Ok I get it, she has health issues from smoking. But this was just so over the top with her lighting a smoke every 30 seconds of screen time. It just became almost a joke to me.
shareSome people are chain smokers like that. The smoking and the stress were there to illustrate why she has a heart attack. Without the chain smoking, the attack comes out of the blue.
It's not that I don't trust you, it's the devil in you that I don't trust,
Anyone old enough to have been in the workplace when you could smoke at your desk will be able to relate to her behavior...
See an episode of Mad Men for another glimpse into accepted workplace smoking.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804503/
I agree with the OP about it being 'overdone' on-screen. I think they could have got their point across and been a bit more subtle about it.
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Wait a minute... who am I here?
Why are things like this issues to some people? This is a story. In that story, we have a chain smoker. It even plays directly into the story, and even if it didn't, it's still part of the story.
That's it.
Smoking was not seen as a big issue at that time although by the late 80s it was.
Its that man again!!
I'm a smoker myself and have never been that much of a fiend.
You want a toe? I can get you a toe, believe me. There are ways, Dude.
I agree with what you're saying, but you must admit her smoking was excessive and borderline ridiculous by any standard. I still love her and think she's a fab actress-she'll always be Nurse Ratched to me. She had an interesting childhood-two deaf parents.
"Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it." Norman Maclean
You've obviously never been on the presence of a chain smoker. Her smoking was totally realistic. I knew a guy who would have a cig in his mouth more than he didn't. The wierd part was that he wouldn't light the new one with the old one, but rather use a match every time. But I digress...
And you wanna know the worst part? You're from outta state!
It was disturbing but I was born in 1975 and people would chain smoke like that, in the 1980's.
I got to watch my uncle die a long, slow, painful death from stomach cancer. He would chain smoke cigars and cigarettes ( mostly cigars ).
I guess you haven't seen her role in Nightmare on the Thirteenth Floor yet :P
shareIt's true what everyone has said about smokers, but the problem I had was that Fletcher looked awkward smoking;it didn't seem believable or convincing. I have a feeling, a strong one, that Fletcher's not a smoker.
shareMy dad smoked all the time, except when he was in the shower, or asleep. If you could go back in time to any workplace in the early 1980s or before, you would see people like this. Not only workplaces, but restaurants, libraries, grocery stores, everywhere.
shareTrue
I recall being in a restaurant, mid 70s , watching a man at the table next to us holding a lit cigarette in his left hand, and a Forkful of food in his right hand.
"You work your side of the street, and I'll work mine"
In the '60s and early '70s there were ash trays on library tables, and people smoking in restaurants and the balconies of movie theaters. I worked in a supermarket for a while and one of my jobs was to go around the store every hour and sweep up all the cigarette butts. I had two doctors who would smoke while they were with me in the little examination room. It was a smoking world!
shareHow about pro tennis players having a puff during changovers!!
"You work your side of the street, and I'll work mine"
Could her constant lighting up have been more for continuity reasons?
Instead of keeping track of how long her cig must have been in the next scene, just have her light one in every scene.
Had this movie recorded and deleted it because I needed room & my Library says they have copy.
Looking forward to finally seeing it.
Now listen here, you mugs, nobody gets to say 'Meh' anymore unless you're Edward G. Robinson, see?
I worked as an engineer around computers in the early '80s. Yes, we still had smokers, but nobody smoked in the lab around the machines. The belief was that the smoke residue would interfere with the electronics. The risk was probably overstated, but as a non-smoker I was very glad that was the policy.
Even though people still smoked in office areas, by that time most businesses had smoking and non-smoking areas. I can't remember any meetings in conference rooms where smoking was allowed. By the end of the '80s smoking would be banned altogether inside office buildings.
"The belief was that the smoke residue would interfere with the electronics."
I don't think this belief was overstated. My parents both smoked almost continuously, and lived in a small house where the smoke would be concentrated. Their tv and stereo equipment would never last as long as it should have, because the electronics and switches would get so coated with smoke residue. Nasty. Both died from lung cancer. Smoking is cool!
As a former chain smoker, I would not only light the new cigarette from the old one, but would then take a long drag on the old one before putting it out. The trick was to avoid inhaling a burning filter (or burning your fingers, in the case of unfiltered cigarettes).
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You got your mind right, Luke?