Mommie Dearest (film)
Encyclopedia
Mommie Dearest is a 1981 American biographical
drama film
about Joan Crawford
, starring Faye Dunaway
. The film was directed by Frank Perry
. The story was adapted for the screen
by Robert Getchell
, Tracy Hotchner, Frank Perry, and Frank Yablans
, based on the 1978
autobiography
of the same name
by Christina Crawford
. The executive producers were Christina's husband, David Koontz, and Terrence O'Neill
, Dunaway's then-boyfriend and soon-to-be husband.
The film was a commercial success, but a critical semi-disaster and was eventually disliked by Dunaway herself. However, it has become a cult classic
.
(Faye Dunaway
) is a driven actress and compulsively clean housekeeper who tries to control the lives of those around her as tightly as the self-control she exhibits. To prepare for a work day at MGM Studios, she rises at 4:00am and engages in a slightly neurotic morning ritual, scrubbing her face with soap and boiling hot water, then plunging her head into a vat of distilled water and ice to close the pores. Joan is obsessed with cleanliness and wants those around her to follow her instructions to the letter. When Helga (Alice Nunn
), a new maid, thinks she has Joan's living room in spotless condition, Joan finds one minute detail that she overlooked and momentarily loses her temper. She clearly intimidates the maid, as well as her live-in personal assistant, Carol Ann (Rutanya Alda
).
Joan is in a relationship with Hollywood lawyer Gregg Savitt (Steve Forrest), but her career is in a bit of a downswing. She desperately wants a baby, but is unable to get pregnant; seven pregnancies when she was married to actor Franchot Tone
ended in miscarriages. When she is denied an application for adoption, she enlists Gregg's help to secure a baby. Joan adopts a girl whom she names Christina, and later a boy, Christopher (Jeremy Scott Reinbolt). Joan lavishes Christina (Mara Hobel
) with attention and luxuries such as an extravagant birthday party, but also enforces a code of denial and discipline. When Christina is showered with gifts, Joan asks which she likes best, then donates the other gifts to charity.
As Christina rebels against her mother's demands and standards, a series of confrontations ensues. Joan overtakes Christina in a swimming-pool race and proclaims her victory by crowing to the child, "You lost again!". Joan becomes enraged when Christina reacts with childish disappointment, locking her in the pool house. When Joan discovers her daughter putting on makeup and imitating her, she hysterically hacks off Christina's hair.
Her relationship with Gregg becomes a dismal failure; Joan resents Gregg's allegiance to studio boss Louis B. Mayer
and argues with him after a dinner at Perrino's restaurant. Joan guzzles down glasses of vodka and throws a drink in Gregg's face after he tells her she is getting old. A physical altercation develops and Gregg breaks up with Joan. The next day, Joan cuts Gregg out of the family photos. Joan's tantrums grow more bizarre and violent. When Mayer (Howard Da Silva
) forces Joan to leave MGM after theater owners brand her "box office poison," she hacks down her prize rose garden with a pair of large gardening shears and an axe.
In the most infamous scene of the film, Joan, cross-eyed and slathered in cold cream, stalks into Christina's bedroom in the middle of the night and discovers one of the child's dresses hanging on a wire hanger
. She launches into a tirade, screaming at the girl, "I told you! No wire hangers, ever!" She yanks dresses from Christina's closet, throws them all over the girl's room and brutally beats the screaming girl with the hanger. Joan, furious that the child does not understand her notion of cleanliness, wrecks the bathroom as well, throwing cleanser powder everywhere, screaming at Christina to clean it up.
Fed up by Christina's perceived rebellion, Joan sends her daughter to boarding school. Christina, now a teenager, is caught in a compromising position with a boy during a romantic encounter, so Joan brings her home. A reporter, Barbara Bennett (Jocelyn Brando
) from Redbook
magazine, is writing a puff piece on Crawford's home life. After Joan lies about why her daughter left school, Christina confronts her before the reporter.
Christina questions her mother as to why she was adopted, and Joan mildly confesses that it was partially a publicity stunt. After Christina yells, "I am not one of your fans!," Joan begins strangling her. Carol Ann and the reporter witness the attack and intervene. Joan sends Christina to Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy to punish her, under the strictest possible discipline.
