Did you ever see the film Agatha (1979) - starring Vanessa Redgrave & Dustin Hoffman?

lovely theme music >>

Julie Christie was meant to play Agatha but broke her arm roller skating, the capitalist whore.

Vanessa Redgrave would never roller skate and betray the workers.

Julie Christie was FAR too beautiful to ever play the homely Agatha Christie. That would have been ridiculous casting. Even Vanessa was a stretch...........

[quote]Julie Christie was meant to play Agatha but broke her arm roller skating, the capitalist whore.

Thank you, Miss Neil.

Hoffman played it very understated - unusual for him.

I saw it years ago and cant really remember. In her youth, Agatha was not ugly, but she aged horribly prematurely. At the time of the disappearance she was quite personable. I hope she did it on purpose though it was claimed she had a 'fugue,. Unfortunately there is no good biography of her...

I don't think I ever watch this film now after knowing Hoffman is a sexual assaulter

I wonder if Dustin Hoffman tried sticking his fingers in Ms. Redgrave's snatch. She is twice his height. I suspect he tread carefully around her

oh, God - is this the sort of response we're going to have to all his movies from now on?

^ How would he dare to assault Dame Vanessa? 😤

she's not a dame, she's CBE.

I liked how they played up the height differential when they danced.

R12 It's a little bizarre that an obsessive socialist like here accepted the CBE.

Her beautiful father was a Communist, consorted with spy Guy Burgess (below) and was on the espionage watch list.

Yet he in his later, bankrupt years accepted a knighthood from King George VI

R9 the scandal conformed me in my dislike of the short-legged, big-nosed arrogant person

LOVED this movie when it came out. Redgrave was superb and Hoffman (for once) wasn't chewing scenery a mile a minute. I assumed he was afraid of looking like a ham in front of Redgrave.

I liked it, I found Hoffman to be very irritating though.

I liked it.

The great Vanessa is an interesting case for treatment. She is more interesting than any role she plays.

Some people say she's a nutter and I heard that way back in the 70s she and her crazier brother (Corin) captured one of the London theatres and refused to allow a performance to proceed. There were news reports throughout the day telling us if the negotiators had succeeded in persuading the passionate Vanessa to see reason and call an end to their siege.

Thread from earlier this year.

Since the theatre they captured was showing “Cats,”most Londoners were cheering for them not to give up.

I can’t believe Vanessa hasn’t graduated to an actual Damehood.

Agatha's daddy pinged to high heaven!

R22 she no doubt refused a Damehood. It would go against her leftwing principles

Dustin is a sicko but he was good in this

Yeah it wasn't very good. It was ok. Vanessa can of course be nothing but good.

the gurl who played his secretary/mistress, Miss Neele, was very good - the gurl Agatha tries to murder.

When I was in Harrogate, I visited the hotel "Agatha" stayed in, in the movie. It was very charming.

Hoffman has a funny line to Timothy Dalton when he says something like "Excuse me. I believed you touched my arm by mistake."

Vanessa was dating Timothy Dalton at the time.

Headlines from the time she disappeared.

But r27.......never mind.

Sorry about that, R31.

No. Next question, please.

Didn't care for it when it was first released and have no desire to revisit it. Certainly a lesser Redgrave & Hoffman.

Apparently she received her CBE early in her career because she believed people would listen to her more or some drivel. Presumably she's turned down a damehood many times in the last 40 years.

I love the theme tune They really don't make romantic movie tunes like this anymore.

[quote]Vanessa was dating Timothy Dalton at the time.

He disappeared, didn't he?

The concept that one of the most successful writers of the 20th century would totally lose her shit over her husband going off with another woman was not a popular one in the feminist 1970s.

She is not a dame, not even a CBE. She was offered it but declined, famously saying ' I thought the British Empire didn't exist anymore '. I have a lot of respect for her because of that. That being said, the movie Agatha was terrible. She was terrible in it. Whoever thought Redgrave and Hoffman would be a good match needs psychiatry. What a bore.

Oh fuck, my bad, she IS a CBE. What a cunt.

R6 is right, there is no good biography of Agatha Christie. She did age horribly, but she did love to eat. This was an intriguing part od her life, specially considering she wrote an autobiography where this is totally omitted. Strange to us in this confessional days. She remains a mystery in many ways.

CBE 1968 >

You can stream this film on Amazon now. It's very enjoyable and its pleasures greatly outweigh its flaws.

No one has mentioned the current Netflix fictionalized account of the disappearance?