Jennifer Jason Leigh didn't go over the top in trying to act like a 30s movie starlet. I found that to be slightly annoying. Also, Harry Belafonte's character was bog boring to watch and there was nothing really clever about his mobster take...better scriptwriting would have changed that.
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I'm hip,
I'm slick,
And all the ladies love my 8-tracks!
I thought the same thing at first about Jennifer Jason Leigh. But watching it a second time I realized that her character was kind of detached from reality. She want to be like Jean Harlowe. When they went to the movie theater. She mentioned that she went all the time. Maybe that was her reality. By the way I thought Harry Belafonte was pretty good. That's just me.
shareI'm the opposite. I thought Jennifer's character was the best thing about the film. Her hyper performance was electric.
Did anyone else think "Seldom's" character was based on Brando in "The Godfather"? He's sort of a black Don Corleone.
"Rape is no laughing matter. Unless you're raping a clown."
Nah...Corleone didn't take pleasure in the wetwork of the business. Seldom clearly did.
I agree about JJL. I thought her performance was the best thing about the movie and was unlike anything I had seen before. She was supposed to be over the top because that's what the character was like.
shareBut, you see, that's the point. Remember when the Senator's wife bleaches Blondie's hair and the way she "becomes" the glowing, glamorous Harlow right before she is reunited with her beloved Johnny?
This poor kid lives in a dream world, in an attempt to escape her own shabby small-town past, dead baby and doomed young punk of a boyfriend. She reminds me of some of the girls I grew up with who tried to emulate the likes of Madonna, or some another star.
By the way, my baby sis was an extra in this movie...she is in a dinner party scene sitting near the Senator, a beautiful brunette with a bob in a bias-cut evening dress.
Yeah, and it's Harlow's strength, or rather the strength her fiesty little characters often exhibited, that Blondie is relying on. I think most viewers are simply not accostomed to that whole style of acting. Blondie's staccato motormouth must seem unrealistic if you haven't seen Harlow in action.
And remember Harlow was from Kansas City as well and also died, like Blondie, at a very young age.
"Rape is no laughing matter. Unless you're raping a clown."
I totally and completely agree with you about Jennifer Jason Leigh's starlet nonsense!
shareFunnily enough I only watched this movie for JJL and her energy kept me engaged in a movie I found boring (but gorgeous) otherwise.
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