Joan then marries Alfred Steele
(Harry Goz
), CEO of Pepsi Cola
, moves to New York and pressures him to shoulder a great deal of debt to fund their lavish lifestyle. After his death, the all-male board tries to force her to resign, Joan intimidates them into letting her retain her seat by threatening to publicly condemn Pepsi.
After leaving the convent school, Christina rents an apartment in Manhattan, where she acts in a soap opera
. When she suffers an ovarian tumor, a stunned Christina is temporarily replaced on the show by her mother.
Joan dies of cancer in 1977, whereupon Christina and Christopher (Xander Berkeley
) learn their mother has completely disinherited them in her will. When a resigned Christopher says their mother has managed to have the last word, Christina disagrees, hinting at the much-publicized book she would write, Mommie Dearest
.
as of April 2011. However, it is considered one of the worst films made.
Roger Ebert
opened his review with "I can't imagine who would want to subject themselves to this movie." About Dunaway's performance, Variety
said "Dunaway does not chew scenery. Dunaway starts neatly at each corner of the set in every scene and swallows it whole, costars and all."
realized the film was getting a reputation and box office as an unintentional comedy, and changed its advertising to reflect its new camp
status, proclaiming, "Meet the biggest MOTHER of them all!"
had had enough experience to see when actors needed to rein in their performances. By coincidence, Joan Crawford once said in an interview in the early 1970s that of the current young actresses only Faye Dunaway had "what it takes" to be a true star.
for Worst Actress
. The film received five "Razzie" awards overall, including Worst Picture
, Worst Screenplay
and Worst Supporting Actor
for Steve Forrest. Diana Scarwid also won a Razzie for Worst Supporting Actress
for her portrayal of Christina; among those whom Scarwid beat out in the category was Mara Hobel
, for her portrayal of the child Christina, and Rutanya Alda
, who played Crawford's personal assistant, Carol Ann. The film would later receive another Razzie for Worst Picture of the Decade.
's Castro Theatre
for one night only, with Peaches Christ
's "Trannie Dearest" stage show shown as well.
July 17, 2001. It was re-released June 6, 2006 in a special "Hollywood Royalty" edition, with audio commentary
by John Waters
. Waters spends the bulk of his commentary dissecting the film as a serious bio-film and is quite outspoken in condemning the two sequences in the film (the infamous "wire hanger" rant and the "Tina! Bring me the axe!" scene) that Waters believes are solely responsible for the film's reputation as a camp film; he also blames the studio for trying to market it as a "camp classic" even during its initial release. A third Mommie Dearest DVD was released February 3, 2009 in an "I Love the '80s" edition.
Biographical film
A biographical film, or biopic , is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. They differ from films “based on a true story” or “historical films” in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a person’s life story or at least the most historically important years of their...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
about Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
, starring Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...
. The film was directed by Frank Perry
Frank Perry
Frank J. Perry, Jr. was an American stage and film director, producer and screenwriter. His directorial debut, the 1962 film David and Lisa, earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Director....
. The story was adapted for the screen
Film adaptation
Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
by Robert Getchell
Robert Getchell
Robert Getchell is an American screenwriter. He is probably best known for writing Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and creating the Sitcom Alice.-Filmography:* Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore * Bound for Glory...
, Tracy Hotchner, Frank Perry, and Frank Yablans
Frank Yablans
Frank Yablans is an American film producer and screenwriter The son of a Brooklyn cab driver and brother to fellow film producer Irwin Yablans, Yablans' first employers in the film business included Warner Bros., The Walt Disney Company and Filmways...
, based on the 1978
1978 in literature
The year 1978 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year, a humorous award given annually to books with unusual titles is created. The first winner was Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude...
autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
of the same name
Mommie Dearest
Mommie Dearest is a memoir and exposé written by Christina Crawford, the adopted daughter of actress Joan Crawford. The book, which depicts Christina's childhood and her relationship with her mother, was published in 1978.-Christina Crawford's claims:...
by Christina Crawford
Christina Crawford
Christina Crawford is an American writer and actress, best known as the author of Mommie Dearest, an exposé of alleged child abuse by her mother, actress Joan Crawford.-Early life and education:...
