On Actresses, Pt. III

"Slick and overdetermined, this picture was so far out of control it got snatched by snatch. From reel one Stone owned Basic Instinct. She took it away from Douglas and made it hers, and in the process rewrote Joe Eszterhas’s misogynist tripe start to finish. It was, indeed, a performance worthy of all the great divas from Davis to Dietrich, who year in and year out turned man-made trash into gold, and yet another lesson in how complicated movies really are.” --Manohla Dargis, The Village Voice, 1992


Stellar phrasing (though I don't totally agree.) Some thoughts on the feminist prismatic perspective of Basic Instinct, and the unpopularity of certain forms of intelligence (as demonstrated by this comic genius who knows that some gentlemen prefer bleach-blondes:)




Monroe on the backlash:
"Let's take some actors or directors. Usually they don't say it to me, they say it to the newspapers because that's a bigger play. You know, if they're only insulting me to my face that doesn't make a big enough play because all I have to say is, "See you around, like never."