You might think yo mama's bad, but have you met Joan? If you like aggressive gardening in the dead of night and fashions that'll make you gag, then you'll love this full movie reaction to Mommie Dearest! Happy Mother's Day 🥰🥰🥰
Fun story: my mom loves this movie and we both have a very dark humor so once, when her and I were fighting when I was a teenager I yelled at her, “I am not one of your FANS!” And we both started cracking up which got me out of a grounding hahaha
My oldest sister and I used to reenact scenes from this movie, which was probably wildly inappropriate since I was 4 years old. However, I could nail the whininess of little Christina like a champ.
Haha my mom and I joke about this movie too. I call her mommy dearest a lot or say “bring me the ax!” We also joke about the actual Joan Crawford movie, Mildred pierce. We’ll randomly say to the other, “you’re cheap and horrible!” My favorite line of the movie hah.
I was watching with my mom once. During the wire hanger scene, I said 'my clothes ain't even on hangers, what you gonna do now bih!' My mom was crying laughing!
I grew up in the late 60's and 70's and remember how adults talked about child abuse which was a child being burnt by cigarettes or beaten to death. Christina's book got people talking alot about child abuse and made people understand it's not just about being burnt by cigarettes or being beaten to death. It's being hit with any item, being screamed at, called names, ETC. Her book really did change the way Americans think about abuse and parenting. God bless you Christina for helping us understand abuse is about destroying an individual from the outside and inside.
Just one of the many, many, many falsehoods in this film. Crawford asked to be let out of her contract with Warners. Actors at that time were becoming independent freelance artists.
@@darthrodenThat's bullsh**. Bette Davis was booted from Warner before Joan Crawford was. Mostly because, just like the rest of Hollywood, WB didn't really care for making great material starring older women. They both suffered that.
People said this was so “unrealistic” and “could never happen” even though thousands of people had mothers and fathers like this, sometimes even worse. It just shows how much the media and people of the time didn’t have to deal with the reality that some people don’t have perfect home lives
In fact Christina Crawford, the writer of the memoir of which the book is based, had no involvement with the making of the film, and denounced the film as "grotesque" and a work of fiction, specifically stating that Joan never chopped down a tree with an axe, or beat her with a wire hanger as depicted in the film
Especially since there were many witnesses that say this is exaggerated -- including her other three children -- oh right, they weren't in the movie because they refused to be part of it.
A bit of trivia: Joan Crawford’s drinking was so bad that she showed up at a 10am rehearsal bombed out of her gourd on vodka when she had a guest starring role on an episode of one of Lucille Ball’s television shows. She passed out, and when she came to Lucy fired her. The director was a friend of Joan’s and managed to convince Lucy to rehire her. The episode was filmed and televised, but Lucy said years later it was the worst tv episode she had ever produced.
I would definitely recommend reacting to What Ever Happened to Baby Jane to get a double dose of Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. It's a phenomenal camp classic
Fun Fact: Joan Crawford was the inspiration for the character design of the Wicked Queen in Disney's Snow White, particularly in the lips and the eyes.
I have never read any account of him being a sleep walker, though i have read that she may have done it to prevent him from masturbating. I'm not sure if that is true, but given her other actions I fully believe she strapped him down as a means of control.
Have mercy! Why did they have it on the baby version of him though?! I noticed when I was editing that he’s wearing a lil baby harness when Joan passes him off at Christina’s birthday party
there was a deleted scene that showed that carol ann was a super fan of joan that she hired which kinda explains why she looked at her through such rose-tinted glasses
The question EVERYONE asks after watching the movie or reading the book it is based on - “This cannot all possibly be true, right?” For the longest time, Christina Crawford was the only one who ever said it was and she got pilloried for the book, accused of being vindictive for being written out of Joan’s will. In the mid-2000s, I was watching an AFI special on the 50 Greatest Movie Heroes and Villains and Faye Dunnaway’s performance as Joan made the list as a villain. The surprise was Angela Lansbury was interviewed as part of the segment and she stated almost matter of factly: “The most horrible part is it was all true.” That was the first I ever heard a contemporary of Joan Crawford confirm Christina was, in fact, telling the truth. Take that for what you will. Yes, it’s camp to the moon, but it’s unbelievably compelling and absolutely tragic. Any survivor of abuse will tell you this is not far off the mark regardless of the fame of the abuser. Hell of a Mother’s Day movie. As to Joan… well, the trove of movies she left behind is immense and some are quite good. But hard to watch after this, no doubt.
@@reneedennis2011 As I’m fond of saying, useless info for you and yours. Not a knock, I got stuff swimming in my brain that I find fascinating and important that most people are like “Whu?” when I mention it. On the plus side, I kill at Jeopardy and Trivial Pursuit. You’re welcome!
