“Faye Dunaway gives a startling, ferocious performance. It’s deeper than an impersonation; she turns herself into Joan Crawford, all right, but she’s more Faye Dunaway than ever.” Pauline Kael, The New Yorker

“Director Frank Perry gives it all a certain crazed conviction.” - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

Monday, June 16, 6:00 p.m. | In this balls-to-the-wall biopic of Hollywood legend Joan Crawford, Faye Dunaway stars as the formidable actress, who adopts two children and proves to be a nightmarishly abusive parent. Released as a drama, when audiences responded to the film with laughter, Paramount resold MOMMIE DEAREST as a comedy (new posters read “Meet the biggest mother of them all!”). The film and Dunaway’s explosive performance was lambasted—Variety mocked, “Dunaway does not chew scenery, she swallows it whole, costars and all." Dunaway’s theatricality has been exhaustively parodied, tributed, and embraced—44 years later we’re still shrieking, “No wire hangers!”


Awards & Nominations

Winner - Worst Picture, Worst Actress (Faye Dunaway), Worst Supporting Actor (Steve Forrest), Worst Supporting Actress (Diana Scarwid), Worst Screenplay, Razzie Awards


Summer Camp | June 2025 Specialty Series

In 1964, the essayist Susan Sontag wrote “Notes on Camp,” where she endeavored to define “camp,” an artistic and cultural sensibility. The essence of camp, Sontag wrote, is “its love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration.” In the 60 years since that publication (a brisk, 14-page read), camp has evolved and flourished: in drag culture, the queer community, and the fashion and music industries. In cinema, camp can be found in the extravagance of a sweeping melodrama or the movie that’s so-bad-it's-actually-brilliant, a film may read as “campy” because of its opulence or extreme performances, or we might call a movie a camp classic because its earnest seriousness makes us laugh all the way to the credits. For Summer Camp, we abide by one of Sontag’s most salient points: “Camp is, above all, a mode of enjoyment, of appreciation—not judgement.” Pack your bags, we’re going camping!


The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu