Rich and Famous (1981 film)
Encyclopedia
Rich and Famous is a 1981
American
drama film
directed by George Cukor
. The screenplay by Gerald Ayres is based on the 1941 play Old Acquaintance by John Van Druten, which was filmed with Bette Davis
and Miriam Hopkins
in 1943 under its original title
. Both film versions are now owned by Turner Entertainment
, with Warner Bros.
handling distribution.
in the 1950s. Soon after graduation, Liz writes a critically acclaimed book and drifts into unfulfilling relationships and one-night stands, including an empty encounter in an airplane lavatory, a fling with a teenaged hustler
and an affair with Chris Adams, a young reporter for Rolling Stone
. Meanwhile, Merry fulfills her aspiration to a life of domesticity caring for a husband and child by marrying Doug Blake and moving to a beach house in Malibu.
Although Merry is happy, she can't help but envy Liz for her glamorous career as an author. Merry decides to write a book of her own and, with Liz's assistance, A House by the Sea, a trashy roman à clef
about the Malibu colony, finds a publisher and becomes a huge best-seller. Before long Merry is a darling of the media and her fame and fortune surpass those of Liz (who is experiencing a severe case of writer's block
), leading to jealousy between the old friends and problems in Merry's marriage.
The film takes place over the course of 22 years, first depicting Merry and Doug's elopement in 1959, and then picking up during three segments, taking place in 1969, 1975 and 1981, showing changes in the characters' relationships (and society) over the course of two decades.
originally was slated to direct, but when members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
and the Screen Actors Guild
went on strike four days after filming began, the production shut down. Mulligan was forced to withdraw when previous commitments conflicted with the new schedule. The film proved to be the last directed by George Cukor. It also marked the screen debut of Meg Ryan
.
New York City
locations seen in the film include the Algonquin Hotel
and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
. Additional locations include Madison, New Jersey
(standing in for Northampton, Massachusetts
), Los Angeles
, and Malibu. Interiors were filmed at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios
in Culver City.
Nina Foch
, Dick Cavett
, Ray Bradbury
, Merv Griffin
, Marsha Hunt
, Christopher Isherwood
, Gavin Lambert
, Roger Vadim
, and Paul Morrissey
are seen in cameo appearance
s in the film.
The soundtrack
includes "Take Me for a Buggy Ride" performed by Bessie Smith
and "On The Sunny Side of the Street" sung by Willie Nelson
.
of the New York Times said, "The movie can't make up its mind whether it's about a tumultuously difficult but rewarding friendship or whether it's a sendup of the contemporary literary scene. It fails as both . . . The culprit is Gerald Ayres . . . [who] has spread his talents very thin . . . Though he has written two big roles, he doesn't seem capable of writing either a romantic drama, like The Turning Point, or an informed satire
. . . Mr. Ayres can occasionally write good wisecracks . . . But he has no particular insight into the publishing scene. Nor does he ever convince us of the enduring strength of the friendship that lasts through thick and, more often, thin. Though Misses Bisset and Bergen are appealing actresses, Rich and Famous doesn't hold together."
Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
observed, "This film is a real curiosity. It's a good-bad movie, like The Other Side of Midnight
or The Greek Tycoon
. It contains scenes that make you want to squirm because of their awkwardness and awfulness, and yet you don't want to look away and you're not bored. The movie has the courage to go to extremes, and some of those extremes may not be art but are certainly unforgettable . . . It's a slick, trashy, entertaining melodrama
, with too many dumb scenes to qualify as successful."
Variety
said, "While not without its problems, Rich and Famous is an absorbing drama of some notable qualities, the greatest of which is a gutsy, fascinating and largely magnificent performance by Jacqueline Bisset . . . For a bright, sophisticated piece such as this, particularly one under the guidance of the irrepressibly elegant Goerge Cukor, the somewhat harsh, murky visual style is suprising [sic]."
TV Guide
rated the film one out of four stars and commented, "This could have been - and is - a very funny film; unfortunately, most of the laughs are unintentional . . . Although his version of Van Druten's play Old Acquaintance is sexier than the original 1943 screen treatment . . . it also fails to satisfy on many levels . . . This glossy soap opera
suffers from Cukor's failure to control his actors. Moreover, the costumes are atrocious. The film simply lacks the sophisticated style that made Cukor famous."
