Mike Nichols:Master of Mores

You think you've got problems? George and Martha have you beat! Stage director Mike Nichols' film debut, in which he shows us the underside of a marriage in peril. You can't get more real than real-life marrieds Elizabeth Taylor.and Richard Burton.George and Martha scream and fight, and fight and scream, but according to Nichols on the DVD commentary track for Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, they do it because they love each other. Not sure if I agree with that one wholeheartedly (more meds less booze maybe Martha?). But great art inspires great conversation, and they're still talking about this one.



Think of Ann-Margret as just the perky star of Bye Bye Birdie and Viva Las Vegas? Nichols got so much more out of her in 1971's Carnal Knowledge, in which she played Bobbie, the long-suffering wife of the loutish Jonathan (Jack Nicholson).




OK, time to go a bit lighter. Nichols also directed Nicholson and Meryl Streep in Heartburn in 1986. Although somewhat less in stature and substance than his other work, the script (by Nora Ephron from her novel) does a great job of capturing:

People. Actually. Talking. Intelligently.

With no reality TV camera in sight.


MTMG

Elizabeth Taylor: End of an Era

With the passing of Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor Wednesday at age 79, we not only lost an outstanding actress, as her work in National Velvet, Giant, A Place In The Sun, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? attests. But more importantly, we lost someone who was among the first wave of child stars, along with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. All three were extremely grateful for their opportunities, appreciated their fans' support, and kept focused on the work. Yes, if they were photographed in social situations, it was usually studio-orchestrated, but at least we didn't see them emerging from clubs drunk, braless, and with no underwear. They completed their assigned films, whatever their misgivings. It's worth noting that Woolf brought Taylor her second Oscar. The first was for Butterfield 8 in 1960, a talky soap opera in which she played Gloria Wandrous, a call girl involved with Laurence Harvey's stuffy married businessman Ligget. Taylor hated Butterfield 8 and branded it junk. But she does her very best, dealing with the material with as much professionalism as possible. A lesson that Ms. Lohan and Taylor (Gimme an F!) Momsen could surely learn from. MTMG