Anyone see Rosemary's Baby on its initial release?

Yes, and Ruth Gordon and that apartment are all I remember.

I remember Ruth Gordon's chocolate mousse that she brought over for Rosemary and her husband looked so good. I'd like to get the recipe.

I remember the creepy Dakoto like apartment building, Ruth Gordon and Maurice Evans the most. Mia just seemed perennially paranoid and Cassavetes a cad.

It’s not Dakota like it was the Dakota.

A creepy, scary and haunting horror film, it still holds up today.

Don and I saw it and we both just kind of stared at the movie screen when it ended and then both agreed it was very disturbing. But the bigger memory of that day was when we were leaving the theater and saw Peggy Olson there with Ted Chaough! I thought it was a really big deal and couldn't wait to talk to Don about it later but he wasn't into discussing it and seemed puzzled by my girlish excitement over the whole thing. Anyway...yeah, the movie was disturbing.

I did not find it very disturbing when I saw it on VHS as a teen, more of a very dark comedy. I was used to horror 80s-style, and the subtly of Polanski went over my head. I remember being fascinated by Mia Farrow's performance, however.

I have watched it several times since to pick up the subtext and now find it disturbing.

One thing I find actually kind of hot is Guy's implied seduction of his rival Donald Baumgart. Guy and he met him when they were up for the same part on "Another World". After taking Hutch's glove to make him ill during a black magic ritual, Guy tricks Rosemary into a night at the theatre as an excuse to meet Baumgart and steal a personal possession of his. I can only imagine Baumgart is Guy's equivalent in looks, and perhaps is gay.

Rosemary seems kind of flustered, as well as scared when Baumgart (voiced by Tony Curtis) tells her on the phone that he and her husband "exchanged ties" after a drink. Very odd, as few, if any males especially straight would ever be convinced to swap their ties. He also has a kind of unsympathetic, bitchy vibe about him on the phone, like he mildly resents Rosemary, and is bitter about trusting Guy.

Guy is holding a can of Red Devil cleaning fluid when he gets the news about Baumgart's blindness. In the book, Ira Levin teases a bit more saying they met in a "men's only club" for drinks, and Guy is showering after Rosemary returns from seeing 'The Fantasticks'. Guy is also an animal in bed that night after his clandestine meeting with his rival.

Since Ira Levin is basically the Jacqueline Suzanne of suspense, I can only admire his restraint in writing this part. I always imagined Guy to look like John Gavin based on his description in the book, though John Cassavetes is fucking sexy, I would have taken either of them.

R6, don't forget, it inspired Megan to come up with the awful baby aspirin commercial too.

I remember people I know who saw the original release telling me that they actually show the devil baby. Is that true and if so, how did it look.

A baby devil was never seen, we're only told that his hands, feet, and eyes were abnormal.

I would like to know was it really supposed to be Jacqueline Onassis in Rosemary's nightmare sequence when she gets her legs stirruped? In the book she dreams she's on a yacht with several other former first ladies, including Jackie and JFK, and goes under the deck where there is a ballroom. But the yacht stuff makes it sound like Jackie was with Onassis.

I remember people I know who saw the original release telling me that they actually show the devil baby. Is that true and if so, how did it look.

We never see the baby. We only get to see Rosemary looking at it in horror, as if she's about to throw up. She screams "What have you done to its eyes?" to the coven, and Roman replies, "He has his father's eyes." Then in flashback we see the demonic eyes of the devil from Rosemary's drugged hallucination.

People falsely remember they've seen his eyes in the film, but they've really just seen the flashback of the devil's eyes.

I remember I got a nosebleed watching that movie, and I had never had one before. Creepy.

I saw it with my parents at a drive-in. I was a kid. I loved it. I don’t know what that says about me or them

Back in 1968, the previews were for 'Mature' audiences, and audiences were kept guessing at the nudity and sex that must therefore be indicated. Only a few movie houses would show it, along with 'A Clockwork Orange'. I'm 60, and I never saw the entire movie until somewhat later in life, when the horror over nudity had subsided, but it still had a bit of shock value. I still love the movie.

R7 Donald Baumgart might very well have agreed to his own blindness, in exchange for one night of sex with Guy Woodhouse. Who knows with these crazy people. In the book, it is mentioned that Baumgart later recovered from his bout of madness (but not his loss of sight) and became a successful playright.

[quote] Donald Baumgart might very well have agreed to his own blindness, in exchange for one night of sex with Guy Woodhouse. Who knows with these crazy people.

Equally, he might have been able to turn invisible and might have had a secret robot friend, but that's not indicated in the book either. I think you're really reaching.

I'm the chalky-undertaste

I saw RB on TV as a kid, it was such a scary, shocking experience. I'll never forget the short-lived relief I felt when she saw Dr. Charles Grodin--finally, a sympathetic figure & a comedic actor I recognized--only to have my hopes dashed straightaway.

Probably my 2nd all-time fave horror flick (behind The Exorcist).

Upon re-watching this movie recently, it dawned on me that Guy from the beginning to end was quite abusive to Rosemary. Did this occur to anyone when watching this in the 60s, or is this my modern interpretation of his patriarchal behaviors?

