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Auntie Mame

Auntie Mame

List Price: $19.97
Your Price: $14.98
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Thank God they're putting this back on amazon.com!
Review: After a long period during which amazon.com didn't sell this wonderful movie, they're finally putting it up again. Thank God!

This really is a great movie, filled with scenes and one-liners that will have you laughing for days after you've seen this. I swear, it's that funny! The Betty Comden-Adolph Green screenplay, based on the Lawrence and Lee stage play which was in turn based on the Patrick Dennis novel, is excellent. The costumes are amazing, and the supporting cast is hilarious, notably Peggy Cass, a riot of Mame's clueless secretery, Agnes Gooch ("Agnes, you're coming out!" "WHERE?") Coral Browne as Mame's actress friend, Vera Charles, and Joanna Barnes as Mame's nephew's airhead fiancee. ("It's REALLY top-drawer!") And then there is Roz. Rosalind Russell, recreating her stage success, gives the performance of her life as Mame Dennis, the eccentric socilite who beleives that "Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!" Delivering the one-liners to perfection and looking great in those costumes, what's even better about the performance is her incredible warmth and obvious love and affection for her nephew. A breath of fresh air amid all the snobby, rich bigots she encounters in the movie and who were very prevelent then and now, Mame/Roz is one of a kind, and we all love her for it. Don't you wish you knew someone like her, or better yet were like her yourself! A great movie, thakfully on sale again for all to buy, enjoy, and be enlightened by.

It should be noted that Auntie Mame has had a healthy life. From novel to play to movie, she was turned into a musical showcase for Angela Lansbury in the 1960s, another great performance preserved on the musical's cast album. Unfortunatly, the musical's film version, with Lucille Ball in the title role, is every bit as bad as this movie and its Broadway cousin are good. But that's the only blemish in the history of this remarkable character of fiction.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One Lady I would love as my Aunt
Review: My Dad took me to see this as a kid and I have loved and treasured the movie ever since. Like my Dad I love the lessons the movie teaches about accepting people and fighting snooty people and other negative people.

Auntie Mame was and is a great movie for teaching about true Friendship, marching to ones own drummer even if it get's lonely, and that change is good. The men who have seen the movie love Mame. Women who are not threatened by a woman who is comfortable around men and men around her, also love the movie.

Maybe the fact there is bit of a Mame in me makes me want to sit down and write the fictional character a sincere thank you note. Mame ironically was ahead of her time and wantabe feminists who want to see how the real McCoy lives would do well to watch the movie.

I always laugh so hard because Mame is open to trying new things like riding with the hounds even if she has the boots on backwards and doesn't know the head from the tail of the horse. How she takes a job in a Department store during Christmas in order to pay the bills. And is not the saleswoman type. The fact she tries and doesn't stop trying is a great example for all of us.

I also love the mood changes she goes thru and how the decor changes as well. Some people just move the furniture around for a change. she changes the whole damn place top to bottom. I remember how awed I was that she had a water fountain in the middle of her room and how she had those funky chairs that went up and down of lifts. Those really thru the suburban parents of her nephews girl friend (with such a funny Smith College accent) for a loop.

And Peggy Cass who I remember was on Whats My Line (?) was so funny as the unwed mother. And the teacher in the beginning of the progressive school she wanted her nephew to attend who was into nudity LOLOL. Remember this movie was made in 1958 and was very adult and recieved less than kind words from religious leaders. My Dad for some reason kept the newpaper clippings.

