Cool News
AICN EXCLUSIVE!!! The Movie In The Movie of THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE
Hey Folks, Harry here... THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE is my favorite new film that I have seen in 2006. (I saw V FOR VENDETTA in 2005) The flick has an innocence and a joy for life that you just don't see in many films. Especially films about an "exploitive" lifestyle.
When I saw the film, it was while I was on assignment for my first issue of PENTHOUSE, due out around the first of April, and I was putting together a fun, sexy slate of cinema to discuss that month. This, ARTHOUSE CONFIDENTIAL and HARD CANDY. All three were wonderful films, but it was THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE that frankly, blew me away. The film has that same zest for its subject as one of my favorite Tim Burton films of all time, ED WOOD. Gretchen Mol is perfectly cast as Bettie Page, though in a million years I never would have guessed it. Prior to seeing the film - I was in the same boat as most of you in talkback... wanting Jennifer Connelly or Rose McGowan or Dita Von Teese. In fact, I was convinced that Gretchen was terrible, abysmal miscasting... like when they were thinking of casting James Cagney as Robin Hood or Ronald Reagan as Rick in CASABLANCA. Just wrong.
Then I watched the movie. First off, this is absolutely the most subtley erotic and tantalizing movie made in at least a decade... at the very least for me and my friends. Roger Ebert once told me that you can't talk a man into an erection, and that's very true. The full frontal nudity and frequent nudity isn't what does it. It's the expression on Bettie's face. It's one of pure joy and blissful innocence. There's no sense of SEX about it. It's just that same sort of look as when, if you have kids, the joy a child has of popping out of the bathtub naked not wanting to be put back in clothes. It's that giggling nudity you have on a playful morning romp with the woman you love. Where it isn't about sex, but about wrestling and rolling and tickling and laughing and spanking a butt. It's about having no hang ups and not at all feeling dirty. Gretchen does the job of being Bettie Page perfectly. Now - this film within a film that we have for you - is a clip from the movie. It's a very nice clip, but frankly - while it is indicative of a part of the film, it does not reflect the whole - unless you just see how innocent and fun it all is. Here ya go, choose your format...
WindowsMedia: CLICK HERE
RealPlayer: CLICK HERE
QuickTime: CLICK HERE
-
+ Expand All
-
Mar 23, 2006 12:20:59 PM CST
"you can't talk a man into an erection, Ebert told me"
by the_man_from_rio
very funny trying to picture that conversation...it probably ended up with Harry telling Rog he was dead wrong, and he got erections all the time over the phone from sex hotlines
-
i'll see this movie
-
Bettie Page is an enigma. And all this film does is strip the veneer off and dissolve that enigma in ham-fisted melodrama. Fuck this piece of garbage.
-
Piss your panties... Look, she's doin it!
-
It's about time someone made a Bettie Page film. She's a cultural icon. Now I have no idea if it's a good movie, but at least it's something. If the movie tanks, then maybe it will inspire someone to make a better one. At any rate, I'll still see it.
-
from what I've read. Absolutely, she was the good time girl, bringing a light sweetness to early porn, as Harry describes above. But, from what I remember, she could also be extremely wicked and completely devoid of bliss, to use a favorite word of Harry's. I hope the film addresses this dichotomy, if it indeed existed.
-
That's great news. Lately they haven't had enough redheads in there. Oh and Harry, if you haven't done the photo shoot yet, I suggest having icecubes nearby, unless you prefer pinching your nips.
-
It was a publicity stunt to either make the casting more dynamic and get some press OR to build up Reagen's own exposure.
-
...eventually find Jesus and become a Betty Crocker housewife? What a lamentable fate.
-
I'm in an office on my own so I can watch clips like that without constantly checking over my shoulder, closing my browser. It's very distracting and puts me off my stroke.
-
Is this a scene from the new all female "Goodfellas" remake??? Who plays the Pesci role??? Who digs the hole in this scene???
-
You want a leg or a wing?
