kkurman, on the beat. 30 March ’11
Last week was a silent week. For one reason, there was really nothing interesting going on at the movies. The other reason was a respectful moment of silence for the passing of the immortal beauty, Elizabeth Taylor. I read a few of the eulogistic articles that appeared in the press and realized that there was really nothing new to say about a career, a life, lived in full public view. We know her movies, we’ve all seen them, perhaps a couple of times more than we needed to, and we’ve watched the drama of her life played out in the media. This last week seemed like the best time to mull over our relationship with her, and say nothing.
For me, the review her life all boiled down to ‘BUtterfield 8’ and, ironically, ‘The Night of the Iguana’. ‘BU-8′ just ’cause it’s my favorite movie she played in, there were other’s, of course, you could go on and on… but that one is my favorite. ‘The Night of the Iguana’ because that’s where my imagination can play out my fantasy of Liz’s life in full, blazing ®Technicolor! I can conjure in my mind’s eye; Liz, lolling about by the pool of their lavish villa, gulping tropical cocktails all day in the blazing Acapulco sun, scandalizing the help in, or mostly outre, of a hot pink Réard bikini, but it doesn’t stop there. Dick, Richard Burton that is, gets home from the set late into the evening, hammered, herding an entourage that would include, also hammered, the sultry, Ava Gardener. A countdown of snide mockery begins, quickly devolves and the catfights ensue! Ah! to have been a pebble on the shore of Bahia de Acapulco on that night, of the Iguana!
Later in life, her work for AIDS charities and her continued reputation for being a hard drinking, outspoken bon vivant, sealed, for me, her status as an iconic Dame! She will be missed but her memory will never fade.
kkurman 