Ode to the Movie Slap

just a little fun

Happy Birthday Katharine

i loved katharine ross since the graduate. she feel out of film when she reached a 'certain age'. the parts were just not there. but three wonderful performances in three wonderful films give her a place forever among the best.

she stole hearts worldwide as elaine in 'the graduate' a great film and a defining film for all time.

elaine and ben together again

as joanna in 'the stepford wives' katharine went from normal to stepford without missing a beat.

as etta place she held her own with two giants of the screen newman and redford in butch cassidy and the sundance kid' and oh that smile!

'the bicycle scene', raindrops and oh that smile again

katharine appeared in an all-star film 'voyage of the damned' as mira hauser about german jews seeking refuge and denied entry everywhere. her character, etta hauser, was a jewess posing as a gentile. she was prostituting herself to make money to help her parents seeking refuge. it was a bit overbloasted but for history buffs it was a  bit of an enlightment.

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Jill Clayburgh: Memories

for me it all began with the musical 'pippin'. jill played catherine. she had three songs. at that moment she had me forever. jill had two solos and one duet with john rubenstein portraying pippin. these songs will appear in my 'loving jill' video over the weekend and on my ipod forever.

the tv film 'hustling', 'gable and lombard' and 'silver streak'  came next. but more on them later except to say that as carole lombard in the aforementioned 'gable and lombard' my love affair truly began.
 
and then in 1978....

the deal was cemented with her first major role as erica in 'an unmarried woman'. jill became the toast of the cannes film festival after it's premiere. she won best actress at that festival. the oscar money was on jill to win best actress in 1978. the oscar, heaven help us, went unwisely to jane fonda in the mediocre 'coming home'. another oscar crime.

i believe jill was too 'new york' for the mostly hollywood voter. it was this prejudice that cost her the oscar win. they just did not get jill or her character erica benton with their upper west side sensibilities.

about four minutes into the following scene you will see why she was at least oscar nominated. yes and why she should have won.

the following scene early in the film shows the dreams of the married woman. it's a charming and delightful scene that we have all imagined in some way or another. then dreams are shattered for awhile as she becomes an unmarried woman. erica benton as her portrayer would not let the bad permanently halt the future.

'an unmarried woman' began a string of roles for jill that showed smart,capable, independent women with a touch of the neurotic. hell that means she portrayed a real person. we all have our own nuerosis though try and hide them we might.


meet erica benton

to be continued