― DG, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Sentimental post-ironic pre-intelligent Gen-XXY pick: Pia Zadora.
― David Raposa, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― anthony, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― youn, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Look at the way she physically interacts with Newman in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She slinks . She grows closer to him, touches him, presses her body against him and then retreats. She does this with her words as well. The way she talks and the way she interacts with Brick indicate this point counterpoint game played in those maneuvers . One we are not allowed to participate in.
Or look at the way she uncoils with pure rage and desperation as Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. The pathos of that role seems to slice too close to the bone. We need a release , a way to find sympathy but nobody allows us to have it. She botttoms out and it does not end with a cheap and false redemption.
As well look at Cleopatra ; a movie that is so epic and grand an Actor should be swallowed by its scenery. But she matches every move of the background with Operatic Regalness. Who else have we believed as Cleopatra.
She manages to make the spaces her own and still interact with those around her. Her best work is not when she is fire-working on her own. It is when she is pulling and prodding a strong male lead. Burtons best work came out of Liz. I do not believe that Burton would have a career without her. But this is not the only actor she has brought to new heights. The previously mentioned Paul Neuman and James Dean in Giant . Christ she even made Micky Rooney watchable in American Velvet.
Amanda Barrie in Carry on Cleo.
― Billy Dods, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Richard Burton however was fantastic. A boozer who hated acting making so many great films and being the first Westerner to visit Mecca (and I don't mean the Bingo hall).
― Pete, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Omar, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― nathalie (nathalie), Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Mike Hanley, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Shame she's better known among young 'uns like me for being a semi- regular in The National Enquirer and The Star than for her movies. Which means that I can't really comment about her acting (only things I've seen with her were National Velvet and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the latter being one of the most pretentious bits of cinematic wank ever to escape Hollywood). Though she gets points for raising so much money for AIDS research and for her genuine concern for people suffering from AIDS.
― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Insane = her Tennessee Williams-written flop "Boom" with Richard Burton. She seems drunk and on drugs the entire film. Actually, its so crazy it's worth watching.
― Sean, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Ally, Sunday, 29 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Madchen, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Nick, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― nathalie (nathalie), Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Kerry Keane, Monday, 30 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 18:03 (twenty years ago) link
― Texas Sam (thatgirl), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 18:13 (twenty years ago) link
― amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 18:21 (twenty years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 18:23 (twenty years ago) link
― Myron Kosloff, Tuesday, 19 August 2003 22:34 (twenty years ago) link
― eriiik, Wednesday, 20 August 2003 14:09 (twenty years ago) link
― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 14:21 (twenty years ago) link
― H (Heruy), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 14:27 (twenty years ago) link
― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 14:35 (twenty years ago) link
RIP
― I just want to give a shout-out to Buzzy Beetles (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 13:06 (thirteen years ago) link
Awww RIP pretty lady.
She MJ and Liberace gonna have one hell of a reunion party in da sky.
― ENBB, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 13:08 (thirteen years ago) link
The BBC website was clearly all ready to go on this: as well as the news story, they have magicked up Obituary, In Pictures, Filmography and Private Life in the Spotlight in a matter of minutes.
― Madchen, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 13:25 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12833100
i hate when fake ilx rip threads turn real.
― call all destroyer, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 13:27 (thirteen years ago) link
For a few years the most beautiful woman in the world. I wish she'd done more comedy (Reflections in a Golden Eye, X Y & Zee).
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 13:28 (thirteen years ago) link
yes that laff riot romp reflections in a golden eye
― scott seward, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 13:29 (thirteen years ago) link
anyway rest in peace big diamond bitch goddess icon drag queen violet eye rage machine. luv ya.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 13:31 (thirteen years ago) link
She's hilarious in it! (Intentionally too)
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 13:33 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nInE5TITzE8
― scott seward, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 13:34 (thirteen years ago) link
i love reflections. i need it on dvd. almost a trance film in spots. you could write a book about that one. yes you could.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 13:35 (thirteen years ago) link
alfred have you seen this? so funny
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gR-vU44gd4
― scott seward, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 13:37 (thirteen years ago) link
"Courageous" is thrown around a lot, but she really was in the eighties, fighting for AIDS research when no one else was – AND on behalf of gays.
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 13:38 (thirteen years ago) link
So long, beautiful.
― Brad C., Wednesday, 23 March 2011 13:40 (thirteen years ago) link
― estela, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 13:40 (thirteen years ago) link
Most beautiful in A Place in the Sun and Father of the Bride, most whoa-talented-after-all in WAFoVWoolf.
RIP, Miss Tits (Burton's nickname for her).
