (and if you haven’t, you must watch it ASAP) you know what that’s all about.
Mommie Dearest was adapted from an infamous autobiography of the same title published in 1978 by Joan’s adopted daughter, Christina Crawford. Her mother had died a year earlier at the age of approximately 73 (Joan was notoriously cagey about how old she was) and had left Christina and her adopted brother, Christopher, out of her will. Christina subsequently felt compelled to write about her physically and emotionally abusive relationship with her late, Academy Award-winning mother.
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| A. Ashley Hoff |
Her book became a bestseller but also tarnished Joan’s image, justifiably so. Now, a new book exploring this history is being published on May 7th. With Love, Mommie Dearest: The Making of an Unintentional Camp Classic, by A. Ashley Hoff, details the writing and selling of Christina's book and the aftermath of its publication as well as the filming of the motion picture, whose backstage drama almost surpassed what was viewed onscreen.
Hoff is also the author of Match Game 101: A Backstage History of Match Game and My Huckleberry Friend: Holly Golightly and the Untold History of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. He previously worked for talent agencies in Chicago and Los Angeles, and has written articles on Hollywood for The Advocate and Films in Review. Hoff has also been interviewed about numerous pop culture subjects on various talk shows and podcasts.
During a recent phone conversation with Hoff, this writer asked him when and where he first saw Mommie Dearest.
“I had known of its reputation, but the first time I saw it I was in high school and it was on cable TV,” the author replied. “It was really cut up with some scenes missing, including the bathroom scene. I took it seriously, as a horror movie and not as camp.”
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IRL: Christina and her "mommie dearest" Joan Crawford
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He continued: “The first time I saw it on the big screen was at the Music Box Theater in Chicago in 1997 or ’98. They had a ‘Mother’s Day with Christina Crawford’ event. She was there, and it was kind of creepy watching this movie about her abuse knowing Christina was in the lobby. So, I went out and talked to her. We had a nice conversation.” Hoff subsequently kept in touch with Christina and excerpts from a 2021 interview he conducted with her are in his book.
Indeed, With Love, Mommie Dearest contains many interviews and anecdotes from people involved in the movie’s production. Readers will learn that, shortly after her book was published, Christina was approached by producer Frank Yablans for the movie rights. In addition to buying the rights, Yablans agreed to pay her to write a first draft of the screenplay. She did so but he did not use it.
“The sad part about Mommie Dearest was that I really wanted to make a film about child abuse and the manner in which child abuse can occur,” Yablans wrote in his later, unpublished memoir cited by Hoff. “Child abuse can also happen in extremely wealthy homes with extremely powerful people… That was what compelled me to make the movie, and it was well ahead of its time because today child abuse is a much bigger issue than it was in 1981.”
When the movie was released in US theaters on September 18th of that year, Christina Crawford was unable to enjoy its initially successful reception at the box office. She had suffered a massive stroke one month earlier and was given a one percent chance of survival. Thankfully, she recovered within a couple of months following risky surgery. Once again, Christina proved herself a survivor.
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Faye Dunaway as Joan in Mommie Dearest
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Both directors and lead actresses came and went during the film’s pre-production process. Ultimately, Academy Award-winner Faye Dunaway was cast as Joan. It is her performance that largely drives the movie’s reputation as a camp classic, and it negatively affected her career.
I asked Hoff more about this. “Does she give an over-the-top performance? Absolutely,” he replied. “Does she chew scenery? Absolutely. But she gives a truly operatic performance, which is what the director (Frank Perry) wanted. To be fair, she gives a phenomenal performance!”
Some agreed with this at the time: Dunaway placed second as Best Actress of 1981 with both the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics. But she also “won” the Golden Raspberry Award, or Razzie, as Worst Actress of the Year for Mommie Dearest (to be fair, Dunaway actually tied with Bo Derek’s non-performance as Jane in Tarzan, the Ape Man.) Even today, some reputable critics including Leonard Maltin and yours truly admire the film for its groundbreaking depiction of child abuse.
“I recently showed the film to two friends of mine who had not seen it before and they were riveted by it as a serious depiction of abuse,” Hoff told me. “Their response was not what I expected. They did not see it as camp. And then I know some people who have watched the film hundreds of times and will always enjoy it as camp.”
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Diana Scarwid as Christina in Mommie Dearest
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So what makes Mommie Dearest so campy to some people, especially gay men? Well, the exaggerated moments in Dunaway’s performance are definitely one factor, and none more so than when she angrily crosses her eyes while her face is smothered kabuki-like in white cold cream. The screenplay also features some enjoyably harsh dialogue spoken by both mother and daughter Crawford that is undeniably fun to shout out with them.
In his book, Hoff quotes critic and Palm Springs resident Marc Huestis regarding the film’s popularity in the gay community to this day. “Gay guys have a thing for their mothers, let’s face it,” Huestis said. “I had a relationship with my mom, who was in show business as well, that was very much physically abusive like the one in Mommie Dearest; my mother actually did hit me with wire hangers… So just seeing that scene, the laughter was a release from the ghost of not only Joan Crawford but my own mother.”
Whether we love it, hate it and/or laugh at it, Mommie Dearest continues to stand the test of time for various reasons. I highly recommend reading A. Ashley Hoff’s new book for his detailed, insightful exploration of these… but not before you’ve trimmed your rose bushes in the middle of the night and/or bought stock in Pepsi Cola!
Author photo credit Atila Sikora.
Reviews by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film and stage critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.
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