This version of Aunti Mame is amongst my TOP 5 movies. Make that TOP 2. Local Hero is another. To this day I still cry as well as laugh watching it because the message that is interwolven like a fine gold thread is so priceless and maybe more needed now than ever.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "Absolutely Fabulous" for the fifties
Review: Before Edina and Patsy, there were Mame and Vera. Rosalind Russell gives an absolutely electrifying performance as confidant, brassy, bold Mame Dennis, the woman that is determined to "Live, live, live!" life to the fullest, even after her little orphaned nephew Patrick comes to live with her. This film was the top-grosser of 1958, yet it's surprising that a film which so wholeheartedly espoused liberalism (indeed, the more bohemian side of it) could have been so embraced by 50's audiences. Some of Russell/Mame's best scenes are: Mame's attempt at running a switchboard (No one could have done this scene like Russell); Mame prancing around dictating her memoirs while her secretary frantically tries to keep up with her; and the hilarious scene when Mame meets fiance Beau's (Forrest Tucker) eccentric southern family and friends. The supporting cast is also brilliant . . Peggy Cass is absolutely hilarious as homely secretary Agnes Gooch (I love it when comes into the living room to get a drink and steps over O'Banion and Mame as they lie on the floor in each other's arms). Coral Browne's acerbic Vera is a riot (her best scene is when Mame makes her stage debut) . . I love to listen to her dryly denouncing everything from children to daiquiris made with honey. Joanna Barnes is the perfect Gloria ("I cawnt TELL you how pleased I am to make your acquaintance"). Connie Gilchrist is a perfect foil/friend to Mame as the straight-laced Irish maid who accompanies Patrick to meet Mame (slowly but surely Mame wins her over). But to me the funniest supporting role in the whole film is the brief appearance by little known TV actress Carol Veazie as Mother Burnside, Beauregard's belching, moth-eaten Southern mother who regards Mame as a dirty Yankee out to steal her son. The final party scene at Mame's house, where the bigoted Upsons get their comeuppance, is spectacular. A highly recommended visual feast which, for some reason, many critics either ignore or underrate today - and I do suggest the widescreen version over the pan and scan - this film was originally released using one of the wide-screen techniques of the 50's, and the pan and scan version will have you feeling as though you're watching a ping-pong match.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: HAVING A BALL WITH ROZ
Review: Rosalind Russell was inspired casting for the role of eccentric, free-spirited Mame Dennis; as much as I admired Lucille Ball, she just didn't have Russell's certain panache and gregarious personality by the time she played the role at age 62. Had Lucy tried the role 15 years earlier, when she was more energetic and less frog-voiced, she'd have given Russell a run for her money; as it is though, Russell's version is the definitive one. Russell is hilarious particularly in her scenes with the Upsons: when given a daquiri made with no sugar is offered her (the secret ingredient being honey) Mame replies after a reluctant swig: "And yet it's SO sweet"! with a a nauseated look, she adds "what EVER do you use"? Rosalind's zanily screwballish yet sophisticated performance is a gem to behold, while Coral Browne is incredibly right as bitchy Vera Charles. Roger Smith is a little wooden as grown up Patrick (his original girlfriend is an obnoxious hoot) while Peggy Cass is funny (if a little obvious) as Agnes Gootch. In the supporting cast, Lee Patrick, Fred Clark and Patrick Knowles are standouts. Based on a real life relative of Dennis who lived in Greenwich Village in the 20's and extended her living quarters to various struggling artist/vagrant types!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the BEST movies ever made!
Review: This is without a doubt, one of the best movies I have ever had the pleasure and honor to see! Russell does a "Top Drawer" performance! There is absolutely nothing about this movie that is negative in any manner, except for maybe the fact that it took 40 years to put out a special edition version! I'm only 26 and I feel that movies today can't begin to compare to movies of yesteryear. If you don't know what I mean and are looking to see something really fantastic, try this movie! It's Wonderful!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Still in love with Auntie Mame
Review: When I was twelve years old I sat down on Christmas Day to watch television with my Father. He said."My favorite movie is about to start and you need to watch it." I sat there and watched the dazzling colors play across the screen and then there was this name Rosalind Russell as Auntie Mame. I fell in love with Auntie Mame that Christmas Day. She is my role model, and I feel that she should be the role model for a much larger part of society. All one has to do is listen to her words and in all of her catch phrases one finds glorious wisdom-"Knowlege is Power", "Live, Live, Live", "Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death." It is hard to deny that Mame was a head of her time, and most likely still ahead of our own.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: love it
Review: Auntie Mame is an extrodinary women who learns to live in the real world when the Stock Market crashes. It's an important tale of family, love, and kindness.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: ROSALIND RUSSELL IS BRILLIANT...
Review: ...in this superb adaptation of the stage classic. Coral Browne is witty and wonderful, Peggy Cass is a scream, and Joanna Barnes is very, very funny as the airhead socialite. The cast is perfect and the movie is the best!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Even my seven year old loves this movie!
Review: It is really wonderful to find so many people who appreciate this movie. It's just plain good humor with a heartwarming story to go along. Rosalind Russell is amazing. "Mame" happened to be on TV the other day and my seven year old watched for about three minutes before rolling her eyes and commenting that our Auntie Mame was "way more better than Lucy". This is a great family night movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hysterical, warm, REALLY TOP-DRAWER!
Review: I'm a big fan of this movie after only seeing it 3 times. It's filled with great scenes and one-liners that'll have you laughing for days on end. I won't spoil them; you'll have to watch the movie to find them. Rosalind Russell gives the performance of a lifetime. She's got great dialogue and great costumes! Not only that, she's a very warm person and shows true love for her nepwhew. I really wish I had an Auntie Mame, or a Rosalind Russell in the person of Auntie Mame! there are plenty of other great performances, too, such as Peggy Cass, who's an absolute riot as mame's hopelessly out-of-it secretery, Agnes Gooch, and coral browne, who's good as Mame's friend, the first lady of the American theatre, Vera Charles. A wonderful movei, one that I definitly recommend. However, I DO NOT RECOMMEND THE MUSICAL REMAKE, MAME, WITH LUCLILLE BALL! That's not nearly as god as this one.


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