Anyone want to share how your moms influenced your tastes in movies? My mom loved the women's weepies. We stayed up late watching Random Harvest, Now Voyager, and tawdry 30s melodramas like Madame X and sobbed our hearts out.
Her favorite filmmaker was Mel Brooks, and the scene she loved the most was Kenneth Mars singing America the Beautiful in The Producers.
Coincidentally she actually met Mel Brooks on a trip to Europe and had a picture taken with him. It hung over the mantle in the most favored spot for years.
She's been gone for a while but it's good to remember her wild laughter watching Mel Brooks movies.
In the spirit of Mother's Day...
My mom is still obsessed with Steel Magnolias. From 1989, lol. In fact, when I told her about one of my screenplays, she asked, "Is it something like Steel Magnolia's? Whatever happened to movies like Steel Magnolias?!" When I later shared that I was writing a pitch for that screenplay, where I had to list comparable films, she asked, "Is one of your comparables Steel Magnolias?" Uh, no. But that particular screenplay, Parallel Proposals, would definitely appeal to a similar audience since four of the main characters are in or near their 50s and one is in his 70s; their circumstances and challenges will be quite familiar to many in her demographic.
My mom is in her 60s and enjoys going to the theatre with friends, but even before the pandemic, there were slim pickings -- not interested in superhero, sci-fi, franchise reboots, action and definitely not horror. She and her friends have the time, money and desire, but it seems a grounded drama/comedy with emotion for grown-ups really has become an anomaly. I'm definitely my mother's daughter, as I'd like to see more of those kinds of films, too.
What comes to mind is most of the critically panned musical movies of the 80's. Xanadu, Mannequin, Flashdance...I grew up believing these were genuine masterpieces and was disheartened to find reviews saying otherwise..how dare critics call my mother wrong!!! Dirty Dancing is the most basic answer for a 'mom-movie' but god I must have seen that movie 800 times and the magic never goes away. Absolutely love musicals. Good screenplays? Never heard of them, not even on my radar.
(Excellent taste with the Mel Brooks by the way, his comedy is unmatched. And Steel Magnolias I love. I've seen every movie with Daryl Hannah because I'm told we're descended from the same Scottish noble family. Have yet to see any written proof of it though...)