Crazy in Alabama (1999)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Antonio Banderas

Writers (WGA):

Mark Childress (novel)
Mark Childress (screenplay)

Release Date:

22 October 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy

Tagline:

Sometimes you have to lose your mind to find your freedom

Plot:

An abused wife heads to California to become a movie star while her nephew back in Alabama has to deal with a racially-motivated murder involving a corrupt sheriff.

Plot Keywords:

Alabama | Hollywood | Star | Murder | Abusive Husband

Awards:

3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Melanie Griffith	...	Lucille Vinson
David Morse	...	Dove Bullis
Lucas Black	...	Peter Joseph 'Peejoe' Bullis
Cathy Moriarty	...	Earlene Bullis
Meat Loaf	...	Sheriff John Doggett (as Meat Loaf Aday)
Rod Steiger	...	Judge Louis Mead
Richard Schiff	...	Norman the Chauffeur
John Beasley	...	Nehemiah Jackson
Robert Wagner	...	Harry Hall
Noah Emmerich	...	Sheriff Raymond
Sandra Seacat	...	Meemaw
Paul Ben-Victor	...	D.A. Mackie (as Paul Ben Victor)
Brad Beyer	...	Jack
Fannie Flagg	...	Sally the Waitress
Elizabeth Perkins	...	Joan Blake

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some violence, thematic material, language and a scene of sensuality.

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:L | South Korea:12 | Germany:12 | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | France:U | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Peru:14 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Portugal:M/12 | Finland:K-8

Filming Locations:

Ambassador Hotel - 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Green Moon Productions

Trivia:

Two of Lucille's children are played by Melanie Griffith's real-life children: Dakota Johnson and Stella Banderas.

Quotes:

Peejoe: Life and death are only temporary, but freedom goes on forever.

Movie Connections:

Features "Bewitched: It Takes One to Know One (#1.11)" (1964)

Soundtrack:

We Shall Overcome

This movie still works so well for me!

I am in the process of trying to clean out an oversupply of VHS tapes and some of them are so easy to toss. Not this one. I had to sit down and watch it again and now I could only get rid of the VHS if I had it on DVD! I have not watched this movie in more than six years and it was "feel good" and "feel" all over again. David Morse is always wonderful. Lucas Black, Cathy Moriarty, Meat Loaf, Elizabeth Perkins, and many others are just a treat to watch. There's something about Melanie. I can't help liking her - even when I am finding fault with her. This movie really is strange with its incredibly serious (and gruesome) subject matter of a woman who methodically murders and decapitates her husband and then carries his head around with her - first in Tupperware and then in a very stylish hat box! The surprising part is that there is any plausibility at all, but it somehow existed for me. It had a strange feeling floating about it that was akin to "Forrest Gump" or "Nurse Betty", because it involved situations that were truly horrible, but everything kept working out for a sweet and naive character. The civil rights story was a very poignant counterpoint to the fantastic silliness of Lucille's odyssey. If I were a film student I may have sat there and criticized the way things came together, but I just watched it with an untrained eye, so it was fine. I certainly would have made the connection about a freedom theme even if they hadn't come out and stated it in the end. No one says a story has to be believable or plausible for it to work. This did work. I laughed a lot when I least expected to.