Westside Steve Posted October 12, 2019 Report Share Posted October 12, 2019 Judy Pathe PG 118 min I read Of Mice and Men again a couple years ago. I was really hesitant to pick it up the second time because of the ending, and even still I caught myself hoping that somehow I misread it the first time. I didn’t. That explains how I felt taking today’s road trip to see JUDY. We know pretty much what happened and to be honest it breaks my heart to think of sweet and innocent Dorothy Gale skipping down the yellow brick road knowing the misery she endured in real life . In all honesty most all biopics are the same thing, and that is putting a lot of tales and legends we already knew into a theatrical format. Her first film PIGSKIN PPARADISE at the age of 13 cemented her into roles as America’s sweetheart, the Girl Next Door. Then to the legendary WIZARD OF OZ and Beyond. The studio controlled every aspect of her young life and kept her drugged through the entire ordeal. That along with the booze and psychological pressure twisted her life for the next 30 years. Substance abuse and depression gave her reputation of being impossible to work with but even still she managed to leave a few memorable films and performances in her wake before her untimely end at the age of 47. MEET ME IN St LOUIS, JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG and one of the versions of A STAR IS BORN which earned her an Oscar nomination after being fired from MGM. This film focuses mostly on the last few years of her life her struggles to stay gainfully employed at least enough to keep her beloved youngest children. It also includes a look at one of her lesser-known husbands a no grifter named Mickey Deans. Leaving the children behind she’s forced to play music halls in London where she has not yet burned as many theatrical bridges as in the United States. Sadly she is haunted by the same demons there. The big difference here is the stunning performance by Renee Zellweger, as good as or better than any biographical portrayal I’ve seen. And unlike certain other biopic stars Zellweger actually did her own singing. She doesn’t have quite the amazing range Garland did but he particular selections didn’t exactly call for it and the emotional delivery worked well. So… Even though I found myself wishing Quentin Tarantino had directed this and would just throw reality out the window it wasn’t to be. It’s still a very good film and a great performance A- WSS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairHooker11 Posted October 13, 2019 Report Share Posted October 13, 2019 i think her handlers were ruthless and their actions against the younger Judy were terrible. who were these people - her agent(s)? certainly they werent the movie producers or directors? at any rate they were just plain evil 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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