Breakfast with... the Magrath Sisters
Friday, August 13, 2021 at 9:03AM by Nathaniel R
Tess Harper and Chocolate Covered Donut
This morning I had the most terrible urge to shove multiple pastries into my mouth. This was surely due to my diet (I've lost 10 lbs since June!) and unrelated to watching Crimes of the Heart (1986) at 6:30 AM. But, speaking of, my goodness those Southern belles have major sweet tooths...
Lenny (Diane Keaton) eats multiple cookies in the first scene, Babe (Oscar nominated Sissy Spacek) pours ungodly amounts of sugar into her lemonade throughout, and though Meg (Jessica Lange) mostly smokes and drinks she will indulge in multiple banana splits in flashback or a giant slice of birthday cake for the finale.
On the final morning of this three day narrative, Lenny and Babe have made what appears to be about 8 burnt waffles (bottom left) with half a jar of syrup on standby, in addition to the remnants of waffles, scrambled eggs, ham, and orange juice, we can see that they've already consumed. Even their nosey neighbor/cousin Chick (Oscar-nominated Tess Harper) is seen shoving a chocolate covered donut into her mouth on this very morning before her final scene.
Over-acting burns lots of calories. Fuel up, ladies!
P.S. Have you voted on the 1986 Smackdown yet? You have 10 more days to get your votes in.
Reader Comments (15)
I tried to watch this movie on Amazon Prime, since I remember seeing it when it first came out and I think I liked it at the time. But dear God, overacting is right. The performances were all over the place and nothing felt even remotely real. I think I got through 30 minutes (?) before I finally gave up.
I personally think Spacek is a goldmine here. Adore her nomination. Harper, on the other hand, is a mess.
Tommy Marx: And sometimes "none of the performances feeling remotely real" is a good/very good thing. But that description as a compliment is usually reserved for movies that are much more stylized than this. Universal Horror movies, for example.
They use sugar as a substitute for sex. We've all been there.
My memory of these performances:
-- Diane Keaton: mannered and inauthentic
-- Sissy Spacek: steadily grew on me
-- Jessica Lange: I remember almost nothing (yikes)
-- Tess Harper: over the top, yes, but funny just the same
I like the performances in this actually. Spacek is particularly wonderful.
Is it messy? Yes. Do I enjoy it? Yes. Seeing these actresses together during this time period for me is more than enough to keep me entertained.
Enjoyed it when it came out as a broad southern-fried comedy. Wonder what I'd think today. Still remember Lange's defense of smoking: "That's what I like about it Chick, taking a drag off death..." and Keaton's sad, exasperation over Spacek taking one bite out of all the chocolates in the box looking for one with a cherry inside: "they're CREAMS!"
How many times you see three of your favorite actresses in the same movie, like three for the price of one? How to Marry a Millionaire, Boccacio 70, Bombshell, Three Coins in the Fountain, The First Wives Club, The Witches of Eastwick.
Sandra -- Agree. Love the poster so I bought the book cause it had the same picture of the goddesses in the cover.
Sissy is a kind of 1980s Greer Garson.
The two fall in the favor of the Academy right in the beginning and become darlings with nominations and the award, the following decade the AMPAS interest ceased until a new nomination years later. Not that they have a similar style or persona; what they have in common are biopics and women, mothers, wives in dramatic stories. And exactly 15 years separate the penultimate and the last Oscar nomination from both.
Congrats on your weight loss, Nathaniel <3
Now I want a chocolate donut ;( lol.
I think I've seen this film before, but honestly can't remember... which sounds about right. I was a theatre major at an arts high school so I saw a lot of film versions of popular plays, especially ones that revolve around ladies (particular soft spot for The Effect of Gamma Rays...). My better memory of this work is the production my university did when I was a theatre student there. It's... cute.
I was always surprised that Sissy Spacek was chosen out of the three leads for awards, but reading these comments, I guess it makes total sense.
Jessica Lange would never be nominated for this movie, as did Sissy Spacek. Because she is only nominated - and consequently a twice Oscar winner - when her movie title has one or two words:
Frances (82)
Tootsie (82)
Country (84)
Sweet Dreams (85)
Music Box (89)
Blue Sky (94)
With a movie titled "Crimes of the Heart", she would never get It.
Positively bonkers movie. "Law and Order: Steel Magnolias" but not as fun as that sounds.
As a society, we do not talk enough about Sissy Spacek.