Polanski? Wasn't it Milos Forman?

R20, it was Polanski.

That film opened over 50 years ago. If anyone on here actually saw it when it opened, I'm not sure they could remember at this point. I mean, holy shit....lol

I think only Rosemary saw the baby on its initial release. Oh, and the Satanists I guess.

R22, this is DataLounge. If someone claimed to have seen the Melies movie A Trip to the Moon on its original release, I'd probably believe it.

I remember it playing at the now-demolished Criterion Theatre in NYC. Not reserved seating like they used to have but still a line to get in to see it. Very creepy at the time and Mia Farrow was denied an Oscar nomination. I loved it.

[quote]I remember people I know who saw the original release telling me that they actually show the devil baby

People imagine things that are implied in movies, and then sometimes go absolutely bonkers with anger when they're told those scenes were never actually in the movie. Rosemary's Baby is one of those movies, you never see the baby but there are a lot of people who will scream at you if you say so. They'll insist the scenes have been deleted for some convoluted reason. On the IMDb boards, every so often, someone would start a thread demanding the FULL AND UNCENSORED!!! version of some movie be released, and they could not be reasoned with.

GWTW was another one, people insisted there were long scenes of actual Civil War battle and also that you actually saw the lynching.

R26, it's called The Mandela Effect

One of the most perfectly cast movies I’ve ever seen. I can’t imagine anyone else playing those roles.

The complusive eating of coffee grounds was creepy.

Well, r19 Guy was an egotistical actor and a bit sleazy. That’s why it was easy for him to sell out to the satanists. He was always an asshole.

In the book, when trying to explain the Donald Baumgart tie switch, Guy tells Rosemary, "I realize it was a slightly faggy thing to do, but..."

Very creepy, and I've never wanted to see it again.

[quote] That film opened over 50 years ago. If anyone on here actually saw it when it opened, I'm not sure they could remember at this point. I mean, holy shit....lol

Yes, there are actually people here over the age of sixty! Unthinkable, I know.

I was a teenager. It was quite the rage. My friends and I found the Satanic angle frightening. Disturbing. It's not until I rewatched it recently that I appreciated its marvelous Gothic tone. The performances are quite good. While I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, it was a very satisfying watch.

Guy (Cassavetes) was a complete asshole before he ever entered into a sell your soul deal. Self absorbed, dismissive of his wife, ferally ambitious, annoyed that he had to dine with older neighbors until the conversation turned to some idiotic gesture he made in a non speaking role. He was an easy fish for the satanists to reel in. All in with blinding a competitor, and allowing his wife to be raped by Satan. I was very amused at his depiction, bet Polanski really enjoyed laying it on thick because the character was an actor.

Btw, the film holds up very well. Just rewatched recently after many years.

The movie would not be the classic it is without Mia. She’s perfection (and I don’t even like the crazy bitch). And thank God Redford turned them down because his beauty would have worked against him. Guy should be beaten down and not classically handsome.

This is one of the best book-to-film adaptations ever. Probably in part because Polanski had never adapted a novel before, and he didn't realize he was "allowed" to change things. He was a bulldog for fidelity to the source. Ira Levin told a story about Polanski calling him to ask him about the issue of The New Yorker in which Guy sees an ad for a shirt he likes. Levin just assumed any issue of The New Yorker would have an ad with a nice men's shirt, but the issue for the corresponding month in the timeline did not.

Yet the movie isn't a flat pictorial ad in the way that some slavishly faithful adaptations of other media are. It has its own creepy, menace-beneath-blandness atmosphere and is really gripping. I agree with the praise for the cast. Farrow was only this good again in her Woody Allen period.

That's Tony Curtis on the phone as Donald, isn't it? Farrow wasn't told, and her puzzled reaction to a voice she recognizes but can't place was authentic.

I'm still amazed by the resemblance between Theresa Gionoffrio and the actress Victoria Vetri...

In the book, Terry G. was supposed to be a dead-ringer (no pun intended) for Anna Maria Alberghetti.

I'm not sure why they didn't use Alberhetti's name in the movie.

P.S. And yes, Polanski didn't tell Mia Farrow that Tony Curtis would the voice of Donald Baumgardner on the phone when they filmed that scene. I think Farrow's confusion at recognizing the voice and not being able to place it works very well in the scene - and adds to Farrow's character's confusion and awkwardness during that call.

"Hey you know Ro, I figured we could always have another kid."

^ So your old brother is the Devil, so what?

Everybody's got family problems!

"It's just plain old Lipton tea."

Such a down-to-earth witch!

No more need to waste tannis root on you, bitch. Your work is DONE.

I love the inside joke of Farrow telling Terry (aka Angela Dorian) that she looks like Victoria Vetri when Dorian IS VV. Btw Angela/Victoria is still with us and was just released from prison a few years ago. Apparently she shot her hubby.

I’m actually looking forward to the upcoming prequel with Dianne Wiest as Minnie and Julia Garner as Terry. Guy and Ro are supporting characters in the movie.