. The executive producers were Christina's husband, David Koontz, and Terrence O'Neill
Terry O'Neill (photographer)
Terry O'Neill is an English photographer, who achieved his greatest success documenting the fashion style, and celebrities of the 1960s. He attracted attention for photographing his subjects in unconventional or candid settings....
, Dunaway's then-boyfriend and soon-to-be husband.
The film was a commercial success, but a critical semi-disaster and was eventually disliked by Dunaway herself. However, it has become a cult classic
Cult Classic
Cult Classic is a Blue Öyster Cult studio recording released in 1994, containing remakes of many of the band's previous hits.-Track listing:# " The Reaper" - 5:05# "E.T.I...
.
Plot
Joan CrawfordJoan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
(Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...
) is a driven actress and compulsively clean housekeeper who tries to control the lives of those around her as tightly as the self-control she exhibits. To prepare for a work day at MGM Studios, she rises at 4:00am and engages in a slightly neurotic morning ritual, scrubbing her face with soap and boiling hot water, then plunging her head into a vat of distilled water and ice to close the pores. Joan is obsessed with cleanliness and wants those around her to follow her instructions to the letter. When Helga (Alice Nunn
Alice Nunn
Alice Elizabeth Nunn, was an American film and theatre actress. She was born in Jacksonville, Florida and died at her apartment in West Hollywood, California...
), a new maid, thinks she has Joan's living room in spotless condition, Joan finds one minute detail that she overlooked and momentarily loses her temper. She clearly intimidates the maid, as well as her live-in personal assistant, Carol Ann (Rutanya Alda
Rutanya Alda
-Life:Rutanya Alda was born as Rutanya Alda Skrastiņa in Riga, Latvia, the daughter of Vera , a businesswoman, and Jānis Skrastiņš, a poet...
).
Joan is in a relationship with Hollywood lawyer Gregg Savitt (Steve Forrest), but her career is in a bit of a downswing. She desperately wants a baby, but is unable to get pregnant; seven pregnancies when she was married to actor Franchot Tone
Franchot Tone
Franchot Tone was an American stage, film, and television actor, star of Mutiny on the Bounty and many other films through the 1960s...
ended in miscarriages. When she is denied an application for adoption, she enlists Gregg's help to secure a baby. Joan adopts a girl whom she names Christina, and later a boy, Christopher (Jeremy Scott Reinbolt). Joan lavishes Christina (Mara Hobel
Mara Hobel
Mara Hobel is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her portrayal of young Christina Crawford in the film Mommie Dearest...
) with attention and luxuries such as an extravagant birthday party, but also enforces a code of denial and discipline. When Christina is showered with gifts, Joan asks which she likes best, then donates the other gifts to charity.
As Christina rebels against her mother's demands and standards, a series of confrontations ensues. Joan overtakes Christina in a swimming-pool race and proclaims her victory by crowing to the child, "You lost again!". Joan becomes enraged when Christina reacts with childish disappointment, locking her in the pool house. When Joan discovers her daughter putting on makeup and imitating her, she hysterically hacks off Christina's hair.
Her relationship with Gregg becomes a dismal failure; Joan resents Gregg's allegiance to studio boss Louis B. Mayer
Louis B. Mayer
Louis Burt Mayer born Lazar Meir was an American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B...
and argues with him after a dinner at Perrino's restaurant. Joan guzzles down glasses of vodka and throws a drink in Gregg's face after he tells her she is getting old. A physical altercation develops and Gregg breaks up with Joan. The next day, Joan cuts Gregg out of the family photos. Joan's tantrums grow more bizarre and violent. When Mayer (Howard Da Silva
Howard Da Silva
Howard Da Silva was an American actor.-Early life:He was born Howard Silverblatt in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Benjamin and Bertha Silverblatt. His parents were both Yiddish speaking Jews born in Russia. He had a job as a steelworker before beginning his acting career on the stage...
) forces Joan to leave MGM after theater owners brand her "box office poison," she hacks down her prize rose garden with a pair of large gardening shears and an axe.
In the most infamous scene of the film, Joan, cross-eyed and slathered in cold cream, stalks into Christina's bedroom in the middle of the night and discovers one of the child's dresses hanging on a wire hanger
Clothes hanger
A clothes hanger, coat hanger or coathanger, is a device in the shape of:* Human shoulders designed to facilitate the hanging of a coat, jacket, sweater, shirt, blouse or dress in a manner that prevents wrinkles, with a lower bar for the hanging of trousers or skirts.* Clamp for the hanging of...
. She launches into a tirade, screaming at the girl, "I told you! No wire hangers, ever!" She yanks dresses from Christina's closet, throws them all over the girl's room and brutally beats the screaming girl with the hanger. Joan, furious that the child does not understand her notion of cleanliness, wrecks the bathroom as well, throwing cleanser powder everywhere, screaming at Christina to clean it up.
Fed up by Christina's perceived rebellion, Joan sends her daughter to boarding school. Christina, now a teenager, is caught in a compromising position with a boy during a romantic encounter, so Joan brings her home. A reporter, Barbara Bennett (Jocelyn Brando
Jocelyn Brando
Jocelyn Brando was an American film, stage and television actress.Her film debut came in the war movie China Venture with Edmond O'Brien and Barry Sullivan. Her best-known movie role was as detective Glenn Ford's doomed wife in the gangster film noir The Big Heat...
) from Redbook
Redbook
Redbook is an American women's magazine published by the Hearst Corporation. It is one of the "Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines.-History:...
magazine, is writing a puff piece on Crawford's home life. After Joan lies about why her daughter left school, Christina confronts her before the reporter.
Christina questions her mother as to why she was adopted, and Joan mildly confesses that it was partially a publicity stunt. After Christina yells, "I am not one of your fans!," Joan begins strangling her. Carol Ann and the reporter witness the attack and intervene. Joan sends Christina to Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy to punish her, under the strictest possible discipline.
Joan then marries Alfred Steele
Alfred Nu Steele
Alfred Nu Steele was a U.S. soft drink businessman. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1923, where he played football, and became an ad executive. He first worked for the Coca-Cola Company, as vice president of marketing. He later became the CEO of the Pepsi-Cola Company in 1949. Under...
(Harry Goz
Harry Goz
Harry Goz was an American musical theater actor and voice actor.He debuted in the 1964 Broadway production of Bajour, co-starring Chita Rivera and Nancy Dussault. Goz played Tevye in the Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof from 1966 to 1968, both as understudy and lead actor...
), CEO of Pepsi Cola
PepsiCo
PepsiCo Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Purchase, New York, United States, with interests in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of grain-based snack foods, beverages, and other products. PepsiCo was formed in 1965 with the merger of the Pepsi-Cola Company...
, moves to New York and pressures him to shoulder a great deal of debt to fund their lavish lifestyle. After his death, the all-male board tries to force her to resign, Joan intimidates them into letting her retain her seat by threatening to publicly condemn Pepsi.
After leaving the convent school, Christina rents an apartment in Manhattan, where she acts in a soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
. When she suffers an ovarian tumor, a stunned Christina is temporarily replaced on the show by her mother.
Joan dies of cancer in 1977, whereupon Christina and Christopher (Xander Berkeley
Xander Berkeley
Alexander Harper "Xander" Berkeley is an American actor. His roles include George Mason on the television series 24.-Early life:Berkeley was born in Brooklyn, New York, but has lived most of his life in New Jersey...
) learn their mother has completely disinherited them in her will. When a resigned Christopher says their mother has managed to have the last word, Christina disagrees, hinting at the much-publicized book she would write, Mommie Dearest
Mommie Dearest
Mommie Dearest is a memoir and exposé written by Christina Crawford, the adopted daughter of actress Joan Crawford. The book, which depicts Christina's childhood and her relationship with her mother, was published in 1978.-Christina Crawford's claims:...
.
