- I go with Elizabeth Taylor in "Boom!"
- Carmen Miranda in "The Gang's All Here."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV8mw6119Rk
- Diana Scarwid in "Mommie Dearest"
Though I always find it oddly moving (especially when she first appears reciting from "Antigone").
- Dorothy Malone in [italic]Written on the Wind[/italic] with its daddy-killing dance
- C'mon people--you mean you've already forgotten Faye Dunaway in "Mommy Dearest?"
- Right broad, wrong role, OP.
Susan Hayward - I'LL CRY TOMORROW
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DmqQUpmHAkRg
Sing%2C%20You%20Sinnas%21
- Or this bitch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DUQzc-xswKfA
Lucille%20Ball%2C%20MAME
- Steven Stucker as Johnny in "Airplane!" Loved his performance (even though it wasn't much of a stretch from his real personality). Hysterical.
Rex Kramer
- And then there's this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DAoCRgcKqb8M
Mae%20West%2C%20SEXTETTE
- Angelina Jolie in "Alexander" -- it's not that her performance seems to be in a different movie, it seems to be in a different galaxy altogether.
- Amazing how many people have no idea what "camp" means.
- Divine in Pink Flamingos
Patty Duke in Dolls
- "So bad it's good," Susan Sontag at R11.
Glad you enlightened us so with your comment. Zzz
Camp%20Cunt
- Mickey Rooney, "Breakfast at Tiffany's"
anonymous
- Yeah, what was the point of him doing that fake Japanese thing?
- R11 is right. Camp is over the top when trying to be serious. Much of Dynasty is camp, at least after Joan Collins joined the show. Late in the run of Falcon Crest, they tried for manufactured camp, but it was better when they played it straight, no pun there. Unintentionally funny, as opposed to intentional silliness.
Hayward was too much aware she was playing a role that could produce laughter, and toned it down.
Poor Duke, on the other hand, had no clue (at the time) how hilarious she was. That's camp.
- That is actually a good movie R7. Much better then the original which I can't watch.
- Aww, I love Susan Hayward. Yeah, she hammed it up now and then, but when she was on the screen, she was all you saw.
- R18. I agree--Susie was THE. BEST!
- Lift and turn of the head, ramrod back and a firm "But Scarlett, I'm not going to forget her.!
Fast forward to 2:35.
Now, that's camp.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCWsCtKZ2B0
Della
- "Camp is over the top when trying to be serious."
Thanks, R16. That's exactly why Susan Hayward in VALLEY OF THE DOLLS is a terrible example; I'm sure she was not trying to be "serious." On the other hand, Faye Dunaway in MOMMIE DEAREST is an absolutely perfect example of true camp.
R13, fuck off.
- Matthew Lillard in Scream 1 - but his performance was the best part of the movie.
Anonymous
- You are a bore, R21. Truly.
From Merriam-Webster, the go-to MARY on this topic:
"Definition of CAMP
1: exaggerated [childish epithet posted by a bigoted tool] mannerisms exhibited especially by homosexuals
2a : something so outrageously artificial, affected, inappropriate, or out-of-date as to be considered amusing
b : a style or mode of personal or creative expression that is absurdly exaggerated and often fuses elements of high and popular culture"
Camp%20Cunt
- Ann Romney as Gloria Upson in Auntie Mame
Lee Ghast
- EVERYONE in "Flash Gordon," including Queen.
- [quote]2a : something so outrageously artificial, affected, inappropriate, or out-of-date as to be considered amusing b : a style or mode of personal or creative expression that is absurdly exaggerated and often fuses elements of high and popular culture.
Exactly why Dynasty is a wonderful example of camp.
- I still gotta go with Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest as somebody said upthread.
- Ahem
Your%20a%20whore%20darlin.%20%20DL%20Camp%20Icon
- John: It's camp! [Homer stares nonplussed] The tragically ludicrous? The ludicrously tragic?
Homer: Oh, yeah. Like when a clown dies.
- If the performance is something a Warhol superstar might have aspired to, then it's camp.
-
On Hollywood backlots, it's known as a European accent, R10.
Keanu
- Never mentioned on DL, but have any of you seen Hush, with Paltrow and Jessica Lange?
Lange played it like Bette Davis in Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte. Full high Southern Gothic mode.
Gwenyth actually played it as a warm, sweet person, certainly a great feat of acting.
Johnathon Schaech was never more beautiful.
The movie was not so much bad, as bizarre and campy. Paltrow and Lange seemed to be in different films. Almost as if Gwen and Lange's scenes were shot separately, then edited together.
- Anne Baxter as Nefretiri in "The Ten Commandments."
- WTF is up with definition #1 in r23? It's hard to believe that's in a real dictionary.
- Phoebes Cates
Which one of you bitches is my mother in a bad French accent...
- The thread was doing fine until r11 had to play the snippy cunt and ruined it.
- I thought "campy" essentially meant cunty, but I guess not. I had never heard the word until I saw it here last year.