I was far too young to see it when the movie was released in June 1968...

and my immediate family was far to conservative to have let me watch it even if I had been older - it was considered very controversial, a major Hollywood movie that focused on Witches/Satanist (Hollywood painted with a broad brush in those days).

I did have an older cousin who was allowed to see it. And I remember being both fascinated and terrified by all the discussions surrounding the movie.

I imagine it was shocking in a way that similar to how "The Exorcist" was shocking (although that film is a hell of a lot more gratuitous). My mother, who grew up in the '70s, hates horror films and has a Catholic aversion to anything of this nature (she refuses to watch either of these films and has always told me that the mere thought of them terrifies her). I love both, though I actually think "Rosemary's Baby" is a better movie by quite a bit. If you haven't already, I'd highly recommend reading Ira Levin's book. I read it when I was in high school, and Polanksi's film version is VERY close to the source material. The only major difference I can remember is that there is a section in the book where Rosemary flees New York and goes to stay outside of the city for a few days. Other than that, Polanski's adaptation was quite faithful. "The Exorcist" by William Peter Blatty is also a fantastic novel.

[quote] "Rosemary's Baby" is a better movie by quite a bit.

Your mother sucks cocks in hell!

I always got a kick out of the fact that Rosemary's due date was June 28th, which is my birthday. I think the baby ends up being born on June 25th (?), which was a sort of Satanic reference, as it is exactly six months from Christmas Day—the inverse of Christ's "birthday". I could be misremembering this though from the book, or maybe I just read it somewhere and it's not actually made clear in either the book or the film?

My grandfather told me once that "Gone With the Wind" was considered very controversial when it was released in 1939, but not because how it dealt with the themes of slavery and race.

He said that the use of the word "damn" in a major motion picture was the source of all the outrage in the rural South where he lived at the time - and that he had to listen to far too many sermons and other condemnations of the movie.

I think "Rosemary's Baby" holds up very well.

It's a time capsule of the late 1960s - but it also seems timeless and still very relevant in many ways.

I don't think it would even be considered much of a Horror movie relative to today's violent slasher films.

But the way it conflates Witches and Satanists would probably be seen as ill-informed and offensive to some.

The original cut ran 4 hours and many scenes were filmed and cut including Ro and her friend Elise attending a performance of The Fantastiks where they run into Joan Crawford and Van Johnson. I’m not kidding.

[quote]the baby ends up being born on June 25th (?), which was a sort of Satanic reference, as it is exactly six months from Christmas Day—the inverse of Christ's "birthday". I could be misremembering this though from the book

No, that's correct. One of the Satanists at the party at the end says something to another about the birth being exactly six months away from Christmas, and I think he or she calls Christmas "you-know-what." The line didn't make it into the film.

R52, I would love to watch all the cut scenes.

I just watched it the other night. I always laugh out loud at the conversation between Roman and Minnie concerning Terri's death. She says Teri was probably washing windows and Roman sternly tells her that Teri wasn't washing windows. The way she snaps at him "Why not?!!"

I do think Guy was a fucking caveman towards Rosemary. The way he talks to her like he is her father about giving him the witches book. He also forbids her to see her original doctor, telling her that he won't pay. Asshole.

[Quote]I'm still amazed by the resemblance between Theresa Gionoffrio and the actress Victoria Vetri...

You do know that Victoria Vetri was the actress who played Teresa Gionoffrio

I think the devil makes her orgasm in the book.

I've always said they should do it again with John Travolta and Kirsty Allen playing Roman and Minnie Castevet. An assortment of other Hollywood Scientologists could round out the witch cast.

Sit down, Laura Louise.

I hated that bitch.

kidding.

[quote]The original cut ran 4 hours and many scenes were filmed and cut including Ro and her friend Elise attending a performance of The Fantastiks where they run into Joan Crawford and Van Johnson. I’m not kidding.

Some sources say Polanski never filmed the scene where Rosemary see Joan Crawford and Van Johnson at the theatre.

See the articles in this thread - "Was Joan Crawford Cut from the movie "Rosemary's Baby".

For some reason, I can't link the thread here.

This thread

I remember the joke that Summer of 1968 (well not much of a joke - but in our childish minds) was to say with mock concern, "Pray for Rosemary's Baby".

Was it really that shocking?

^ Yes!

Some adults talked about it in hushed tones.

Along with the hippie counterculture movement, "Rosemary's Baby" was considered a sign of the end of our civilization...

R18. I’m the same. The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby are my favorites. I actually waited a while to see The Exorcist. The creepy music got to me.

[quote]I thought it was a really big deal and couldn't wait to talk to Don about it later but he wasn't into discussing it and seemed puzzled by my girlish excitement over the whole thing.

Because you were excited over that, but not the orange sherbet at Howard Johnson's.

He ruined your life!

Rosemary's Baby is the only movie that scared me more as an adult than as a kid. I saw it when I was 13 and found it "meh". I saw it again a few years ago and was blown away.

R2 Was someone chopped up in it? I've been reading, of all things, Titus Andronicus, which is full of horrible things like that.