Time Out London said, "Considering neither Bisset nor Bergen had ever shown the slightest acting ability before in movies, their performances in the Bette Davis/Miriam Hopkins roles in this loose reworking of Old Acquaintance are very capable . . . Of course much of the credit must go to Cukor, the veteran 'woman's director'; but the film disappoints in its unconfident handling of the secondary characters."
.
1981 in film
-Events:*January 19 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquires beleaguered concurrent United Artists. UA was humiliated by the astronomical losses on the $40,000,000 movie Heaven's Gate, a major factor in the decision of owner Transamerica to sell it....
American
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by George Cukor
George Cukor
George Dewey Cukor was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed What Price Hollywood? , A Bill of Divorcement , Dinner at Eight , Little Women , David Copperfield , Romeo and Juliet and...
. The screenplay by Gerald Ayres is based on the 1941 play Old Acquaintance by John Van Druten, which was filmed with Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
and Miriam Hopkins
Miriam Hopkins
Ellen Miriam Hopkins was an American actress known for her versatility in a wide variety of roles.Hopkins was born in Savannah, Georgia, and raised in Bainbridge, a town in the state's southwest near the Alabama border...
in 1943 under its original title
Old Acquaintance
Old Acquaintance is a 1943 film drama made by Warner Bros. It was directed by Vincent Sherman and produced by Henry Blanke with Jack L. Warner as executive producer from a screenplay by John Van Druten, Lenore Coffee and Edmund Goulding based on Van Druten's play.The film starred Bette Davis and...
. Both film versions are now owned by Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. is an American media company founded by Ted Turner. Now owned by Time Warner, the company is largely responsible for overseeing its library for worldwide distribution Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. (commonly known as Turner Entertainment Co.) is an American...
, with Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
handling distribution.
Plot
Two women find their friendship is tested when one rises from obscurity to success while the other stagnates in a stalled career. Liz Hamilton, a young woman with literary ambitions, and Merry Noel Blake, an all-American blond beauty from Atlanta, are close friends who met while they were freshmen at Smith CollegeSmith College
Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
in the 1950s. Soon after graduation, Liz writes a critically acclaimed book and drifts into unfulfilling relationships and one-night stands, including an empty encounter in an airplane lavatory, a fling with a teenaged hustler
Male prostitution
Male prostitution is the practice of engaging in sexual acts for money. Compared to female sex workers, male sex workers have been far less studied by researchers, and while studies suggest that there are differences between the ways these two groups look at their work, more research is needed.Male...
and an affair with Chris Adams, a young reporter for Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
. Meanwhile, Merry fulfills her aspiration to a life of domesticity caring for a husband and child by marrying Doug Blake and moving to a beach house in Malibu.
Although Merry is happy, she can't help but envy Liz for her glamorous career as an author. Merry decides to write a book of her own and, with Liz's assistance, A House by the Sea, a trashy roman à clef
Roman à clef
Roman à clef or roman à clé , French for "novel with a key", is a phrase used to describe a novel about real life, overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the relationship between the nonfiction and the fiction...
about the Malibu colony, finds a publisher and becomes a huge best-seller. Before long Merry is a darling of the media and her fame and fortune surpass those of Liz (who is experiencing a severe case of writer's block
Writer's block
Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task at hand. At the other extreme, some "blocked"...
), leading to jealousy between the old friends and problems in Merry's marriage.
The film takes place over the course of 22 years, first depicting Merry and Doug's elopement in 1959, and then picking up during three segments, taking place in 1969, 1975 and 1981, showing changes in the characters' relationships (and society) over the course of two decades.
Production
Robert MulliganRobert Mulligan
Robert Mulligan was an American film and television director best known as the director of humanistic American dramas, including To Kill A Mockingbird , Summer of '42 , The Other , Same Time, Next Year and The Man in the Moon...
originally was slated to direct, but when members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is a performers' union that represents a wide variety of talent, including actors in radio and television, as well as radio and television announcers and newspersons, singers and recording artists , promo and voice-over announcers and other...
and the Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
went on strike four days after filming began, the production shut down. Mulligan was forced to withdraw when previous commitments conflicted with the new schedule. The film proved to be the last directed by George Cukor. It also marked the screen debut of Meg Ryan
Meg Ryan
Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra , professionally known as Meg Ryan, is an American actress and producer. Raised in Bethel, Connecticut, Ryan began her acting career in 1981 in minor roles, before joining the cast of the CBS soap opera As the World Turns in 1982...