- Agnes Moorehead as Velma in Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte. Best unintentional (or was it?) comedy performance in a horror movie ever.
- Yeah, R34, I know! But, that is the OFFICIAL definition from Merriam-Webster, the REAL, OFFICIAL dictionary.
MERRY!
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/camp
Camp%20Cunt
- r39, there's nothing in that linked definition about it being "childish" or "bigoted."
- Susan Hayward in "Back Street". And for good measure, John Gavin too. You'd think they were playing Shakespeare.
rae (small "r") smith
- How about Johnny Depp in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?
- Any Christopher Guest movie with him being the campy one, but especially "Waiting for Guffman". I would almost like to include the original "The Producers" with Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel--Roger DeBris and Carmen Ghia are about as campy as you can get. Never could figure out why Mel Brooks thought it was necessary to remake it when the original will always be the best.
Doity, filthy, stinking BOIDS.....
- Hans Conried singing "Dress Me" in "The 5,000 Fingers of Dr T" (1953).
Anomynous%20
- Sissy Frenchfry.
anonymous
- Why don't they make a gay, perhaps musical, version of "A Christmas Carol" with Robert Conrad, Tom Selleck and Max Gail as the Christmas spirits?
anonymous
- Do-Me-Do-Duds
http://youtu.be/W8TQOzyCu8Q
Anomynous%20
- Lana Turner in Imitation of Life.
- Almost everyone in "Flower Drum Song."
- helen slater and dunaway - supergirl
Cheryl Ladd in "when she was bad"
Lorenzo Lamas in Body Rock
Kristy McNichol in The Pirate Movie
Mariah Carey in Glitter
Lana Turner and Hugh O'Brian in Love Has Many Faces
Piper Laurie in Carrie
Nancy Kelly and Patty McCormack in The Bad Seed
- Joan Crawford in "Torch Song".
Joan Crawford in "Johnny Guitar".
Joan Crawford in "Strait Jacket".
Joan Crawford in, well, any work she did after 1950.
Which is why I love her
- Quoting three paragraphs from the dictionary isn't going to encapsulate everything camp means. It's a bit more nuanced than what the gayling Gaga fans call camp.
- R33 wins.
- [quote]Camp is over the top when trying to be serious.
Your definition would be more accurate if you eliminate everything after the word "top."
Camp does NOT try to be serious. Quite the opposite, it plays for laughs by executing something to an extreme (for instance, most comedic drag - hence Webster's incorrect generalization at #1); however, it can be presented in a very serious way (see Madeline Khan's career).
The reason why "Showgirls" and "Mommie Dearest" are now considered camp is because they became it, as audiences gave it that value because of the poor quality of their exaggerated execution. But they never set out too be camp. "Dynasty" did.
- "Joan Crawford in "Johnny Guitar""
Probably wins in "The Butchest Camp Performance" category...
With Mercedes McCambridge the runner-up...
“That's a lot of man you're carrying in those boots, stranger.”
- Mercedes McCambridge in Suddenly Last Summer. What an over the- top-, hoot!
- Neely O'Hara in VOTD
- Still the one to beat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCCxGQetNrk
The Bastard Who Killed Her
- One performance comes to mind.Gregory Peck from the Boys From Brazil. He was so seriously into that role that he overcamped it to the nth degree. He wasn't the only one in that film. Mason,Olivier and others really took it to another level of camp. However no one could reach the comedically campy depths that Peck could in that role. His confrontation of a fellow that wasn't where he was supposed to be makes Dynasty look like Shakespeare!
- [quote]Camp does NOT try to be serious. Quite the opposite, it plays for laughs by executing something to an extreme (for instance, most comedic drag - hence Webster's incorrect generalization at #1); however, it can be presented in a very serious way (see Madeline Khan's career).
NO! Jesus christ, what is wrong with you people? Have none of you read a book in your lives?
- Question:
What is true camp: Patty Duke in "Valley of the Dolls"... unaware of the performance she was giving...or Carol Channing in "Modern Millie"... very much aware of what she was up to and consciously "camping it up"?
- R34, the part you're referring to is a filter DataLounge applies to a certain word (the English version of "efeminado"), because the Webmaster here doesn't like us throwing that word at each other. It's not actually in the dictionary definition.
- Camp does not "play it for laughs." Camp occurs when when something that is meant to be serious/dramatic/professional comes off as ridiculous and funny. The intent was to be dramatic and instead you're howling with laughter.
For example,Charles Busch's plays are NOT camp, but in fact a parody/homage to camp. His latest- Judith of Bethulia- hilarious as it was, was not camp. It made fun of all the biblical epics that are indeed camp. Lana Turner in The Prodigal is a great example. It was supposed to be serious and is anything but.
- R63 nails it. R54 is wrong, though the confusion is understandable, since so many people use the word "camp" INCORRECTLY to refer to performances/shows that are INTENTIONALLY over the top and are NOT trying to be serious.
Of course, sometimes it's a fine line. For example, DYNASTY may have been trying to serious in its early years but became much more intentionally over the top as the series progressed.
