{"id":1377,"date":"2024-07-27T23:38:11","date_gmt":"2024-07-27T23:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=1377"},"modified":"2024-10-14T12:44:02","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T16:44:02","slug":"gilda-live","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/07\/27\/gilda-live\/","title":{"rendered":"Gilda Live"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Gilda Live <\/strong>(1980)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Warner Bros.\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 90 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Mike Nichols\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Anne Beatts, Lorne Michaels, Marilyn Suzanne Miller, Don Novello, Michael O\u2019Donoghue, Gilda Radner, Paul Shaffer, Rosie Shuster and Alan Zweibel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Marvin Hamlisch, Cheryl Hardwick, Michael O\u2019Donoghue and Paul Shaffer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Ted Churchill\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 28, 1980 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Gilda Radner, Don Novello, Paul Shaffer, Rogue (Diana Grasselli, Myriam Valle and Maria Vidal).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $2.2M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0In summer 1979, Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels staged a one-woman show starring SNL cast member Gilda Radner. A modest success, Gilda Radner Live on Broadway got rave reviews from audience members. During its run in Boston, director Mike Nichols (The Graduate) brought in a camera crew and filmed it for theatrical release. Retitled Gilda Live<\/strong>, it flopped at the box office when it came out the following spring.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I didn\u2019t see it on stage or at the movies, but I owned the record which I bought with some of my Christmas money. At 13, owing a comedy record with bad language is a big deal. Unfortunately, it disappeared from my collection (and all existence as far as I knew) a few years later. It wasn\u2019t until years later that my brother and nephew admitted to \u201caccidentally\u201d breaking it and disposing of the evidence in an effort to avoid furious reprisal.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Let\u2019s get back to the business at hand. I got to see Gilda Live<\/strong> during an overnight visit to my favorite (older) cousin\u2019s house the following year. I was already familiar with most of the bits, but it was great to put images to the words. My favorite part then was Gilda\u2019s opening number, a bawdy little ditty entitled \u201cLet\u2019s Talk Dirty to the Animals\u201d written by SNL alum Michael O\u2019Donoghue. Officially, it\u2019s the only reason Gilda Live <\/strong>got an R rating. However, I suspect the f-bomb dropped in the Emily Litella sketch played a part in it as well.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Essentially, Gilda Live<\/strong> is a collection of comedy sketches mostly featuring Gilda\u2019s famous characters from SNL- e.g. hard-of-hearing old lady Emily Litella, hyperactive 8YO Judy Miller, nerdy high schooler Lisa Loopner, brash and often gross Weekend Update reporter Roseanne Roseannadanna, troubled punk rocker Candy Slice, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci and \u201cJewish-American Princess\u201d Rhonda Weiss.\u00a0 They\u2019re funny for the most part, although Judy Miller tends to be a bit much. In addition, she performs in bits created specifically for the show including \u201cThe Audition\u201d in which she tap dances awkwardly while singing \u201cI Love to Be Unhappy\u201d. She closes the show with a sweet, nostalgic number about the night of her senior prom called \u201cHoney (Touch Me with My Clothes On)\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u00a0While technically a one-woman show, Gilda Live <\/strong>co-stars Don Novello playing his Father Guido Sarducci character from SNL. He fills in the time between set and costume changes. We see him a few times throughout. He does one bit (\u201cKennedy\/Lincoln Coincidenza\u201d) almost entirely in Italian. He\u2019s funny. He has a great dry sense of humor.<\/p>\n

\u00a0HOWEVER, Gilda Live<\/strong> belongs entirely to its namesake, a gifted comedienne showing her full range of talents. She performs with exuberance and unbridled joy, feelings that are clearly shared by the audience who respond with warmth and laughter. Their love for Gilda is palpable. They even join in on singing \u201cThe Way We Were\u201d during the Lisa Loopner sketch courtesy of lyric sheets included in the programs. My recent rewatching of Gilda Live<\/strong> was somewhat poignant. I felt sad knowing that she\u2019d only be around ten more years before ovarian cancer took her away from us at 42. I still regard May 20, 1989 as one of the saddest days in entertainment history. It\u2019s right up there with the death of John Belushi on March 5, 1982.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Nichols does a pretty good job taking Gilda Live <\/strong>from stage to screen considering he merely filmed a few performances and put them together. He occasionally takes us backstage to see Gilda quickly change outfits for her next bit. It gives you a sense of the energy behind the show. Novello isn\u2019t the only SNL colleague seen in Gilda Live<\/strong>. Paul Shaffer, SNL band member from 1975-80, shows up in a few sketches. G.E. Smith, musical director\/band leader from 1985-95, appears in the Candy Slice segment. BTW, he\u2019s also Gilda\u2019s first husband. I\u2019ll always remember him barely holding back tears on the SNL episode immediately following Gilda\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u00a0My own love for Gilda Radner is what makes me a fan of Gilda Live<\/strong>. Like all sketch comedy shows, some bits work better than others; however, none of them actually fail. Even the lesser ones works thanks to Gilda\u2019s boundless supply of energy and good will. Although it came long before her passing, Gilda Live<\/strong> is a wonderful tribute to a comedy legend gone way too soon.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gilda Live (1980)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Warner Bros.\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 90 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Mike Nichols\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Anne Beatts, Lorne Michaels, Marilyn Suzanne Miller, Don Novello, Michael O\u2019Donoghue, Gilda Radner, Paul Shaffer, Rosie Shuster and Alan Zweibel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Marvin Hamlisch, Cheryl Hardwick, Michael O\u2019Donoghue and Paul Shaffer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Ted Churchill\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 28, 1980 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies","category-hidden-treasures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Gilda-Live-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1377"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1958,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377\/revisions\/1958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}