― Fuck bein' hard, Dr Morbz is complicated (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 13:42 (thirteen years ago) link
morbs otm
damn
― BIG GERTRUDE aka the steindriver (history mayne), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 13:45 (thirteen years ago) link
"only" 79!
― Elegant Bitch (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 13:48 (thirteen years ago) link
Best in Virginia Woolf, but pretty damned memorable in Suddenly Last Summer, no more so than when she's in heels on a platform suspended over the snake pit.
― it also takes hip-hip with it (Eric H.), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 13:54 (thirteen years ago) link
Man, she was luminous in A Place in the Sun...
RIP, Liz.
― exécutés avec l’insolence accoutumée du (Michael White), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 13:55 (thirteen years ago) link
haven't really seen any of her reputedly terrible post-prime vehicles except John Waters' fave, Boom!
A strike against talkies: that face, and then.... that voice.
was her last film appearance The Flintstones?
― Fuck bein' hard, Dr Morbz is complicated (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 13:58 (thirteen years ago) link
wikipedia says she did a TV movie, These Old Broads, in 2001
― we can't rule out the supernatural no matter how much I would like to (stevie), Wednesday, 23 March 2011 14:04 (thirteen years ago) link
scenes from the elizabeth taylor story starring sherilyn fennYOWZA
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3-HNW9t7bnA/TUf5dsuRbxI/AAAAAAAAByU/puy-P3shnFw/s1600/S%2B9.jpghttp://content8.flixster.com/photo/10/61/54/10615478_gal.jpg
and still, it's hard to be as smoldering and proportional as the real liz
http://img.ezinemark.com/imagemanager2/files/30004252/2010/12/2010-12-06-17-20-19-2-elizabeth-taylor-was-the-american-dream-and-americ.jpeg
― Ralpharina (La Lechera), Thursday, 24 March 2011 20:17 (thirteen years ago) link
hmmm
http://www.vanityfair.com/images/hollywood/2011/03/taylor-ascending-large.jpg
― tylerw, Thursday, 24 March 2011 20:20 (thirteen years ago) link
Liz was so damn breathtaking, and it was almost like a Brando thing, where she knew what she had but played it like she didnt care..or something
― VegemiteGrrl, Thursday, 24 March 2011 20:21 (thirteen years ago) link
Child star that went credible - Jodie Foster? Private life not the same, obvs.
― anna sui generis (suzy), Thursday, 24 March 2011 22:13 (thirteen years ago) link
I don't think we're discussing the child performances enough. She's bracing and direct in National Velvet, isn't she?
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 24 March 2011 22:22 (thirteen years ago) link
on last week's 'at the movies' ebert (as read by bill kurtis) discussed the adaptation of jane eyre from 1943 w/orson welles and joan fontaine and showed a clip from the scene where she makes her first screen appearance.
― omar little, Thursday, 24 March 2011 22:29 (thirteen years ago) link
I was going to post that! But I haven't seen the movie in years. I confuse her with Mary Nash.
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 24 March 2011 22:32 (thirteen years ago) link
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-KSJEvkth-Kc/TXmLQBX2sWI/AAAAAAAAETY/JFakfftOhP8/s1600/JaneEyre.jpg
― omar little, Thursday, 24 March 2011 22:33 (thirteen years ago) link
more like jane eerie, that face at that age
it's a relief to see someone in hollywood who has gone from very young to (relatively) old and basically kept the same face
― Ralpharina (La Lechera), Thursday, 24 March 2011 23:05 (thirteen years ago) link
― omar little, Thursday, March 24, 2011 6:33 PM (35 minutes ago) Bookmark
lmao... i wouldn't have even thought about it, but now im weirded out by it too
― ℳℴℯ ❤\(◕‿◕✿ (Princess TamTam), Thursday, 24 March 2011 23:09 (thirteen years ago) link
that vanity fair thing i swear MUST be done by sometimes ILX resident dan lacey
― I just want to give a shout-out to Buzzy Beetles (forksclovetofu), Friday, 25 March 2011 03:42 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa-aKhOqX8g
― Fuck bein' hard, Dr Morbz is complicated (Dr Morbius), Friday, 25 March 2011 04:17 (thirteen years ago) link
thanks for posting Morbz!
that moment when she snorts when she laughs at 1:21 is excellent
"I'm sorry folks, I'm not used to acting" LOL
goddammit she's just so darn CUTE
"Did you see the Tony Awards?"
― VegemiteGrrl, Friday, 25 March 2011 05:23 (thirteen years ago) link
i think what she's mumbling after "Did you see the Tony Awards?" is something like "i screwed up my lines on that too."
