L'histoire d'Elizabeth Taylor

Originally, Emma Samms was to play Elizabeth Taylor in a biography based on the tell-all by Kitty Kelly. This fell through for some reason. This particular version, done some years later starring Sherilynn Fenn, uses public domain information. Therefore, it's like watching a series of headlines.

All well and good, but in this day and age, there really isn't a reason for inaccuracies. Just to mention one, the highly publicized accident of Montgomery Clift. This has been recounted many times by eminent biographers such as Patricia Bosworth, who wrote "Montgomery Clift," and the story of that night has been told by the various people who attended a gathering at Ms. Taylor's house that night. It was not -- as shown in this film -- a huge outdoor barbecue. It was instead a small group of friends who sat through a very quiet, almost melancholy evening, with Elizabeth Taylor playing the same song over and over again on the record player (for those who remember them) and her husband lying on the couch with intractable back pain. The party broke up, Monty drove down the hill, and the rest is history. While this may not be the rousing good drama of a barbecue, the accuracy of this story would have at least told the viewer that the writers and producers ATTEMPTED to be somewhat accurate where they could be. Evidently that was too difficult.

The only other thing I'll mention is the calling of Elizabeth Taylor Liz which any even remote fan knows, she is never called in real life. She is Elizabeth. Just like Lucille Ball was Lucille and not Lucy. Sherilynn Fenn is a beautiful woman, but she deserved better. William McNamara, as Clift, took the time to go to friends of Clift to research his role. Clift's friends looked at the script and told him that basically, he had to follow the script he had. So we know where to place the blame.

I thought this movie was somewhat interesting, for one reason: Given the fact that to actually +portray+ Richard Burton himself is a task to daunt the bravest -- to be blunt, I'd have said it couldn't be done at all -- I was surprised to find that Angus MacFadyen turned in not so poor a performance in this role. His size and build appear to be similar to Burton's; though the face is not really the same, neither is it very wide of the mark. The real test, of course, is that famous voice -- and here, also, he does a creditable job of impersonation. MacFadyen, in this role, actually to some extent achieves the "suspension of disbelief" so necessary to a believable story.

I tuned into this movie, hoping that it would maybe, just maybe make me LIKE Elizabeth Taylor. Boy was I wrong. Miss Taylor, as beautiful as she may have been on the outside, was not the same on the inside. She was an alcoholic and addicted to pain pills, not to mention she was addicted to men. As a huge Debbie Reynolds fan, this movie made me want to throw something at the screen when Eddie Fisher and Elizabeth Taylor began their affair together. Debbie and Elizabeth had been very good friends (Debbie and Eddie even named their second child Todd, after Elizabeth's husband Michael Todd who was supposedly Eddie's "best friend") and then Elizabeth and Eddie had to go off and sleep together after Mike's death. It totally lowered my respect for both of them. The only good thing I can say for Elizabeth Taylor is how she saved Montgomery Clift's life. That was truly wonderful. The movie was rather good, however... I do think that they could have gotten some better actors and actresses to play the part. (The girl playing Liz had a highly annoying voice and didn't remind me much of Ms. Taylor and the girl playing Debbie just maid Debbie look like TOO MUCH of a goody-goody/bumbling idiot.) Not the best, but a good movie... for Liz fans that is...

An excellent tribute to Elizabeth Taylor, in which Ray Wise all but steals the show as Mike Todd, and Nigel Havers does a memorable portrayal of Michael Wilding. This movie may appear to some critics as overly sympathetic to Miss Taylor, but how could it do otherwise? Sherilyn Fenn is the only woman in her generation who could have portrayed Elizabeth Taylor so convincingly and so well.

Although Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story does not offer any real new information on the celebrity, star biography fans will find a few tidbits to savor. The soap opera of Elizabeth Taylor's life is played out like your typical made-for-television movie. However, some of the casting was physically inspiring. Yes, part of the striking resemblances to the real people were due to makeup, but the makeup artists definitely had a good foundation. Sherilyn Fenn possesses the same striking beauty as Taylor and in some scenes the similarities between the two actresses are startling. In addition, the actor who portrays Montgomery Clift also makes fans of Clift's movies do a double-take. Don't expect too much, but for a hot summer afternoon with little else to do the movie is a good waste of time.