P.S. Camp Cunt is certainly living up to his/her/its name in this thread ;-)
- They are all camping it up in Thoroughly Modern Millie: Julie, Mary, Bea Lillie, Carol Channing, Gavin and James Fox as they all send up the material being a camp talke on the 1920s. Its a campfest.
- Richard Griffiths as Montagu Withnail takes the prize.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DAicDvRko4a4
- Those who say Faye Dunaway in MOMMIE DEAREST are correct: a perfect example of camp. Serious intention, but hilariously over-the-top
HappyCamper
- R66 - Richard E. Grant, in his autobiog, recalls that Griffiths literally didn't understand why the crew were laughing at his (wonderful) performance...
- Or how about Susan Hayward in Where Love Has Gone?
Or ANYONE in Where Love Has Gone?
- Can't believe no one has mentioned Divine playing Francine Fishpaw in the John Waters' classic Polyester. The ultimate camp film.
Anonymous
- Okay, I think I found the winner here.
Three words: I. Am. Tondelayo.
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/136838/White-Cargo-Original-Trailer-.html
- The godawful Isabelle Adjani in the over the top early 1980s horror movie Possession.
And yes I know people love her to pieces. (Translation: I thought that recent DL thread praising her to the heavens was as unintentionally funny as her acting.)
Anyway, Adjani in Possession has to be seen to be believed.
Adele H.
- Tony Curtis playing the slave Antoninus in Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus (1960)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ0VSmkebwk
Oy Vey
- r48 I see your Imitation of Life and raise you Ms Lana Turner in Madame X.
Here's Lana's last interview for fans
https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DmnvSy8gEF4I
- I think Silence of The Lambs has two contenders:
Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal is quite the camp serial killer and Jame Gumb "It puts the lotion in the basket" is played high camp.
- R64,it depends. The Batman TV show was done in a totally camp way. They did realize that. Camp can be part of a cinematic release as well. Look at Ken Russell's movies... part satiric/part bizarre and part camp.
The Boys From Brazil was an example where things went wrong.Peck, Olivier and James Mason all take it much too seriously AND it descends into pure camp. It's an unintentional comedy to the point where it makes the performances in Baby Jane by Bette Davis and Joan Crawford look organic and real!
About Dynasty, they were going in a more camp direction when Joan Collins arrived on the scene.There was something fabulously bitchy and queeny about Alexis that made Brenda Dickson seem positively restrained in comparison.
- R61 From what I've heard Patty Duke thought she was giving an Oscar winning performance. She did a Night gallery episode in which she hammed it up BUT it only verged on camp and didn't cross over into camp. She seemed to be channeling her VOTD's performance BUT the director and producer knew better.
- "Tony Curtis playing the slave Antoninus in Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus (1960)"
How about Tony Curtis in The Black Shield of Falworth? "Yonda lies da castle of my foddah"
- The Black Swan. Pure camp from start to finish.
- I thought the same thing after I watched it. I thought this would be the gaylings' "Mommie Dearest" or "Valley of the Dolls" in a few years.
L.%20Dirk%20Ghey
- Susan Hayward is a camp dream - The run from SMASH UP: STORY OF A WOMAN to I WANT TO LIVE! is pretty damned hard to beat.
You actually feel sorry for sending that much drama to the gas chamber...
- A glam, brassy broad on the way to the gas chamber... the eyebrows alone should have spared her from execution...
https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DBFH9ulksHs8
- [R78] Spot on perfect!
R73
- The notion that camp always is the result of inadvertence is wrong-headed, of course. But discretion IS a necessity of any attempt to tongue-in-cheek it.
I suggest Laurence Olivier's performances in everything he did on film after "Wuthering Heights."
And on the fully intentional side, Nigel Hawthorne in "Mapp and Lucia."
- [quote]Camp occurs when when something that is meant to be serious/dramatic/professional comes off as ridiculous and funny.
Wrong.
The audiences that perceive its outrageousness make it camp.
People that say that camp is the result of unintended humor are confusing "camp" with "camp value." They're the ones who need to read some more.
Read the definitions. R84 makes a good point too.
- To illustrate better:
Mommie Dearest, released in 2399 theaters nationwide, 1980. NOT CAMP
Mommie Dearest, midnight showing in a summer theater in Provincetown, 1990. CAMP.
- Tony Curtis in Spartacus - ALWAYS CAMP. From day one, it was directed and performed with a twinkle in the eye (Tony himself discussed it in "Celluloid Closet")
- R79 I think it was beyond camp it was just plain awful. There was nothing funny about it! In essence, unlike camp it was so bad it was bad as opposed to it being so bad it was good.
R80 I don't think so. The critics loved that filmed and the usually terrible Natalie Portman won awards for it. It wasn't trashed as some campy piece of trash by the critics.The baby gays probably won't embrace it because of those reasons.
- james callis - bridget jones' diary
- What about ME bitches?!!!
Mdme Alla Nazimova, performing the dance of the 7 veils in "Salome"
