Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me (2014)

Content by Tony Macklin. Originally published on March 9, 2014 @ tonymacklin.net.

In the marvelous documentary Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me, the title figure is a pistol.

She has some misfires, a few blanks, but she's still a straight shooter. She has a canny sense of her target audience, developed over more than sixty years as a performer.

Stritch allows the director Chiemi Kanasawa great access. Kanasawa catches some compelling personal moments - especially Stritch's diabetes' attack. Stritch cries, "I'm getting scared." And then, "Oh, I'm scared." It's a raw moment of panic.

Of course, the indomitable Stritch survives, and later speaks calmly about the experience.

We see Stritch sitting on her bed watching her appearance on tv's 30 Rock.

We also witness her harrowing figure in a hospital bed after another attack that resulted in a week-long stay.

Despite the access and openness, Stritch has a knowing dramatic sense. She knows her image. She calculates and controls it. She mugs, scowls, and smiles.

She tells cinematographer Shane Sigler, "Don't you think you're awfully close to me, Shane?" And, she gets miffed when she's not photographed taking muffins out of a box.

Bay's English Muffins are big in her life. Her only marriage was to John Bay. It lasted for ten years before he died of brain cancer. Stritch had dates with Jack Kennedy and Marlon Brando. And she alludes to romantic relationships with Ben Gazzara and Rock Hudson, et al. The girl got around.

But born in Detroit to very religious Roman Catholic parents, at times she ran from encounters. Producer Hal Prince says, "What makes her interesting is that the convent girl is there. Always."

Actress Cherry Jones says, "She's just got that crazy directness - that goes straight through you."

Her friend Julie says, "She's a Molotov cocktail of madness, sanity, and genius." Julie has felt the stings of Elaine's demands. But because of Elaine's powerful personality, she complied. They met at an AA meeting.

Stritch says she is a "recovered alcoholic." She says, "If somebody said 'what do you want on a desert island?' No contest. A bar." She admits she has "one drink a day." We see her at a table in a restaurant celebrating her 87th birthday with friends and her daily cocktail.

There's a lot of footage of Stritch preparing for her appearance at the Cafe Carlyle and Town Hall. Her longtime musical director Rob Bowman is her rock of empathy. On stage she says, "If I forget my lyrics, fuck it."

In footage from D.A. Pennebakers' documentary on the making of The Original Cast Recording of Company, we get a sense of how self-critical Stritch can be. But she prevails.

One of the most personal parts of the film is when Elaine contemplates her own death. She's insecurely positive.

In Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me, she's a lasting force of nature.

One caveat. If you mocked Kim Novak's physical appearance at the Oscars, this isn't for you. Elaine has caused herself some physical distress with alcoholism. But she avoided the desperation that drew such scornful attacks on Kim.

Stritch was a blonde, but not a Hitchcock blonde.

But both are legendary.

Come to think of it, if you mocked Elaine Stritch, she'd just kick you where it counts. You don't mess with her.