There was more who appeared on a talk show in the 80s. other stars, who said everything Christina said was true, and they told stories about a birthday party, etc. The clip was on youtube but cannot find it.
I'm an Adoptee & a Survivor of some similar, & some not so similar abuse, & no - it's not far off the mark at all. I don't find anything at all funny or campy about it, myself. Many adopters, or people who got children illegally, are narcissists, &/or have munchausen by proxy syndrome IMO. They get off on the attention they get, for being such "good Samaritan's" to so called less fortunate victims.
The wire hangers scene. Hits me cause my adopted Mom was very abusive and would legit wake us up in the middle of the night to do this sorta crazy shit.
My mom callEd it a "cat bath" when I was younger-- she's also the only person I know who calls brothels "cat houses", so now I'm wondering if "cat bath" was her way of saying "hoe bath" to a 10 year old who wasn't allowed to watch pg13 movies but needed a quick wash looooooool.
Joan Crawford was actually able to read Christina’s manuscript before she died, and most people think that was the reason Christina was cut out of the will. Christopher had been in jail at one point, and hadn’t had any interaction with his mother in years. Joan had adopted a total of four children and out of the $2 million estate she left $75,000 each to her 2 youngest daughters, while leaving the rest to different charities. . The 2 younger daughters claim that Christina’s book was all lies, and that Joan was a wonderful mother. But they were too young to witness the abuse the Christopher and Christina received, and in a lot of cases the abuser might not target all of their children. Plus, unlike Christina and Christopher, the 2 younger sisters had Al Steele. So it is possible that joan treated her younger children a lot better.
True. Though I've also read that Christina herself has said that the movie adaptation of her book was "grotesque" and contained parts that were just pure fiction - such as the tree chopping scene, or the bit with the coat hanger. I've never read the book myself, so I have no idea how much the movie differs from the book, but I dare say it's just like Hollywood to exaggerate something to capitalise on some sensationalism.
@@heidifedor Or him being around meant she couldn’t abuse them because maybe he was the type of parent/individual to not tolerate that so she treated them better because she knew she kinda couldn’t repeat the same behavior because there’s a second parent around to hold her accountable this time.
@@sharielane I bought a used copy of the book years ago and read it. Obviously a book will have more details than a movie (like Carol Ann being a composite character for all the maids/nannies Joan had over the years) but the biggest omission was the lack of the two youngest daughters whose names I can't remember.
Back then realistically the baby came from an unmarried and or teen mom. They’d take them caz they thought they were unfit parents. They would usually tell the birth mom that her child died. Many times the kids had no idea they were adopted.
Faye Dunaway has Chinatown, Bonnie & Clyde and Network. All some of strongest movies from the 60s and 70s. And yet, she’s arguably gonna be most remembered for this.
Crawford bequeathed to her two youngest children, Cindy and Cathy, $77,500 each from her $2 million estate. She explicitly disinherited the two eldest, Christina and Christopher: "It is my intention to make no provision herein for my son, Christopher, or my daughter, Christina, for reasons which are well known to them." Both of them challenged the will and received a $55,000 settlement.
No wonder the other two were like “Christina is lying” like obviously they were on Mommie’s side lol Wild that nobody could comprehend stuff could have happened before they were adopted. Or that the abuse could have stalled after a certain point as the kids got older.
I finally have context for Zzavid's "Tina" meme. I haven't watched this movie yet, and I'm glad this was my introduction. I don't think I would have made it through all the mistreatment without you. DAMN, she was a vicious momma. Can't deny the movie's very quotable, wickedly campy charm. Happy mother's day (except for you, Joan, you vile)!
I watched this movie as a kid and totally just remembered being like, that lady is crazy. I remembered all the famous lines. I literally quoted it earlier today. Absolutely over the top and crazy. 😂 Happy Mother's Day, y'all!
Joan (as portrayed in *this* movie) never thinks she’s wrong! That works in the cutthroat world of Hollywood, but it’s devastating for her daughter... That being said, she was FABULOUSLY unapologetic 🤷🏾♂️🤣💯
Not everyone thinks their mom is the greatest, but it's been very clear that yours really is, Alanda. The way you react towards child characters in movies has always been so protective and caring, it's obvious you learned from the best.
"Bitch your face looks like an exposed nerve!" 21:06 LOLLLL, I don't intend to write so many of your hilarious quotes in the comments, but truly you crack me up. 😂.
Fun Fact: Actress Faye Dunaway wasn't proud of this movie. In fact she hated the movie and constantly insists that no mention of Mommy Dearest is made or even asked about in interviews with her.
@@dredre_lj2003 She wasn't forced to do this movie, in fact she did it because she had Joan Crawford's approval (I don't mean about the movie because Joan died before the movie was filmed and the book came out, but because she wanted Faye played her) and because she wanted another Oscar. Her husband at the time, Terry O'Neal also worked on the film as a producer. She hates this movie because it was the coup de grace that doomed her career.