-
A buddy of mine is the entertainment editor for the local alt-weekly and he got to do a phone interview with Bettie last Friday. Now he interviews tons of famous and not so famous people, but this is the first one that I actually got geek-bumps from. Just knowing someone I'm friends with spoke to FUCKING BETTIE PAGE on the telephone. Shriveled old lady now or not... just WOW!
P.S. He said she was as sweet as pie. Just a little old southern lady that still doesn't understand "what all the fuss was about". -
Been nominated for an Oscar. They said the movie was great, but that the audience was in agreement that they flesh out her troubled relationship with her dad. And would people stop mentioning Dita Von Teese. That's fucking lame. Just because she bites the style, doesn't mean she can fucking act. Did Angela Bassett look like Tina Turner? No. But was the movie good? Yes.
-
All her responses to people give the impression she has no idea what's going on--like the guy asks her about her bondage photos and she's all, aw shucks, "I enjoy acting very much!" Is the real Bettie Page sub-moronic, or is this an attempt to contrast what she's doing with the general innocence of the time, or is it just a misleading trailer?
-
"It's just that same sort of look as when, if you have kids, the joy a child has of popping out of the bathtub naked not wanting to be put back in clothes." Let me get this straight, Harry. You write about erections and then talk about kids getting out bathtubs. Interesting.
-
I think I could definitely be talked into an erection.
-
We have many, many women who look AS good as this Bettie Page and many, many who look better. And are all for sale. Not like slave but like Kanye has. Gold diggers. You can tie up, you can slap, but is all pretend.
-
i'm definitely going to get a copy of that poster.
-
What did she do to deserve such treatment? (and can I do it too?)
-
i'm not saying take these away or anything...
-
Oh, no...the flab...all the sweaty, disgusting flab...
Seriously, I remember reading some men's magazine discussing an ideal women as having a "nice pair of Gretchen Mols" - i.e., apparently, she's got nice tits. Hopefully, we shall see. -
You'd think that would get some asses in the seats.. lord knows no one's gonna see this silliness otherwise.
-
Mar 23, 2006 10:17:30 PM CST
HARD CANDY is part of a "fun, sexy slate of cinema"...?
by negative man
Dude! Did you even see the movie? Good, if flawed, movie...but troubling. Not a movie about "...fun, sexy late of cinema..." or "...having no hang ups and not at all feeling dirty." or just being a feel good flick. That statement, the Ebert erection and naked children poping out of the bathtub... Harry, you don't need an editor anymore, you need a Public Relations person to proof your text before posting. Heh, just ribbing you, but seriously...quotes like that make you sound like a creepy uncle that your parents don't invite to the family reunions.
-
is STUNNING.
-
Pretty sure they may go by sounds and talk at least part of the time. Or maybe Ebert meant that YOU couldn't talk a man into an erection. Perhaps it was a subtle challenge he was throwing out for you to take up. Ok, now I'm talking about erections and Ebert way too much for any day of the week...
-
If it's someone I'm already having sex with, she can definitely talk me into an erection. But if it's someone I'm not already involved with, talk is cheap. She's gotta show me the goods! I wasn't originally too interested in this film, but I might have to "See about it" as we say around here.
-
But she still is WAY too fuckin skinny for bettie. I am a huge bettie fan too (my bettie tat will be done when you see me again, Harry) and GM has a FLAT ASS..... eat a fucking cheeseburger if you wanna be bettie, bitch! Im still seeing this at my first opportunity.
-
Roger said that to me too... and ge quoted Gene when he did it.
-
"wanting Jennifer Connelly or Rose McGowan or Dita Von Teese" I am seriously looking forward to seeing this, but really... there are exactly 2 actual breasts attach... ahem.. I mean 2 actual breasts in that bunch right there. The other 4 are made of plastic, and VERY obviously so. It would have been at the level of disrespect to the woman herself to have one of them portray her. Ms Page was all real, 100 percent. And she wasn't a DD, either, not even close. Her sexiness isn't something that can be purchased from a clinic in Southern California. Rose McGowan has the talent, but wrong, fake look. Same with Ms Von Tiese (spelling?). Jennifer Connely is absolutely wonderful, nearly perfect in every possible way. But she's HUGE, and gravity is a harsh mistress. Looks like they made a perfect choice.
