https://www.datalounge.com/thread/17992196-faye-dunaway-s-life-career
Mommie Dearest actually got a lot of good reviews for her and she came in second at the NY Film Crititcs Awards. Pauline Kael loved her in it. She was around 40 at the time and that is a difficult time for most actresses. She moved to London and did things like the Wicked Lady and Supergirl. Her career would have slowed at that point without Mommie Dearest. Look at Jane Fonda who was her main competition for roles. Fonda's early career lasted a few more years into the 80s but then she too had trouble finding good roles and left to marry Ted Turner.
Anonymous
reply 3 a day ago

to the extent that one might think karma was involved.
Boy, you Crawford advocates are really delusional.

Faye made an awful mistake. She should have bowed out of the project ahead of time, which is what Anne Bancroft did. This film has truly cursed Dunaway's career and to the extent that one might think karma was involved. Bancroft was at least perceptive enough to disengage from the whole project but Dunaway couldn't figure out the deeper nuances of her decision ahead of time, and she ultimately paid the price for her shallowness.

I attempted to watch Prince Of The City-81' once and lost interest in it, so then gave Serpico a miss, also being by Lumet and about corrupt cops. I should check it out.
Exorcist: Christ's power compels you. Cast out, unclean spirit.
Destinata:

I like "Serpico", Rascal. It was pretty intense with an exciting plot and a real feeling for early 70s urban life. And it is my 2nd favorite Al Pacino performance. He is so freakin' cute at the beginning of the movie! (sans beard)
Of course, I just adore poor, sweet, misguided Sonny

I do too. I have never seen SERPICO-73'. Thoughts please.
Exorcist: Christ's power compels you. Cast out, unclean spirit.
Destinata:

I love Dog Day Afternoon, Rascal.

Sidney Lumet was in top form here in the mid 70's, what with Dog Day Afternoon the previous year and then Network the following. Much of the success of these films and the quality is also due to him. I wonder if he would have made a better film, if he had done Mommie Dearest.
Exorcist: Christ's power compels you. Cast out, unclean spirit.
Destinata:

Have you seen NETWORK-76, in which Dunaway won her Oscar? She is an ambitious. cold queen b!tch in this one, too, and she is very good.

I have seen it. And I liked her performance in it very much. She has been good at playing cold bitches, and in this movie, she gets the opportunity to relish the character's bitchiness. Diana Christensen is one greedy woman!!! There are a few scenes in particular that I find her especially enjoyable. I love the scene near the beginning of the movie where she's going over things with her staff (I think Cathryn Manheim is in the scene) and near the end of scene she says sonething to the effect of "oh, and by the way, if any of you ever do this again, I'll sack the expletive lot of you." She is so matter of fact about it, but it's clear she means business! It's a funny scene. Also, when she comes into work early in the morning and she snatches a newspaper on her way in and sees the ratings. And when realizes that Howard Beale is a huge success. I may be melding some of the scenes, but basically I find her very entertaining whenever she gets excited and all that nervous energy just spills out.

Faye Dunaway - never my favorite actress - gave one one of the boldest, bravest performances I have ever seenDunaway completely exposed herselfShe allowed herself to be completely vulnerableI find her vice grip performance fascinating.

I will have to view this film again Mr. H, as I always enjoy your endorsements. From past viewings, which were sometime ago, and after reading the book twice, I was quite mortified at how the film turned out. In my mind, I see Dunaway acting like Crawford has just walked of the set of 'Straight-Jacket'-64', however I could be exaggerating this because of my dislike of the film.
Have you seen NETWORK-76, in which Dunaway won her Oscar? She is an ambitious, cold queen b!tch in this one too and she is very very good. It is also a classy performance and she also shows a vulnerable side, even though she can hardly let go of her obsession for ratings for one moment. Her work just consumes her and is what makes her tick. The film has a heightend script and is a smart and clever satire. I also think I prefer Dunaway in THE WICKED LADY-83' over MD, and I always thoroughly enjoy upon repeated viewings. This one didn't intend to be anything other than what it was and has no pretense about it. It's raunchy in parts, blended with some interesting violence, and she is just very conniving and wicked. She does it well. Alan Bates is an asset also. A winner, from hack director Michael Winner.
Exorcist: Christ's power compels you. Cast out, unclean spirit.
Destinata:

I don't know if it ruined her career so much as it changed it forever. In my opinion, Faye Dunaway - never my favorite actress - gave one one of the boldest, bravest performances I have ever seen as crazy bitch el supremo, Joan Crawford. Dunaway completely exposed herself and I think her performance elicits a degree of discomfort in a lot of viewers. She allowed herself to be completely vulnerable and unfortunately many viewers couldn't resist engaging the flip side of that particular coin. That's too bad because I find her vice grip performance fascinating.
Not to say that I can't enjoy the camp side of her acting. But camp is in the eye of the beholder.

'yet you can't take your eyes away from her, she gives a performance which is as brilliant as it is awful and you never get tired of it.'

That is exactly the reverence for Patty Duke in Valley of the Dolls, being the lead, though billed second since the story is Parkins' character point of view. I can see them excising Parkins' dreary scenes to insert more of Duke (but her career only died due to box office for her next two films) That is why VOTD looks lopsided; the top-billed is not the lead.
Faye/Patty are both burning with this raw powerful rage in these films, but it's not tempered.
Lesson learned: be careful what role you desperately campaign for, you might just get it.