Cast
- Faye DunawayFaye DunawayFaye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...
as Joan CrawfordJoan CrawfordJoan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre.... - Diana ScarwidDiana ScarwidDiana Scarwid is an American actress. Scarwid has done work in film, television and theater.-Personal life:Scarwid was born in Savannah, Georgia, and left Georgia at the age of 17, heading to New York to become an actress. She graduated from Pace University and The American Academy of Dramatic...
as Christina CrawfordChristina CrawfordChristina Crawford is an American writer and actress, best known as the author of Mommie Dearest, an exposé of alleged child abuse by her mother, actress Joan Crawford.-Early life and education:... - Mara HobelMara HobelMara Hobel is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her portrayal of young Christina Crawford in the film Mommie Dearest...
as Young Christina - Steve Forrest as Greg Savitt
- Howard Da SilvaHoward Da SilvaHoward Da Silva was an American actor.-Early life:He was born Howard Silverblatt in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Benjamin and Bertha Silverblatt. His parents were both Yiddish speaking Jews born in Russia. He had a job as a steelworker before beginning his acting career on the stage...
as Louis B. MayerLouis B. MayerLouis Burt Mayer born Lazar Meir was an American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B... - Rutanya AldaRutanya Alda-Life:Rutanya Alda was born as Rutanya Alda Skrastiņa in Riga, Latvia, the daughter of Vera , a businesswoman, and Jānis Skrastiņš, a poet...
as Carol Ann - Harry GozHarry GozHarry Goz was an American musical theater actor and voice actor.He debuted in the 1964 Broadway production of Bajour, co-starring Chita Rivera and Nancy Dussault. Goz played Tevye in the Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof from 1966 to 1968, both as understudy and lead actor...
as Alfred SteeleAlfred Nu SteeleAlfred Nu Steele was a U.S. soft drink businessman. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1923, where he played football, and became an ad executive. He first worked for the Coca-Cola Company, as vice president of marketing. He later became the CEO of the Pepsi-Cola Company in 1949. Under... - Michael EdwardsMichael Edwards (actor)Michael David Edwards is an American actor and model. He appeared briefly as "Adult John Connor" in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. He is pictured and interviewed in the book Male Model: The World Behind the Camera....
as Ted Gelber - Jocelyn BrandoJocelyn BrandoJocelyn Brando was an American film, stage and television actress.Her film debut came in the war movie China Venture with Edmond O'Brien and Barry Sullivan. Her best-known movie role was as detective Glenn Ford's doomed wife in the gangster film noir The Big Heat...
as Barbara Bennett - Priscilla PointerPriscilla PointerPriscilla Pointer is an American stage, film and television character actress. She began her career in the theater, including productions on Broadway. Later, Pointer moved to Hollywood to act in films and on television...
as Mrs. Chadwick - Xander BerkeleyXander BerkeleyAlexander Harper "Xander" Berkeley is an American actor. His roles include George Mason on the television series 24.-Early life:Berkeley was born in Brooklyn, New York, but has lived most of his life in New Jersey...
(Jeremy Scott Reinholt, child) as Christopher Crawford - Carolyn Coates as Mother Superior (Flintridge Sacred Heart)
- Margaret Fairchild as Mother Superior (orphanage)
- Belita Moreno as Belinda Rosenberg
- Alice NunnAlice NunnAlice Elizabeth Nunn, was an American film and theatre actress. She was born in Jacksonville, Florida and died at her apartment in West Hollywood, California...
as Helga
Critical reception
Mommie Dearest received mixed reviews from critics, with a rating of 53% on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
as of April 2011. However, it is considered one of the worst films made.
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
opened his review with "I can't imagine who would want to subject themselves to this movie." About Dunaway's performance, Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
said "Dunaway does not chew scenery. Dunaway starts neatly at each corner of the set in every scene and swallows it whole, costars and all."
Box office
With a budget of $5 million, Mommie Dearest was a commercial success at the US box office, with revenues of $19 million with a further $8.6 million in video rentals. The film grossed $6 million internationally. The film was in the Top 30 top grossing films of 1981. DVD counts are vague but suggestions are that it has made more than $5 million since being released on DVD. Total Revenue stands at $39 million.Advertising
Roughly a month into release, ParamountParamount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
realized the film was getting a reputation and box office as an unintentional comedy, and changed its advertising to reflect its new camp
Camp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
status, proclaiming, "Meet the biggest MOTHER of them all!"
