CRAZY IN ALABAMA
US, 1999, 115 minutes, Colour.
Melanie Griffith, Lucas Black, David Morse, Meatloaf, Rod Steiger, Robert Wagner.
Directed by Antonio Banderas.
Crazy in Alabama is a tour de force performance for Melanie Griffith as a frustrated housewife with seven children who bizarrely murders her husband, keeps his head in a hatbox and makes her way, like a blonde bombshell and Lolita, to Hollywood where she is successful with agents, studio heads and a performance in Bewitched. On the other hand the Alabama craziness is the racism of the '60s. This is dramatised in segregated pools, demonstrations, imprisonments, redneck sheriffs killing young black boys, court cases. The two strands have lives of their own but are brought together finally in an effective black satire on America in the '60s. While Melanie Griffith is very good, Lucas Black as the young Peejoe and David Morse as her brother also give fine performances. Rod Steiger appears as the judge, with all his idiosyncrasies, but channelling them most effectively in the spirit of the film and as a mouthpiece for justice issues.
The film was directed by Antonio Banderas. After thirty films in Spain in Hollywood, this is his directorial debut and it is very effective. Banderas is married to Melanie Griffith. The film is based on a novel by Mark Childress, who also wrote the screenplay.
1.A piece of Americana, a portrait of America in the '60s? The '60s as perceived by the '90s and the range of changes? The title and its relevance to the times?
2.The Alabama settings and their authenticity, New Orleans, the American road in the desert, Hollywood and its glitz? The use of the road movie genre? Television sitcoms and production? Hollywood parties? The Alabama courtroom? Exaggerated yet authentic?
3.The range of songs and their use, comment on the characters and action?
4.The two strands of the film: the black comedy of Alabama, the family, the murder, the road, the serious aspects of American politics of the time, racism and civil rights, violence and the courts? The Hollywood strand and the Hollywood dream, the travel to Hollywood, the opportunities, parties, television, glamour and success? The interweaving of the two strands? Their being combined at the end?
5.The effect of the narration by Peejoe and his perspective, as a boy, young teenager, his place in the family, his attitudes towards racist Alabama, his sense of justice, wanting to tell the truth?
6.Melanie Griffith and her performance as Lucille, a tour de force performance? Her appearance (and echoes of blonde glamour and Lolita)? The facts of her life, marriage, the number of children, the long years married? Killing her husband and her motives, the poison? Cutting off his head (and the jokes re the use of the tools for such cutting)? Having his head in the box, the ice, buying the hat for the box? Delivering the children to her mother? Her mother's reaction, Dove and his taking the boys? Telling her story to Peejoe and asking him to keep it quiet? Her Hollywood dreams, straight out of magazines and the television? Her explanation of Chester's violence, her pregnancies, held prisoner in her house? On the road, spending the money, gambling, taking cars? Her own craziness and hearing her husband's voice and her reactions? Taking the car and the crash? The reaction of the police? Her holding up the man and taking his car? Spending the money on the hat? Her phone calls back home? The glamour of Las Vegas, the bellboy and the interrelationship? Gambling and winning? Her new wardrobe and on the road to Hollywood?
7.Norman as chauffeur, his reaction to her, driving, the hat? His devotion to her? Meeting her agent and his support, going to the party and experiencing snobs and snubbing? The interviews and auditions and her come-on style, getting the job, performing in Bewitched? Going to the party with the hatbox? The woman discovering it and going berserk, her reaction?
8.Going to the Golden Gate Bridge, the place to drop Chester's head? Losing her handbag, climbing over the railing and the police reaction, the interrogation? Imprisoned, going back to Alabama and being greeted as a celebrity? The transition to a more serious tone with her being in jail and the long talk with Taylor, themes coming together?
9.Peejoe and his brother, their life, Dove and his values, as an undertaker and his work? Friendship with Taylor and their sharing the undertaking responsibility in the town? Dove's wife and her intensity, worrying about the neighbours and public opinion, her racism, her reaction to the boys, to the Life Magazine cover, to Lucille on television? Dove and his patience? The boys and their playing, going for swims, the encounter with the blacks and their demonstrations, the violence and the death, going to the funeral? Peejoe knowing the truth about Lucille? Telling Dove, being ready to go to court for the FBI? His reaction to the sheriff, seeing him kill young Taylor?
10.The themes of racism, Alabama and the '60s, the issues, the demonstrations, the presence of Martin Luther King? The swimming pool and whites only, seeing the whites and their style at the swimming pool, the arrival of the blacks, the reaction of the owner, the violence, the sheriff and the boy's death? The sheriff and his lies and Peejoe confronting him? The funeral and the boys attending? Going to the demonstration at the pool, Taylor's arrest, jail? The rallies and Martin Luther King?
11.The FBI and their suspicions of the sheriff, the confrontation with the sheriff, the deals about Lucille and the complications? Dove and Peejoe going to the FBI, the willingness, yet doing a deal to get Lucille out?
12.The court case and its serious style and its farcical style? Rod Steiger's performance as the judge, his histrionics yet appropriate for this character and this situation? The range of evidence and the reactions of those interrogated? The witnesses? The judge's distinction between justice and what is just? Peejoe and his questioning, his telling the truth, the consequences for the sheriff and the FBI, for Dove and Peejoe going into court? The court and Lucille and her performance and her explanation of her life, the appeal to the jury?
13.The jury, the attentiveness, audience response to Lucille, guilty or not? The guilty verdict? The judge and his comments on who was let go and who was imprisoned in the South, his reasons for letting Lucille go and the comparisons with the white justice for blacks?
14.The family and the joy at Lucille's being released? The children? The crazy families of Alabama, the crazy racist prejudice, the crazy manner and manners? Alabama in the '60s in retrospect?
