Why does she always criticise modernity?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Lauren Bacall
Jameskinglover — 19 years ago(February 14, 2007 10:25 PM)
I really like Lauren Bacall but why does she always complain about contemporary Hollywood. Truly, we are living in a very grim time (that is what our films have reflected) but even the 1940s and 1950s were all about conformity. I saw Bacall on The Martha Stewart Show and she said something about how she can't stand all the young actresses of today with the same hairstyle and way of dressthey look all the same. She goes on to say that actresses in her day each had their own identity. She always comments on movies today which she says are "artless".
We often look back with nostalgia on the 40s and 50s but they were just the same as today. You take all those people who are in their 80s now and put them in our position and you get the same crap. We just live with different sensibilities now. Also, agents and producers had more control over actors in Lauren's time where they often controlled every part of their physical appearance, maybe that is why they all looked "so good and different". -
markedjuan — 19 years ago(February 17, 2007 07:35 AM)
I like Bacall but she does tend to be a grumpy old woman at times. Yet it's fine to hear her nitpick because she gives the present Hollywood a reality check. Jackie Cooper once directed her in a TV movie back in the 1970s and in his bio he said she was living too much in the past and to think they're contemporaries.
Still, Bacall has earned the right to bitch about for as long as she wants. As Raquel Welch said of her, Lauren is very regal and her strong personalty presented a message that seemed to say, I am what I am, you can take it or leave it. -
Jameskinglover — 19 years ago(March 02, 2007 03:07 AM)
Yea but still, she is the epitome of Old Hollywood.
Apparently, we live in grim times and whenever we see anything from the era from yesteryear, we think it was so good.
So that's why I think a lot of people would tend to believe Bacall's rants about modern celebrity based on the fact that she is so Old Hollywood=good old natural days. The only thing good about those days was that film-goers tended to want to believe instead of how skeptical we are nowadays. And when we watch any type of footage from those times, we see the perspective of those people and their sensibilities even if we are using our own eyes to view them. -
markedjuan — 19 years ago(March 04, 2007 07:26 AM)
What5b4 you wrote was very interesting. By the way, it must have been difficult for Raquel Welch to have been gracious about Bacall considering she didn't want Raquel to replace her in Woman of the Year. Yet the producers hired Raquel and Bacall was said to be very upset. According to TIME magazine, Bacall refused to pose with Raquel for publicity pictures. But I guess Raquel took this in stride and perhaps she was flattered by the fact that a legend like Lauren didn't just see Raquel as a mere sex symbol but as someone who could actually steal the show. And considering how outspoken the two are, they've been nice enough not to say anything derogatory towards each other since then. After all, the show did do wonders to both their careers.
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ck1-5 — 19 years ago(March 08, 2007 10:10 AM)
I think it's rather difficult to find an 82 year old that DOESN'T harken back to the "good old days", no matter what profession they're in. That was her era, and the present is not. I'm nowhere near her age, but I'll still find myself listening to a song on the radio from my high school days that I would have scoffed at when it was new; now, I listen to it for the sole reason that it reminds me of my youth. It's mostly a matter of nostolgia.
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SataiDelen — 15 years ago(September 21, 2010 08:48 PM)
I have not read through everyone's comments on here, so someone (or several someones) may already have said what I'm about to say.
Ck1-5, it's not just 80 year-olds who "harken back to the good old days" in regard to actors and actresses of today v. those of "yester-year." I'm sorry, but I thoroughly agree with Lauren Bacall when she comments that actors and actresses of today having no talent. They don't! The majority (if any) have never been to acting school, they go strictly by their looks, they can't do multiple things (as in the phrase, "Triple Threat" acting). In Bacall's day, and even back in the 70's and early 80's, actors and actresses often had to have multiple talent. Being able to act wasn't enough. They had to be able to dance or sing, or play a musical instrument, etc.
I'm sorry, but people like Tom Cruise, J-Lo, Jennifer Anniston, etc. are not actors/actres2000ses. Hollywood (IMO) needs to go back to the days when if someone wanted to be an actor or actress, then that person required TRAINING. Either with a professional private coach, or by going to an acting school.
Is it really that surprising that those who are Thespian trained in places such as RADA can act circles around American actors/actresses that just show up to read lines and look good?
I'm not that old btw. I'm in my mid-thirties. I just feel very strongly about this.
And before someone jumps down my throat by saying, "But J-Lo sings!" Yes, she does, but she's a singer who tries to act, not an actress who has had training in singing. There is a difference. And I know many will disagree, but I don't think J-Lo is a good actress. -
mgm7041-1 — 12 years ago(July 31, 2013 12:41 AM)
I agree with her whole heartedly. She is from "The Golden Era" of Hollywood. Maybe there are some negative things about the "Studio System" that were not all that great; but they knew how to make movies and create stars. Each star did have their own "distinct" personality.
Besides today, everything is CGI's and comic book characters. They have no writers with any imagination or talent at all. They could not come up with an original idea no matter how hard they try. Besides the CGI's all they do are remakes. They do not improve on them in any way at all. They did remakes back in the day but they were made better or improved upon.
Besides studio heads in the good old days were visionaries with know-how re film making. Today Hollywood is run by business executives that care only about box-office. -
bwalright — 18 years ago(June 19, 2007 11:05 AM)
I feel that styles took a bad trashy turn when Madonna 1st came on the scene. She was gutsy to dress the way she did to make people stand up & notice ( and make her $$ for it too! ) But, it's been a downward spiral ever since, I'm ready for a new trend towards classy fashions. Sick of seeing women's butt cracks when they bend over & men in baggy hobo, slob clothes pu!
Who are these so-called designers we are making rich?