I love this movie and would watch it with my mother. She’d joke and say you better not write a book about me. Sadly, I endeared years of abuse from my mother. She loved me deeply but suffers greatly from mental illness and substance abuse. She didn’t have an easy life and incident’s from her past stunted her development. I don’t think she really matured past 16, which was when she had her first marriage. She treated me like a peer and competition. It was extremely difficult because I knew she loved me but she would have changes in her moods that turned her into a different person. I lived in fear and walked on eggshells. You never knew what would set her off. She was also a great liar. I see a lot of my mom in Joan and I related to this movie on so many levels. As an adult I now live with extreme anxiety and PTSD, I also have a lot of animosity and anger towards my mother and some of her family. No one protected me from her and I really believe they didn’t know how truly bad it was but they knew enough. I’m 41 and have a 13 year old daughter now, I couldn’t imagine her ever having to live or experience what I did. I don’t think any child should ever experience this, especially from the person who should cherish them the most. I’d like to add that my mother’s mental illness was not her fault, I don’t blame her for that. What I do blame her for is her refusal to get help and be accountable. She fought all of her doctors and I spent many years with doctors and law enforcement trying to get her help.
I remember watching this movie in middle school with my stepmom cause she would always jokingly say “no wire hangers” and I was weirdly fascinated by it. Great reaction boo keep it up
I love your remarks to everything someone says I do the exact same throughout movies 😂 especially the ‘SLAP HER BACK!’ I was begging for her to drop her mama 😂😂😂
Grey's Anatomy wasted an opportunity for Faye to call Dr. Yang "Christina", but I'm sure Faye had it in her contract not to say it, she hated mommie dearest
I guarantee all of Joan's friends & acquaintances during that era were fully aware that she was abusive towards Christina. They may have not known the level of abuse that Joan was dishing out but they definitely knew. Most adults who are aware of abuse towards children or spouses, especially back then, looked the other way. In those days speaking about abuse was considered "taboo". Also keep in mind they were all working in Hollywood, so image was everything
Most people back during that time were aware of the abuse but said nothing. You're right the level of abuse was unknown but they knew. Infact, at times it was considered to be acceptable and praised or laudable. The majority of parents going from the 1980s all the way back to the 1900s and probably further would be placed in jail today for child abuse. That' was considered to be normal back then. And the people who confessed to being abused by someone or a parent would probably get beat by the person they're trying to get help from, ignored, make light of it "It's your imagination" or I dont' believe that or roll their eyes at you if you told the truth about your situation.
I watched that "Christmas Story" movie for the first time several years ago. Shortly afterward I had a nightmare about someone (not me) who has a serious eye injury. I almost never dream about injuries. Then I realize what caused the dream. That line in the movie "you'll shoot your eye out, you'll shoot your eye out!"
I remember watching this when it came out & being shocked that rich kids who should have no worries could be suffering and feel unloved behind closed doors. I fell in love with Christina’s character & this movie stuck with me. It really made me understand that you never knew what someone else could be going through & really changed me. It’s crazy how much a movie can impact a young mind.
i'm not even done yet but THANK YOU for having normal human reactions to the abuse parts of this movie; i LOVE camp, and i love scenery chewing, but i have a strict one-strike-your-out policy for people who think the wire hangers scene is funny (which is a disturbing amount.) I love all your videos. If you're looking for a Joan Crawford flick to react to, Whatever Happened To Baby Jane is good camp horror.
Ty! There’s is so much stupid lines and stuff in this movie but that scene is not funny at all to me. ( I was adopted, had a bipolar clean freak mother)
My mother was narcissistic, orthorexic, misandric & junctistic-- a nightmare. You're very lucky to have such a great relationship with your mother, but this is a terrific movie pick for you to feature for Mother's Day, for those of us who weren't so lucky! Thank you, Alanda! Next Mother's Day--"Flowers In The Attic".
I knew mistakes were made when you said, “It was between this movie, Soul Food and The Stepmom & the other two make me cry.” Well, this one might too but for different reasons 😩🤣 But what a choice for Mothers’s Day! Joan was one part psychopath and one part bad bitty & Christina gave her all the hell she deserved, lol.
Perfect timing. Watched this for the first time yesterday and here you are, blessing us on Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers, maternal/parental figures and givers of life❤️
When you said “stuff it in your pinafore!” Omg. That took me OUT! I had to pause it bc I was laughing so hard! 😂😂😂😂 I remember watching this with my Nonna when I was like 16. We rented it when she broke her ankle. We sat and drank red wine and laughed so hard! She barely spoke English so I would have to explain things from time to time and it’s probably one of my fondest memories of my grandmother. 😂😂😂😂
I saw this as a kid and it definitely wasn’t unrealistic. I’ve known lots of diabolical parents and heard lots of abuse stories from family and friends alike.
