Whipped Cream Difficulties

Keeping with our “worst movies to win the Academy Award for Best Picture” watching, we saw “Gigi” the other night. I don’t think it was a conscious choice to watch another movie from that list – it was more “let’s watch a musical”, that was what Lawrence had on hand, and “Gigi” is more of a “honorable mention” on the list of worst Oscar winners.

I am not a gay man. But I like theater, I like musicals, and I like movie musicals. And I have a passing familiarity with Lerner and Loewe. (I’ve seen “My Fair Lady” cut up for TV, and (I think) in a Houston Grand Opera production. And some years ago, I saw what I also think was a HGO production of “Brigadoon”. I remember that because one of the leads was the aerial traffic reporter for a local radio station. I wish I could remember that guy’s name. It was KPRC 950 AM in the late 1970s – early 1980s, if that helps anybody.)

As good as ”The Greatest Show On Earth” is…”Gigi” isn’t.

I’m not one of those people who can only identify with characters who share my skin color and background. But I had a lot of trouble identifying with, and being sympathetic to, the problems of a French who…pros…”courtesan” in 1900. Okay, technically Gigi isn’t a “courtesan”, she’s a “courtesan” in training. And I hope you noticed how I carefully avoided the whole “when did the 20th Century start” argument.

Gaston isn’t particularly interesting, either: he just hangs out in society, spending money, and doesn’t really seem to have anything to actually do, like a job. No wonder he’s “bored”. These days, I expect they’d diagnose him as “depressed” and put him on a SSRI.

It isn’t a bad movie. “Gigi” was made with skill and talent, they make good use of Paris as a location (to the extent that they were able to: some of the scenes were done on a Hollywood soundstage for budget reasons), and Leslie Caron is easy on the eyes. (She’s still alive: 95 years old, in case you were wondering.) The “I Remember It Well” duet between Maurice Chevalier and Hermione Gingold was a high point of the movie for me. In terms of costumes and set design, it looks fantastic. And there are some great lines: “Such stupidity is without equal in the whole history of human relations.” (I’m going to have to use that at work.) “Gaston, my boy! Congratulations! Your first suicide! Oh, what an achievement.” (Quoth Lawrence: “Anytime you get rid of a Gabor sister, you’re doing better for yourself.”)

But the movie just never clicked for me. Frankly, the “Making Of” documentary on Lawrence’s DVD was more interesting than the movie itself.

“Is this film more interesting than a documentary of the same actors having lunch?”

–Gene Siskel

This might have been one of the weak years in the 1950s. Lawrence and I were observing that there were a lot of strong Oscar lineups in that decade, but the other competitors in 1958 were “Auntie Mame”, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, “The Defiant Ones”, and “Separate Tables”. I’m not sure I would call that a killer lineup.

(Compare 1959: “Ben-Hur” won, against “Anatomy of a Murder”, both swell movies. The other choices were “The Diary of Anne Frank”, “The Nun’s Story”, and “Room at the Top”. Or 1957: “The Bridge on the River Kwai”, “12 Angry Men”, “Peyton Place”, “Sayonara”, and “Witness for the Prosecution”.)

(I want to see “Peyton Place”. Everything I’ve heard about it, as well as what I’ve read of the book, points to it being complete trash. But fun trash.)

In case you were wondering, the classic SNL “Old French W—e” sketch does not appear to be on YouTube. The part of the sketch where one of the contestants says “My w—e’s dead.” is, but in a very low quality version that looks like it was recorded straight off a TV.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 10th, 2026 at 5:36 pm and is filed under Movies, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.