― Fuck bein' hard, Dr Morbz is complicated (Dr Morbius), Friday, 25 March 2011 15:51 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, she tells him how she got all the people's names wrong there too.
― VegemiteGrrl, Friday, 25 March 2011 15:53 (thirteen years ago) link
David Carr in the NY Times:
“I know I’m vulgar,” she once said, “but would you have me any other way?” In that respect, she was very much like Dolly Parton, another durable American star who turned sartorial trashiness into a virtue by claiming it as her own. No one invented Dolly Parton or Elizabeth Taylor, although many have claimed to, and their connection to their fans was, and has been, a visceral, living thing based on an honesty and directness.
But that is not the same as saying that she was not a lady. She was every inch a lady. It’s trite to say, but think of the biggest-wattage stars, like, say, Angelina Jolie. Ms. Jolie is remarkably beautiful and very talented, and, like Ms. Taylor, in control of her own career. But there is certain masculinity to Ms. Jolie’s appeal, a willingness to kick some tail on screen and go after whatever she wants off-screen. And before you dismiss the argument as the product of a diseased, sexist mind, a little thought experiment: Before there was Brangelina, there was Dickenliz. In the instance of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who is the alpha? It’s not really even much of a question. Yet even though Ms. Taylor’s fans adored her with far more ferocity than Richard Burton’s talents ever engendered, she deferred to him.
That may be why, apart from her manifest beauty, she remained, as the director George Stevens said, the girl every American boy “thinks he can marry.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/weekinreview/27carr.html
― your generation appalls me (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 27 March 2011 02:30 (thirteen years ago) link
I get what he's saying but it feels like a condescending way to say it. Pitting Jolie's "masculinity" against Taylor's "demureness" off screen just seems like an incredibly dated and boring way to talk about those two women, if he must talk about them in the same article...though everyone seems intent on doing it.It's like the Jackie O and Marilyn archetype, the virgin and the whore...that whole line of conversation just annoys the hell out of me.
― VegemiteGrrl, Sunday, 27 March 2011 02:45 (thirteen years ago) link
TAKE THAT LOHAN
http://www.vulture.com/2013/06/see-helena-bonham-carter-as-elizabeth-taylor.html
http://pixel.nymag.com/imgs/daily/vulture/2013/06/05/05-burton-taylor.o.jpg/a_560x0.jpg
― hashtag sizzler (Phil D.), Wednesday, 5 June 2013 14:47 (ten years ago) link
They both look so good/similar to Taylor and Burton. However, I'm still not sure we really need a movie about them whether it has good actors or not.
― ...also i'm awesome (Nicole), Wednesday, 5 June 2013 15:16 (ten years ago) link
omg @ dominic west
wow
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 5 June 2013 15:46 (ten years ago) link
Anyone ever seen X, Y and Zee, aka Zee and Co.? Domestic fights w/ Michael Caine AND a love scene w/ Susannah York!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zee_and_Co.
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Monday, 18 November 2013 16:56 (ten years ago) link
Kael loves her in it. I saw it once when I had a local video store but rented The Sandpiper instead.
― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 18 November 2013 16:58 (ten years ago) link
It's showing in 35mm at Lincoln Center tomw night.
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Monday, 18 November 2013 17:03 (ten years ago) link
http://filmlinc.com/page/-/uploads/films/Zee3.jpg
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 19 November 2013 21:31 (ten years ago) link
Liz is very funny in it, mostly intentionally and especially in the first half. There's a weird lesbophobic early '70s ending, no wonder Kael loved it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8GdEYIzP2k
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 20 November 2013 04:02 (ten years ago) link
NYC retro, lots on 35mm... i have still never seen Secret Ceremony and Ash Wednesday.
https://quadcinema.com/program/essential-liz/
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 15:33 (five years ago) link
Secret Ceremony is weird, good-bad but worthwhile. Only thing I remember about Ash Wednesday is plastic surgery.
The one I look forward to is The Driver's Seat, which I've seen a couple of times but on poor prints.
― Josefa, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 15:51 (five years ago) link
i don't remember even hearing of that one.
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 15:57 (five years ago) link
Liz was one of the many inspirations for my new name.
― Eliza D., Tuesday, 12 June 2018 15:58 (five years ago) link
John Simon called Secret Ceremony "worse than bad, militantly loathsome," Pauline Kael called it "truly terrible" and Rex Reed called it "a piece of garbage." So definitely go see that one.