Cast response
In her autobiography, Dunaway only makes a brief mention of the film stating that she wished director Frank PerryFrank Perry
Frank J. Perry, Jr. was an American stage and film director, producer and screenwriter. His directorial debut, the 1962 film David and Lisa, earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Director....
had had enough experience to see when actors needed to rein in their performances. By coincidence, Joan Crawford once said in an interview in the early 1970s that of the current young actresses only Faye Dunaway had "what it takes" to be a true star.
Awards and nominations
While Dunaway garnered some critical acclaim for her astonishing physical metamorphosis and her portrayal of Crawford (finishing a narrow second in the voting for the New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Actress of the Year), she also received a Razzie AwardGolden Raspberry Awards
A Golden Raspberry Award, or Razzie for short, is an award presented in recognition of the worst in movies. Founded by American copywriter and publicist John J.B. Wilson in 1981, the annual Razzie Awards ceremony in Los Angeles precedes the corresponding Academy Awards ceremony by one day...
for Worst Actress
1981 Golden Raspberry Awards
The 2nd Golden Raspberry Awards were held on March 29, 1982 at an Oscar night potluck party to recognize the worst the film industry had to offer in 1981. The recipients are denoted in bold:-Awards and nominations:-See also:*1981 in film...
. The film received five "Razzie" awards overall, including Worst Picture
Razzie Award for Worst Picture
The Razzie Award for Worst Picture is an award given out at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst film of the past year. Following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, including each film's distribution company and producer.-1980s:...
, Worst Screenplay
Razzie Award for Worst Screenplay
The Razzie Award for Worst Screenplay is an award presented at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards for the worst film screenplay of the past year. The following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, including each screenplay's author...
and Worst Supporting Actor
Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor
The Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor is an award presented at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst supporting actor of the previous year. The following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, along with the film for which they were nominated. Brooke Shields is the...
for Steve Forrest. Diana Scarwid also won a Razzie for Worst Supporting Actress
Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress
The Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress is an award presented at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst supporting actress of the previous year...
for her portrayal of Christina; among those whom Scarwid beat out in the category was Mara Hobel
Mara Hobel
Mara Hobel is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her portrayal of young Christina Crawford in the film Mommie Dearest...
, for her portrayal of the child Christina, and Rutanya Alda
Rutanya Alda
-Life:Rutanya Alda was born as Rutanya Alda Skrastiņa in Riga, Latvia, the daughter of Vera , a businesswoman, and Jānis Skrastiņš, a poet...
, who played Crawford's personal assistant, Carol Ann. The film would later receive another Razzie for Worst Picture of the Decade.
30th Anniversary re-release
Mommie Dearest was re-released on May 7, 2011 at San FranciscoSan Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
's Castro Theatre
Castro Theatre
The Castro Theatre is a popular San Francisco movie palace which became San Francisco Historic Landmark #100 in September 1976. Located at 429 Castro Street, in the Castro district, it was built in 1922 with a Spanish Colonial Baroque façade that pays homage—in its great arched central window...
for one night only, with Peaches Christ
Peaches Christ
Peaches Christ is an American underground drag performer, emcee, filmmaker, and actor. Peaches currently resides in San Francisco where his Backlash Production Company and Midnight Mass movie series are based....
's "Trannie Dearest" stage show shown as well.
DVD release
Mommie Dearest was first released on DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
July 17, 2001. It was re-released June 6, 2006 in a special "Hollywood Royalty" edition, with audio commentary
Audio commentary
On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
by John Waters
John Waters (filmmaker)
John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...
. Waters spends the bulk of his commentary dissecting the film as a serious bio-film and is quite outspoken in condemning the two sequences in the film (the infamous "wire hanger" rant and the "Tina! Bring me the axe!" scene) that Waters believes are solely responsible for the film's reputation as a camp film; he also blames the studio for trying to market it as a "camp classic" even during its initial release. A third Mommie Dearest DVD was released February 3, 2009 in an "I Love the '80s" edition.