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http://www.imdb.com/board/bd0000007/thread/256401222
A hilarious film about child abuse comes across as an oxymoron until you see it and realize why. Because the film is steeped in kitsch and dialogue which could only come from someone who takes human emotion from the outrageous, you get a film which is too risible to be taken seriously and Faye Dunaway is the prime ingredient:
overacts, chews every piece of scenery she can find
including wire hangers, cleaning powder and a ax yet you can't take your eyes away from her, she gives a performance which is as brilliant as it is awful and you never get tired of it.

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I know what you mean, but tell that to Patty Duke who starred in the second-biggest grossing film of 1967, yet the critical pan was the issue

Duke starred in an ensemble and was not a lead carrying the picture like Dunaway was. Both films got critically panned yet made money, and both are now cult classics. How their careers panned out, have nothing to do with these films. They deservedly have their following for attempting to be serious and sincere, yet only ended up being polished cheesy 'B' graders. Even if that wasn't the intention, the entertainment value and notoriety is still there.
Exorcist: Christ's power compels you. Cast out, unclean spirit.
Destinata:

'It was Faye's biggest box office hit in the '80s. How does a big moneymaker ruin one's career? Do you understand how business works?'
I know what you mean, but tell that to Patty Duke who starred in the second-biggest grossing film of 1967, yet the critical pan was the issue (detracting credibility as an actress) That's how business works- do you understand?

It was Faye's biggest box office hit in the '80s. How does a big moneymaker ruin one's career? Do you understand how business works? If anything ruined her career, it was "The Wicked Lady" and the multiple flops she followed that up with - all of which, coincidentally, branded her box office poison. If anything else beyond consistent failure ruined her career, it was her horrible diva antics on every set. People will put up with personalities like hers until the point where they stop making them money, and then after that point they won't anymore.

That is the myth yes, that Mommie Dearest somehow ruined her career, but having done research into it, I don't think so. The movie was NOT a failure, it made no loss whatsoever, in fact it was a bit of a hit so it can't be credited with ruining her box office clout. I think the problem is that she quit Hollywood. I don't know how career oriented Faye Dunaway really is, it seems she's more a consummate artist than career obsessed but after Mommie Dearest she moved to London and stayed there almost 10 years, and THAT ruined her career. Then she came back and decided to star in the most horrific films ever made, films that made her look ugly and that were ugly like the handmaid's tale, barfly, and all the other crap she does now. It's shocking. I don't blame Mommie Dearest.

My bro thinks "Mommie Dearest" ruined Faye Dunaway's career. He thinks a movie star can play a heel once in a while but not a monster.
Many actors and actresses have made big comebacks. How come Dunaway didn't?

Most Hollywood actors' careers run 10-15 years. Dunaway had been a star since '67. Her career was headed downhill with or without this movie.

'actresses start losing work when they hit 40.'

Not on TV. Why is TV always dismissed or not considered? I don't get it. Most roles in Tv films seem to go to women. And TV films don't cast lightly, to anyone who comes along. There is very stiff competition when casting them, and most go to a certain circle of established actresses. But you never stop hearing it: "women over 40, women over 50". Men over 50 don't book as many feature films either.

Why?
For the most part, unfair as it is, there is an accent on youth and physical desirability in an actress' career that isn't as important in an actor's. If they make wise career decisions, male actors can go on seemingly forever, playing opposite younger and younger actressesor often not opposite actresses at all, as most screen roles are written for men, with a token female love interest thrown into the mix.
Occasionally there's a hit movie like
Steel Magnolias
or
The Devil Wears Prada
where the cast is predominantly female, but that's unusual in the broader scheme of things.
Another thing to remember is that while Dunaway was an A-list star, she wasn't necessarily a "people's star". She was a special type, in special, intelligent films. Even her looks (cool, willowy and angular) weren't as approachably embraceable as say, a Jane Fonda or a Jessica Lange.
As the New York Times review for
Eyes of Laura Mars
(1978) noted, "Miss Dunaway is perfect for her role, but it's beginning to look like the only role she cares to play. Hysterical jitters, countered by fits of extreme hauteur or assertiveness, have constituted so many of her recent performances that it's hard to remember what else she can do. In any case, high-minded artistic fluttering the kind Diane Keaton attempts in "Interiors" comes so naturally to Miss Dunaway that Tommy Lee Jones, as a down-to-earth, soothing cop, is not just a good foil but an indispensable one."
Also, post Oscar, and when Dunaway adopted her son, she squandered a key period by accepting smaller roles that paid very well
The First Deadly Sin
(1980),
The Champ
(1979). These weren't even hit movies. Then to make things worse, she moved to England, which even further limited the work she could accept.
Her comeback role was in
Barfly
(1987) and she's excellent in it, but by then the ship had sailed for her to stay on top as a major star, in Hollywood terms.
All this was combined, as noted above, with a reputation for being difficult and sometimes unprofessional to work withas well as carting around a substance abuse problem, to boot. There were simply easier options for producers to pick from, rather than hiring Dunaway.
.

Why?
I'm like Tinkerbell, Finn! I need applause to live!