{"id":95787,"date":"2015-02-08T11:13:07","date_gmt":"2015-02-08T16:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=95787"},"modified":"2015-02-08T11:21:11","modified_gmt":"2015-02-08T16:21:11","slug":"r-i-p-lizabeth-scott","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=95787","title":{"rendered":"R.I.P. Lizabeth Scott"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"lizabeth-scott-reflection_opt\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\nLizabeth Scott, of the smoky voice, the tough hard eyes, the lean body with beautiful dangerous curves, has died at the age of 92.<\/a><\/p>\n

Hers was not a lengthy career and it petered out a bit after the heyday of noir, although she kept working up until 1972.<\/p>\n

She gave memorable performances in great noirs, such as Dead Reckoning<\/i> with Bogart, Pitfall<\/i>, I Walk Alone<\/i>, and Dark City<\/i>. Her final film was the wonderful Pulp<\/i> in 1972, starring Michael Caine and Mickey Rooney. If you saw her once, you never forgot her. <\/p>\n

I love the quote from Scott in The Hollywood Reporter about film noir:<\/p>\n

The films that I had seen growing up were always, \u2018Boy meets girl, boy ends up marrying girl, and they go off into the sunset.’ And suddenly [in the 1940s], psychology was taking a grasp on society in America. That\u2019s when they got into these psychological, emotional things that people feel. That was the feeling of film noir. \u2026 It was a new realm, something very exiting, because you were coming closer and closer to reality.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Scott was another one of producer Hal Wallis’ contracts, and he put her in Loving You<\/i>, Elvis’ second film, about a simple country delivery boy who takes the music world by storm. A rags-to-riches. Unlike Love Me Tender<\/i>, Presley’s debut, which was a period piece, placing Elvis in an established ensemble, Loving You<\/i> was an Elvis vehicle, created specifically for him, commenting on his impact in the culture. Lizabeth Scott, smooth and silky as well as hard-bitten and relentless, plays the press agent who discovers him singing at a country fair. Dollar bills spin in her eyes. Lust also spins. So they begin a partnership, with her taking him to the top, and … subtly … with the expectation that he will re-pay her in return. It’s subversive and strange, and Elvis plays the scenes with her beautifully, treating her with old-school Southern manners, filled with gratitude for all she has done for him, but not sure if he wants to … you know … sleep with her. <\/p>\n

Additionally, she tries to turn him into something he’s not, forcing him to wear skin-tight faux cowboy outfits, basically turning him into a gimmick. A gimmick that is a slam-dunk with audiences. Elvis gives one of the great camp (and I mean that as a compliment) performances in his career, and in any career, in the “cowboy” number.<\/p>\n

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