MovieChat Forums > Windows (1980) Discussion > Boy was Talia Shire awful in this!

Boy was Talia Shire awful in this!

posted 15 years ago by Aussie Stud
10 replies | jump to latest

I never thought much of her as an actress, but boy was she bad in this one. Elizabeth Ashley wasn't much better, but she was more of a supporting role. Actually, you know it's bad when the best acting in this came from Kay Medford who's only in it for about three minutes tops, and the last you see of her character she's being wheeled away on a gurney!

But Talia Shire - man was she bad! Whimpering, stuttering, soft-spoken... it was like Shelley Duvall from the Shining meets Stuart from MAD TV. After about 10 minutes of it you start rooting for Elizabeth Ashley's character!

Also, was I the only one who burst out laughing when "Jenny" fell out of the fridge onto the floor? I mean, for unintentionally hilarious scenes in cinema, this scene was supposed to be shocking but I couldn't stop laughing!! Best use of plastic ever!

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] mguevarra61-1 15 years ago

Ms. Shire's character was very introverted and had a stuttering problem. And then the rape! Her performance was assured and fearless. The best display of this is in the film's final scenes when Ms. Ashley starts getting psychotic and practically begs her to take off her clothes. Ms. Shire transformation from being terrified to actually summoning up enough courage to slap Ms. Ashley across the face was, to say the least, startling. The slap was thoroughly unnerving. Her performance was brilliant!

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Xcalat3 13 years ago

I disagree, I think she did a fine job.

When there's no more room in hell, The dead will walk the earth...

[–] bunnywithanaxe 11 years ago

Considering the pile of poo she had to work with, I think she did OK. If there was anything holding her back it was probably the unshakable realization that she was painfully trapped in one dog of a movie.

[–] enfilmigult 11 years ago

That was certainly the vibe I was getting, ha ha. Neither of the two lead roles make any sense or are believable for more than ten seconds at a time, and hell, at least Elizabeth Ashley got to chew the scenery once in a while.

Some of the parts that made me cringe the most were watching Shire try to act charmed and interested when the police officer is waiting outside her apartment door for her to come home, and following her in to ask her out on dates, about a day and a half after she endured a sexual assault at knifepoint from an intruder. Somebody wrote this?

[–] bunnywithanaxe 11 years ago

...at least Elizabeth Ashley got to chew the scenery once in a while.

Heh. Yeah, gotta give her props for investing herself so completely in such a godawful cartoon character.

[–] enfilmigult 11 years ago

Couldn't agree more; I thought Shire was pretty monotonous but Ashley went for it. It was really kind of fascinating to watch her try to deal with a character that was so ludicrously impossible to act. Or maybe it's just that I love hearing her voice and make allowances for that, ha ha.

Except, of course, when her lines are "Ah. Ah. AH. AH! AH AH AH AH AH!" for absolutely no reason whatsoever. What in the world is that finale.

[–] shred-com 10 years ago

I don't think either actress was that bad :/. They weren't Oscar worthy or anthing, but not bad enough to get a thread like this. Just two ok performances. Definitly more than passable.