.
New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
locations seen in the film include the Algonquin Hotel
Algonquin Hotel
The Algonquin Hotel is a historic hotel located at 59 West 44th Street in Manhattan . The hotel has been designated as a New York City Historic Landmark....
and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
The Waldorf-Astoria is a luxury hotel in New York. It has been housed in two historic landmark buildings in New York City. The first, designed by architect Henry J. Hardenbergh, was on the Fifth Avenue site of the Empire State Building. The present building at 301 Park Avenue in Manhattan is a...
. Additional locations include Madison, New Jersey
Madison, New Jersey
Madison is a borough in Morris County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the 2000 United States Census, the population was 16,530. It also is known as "The Rose City".-Geography:Madison is located at ....
(standing in for Northampton, Massachusetts
Northampton, Massachusetts
The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Northampton's central neighborhoods, was 28,549...
), Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, and Malibu. Interiors were filmed at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
in Culver City.
Nina Foch
Nina Foch
Nina Foch was a Dutch-born American actress and leading lady in many 1940s and 1950s films.- Personal life :...
, Dick Cavett
Dick Cavett
Richard Alva "Dick" Cavett is a former American television talk show host known for his conversational style and in-depth discussion of issues...
, Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
, Merv Griffin
Merv Griffin
Mervyn Edward "Merv" Griffin, Jr. was an American television host, musician, actor, and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer who went on to appear in movies and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 Griffin hosted his own talk show, The Merv Griffin Show on Group W Broadcasting...
, Marsha Hunt
Marsha Hunt (actress)
Marsha Hunt is an American film, theater, and television actress who was blacklisted by Hollywood movie studio executives in the 1950s.-Career:...
, Christopher Isherwood
Christopher Isherwood
Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood was an English-American novelist.-Early life and work:Born at Wyberslegh Hall, High Lane, Cheshire in North West England, Isherwood spent his childhood in various towns where his father, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, was stationed...
, Gavin Lambert
Gavin Lambert
Gavin Lambert was a British-born screenwriter, novelist and biographer who lived for part of his life in Hollywood...
, Roger Vadim
Roger Vadim
Roger Vadim was a French screenwriter, director, and producer as well as a journalist, author and actor, who launched Brigitte Bardot's career in the film And God Created Woman.-Early life:...
, and Paul Morrissey
Paul Morrissey
Paul Morrissey is an American film director, best-known for his association with Andy Warhol.Morrissey attended Ampleforth College, a private Roman Catholic boarding school and Fordham University, both Roman Catholic schools, and later served in the United States Army...
are seen in cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
s in the film.
The soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
includes "Take Me for a Buggy Ride" performed by Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...
and "On The Sunny Side of the Street" sung by Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
.
Cast
- Jacqueline BissetJacqueline BissetJacqueline Bisset is an English actress. She has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy Award. She is known for her roles in the films Bullitt , Airport , The Deep , Class , and the TV series Nip/Tuck in 2006...
..... Liz Hamilton - Candice BergenCandice BergenCandice Patricia Bergen is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for starring in two TV series, as the title character on the situation comedy Murphy Brown , for which she won five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards; and as Shirley Schmidt on the comedy-drama Boston Legal...
..... Merry Noel Blake - David SelbyDavid SelbyDavid Lynn Selby is an American character and stage actor. He has worked in movies, soap operas and television. The naturally black-headed Selby is best known for playing the roles of Quentin Collins on the ABC-TV serial, Dark Shadows , and as the evil and compassionate...
..... Doug Blake - Hart BochnerHart BochnerHart Matthew Bochner is a Canadian film actor, screenwriter, director, and producer.-Life and career:Bochner was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Ruth , a concert pianist, and actor Lloyd Bochner...
