Old-lady love/hate

On Friday, the Film Society of Lincoln Center screened 1970's awful-enough-to-subvert-its-own-camp Myra Breckinridge. (I have a very complicated relationship with this movie: when I watch it, my emotional state is a perpetually motive vacillation from love to hate.) The showing was preceded by a live chat between Simon Doonan and Myra herself, Raquel Welch. She was such a bitch. Simon opened with an anecdote about watching Raquel on a motorcycle during the '60s, biting the air and introducing the notion of sexuality to him. It took him five minutes to get that out because Welch repeatedly denied that it was she on that motorcycle. She claimed it was Ann-Margret. I'm more inclined to trust Doonan on this one (he's the pop culture encyclopedia!), but fine: If he was wrong, he was wrong. She was unduly condescending about this, though, at one point talking about how captivating our hallucinations can be. She seemed to mean it as witty banter, but it was just cutting. I couldn't help but wonder if the entitlement that comes from being a fawned-over legend for decades and decades obliterates the nuance necessary to pull off pleasant nastiness.

Welch also bristled when Doonan compared Myra Breckinridge to Showgirls, finally saying, "I don't do nudity," as if that were what he was implying in the first place, and as if Showgirls isn't at least 10 times more entertaining than the movie Welch claims to dislike but regularly shows up to discuss (she has a solo commentary on the Myra DVD – it's entertaining, and far be it from me to begrudge anyone profiting off her bomb, but she makes a lot of time to protest too much). Much of her Myra discourse involves trashing her dusted-off co-star Mae West, who by all reports was terribly unkind to Welch, refusing to appear alongside her on screen and dictating Welch's wardrobe. Well, Welch gets the last laugh by virtue of having outlived West, so HA! (I guess?)

Granted, I admire a good bitch. The utter lack of political correctness Welch exhibits by speaking ill of the dead (pirouetting on a grave, even!) is breathtaking. That said, what she doesn't seem to get is that West is by far the best thing about Myra – West's Old Hollywoodness is one of the few things about the film that actually flatters Gore Vidal's pillaged source material, and she's weird enough to be a standalone freak show. The peak of her performance is a completely needless musical number, a medley of "You Gotta Taste All the Fruit" and "Hard To Handle." You haven't lived until you've seen West bring her trademark snarl to an Otis Redding standard. She feels herself up better than anyone else could possibly hope to.

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Comments

[Amy Anomalous]

I bought the dvd of Myra Breckinridge for some reason years ago,and only watched it the whole way through recently.My favorite moment is at the beginning,when the the big-eyed Rocky-Horror looking girl silently winks at the guy in the surgical suite...that seemed to promise a much wittier and sexier film.It's so weird to see John Huston wheeze around as a perve and the plot is just ?

[FourFourFan]

Who knows what Doonan said to Welch before the party started. He can be quite bitchy himself.

[Alex]

I've just woken up and have nothing witty to contribute. I just wanted to let you know that your post made me laugh. Thanks.

[Roslyn @ Cellulite cream reviews]

This movie gave me a good laugh. Thanks for sharing.

[tommie]

For some reason I've never listened to the commentary track for Myra - I think I'll do that tonight actually.

[JH]

Raquel's always been defensive about her work and her image, and not for completely insane reasons. I remember reading an interview some years ago where she mentioned being rejected from appearing at a pro-choice rally in the early 70's because organizer Gloria Steinem felt she was a poor role model for women. That had to sting. I imagine such criticisms are what compels her to swat away any notions that she's a sex object.

Also, I've always wondered what you thought of this movie! If you ever get bored enough to do a full-length recap of it, this reader would be thrilled to read it.

[natalie]

Rich! Just saw you on VH1s Whitney special. So awesome to see a 'friend' on TV.

-natalie

[Lou]

how was mae west famous? that was the worst performance i've ever seen. she felt herself up with all the fluid sexuality of a 90 year old man.

[Sarah @ Best african mango reviews]

Never heard of her...

[hungryandfrozen]

That hat!! I can't believe how huge it is and yet the angle it sits at. It, and your post, makes me want to watch this movie.

[RW]

Otis REDDING, not Reading.

[normadesmond]

though she looks good, raquel is old and
certainly constipated. that can easily put one in a mood.

[Erica Duvall]

Simon was talking about Ann Margret and i was horrified for him as he got her mixed up with another actress, sorta screwed up when your honoring Raquel Welch!! I found Raquel funny, geniune and not a Bitch!!

[Kane]

This movie trotted across my cable schedule-grid one boring day a few months back. I knew the title, but that was about it. I watched in amazement at the utter incompetence & delicious camp. Plus, a mustache-free Tom Selleck acts eager & excited to hop on geriatric Mae West's casting couch, which I enjoyed immensely.

I had no idea prior to seeing this movie that "Hard to Handle" was not a Black Crowes original, fresh & new for 1990. So, suddenly seeing Mae West sing it 20 years earlier was bizarre on additional levels.

It was such incredible camp, I wanted to sing songs & roast marshmallows.

[Account Deleted]

WOW! Amazing post
make up tips

[Melizer]

I was expecting the worst, like "Baby Jane" horrifying, and I was pleasantly surprised! I think Mae rocked it!

[livvie]

I think Doonan was actually thinking about Marianne Faithful chewing the air on her motorcycle in the immensely insane and entertaining Girl on a Motorcycle. The whole movie is psychotic in the best way.

As for Raquel, I've always read pretty unpleasant things about her personality; there's an interview Jim Brown did around the making of 100 Rifles where he almost (but doesn't quite) calls her out as a racist. Which always put me off because Welch herself is Latina.

[Josh]

In a 90s interview with Howard Stern, Farrah said that Raquel was "mean spirited" on the set. According to Farrah, Raquel would make little remarks to try to psyche her out, like, "You know, your eye teeth are a shade darker than your front teeth, and on the big screen, that's quite a difference."

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[Iwona]

I like this movie as well.

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