― Josefa, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 16:16 (five years ago) link
But I have seen all of Joseph Losey's 1962-71 films except for it! Also, there's the presence of Mitchum and Mia, and Fernando Croce finds it intentionally funny:
http://www.cinepassion.org/Reviews/s/SecretCeremony.html
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 16:27 (five years ago) link
Kael loved Ash Wednesday for her lurid performance
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 12 June 2018 16:32 (five years ago) link
xp As he says there, it parallels Boom! in many ways. Same kind of borderline laughable provocation.
― Josefa, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 16:35 (five years ago) link
both Ash Wednesday and Secret Ceremony are kinda bad -- even tho Losey is a better filmmaker than Larry Peerce, Mia Farrow is particularly grating in SC, and the dialogue, oy. Still, it has a scene where Liz belches after chowing down on breakfast pastries and sausage.
hmm, not so:
In a few scenes, Elizabeth Taylor is done up like Arletty playing Garance in CHILDREN OF PARADISE, and she's absolutely ravishing, in an unearthly, ageless way. But the film is a long-drawn-out ghoulish commercial for cosmetic surgery-made, apparently, for people who can't think of anything to do with their lives but go backward. Jean-Claude Tramont is credited with the script and Larry Peerce is credited with the direction, but there is no script and there is no direction. With Keith Baxter, Helmut Berger, and Henry Fonda giving a sour, dumb performance.
I disagree about it being a "commercial" and Fonda btw. Keith Baxter plays her gay fashion photographer confidante.
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Friday, 29 June 2018 03:52 (five years ago) link
The Sandpiper is worth a look if you can deal with lush, hopelessly miscast turkeys. When the titular bird flies onto Liz's head in the middle of a romantic tete-a-tete with Dick...
Kael:
https://letterboxd.com/notpaulinekael/film/the-sandpiper/
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 16 September 2018 14:35 (five years ago) link
Whenever I see that movie I just wonder about the real-world pricetag of that fabulous beachfront "shack" in Big Sur that Liz is slumming in
― Josefa, Sunday, 16 September 2018 14:41 (five years ago) link
Kael:https://letterboxd.com/notpaulinekael/film/the-sandpiper🕸/
― St Etienne Is Real (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 16 September 2018 14:47 (five years ago) link
It's Kael -- I remember the Taylor cupping-the-breasts line.
― The Silky Veils of Alfred (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 16 September 2018 14:52 (five years ago) link
this movie is ridiculous and I have enjoyed it several times
― Brad C., Sunday, 16 September 2018 14:54 (five years ago) link
It is the handle of someone on Letterboxd who has transcribed Kael's writing. xxp
Yes, Liz certainly has a nice wardrobe for a struggling artist and single parent. I could read Burton's mind: "Christ, these lines."
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 16 September 2018 14:58 (five years ago) link
Charles Bronson stepped in as Cos the sculptor when Sammy Davis Jr had to bow out.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 16 September 2018 14:59 (five years ago) link
That link above is weird though, it's sort of cut-and-pasted from Kael's review in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang but jumbled up and with new phrases added, such as "massive-headed Burton"
― Josefa, Sunday, 16 September 2018 14:59 (five years ago) link
I think she reworked her old reviews for the mini-reviews that made up the 5001 Nights at the Movies compilation (per the Letterboxd tag).
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 16 September 2018 15:02 (five years ago) link
Aug 12 71 the only time I get testy with E is when she has had a couple & has taken a pink pill..in conjunction with the booze gives her a kind of false euphoria & becomes sentimental & a reminiscent of her mother. Since her mother is the bore of all epochs this can be a bit hard— Richard Burton (@BurtonDiaries) August 12, 2019
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 12 August 2019 21:10 (four years ago) link
Have been quarantining with Liz Taylor movies I've missed.
Father of the Bride (1950): Spencer Tracy's film really, and I've never seen him better. Something very real about the dad who puts up with all kinds of craziness to make his daughter happy. Witty, satirical script. This and the sequel Father's Little Dividend were Joan Bennett's last big movies before her "scandal," and she is enjoyable as always. Liz was 17 playing 20 in this, which is kind of unusual.
A Place in the Sun (1951): More noir-ish than I expected. Liz really glows. Montgomery Clift's problem is he falls in love too quickly.
Ivanhoe (1952): Not sure why she felt she was miscast in this role because she's fine and convincing playing the Jewish girl Rebecca (years before she converted irl). Robert Taylor perhaps too old to play Ivanhoe, but this is classic old school MGM.
Elephant Walk (1954): Certainly nice to look at. Very 1950s psychology with Peter Finch driven to madness trying to live up to the greatness of his deceased father. Liz wears awesome clothes. The film is generally nutty but it only gets truly laughable at the climax when the elephants take more control of things. This is the Rebecca plot essentially.
― Josefa, Friday, 27 March 2020 21:36 (four years ago) link