BEFORE: Linking from "Postcards From the Edge", Dennis Quaid was also in "Everybody's All-American" with Jessica Lange (last seen in "The Vow"), who is featured tonight.
THE PLOT: The true story of Frances Farmer's meteoric rise to fame in Hollywood and the tragic turn her life took when she was blacklisted.
AFTER: This sort of follows naturally, since I was just discussing blacklisting after "Cradle Will Rock", although I don't think Frances Farmer was involved with the Communists. And last night's film was also about an actress with substance abuse problems who moves back in with her parents while trying to rebuild her career. Huh, I wonder if Carrie Fisher and Frances Farmer would have had a lot to talk about, had they met. For that matter, fast forward 20 years from "Postcards" and it's essentially the Lindsay Lohan story, too.
So, I think we can agree there's something universal here, at least when it comes to movies about making movies. But which film told its story better? I think "Postcards" was more entertaining, because it has a sort of comic/tragic "that's life" element to it, whereas "Frances" is just a big downer. The events may be accurate, but that doesn't mean they need to be portrayed with such hopelessness, and focused on the negative - but then again, I guess that's what brings the Oscar nominations.
There's also some really vague storytelling here, or else perhaps I drifted off which watching it (which means the film is boring, not vague, but the end result is the same). I had to read the film's description on Wikipedia to learn that: 1) Clifford Odets was married, and was forced by his wife to break off his affair with Frances. 2) Harry York WAS suspected of being a Communist - again, I must have missed that bit 3) Frances refused to engage in "publicity stunts", as she saw them, and also refused to wear make-up on screen. Gee, I can't imagine why directors found her difficult to work with.
I'm sort of burned out on this 1930's setting, with jazz constantly playing in the background. I don't care what anyone says, the music of this time period was just plain stupid. "Jeepers Creepers"? That's a song title? What about the lyrics to "It Don't Mean a Thing (If it Ain't Got that Swing)"? Doo wat doo wat doo wat etc. etc. That's just a bunch of nonsense syllables. How about writing some real lyrics? Don't even get me started on "Mairzy Doats"...
I gotta get into some films with better music...plus something that's a whole lot less screamy.
Also starring Sam Shepard (last seen in "Killing Them Softly"), Jeffrey DeMunn (last seen in "The X Files"), Kim Stanley (last heard in "To Kill a Mockingbird"), Bart Burns, Jack Riley, Lane Smith (last seen in "The Mighty Ducks"), with cameos from John Randolph, Bonnie Bartlett, Anjelica Huston (last seen in "50/50"), Jonathan Banks.
RATING: 3 out of 10 shock treatments
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