The harness he wears is a "sleep-safe" harness-like device that kept infants secure in their beds, but she made him wear it until he was 12. More than likely, Joan did this so he wouldn't cause trouble in the middle of the night. One time, Joan caught him playing with matches, and held his hands over the fire, causing blisters. He claims that this was the first time he ran away, when he was only 7.
Joan Crawford's most iconic role is the wheelchair bound sister in Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? She costarred with Bette Davis. There's a really good limited series called Fued all about that experience starring Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon.
The series gets a lot of basic historical facts wrong and should be taken with an assload of salt! As a campy piece of trash entertainment, just a tad bit better than housewives, I suppose it succeeds
@@annalouise3251 yeah, but so does this movie, Christina Crawford says they took a lot of liberties with her book, and the movie are almost wholly inaccurate.
@@tinastar1972 yes I completely agree lol I enjoy this movie and feud a lot btw. It just irks me when naive or ignorant people take what they are watching as fact, when it really isnt or at least not concrete truth! I'm not a fan of disclaimers, but I think it would be justified for Mommie Dearest 😅
The only scene that the producer thought they went over the top on is the rose bush/axe scene and they should have pulled her back. So not the wire hangers scene or when she hacks off Christina's hair or when she tackles and chokes Christina, though. Just her attacking an inanimate object was too much...
Joan Crawford was OBSESSED with her looks And she was contracted to her whole life for a while. The studio said times she eats and sleeps. Literally, no word of a lie
I totally agree,.... when Christina was a little girl she was emotionally 50 . That wire hanger scene gets me every time..,. truly horrifying . In all though I enjoy most parts of this movie . This was a treat . Thank you Alanda
The movie has become a camp classic but if you find Dunaway's interview with James Lipton and it's really the only time she really talks about the film in detail. But I will say, I can't believe the film did not win the Oscar for costume design and set direction because they were all on point for the period it's set in.
I remember being a little kid watching this movie and the wire hanger scene with all that white stuff on her face terrified me. 😂😂The way she made her daughter scrub the bathroom floor always just scared me. Thank you for bringing my trauma back!😂😂😂
Faye Dunaway thought she was going to get an Oscar for this movie but critics hated it and it has become a camp classic that people love especially the gay community and she has been invited to events dedicated to the movie and she refused to have anything to do with it which is stupid on her part. Joan actually adopted four children all together, she adopted twin girls as well but they have denied seeing any of the abuse and basically threatened to sue Christina if she included them in her book or the movie. Christopher sadly became an alcoholic and died relatively young. It was never explained in the movie but Christopher was strapped into his bed because he had a sleep Walker. Carol Ann was a super fan who Joan would always see when she was at events and she eventually asked her to work for her which is why she probably turned a blind eye to the things Joan did.
My sister and I had had the same situation in our home. Adopted at 4 and 5, they had a 2 year old [adopted at 6 mos] and a bio teen that were "their children" and then they had us as their scapegoats for abuse. Until they put us back in the system at 16 and 17 once we started standing up to the abuses. Some people...😑
I know this movie gets written off by critics for its over the top depictions of abuse but that really do be how it lookin sometimes. especially from a child's point of view. Joan in her bedroom at night screaming about wire hangers so manically is the stuff of nightmares.
"Did you kidnap a baby?!" You should really watch the movie about Georgia Tann and the Tennessee Children's Home Society. As for this movie, it is so gloriously over the top 1980's, and I watch the heck out of this whenever it was on television. lol
I really feel like neurotypical people are the ones who perceive this as camp. Growing up the way I did with a mother I have and the similar things I endured, and imparting a lot of that onto me, this was very realistic. It looks overacted etc because people with these issues behave this way. I never viewed it as camp idk...
Sis your commentary makes every movie watching moment an EXPERIENCE!! I still go back to watch your SCREAM reactions cause theyre just classics & have me ROLLING 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Loved your reaction to this! The drama! The horror… lol Also Kennie JD does a great job breaking this movie down if you wanna look up more info about it. 💗
I’m a huge classical movie fan and Joan is one of my favorites. “Mildred Pierce”, “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane”, “Possessed”, “Humoresque” and “The Damned Don’t Cry” are some of my favorites. She really was a fantastic actress. It’s horrible how she treated her kids, but she was severely mentally Ill, probably bipolar and it wasn’t diagnosed in those days. She was also a raging alcoholic. In retrospect, she succeeded in film in the 30s and 40 and even into the 50s and 60s which was almost unheard of for a woman at that time.
At the end of the day, her abusing her children is only alleged. We dont and will never know what actually happened between her and her children. You have the right to believe that it is true, but its not concrete
@@annalouise3251 There are a lot of witnesses. Lots of them. We did never get her side of the story, so that’s something for sure.I take Christina’s account for what it is, a memoir.
