Comments on: Bette Davis and Gay Men

By: GayPatriot » Thoughts on Buying a New DVD Player

GayPatriot » Thoughts on Buying a New DVD Player — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:10:11 +0000

[...] recently retired player (all of 18 months old if that) had begun to freeze up while I was watching those Bette Davis flicks.Â I ended up watching a few of them on my computer.Â It didn’t freeze up on all DVDs, just [...]

By: Peter Hughes

Peter Hughes — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:39:40 +0000

#13 – Sorry, Matt, those slipped my mind. All good additions, though. One that I particularly like is “Fried Green Tomatoes,” since my parents both had families that ran restaurants in the South during the Depression.

#15 – So, Iggy, do you squeal like a pig?

Just kidding. Also, speaking of Southern writers, don’t forget Alexandra Ripley, Flannery O’Connor and Tennessee Williams. All great ones.

Now after all that reminiscing, I’m hankering for some BBQ in this cold weather.

Regards,
Peter H.

By: Ignatius

Ignatius — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 16:37:24 +0000

How about Deliverance? (Kidding, just kidding.) Books that best capture the South? So many great ones. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is one of my all-time favorites. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, A Confederacy of Dunces, anything and everything by Mark Twain, Cormac McCarthy, Faulkner...

By: Swampfox

Swampfox — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:47:52 +0000

I need to sit down and view all those old movies.

By: Michigan-Matt

Michigan-Matt — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:56:48 +0000

Peter, what about Steel Magnolias? To Kill a Mocking Bird? All The King’s Men? Jezebel, even?

By: Peter Hughes

Peter Hughes — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:32:44 +0000

As an aside, both Davis and Crawford were to be reunited in a film after “Baby Jane.” But Crawford did not want to share billing and refused. The result? Davis got Olivia de Havilland under contract and renamed the film “Hush, Hush…Sweet Charlotte.”

The film was done outside of Baton Rouge, so it is a true on-location film.

Just asking to all my Southern sisters (Bruce, TGC et al) – which film do you most relate to as a Southerner of the following: Gone With the Wind, Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, or Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte?

Would love to hear your feedback.

Regards,
Peter H.

By: Ignatius

Ignatius — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:30:15 +0000

Just what are the settings on the spam filter? Are there keywords that trip it or can foil it?

By: Peter Hughes

Peter Hughes — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:40:22 +0000

My favorite will always be “Now, Voyager.” Viva La Bette!

Regards,
Peter H.

By: The other Peter H

The other Peter H — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:42:31 +0000

Phone Call From A Stranger was my favorite drama. But I do love Eve with the quick wit lines, especially Marilyn Monroe's character!

By: Michigan-Matt

Michigan-Matt — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:34:04 +0000

Dan, you clearly know a lot more about film than I, but Bette Davis’ performances always leave me cold, unmoved and wanting to see anything with Kate Hepburn as an antidote. But for film savorists who are gay, she’s the grand dame. Someone commented that the 1969 Stonewall Inn riots would have been much bigger, more butch and successful if Bette Davis has died rather than Judy Garland the week prior. Later that year, a Bette Davis tribute drew one of the biggest crowds ever to the SF Film Festival.

I think Bette’s still popular with gays because she acts the part of a movie star –self-absorbed, grandly dramatic in the face of self-created impossible positions, over-the-top emotions at the ready, dysfunction in hyperdrive and the tenacity to work at being relevant long after her NormaDesmond moments occur. For some gays, she’s us and our Patron Saint Most Accessible.

The best line from a filmophile biography of Davis? “Ruth Elizabeth Davis was born April 5, 1908, in Lowell, Massachusetts. Her parents divorced when she was 10. She and her sister were raised by their mother, Ruthie. Bette demanded attention from birth, which led to her pursuing a career in acting.”

Now, doesn’t that say legends?

By: Julie the Jarhead

Julie the Jarhead — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:56:57 +0000

I'm constantly amazed at Miss Davis's range. Jezebel was one of her best. And just re-saw Dead Ringer. Wowser! But I can never get enough of Baby Jane.

By: rusty

rusty — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:10:46 +0000

She’ll tease you
She’ll unease you
Just to please ya
She’s got Bette Davis eyes
She’ll expose you, when she snows you
She knows ya
She’s got Bette Davis eyes

Kim Carnes. . .AH THE 80′s

By: GayPatriotWest

GayPatriotWest — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 07:42:37 +0000

Hey, Democrat, just watched Mr. Skeffington. Agree that it’s a great movie.

I think the brain tumor movie is “Dark Victory.” Was the Gipper in it?

By: Democrat for Life

Democrat for Life — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 06:28:25 +0000

Hey Daniel: Check out the movie “Mr. Skeffington” from NetFlix with Bette Davis and Claude Rains. Great movie with a Jewish theme. On the other hand, I just rented Bette movie where she gets a brain tumor–blanking on name. That one wasn’t as good. “Mr. Skeffington “is great, however. Also check out “Dead Ringer” featuring the cemetary at Washington Blvd and Normandie–excellent Bette Davis playing identical twins.

By: ThatGayConservative

ThatGayConservative — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 05:22:25 +0000

Haven’t watched those others. The only Davis flick I’ve watched all the way through was Another Man’s Poison. My brother and I watched it on TCM one night during a drinking session on the patio. We loved it.

By: ILoveCapitalism

ILoveCapitalism — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 04:19:35 +0000

#1 cont – But with far more hostility and malice mixed in the pathos, of course.

Is it because gay men really have more overbearing mothers, that many of us find dark, controlling and/or pathetic mother-figures fascinating? I don’t know. I’m not sure gay men’s mothers *are* more overbearing than straight men’s. A lot of straight men have very overbearing mothers. But perhaps gay men, on average, are more sensitive to it. Since gay men, on average, are probably a little more sensitive and feminine than the average straight man.

By: ILoveCapitalism

ILoveCapitalism — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 02:42:28 +0000

_Baby Jane_ is one of the great portraits of insanity in cinema. Yes, it’s starkly drawn. That’s the nature of horror films, especially psychological horror films. She achieved a really deep, convincing, twisted and pathetic (evoking pathos – remember your Aristotle) picture of madness. And the makeup/wig job was reportedly her idea!

That’s how I justify admiring her _Baby Jane_ as art. Now, as to why gay men should be particularly associated or attached to it, I have no idea. Maybe it’s the whole feminine-pathos thing, the same reason gay men are supposed to be attached to Judy Garland.