MovieChat Forums > Pretty Poison (1968) Discussion > Tuesday Weld hates this movie!

Tuesday Weld hates this movie!

posted 12 years ago by Noirdame79
5 replies | jump to latest

Apparently, she couldn't stand the director and she didn't get much help from him. Weld considers Sue Ann to be her worst performance - I personally think it's one of her best. It's a credit to her and Anthony Perkins that the tension and problems behind the scenes didn't show in the film. Although they had disagreements, she specifically requested Perkins to be her costar in the very-little seen but excellent "Play It As It Lays" (1972).

Love this movie, by the way. Very underrated.

[–] timothy-5 12 years ago

SPOILERS - IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT

Susan Ker Weld is her birth name (I read it somewhere - I hope I'm right). I like this movie - it has such a super '60's style. And it's so spooky. The TV remake was horrible. The guy who played Dennis just walked his way through his role, and the girl who played Sue Ann just made herself look and act just like Tuesday Weld in this part - a complete retread. When Tuesday was asked about her performance in this film, she burst into tears and said, "It was horrible. It was horrible." They gave her a Pepsi and it made her feel better.

Mrs. Stepanek was such a loudmouth, annoying creep, I could see why Sue Ann wanted to kill her. But in the TV remake, Mrs. Stepanek was so pleasant throughout that it didn't seem believable that Sue Ann would want to kill her. Since Michelle Phillips (of the Mamas & The Papas) played Mrs. Stepanek in the TV movie, I thought Sue Ann was going to sing, "I'm a real straight shooter, if you know what I mean."

"Oh, mom, what time is it? Is it late?" You want some breakfast? "OK - how about pancakes?" "OK deary, it's your figure." Sue Ann shoots her mother as she comes up the stairs and Sue Ann says, "I told the hag that the next time she gave me an unladylike insult like that, I'd pump her full of bullet holes."

[–] timothy-5 11 years ago

I really liked this film a lot - very suspenseful and so super-60's. I think Sue Ann is her best performance. I saw Beverly Garland as a sweet, everyday housewife in an episode of Suspense Theater, so it must have taken a lot of effort to be such a crass, annoying loudmouth in this film. Michelle Phillips was so sweet and kind as Mrs. Stepanek in the TV Movie version that it didn't seem plausible that Sue Ann would hate her.

I FINALLY found out (on Wikipedia) where she got the name Tuesday. Her birth name is Susan Ker Weld. A cousin of hers (a toddler) had trouble pronouncing her name and pronounced it Tu-Tu. When Susan's mother got her an agent, she expanded her name to Tuesday.

"Unfaithful Wednesday?" So I guess he was unfaithful to Tuesday on Wednesday.

SPOILERS

The last thing Mrs. Stepanek said to Sue Ann when she said she wanted pancakes was "OK, dearie, it's your figure." When Sue Ann killed her mom, I thought she was going to say, "I told my mom the next time she said an unladylike comment to me like that, I'd fill her full of bullet holes."

Tuesday likes things that begin with "P". pancakes, Pepsi, Perkins, Pitt, Presley, Play It As It Lays.

[–] lazarillo 11 years ago

Does she say anything good about any of her roles though? I think she's had some really interesting ones--"Lord Love a Duck", this, "Play It As It Lays", and "Who'll Stop the Rain?" just to name a few.

But she was a real idiosyncratic actress--she supposedly turned down Kubrick's "Lolita" and the lead role in "Bonnie and Clyde".

[–] timothy-5 11 years ago

I think I saw a post on imdb that said she thought Pretty Poison was her worst movie, but nothing else about her was mentioned. I'm sure if you do a search, you could probably find something about what she thinks about her other roles. I'm a casual fan of Tuesday's, but you must be a really big fan to have seen some of her more obscure titles. "Play It As It Lays" must not have been good as Pretty Poison, because it wasn't the 60's anymore and I'm sure it couldn't have the super-60'sness of Pretty Poison.

"Unfaithful Wednesday"? So I guess he was unfaithful to Tuesday on Wednesday. I don't know much about Lolita, but she would have sizzled in Bonnie and Clyde. She looked at home with a gun in her hand in Pretty Poison.

"I work for a respectable employer. And he could lock you up without a key, and I'm not bulling. Now get out."

Then Sue Ann says, "I told the hag the next time she used an unladylike word like that, I'd blow her head off."

[–] Noirdame79 11 years ago

Tuesday feels that "Lord Love A Duck" (1966) contains her best performance. She is proud of her work in "Soldier In The Rain" (1963) and "Play It As It Lays" (1972), although she claimed to have little in common with the character she portrayed in the latter.

"Pretty Poison" seems to be the only one of her films that she dislikes.