65/100 (129 min, 1981)Plot: 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.
Director: Frank Perry
Writers: Christina Crawford (book), Robert Getchell
Stars: Faye Dunaway, Diana Scarwid and Steve Forrest
A star...a legend...and a mother. The illusion of perfection.
Joan Crawford. One of the greatest movie stars of the cinema, Academy Award winner, a true actress. MGM screenwriter Frederica Sagor Maas recalled, "No one decided to make Joan Crawford a star. Joan Crawford became a star because Joan Crawford decided to become a star." Crawford was known from her temperament and diva behaviour. After her death her adopted daughter Christina decided to write a memoir in which she accused Crawford of life-long abuse. She titled the book "Mommie Dearest".
The movie was made in 1981 and starred Faye Dunaway in titular role. The movie opened to massive critical backlash and was the first movie in history to sweep the Razzies. Dunaway took the failure especially hard - she was truly convinced she will receive Academy Award for her performance. To this day she refuses to talk about this movie and when interviewers start to ask her questions about the subject she is known to stop the interviews. She was infuriated when after the release of the movie the studio changed the marketing campaign - instead of promoting it as a serious drama, they started advertising it as a camp movie.