..... Chris Adams - Steven HillSteven HillSteven Hill is an American film and television actor. His two better-known roles are District Attorney Adam Schiff on the NBC TV drama series Law & Order, whom he portrayed for ten seasons , and Dan Briggs, the original team leader of the Impossible Missions Force on CBS's television series...
..... Jules Levi - Michael BrandonMichael BrandonMichael Brandon is an American actor who resides in the United Kingdom and United States.-Life and career:Brandon was born Michael Feldman in Brooklyn, New York to Miriam and Sol Feldman...
..... Max - Meg RyanMeg RyanMargaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra , professionally known as Meg Ryan, is an American actress and producer. Raised in Bethel, Connecticut, Ryan began her acting career in 1981 in minor roles, before joining the cast of the CBS soap opera As the World Turns in 1982...
..... Debby (age 18) - Nicole EggertNicole EggertNicole Elizabeth Eggert is an American actress. Notable roles include Jamie Powell in the television series Charles in Charge and Summer Quinn in the TV Series Baywatch. She was most recently a contestant on the VH1 reality show Celebrity Fit Club.-Early life:Eggert was born in Glendale,...
..... Debby (age 8)
Critical reception
Vincent CanbyVincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
of the New York Times said, "The movie can't make up its mind whether it's about a tumultuously difficult but rewarding friendship or whether it's a sendup of the contemporary literary scene. It fails as both . . . The culprit is Gerald Ayres . . . [who] has spread his talents very thin . . . Though he has written two big roles, he doesn't seem capable of writing either a romantic drama, like The Turning Point, or an informed satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
. . . Mr. Ayres can occasionally write good wisecracks . . . But he has no particular insight into the publishing scene. Nor does he ever convince us of the enduring strength of the friendship that lasts through thick and, more often, thin. Though Misses Bisset and Bergen are appealing actresses, Rich and Famous doesn't hold together."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
observed, "This film is a real curiosity. It's a good-bad movie, like The Other Side of Midnight
The Other Side of Midnight
The Other Side of Midnight is a novel by American writer Sidney Sheldon published in 1973. The book reached No.1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. It was made into a 1977 motion picture of the same name, directed by Charles Jarrott. The cast included Marie-France Pisier, John Beck, Susan...
or The Greek Tycoon
The Greek Tycoon
The Greek Tycoon is a 1978 American drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson. The screenplay by Morton S. Fine is based on a story by Fine, Nico Mastorakis, and Win Wells loosely based on Aristotle Onassis and his relationship with Jacqueline Kennedy.-Plot:...
. It contains scenes that make you want to squirm because of their awkwardness and awfulness, and yet you don't want to look away and you're not bored. The movie has the courage to go to extremes, and some of those extremes may not be art but are certainly unforgettable . . . It's a slick, trashy, entertaining melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
, with too many dumb scenes to qualify as successful."
Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
said, "While not without its problems, Rich and Famous is an absorbing drama of some notable qualities, the greatest of which is a gutsy, fascinating and largely magnificent performance by Jacqueline Bisset . . . For a bright, sophisticated piece such as this, particularly one under the guidance of the irrepressibly elegant Goerge Cukor, the somewhat harsh, murky visual style is suprising [sic]."
TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
rated the film one out of four stars and commented, "This could have been - and is - a very funny film; unfortunately, most of the laughs are unintentional . . . Although his version of Van Druten's play Old Acquaintance is sexier than the original 1943 screen treatment . . . it also fails to satisfy on many levels . . . This glossy soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
suffers from Cukor's failure to control his actors. Moreover, the costumes are atrocious. The film simply lacks the sophisticated style that made Cukor famous."
Time Out London said, "Considering neither Bisset nor Bergen had ever shown the slightest acting ability before in movies, their performances in the Bette Davis/Miriam Hopkins roles in this loose reworking of Old Acquaintance are very capable . . . Of course much of the credit must go to Cukor, the veteran 'woman's director'; but the film disappoints in its unconfident handling of the secondary characters."
Awards and nominations
Gerald Ayres won the Writers Guild Award for Best Comedy Adapted from Another MediumWriters Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
The Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is one of the three screenwriting Writers Guild of America Awards, one that is specifically for film...
.