-
This might indeed a be a very good movie, perhaps even a great one. But personally I'm pretty creeped out that someone has made a film about Betty Page which has an aura of "innocence and a joy for life" along with being a movie "of pure joy and blissful innocence"... Hey, uplifting, cute movies rock. But the REAL story of Betty Page was one fucking grim, sad, hurtful downer. Sure, it might have had a happy end since she is still alive and hopefully happy. But the shit she went through when she was young... Damn. There was no innocense, joy and bliss there. The gang rape she went through was a particularly nasty and creepy issue. This woman was repeatedly beaten down and exploited in her life, and she become a seriously sad and fucked up person because of it. A failed actress who was abused, raped and degraded. Went through three unhappy marriages. Stabbed THREE people and ended up as a prisoner in mental institution. Hopefully she has found a better life in her older days. If someone wants to take a look how she looks nowadays, use this link: http://www.metaltv.com/page.cfm?id=788&%20amp;refpage=794 ...She is the old lady at the picture in the bottom.
-
Harry talking about sex is rather disturbing. I'm not trying to be mean, but Harry is like 35 stone, and when you get to that size there are certain parts of the anatomy which are swallowed up by the fat. When Harry talks about sex it's like when he's talking about religion or politics, he's just no clue. Good review though!
-
C'mon guys. Ebert wasn't referring to dirty talk or saying that you have to SEE something to be arounsed by it. Harry's taken it out of context. Cuz Ebert said the same thing about laughing/ comedy. What he meant was that if you don't find something arousing or tittilating... no one is going to be able to explain to you why it is or should be... because for you, it just isn't.
-
Its called foreplay! Haven't any of guys ever been laid? Damn!
-
Sheesh...
-
Film Festival is called "Talk Ebert into an erection."
-
at the Toronto Film Festival. They pretty much glaze over the darker periods of Bettie's life but all in all the film's still really well made and TONS of fun to watch. I loved the technicolor look of the Floreida segments.
-
I gotta confess, seeing a woman tied up, gagged, and spanked (no matter how playfully it may be done) does nothing at all for me, except make me a bit ill. Yes, Getchen looks perfect in the role, but any interest I might have had in seeing the film went out the window with this clip. Different strokes, and all that; though for the life of me, I can't figure how bondage and simulated pain is sexy to anyone but truly nasty people. On the other hand, I've been a leg and foot man since forever, which I'm sure is just as revolting to some of the folks who'll happily whip themselves into a frenzy.
-
"...so less talk, more rock, Harry." Then what happened? Sorry, Harry, just taking the piss outta ya.
-
It looks GOOOOOD. My dad had some old Bettie Pagie books in his storage shed and I found them when I was 12. (whew)
-
Yes, I do! And it's because he lives in a garbage can. Filthy puppet.
-
Good to see you're reuniting with your first love!
-
Didn't have time to read your comment. A good one though. What timing.
-
when ebert told you that. or, did it just cause you to step your game up? really take control of the situation?
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 439 total posts 159 posts
- WTF HOLLYWOOD: SOLARBABIES -- 144 total posts 142 posts
- Herc’s Seen Tonight’s Return Of THE WALKING DEAD!! Discuss Also DOWNTON ABBEY, FEAR FACTOR, PAN AM, ONCE, SIMPSONS, DYNAMITE, LUCK, SHAMELESS, BAIT CAR, THE GRAMMYS And More!! Sunday Is Sweeps Day 11!! -- 155 total posts 140 posts
- Avid Comic Reader Hercules Does Battle With Tedium During Kevin Smith’s COMIC BOOK MEN! -- 55 total posts 45 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 196 total posts 45 posts
- I am The Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day! No, I’m the Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day! -- 35 total posts 35 posts
- If the Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day drops her pen, pick it up, but don’t look at her legs or else it will be on your record. -- 60 total posts 34 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 127 total posts 32 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 513 total posts 29 posts
- The Sensorties Revisit The Friday Docback (And Still Smell)!! DOCTOR WHO Story #7 Again, The Coming Of Season/Series 7, And More!! -- 118 total posts 27 posts