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Author Topic: Anybody going to see the Betty White movie?  (Read 2072 times)

MikeK

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Anybody going to see the Betty White movie?
« on: January 17, 2022, 12:11:23 PM »
(A stupid question, I know.)

I planned to go.  However, at least a foot of snow overnight along with streets and my driveway not being plowed have thrown a giant monkey wrench in that plan.  I'm hoping someone will review the movie and also (hopefully) pass along word about future plans for the movie like streaming or making it for sale, since this is a storm that's hitting a good swath of the country.

Thanks in advance!

SuperSweeper

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Re: Anybody going to see the Betty White movie?
« Reply #1 on: January 17, 2022, 12:56:33 PM »
I am planning to go see it, though like Mike, the snowstorm may be putting a damper on those plans.

WhammyPower

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Re: Anybody going to see the Betty White movie?
« Reply #2 on: January 17, 2022, 02:20:39 PM »
I'm hopefully planning to go see it in less than 2 hours from this post in a 300-person auditorium that currently has no reservations for it.

/It's an AMC theater, so of course nobody's made a reservation yet.

Matt Ottinger

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Re: Anybody going to see the Betty White movie?
« Reply #3 on: January 17, 2022, 02:52:19 PM »
I'm going with another member of the forum in a little over an hour.
This has been another installment of Matt Ottinger's Masters of the Obvious.
Stay tuned for all the obsessive-compulsive fun of Words Have Meanings.

Pyramid80

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Re: Anybody going to see the Betty White movie?
« Reply #4 on: January 17, 2022, 04:49:34 PM »
Yes, I have tickets for tonight.

Matt Ottinger

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Re: Anybody going to see the Betty White movie?
« Reply #5 on: January 17, 2022, 08:11:50 PM »
Well, this was vaguely disappointing.  It turns out to be very little more than the 2018 doc that aired on PBS. There’s a brief opening that recognizes her passing with tweets from various celebrities, and a brief message from Betty on camera, recorded (as it turns out) ten days before her death. If you want to stay after, you could watch a mildly amusing complete episode of Date With the Angels. But if you’re a real Betty fan, you’ve seen the core of this thing already.

I say "vaguely" because hey, it's still a really entertaining look back on her career.  On a big screen, the game show clips they appear to have recorded off air (both Buzzr and GSN bugs are visible) look really, really cruddy, as does a lot of the other footage.  Plus, the parade of talking heads who have since passed is much larger than when this aired only a few years ago.  Still, it's a little troubling that Fathom Events made this out to be a new thing when it was ever so obviously not.
This has been another installment of Matt Ottinger's Masters of the Obvious.
Stay tuned for all the obsessive-compulsive fun of Words Have Meanings.

JMFabiano

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Re: Anybody going to see the Betty White movie?
« Reply #6 on: January 17, 2022, 08:33:33 PM »
The PBS doc....was it the same as what was (formerly) on Netflix?  So basically that special with new bits added?  Or just that the two had similar content?

(If they're all synonymous, I see why Netflix pulled it)

I opted to watch the Buzzr marathon whenever I could.

I do like DWTA ...wonder if the episode is one that pops up on public domain DVDs?  The series is on Tubi IIRC.  So is Life With Elizabeth, which I like a bit more...
I'm a pacifist, and even I would like to see a little more action.

Matt Ottinger

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Re: Anybody going to see the Betty White movie?
« Reply #7 on: January 17, 2022, 08:42:16 PM »
So basically that special with new bits added?  Or just that the two had similar content?

The same documentary.  I hesitate to say "shot for shot" because I don't have a perfect memory, and it's possible there's more footage here than what aired in the original hour-long program.  I think it's more likely, though, that the DWTA episode was used to fill it out into something resembling feature-length.

The DWTA episode is "Double Trouble", where the Angels go on vacation and wacky hijinks ensue because the lounge singer is a dead-ringer for Mrs. Angel.  (Betty plays both roles.)  Features a preposterously young Chuck Connors in a rare comedic role.  Easily available in DVD collections, and here on Dailymotion:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7fdw4u
This has been another installment of Matt Ottinger's Masters of the Obvious.
Stay tuned for all the obsessive-compulsive fun of Words Have Meanings.

JMFabiano

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Re: Anybody going to see the Betty White movie?
« Reply #8 on: January 17, 2022, 09:08:24 PM »
The Christmas special was fun.

And we probably all know....Tom Kennedy was the announcer on DWTA.  As was brother Jack on Elizabeth.
I'm a pacifist, and even I would like to see a little more action.

SuperSweeper

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Re: Anybody going to see the Betty White movie?
« Reply #9 on: January 17, 2022, 09:33:23 PM »
I hadn’t seen the previous documentary (I know, you can revoke my membership here now), but my friend had - and he said that there was a decent amount of footage that he hadn’t seen before.

I really enjoyed it.

WhammyPower

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Re: Anybody going to see the Betty White movie?
« Reply #10 on: January 18, 2022, 09:45:17 AM »
I hadn’t seen the previous documentary (I know, you can revoke my membership here now), but my friend had - and he said that there was a decent amount of footage that he hadn’t seen before.

I really enjoyed it.
Agreeing with all of this.

/The theater only ended up having two other people in it.

JMFabiano

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Re: Anybody going to see the Betty White movie? The NBC tribute (1/31)?
« Reply #11 on: February 01, 2022, 10:36:18 AM »
Kind of on topic, kind of not, but did anyone see the special on NBC last night?

A lot of stuff we've already seen, and it was mainly celebrity talking heads.  Still a nice trip down memory lane with the clips and there was some neat behind the scenes things.  And yes, they do one game show segment which pretty much amounted to talking about Password.  Not enough but I AM biased ;-)  We did see a little of the 1990s WML? pilot...just intros though....

That Sonny and Cher Show clip may just be the closest we get to hearing what Betty would have sounded like as Blanche, BTW. 
I'm a pacifist, and even I would like to see a little more action.