Joan Crawford in "Straight Jacket" on TCM

A true classic! Hubby was played by a young Lee Majors.

Heads in the bed!

Heads in the bed!

Rofl.

[quote] I have a feeling she's either going to kill her daughter

Tell me, mum, when your little girl is on the slab, where will it tickle you?

The daughter's boyfriend is hot.

George Kennedy looked old, even 100 years ago when this movie was made.

Dear lord, Joan is being such a slut!!

What’s up with her clanky bracelet?

It's a symbol of her slutty past, R6.

Her daughter saved it for her when she 'went away.'

Now she's back to her slutty ways.

This movie is hilarious. Joan can dance!

I love this movie.

Christopher and I could have had a more peaceful existence, quieter nights, even wire hangers, if we could have employed a straitjacket.

Oooooh, that doctor is going to get the ax!

I love Diane Baker's gleaming bouffant.

I knew it!!!

Lol.

On another note, John Anthony Hayes (Michael) was a hottie!

The scenery outside the barn where the doc got axed was so clearly a drawing.

[quote] On another note, John Anthony Hayes (Michael) was a hottie!

Apparently he's still alive.

[quote] Apparently he's still alive.

So is the daughter, Diane Baker.

She's only 83.

Diane...

I loved Joan in this. I always thought Diane Baker was so pretty.

The Della pilot with Joan and Diane...

Wow, I never realized how good an actress Joan really was.

This is a very strong performance.

R16 I thought Diane’s story was a little underwhelming. That would’ve been rude of her, to leave the Mary Martin party early.

The Columbia headless logo at the end is hilarious.

That ending was terrible!

I enjoyed the commentary before and after the movie by Ben M. and Mario Cantone.

Mario seems to know his classic movies pretty well. He also does a hilarious Bette Davis impression.

Joan was half in the bag for the entire filming of Straight Jacket.

Never heard that term, R23.

What does it mean?

Half-drunk r24

And featuring Rochelle Hudson, who used to be somebody in the 1930s.

Joan reminds me of Divine in this movie... which I think is more than coincidence.

I think Glen Milstead copied a lot of her body language and mannerisms for his drag diva persona.

By the way Diane. Like the suit.

Am I crazy or did Diane Baker actually post here awhile back? Or maybe somebody posted about her, but didn't tell us it was her, just gave enough hints that eventually, somebody guessed it was DB he was talking about.

Anybody else remember this?

Why couldn’t Diane give Mary Martin the RESPECT she DESERVED?

My favorite scene is when "Mommy" gets all jive hepcat and bops around to the record beat snapping her fingers.

Joan Crawford had SOUL, y'all!

She DID, R31!!

It's a side of Joan that I had never seen.

She really moves to that music.

The best is when she strikes the match on the record!

I haven't seen this movie for years and so I barely remember it.

But I do like William Castle movies and so I'd probably enjoy this as well.

[quote] "Straight Jacket"

Oh, dear, OP.

You too, R23.

S-T-R-A-I-T

That hairdo is a classic, a real hair don't. Looks like a wig even if it isn't.

It's supposed to be a wig, R35.

When she was released from the Asylum, she looked like "a common frump," to quote another Joan classic movie.

Then her daughter took her shopping, and bought her a new dress and a new wig. To make her look "younger." Lol.

It's actually part of the plot.

Wig or not, that hairstyle was popular in the 40s and 50s and never looked natural. Barbara Stanwyck often had it.

Every time a scene cut to a single shot of Joan, the film stock switched to grainy. Towards the end it simply went to soft focus. This back and forth between clear and grainy/soft focus was distracting.

Yeah that was very annoying, R38.

They filtered the shit out of Joan's face. She must have looked HARD on camera.

And of course in the end, she had to be the "hero," like in Mildred Pierce.

Who told you about my dreams? Who told you about my nightmares?!

Wardrobe and Make Up test for Strait Jacket.

[quote]The scenery outside the barn where the doc got axed was so clearly a drawing.

And every bit was chewed.

Mega-thread on Diane Baker.

R43 oh my goodness thanks for posting this, even though the original blog post is gone now. I’ve been scrolling through looking for bits and pieces. Basically it squares with the impression I got of Diane from the interview clip posted upthread. I found her not terribly interesting, and didn’t understand why she had to name-drop Melvyn and Helen Douglas and bring politics into it. What did Joan being a Republican have to do with being polite enough to stay at the Mary Martin party? Did I hear that correctly, was Mary about to sing? I would stick around for that. And I hardly think Joan was being “dictatorial” in that instance. Diane sounded like a brat who wanted to ditch the olds and take off with her date. The story was just stupid.

Does anyone recall what the real zinger in the blog post was?

And also in the cast Leif Ericson.......I hope his ex-wife and genuine sanitorium/sanitarium resident Frances Farmer never wandered into a movie theatre in 1964 to check up on him and wound up seeing this!

That Diane Baker thread is classic.......

Anne Helm was originally cast as the daughter but Joan worked with her for a day and made them get somebody else.....why not Diane? She had been very cooperative on the BEST OF EVERYTHING set a few years before......

Diane Baker had a sexy, feline quality in Strait-Jacket and Marnie. I wonder if she was lez? If so she probably got lots of action.

I wish I owned that Joan Crawford MASK!

Where is it today, r47? And where's....?

I love this movie! It's ridiculous camp, yet Crawford gives a performance that only a diva can give! Yes, she's cringeworthy when she puts on the wig and starts preying on younger men, but she's also so charismatic it's more frightening than ridiculous. She gives this low-budget mess her all, the woman was nothing if not a dedicated professional.

I also love how she looks at the end, when she takes off the wig and harsh makeup and looks her age. She's beautiful as a mature woman.

Yes, the beginning was very [italic]Multiple Maniacs.[/italic] My only disappointment was that Michael's snotty mom didn't get the chop.

I loved how she struck the match on the spinning record to light her cig. CAMP, mawma.

Does she shoot the cinematographer?

Why doesn't TCM ever show Female on the Beach? They air Strait Jacket and Trog every month, but they refuse to air FOTB or I Saw What You Did & I'm Telling just once.

TCM doesn't have ready access to the Universal library right now, or at least don't want to pay the licensing fees.

Buy your own DVD of "Female on the Beach" and watch whenever you want.

Or get the new Blu-Ray R54, it's all spruced up from the DVD and has some good commentary - totally worth it.