Friday, December 10, 1999

Madeline Kahn's great moments are on video

The death last week of stage, screen and TV actress Madeline Kahn prompted some excellent clip retrospectives of her work. Seeing them reminded me of the really great moments she had onscreen over the years, especially in movies from the 1970s directed by Peter Bogdanovich and Mel Brooks. Luckily, all of these are available on video.
   Check out "What's Up, Doc?," the 1972 screwball comedy by Bogdanovich starring Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal. The best moments of this one don't belong to the stars but to supporting players Kahn (in a wild red wig) and Austin Pendleton (as a nerdy rockhound). While the glamorous leads endeavor to keep their hairdos smooth, Kahn and Pendleton steal the picture right out from under them.
   Kahn was Oscar-nominated for her blowzy turn as carnival cutie Miss Trixie Delight in the Peter Bogdanovich comedy "Paper Moon."
   Shot in black and white, this 1973 hit stars Ryan O'Neal as a widow-scamming, Depression-era Bible huckster who uses a quick-witted little girl named Addie (real-life daughter Tatum O'Neal, who won an Oscar for this at age 7) to help boost sales.
   On their travels across the Midwest, he picks up the tarty Delight, much to the dismay of Addie. The best scene has Miss Trixie stopping for yet another "winky-tink" along the roadside. On a windy hillside, which she climbs in teetering heels, she negotiates with scowling Addie for a little more time with her new boyfriend. It's funny and touching and Kahn's Southern accent fairly drips with desperation.
   Mel Brooks' comedies also used Kahn's strengths as a comedienne and singer. She used her bell-clear soprano (not to mention her awesome gams) to great effect in spoofs of Marlene Dietrich in "Blazing Saddles" (1974) and Elsa "Bride of Frankenstein" Lanchester in "Young Frankenstein" (1974).
   She was back with Brooks' acting troupe - Cloris Leachman, Harvey Korman, Ron Carey, Howie Morris - in "High Anxiety" (1977), an uneven send-up of Hitchcock thrillers that has one or two really funny moments that are worth the price of a rental.
   And don't forget to look for Kahn in a few brief but memorable moments in the role of big-haired Southern blabbermouth Martha Mitchell in Oliver Stone's 1995 drama "Nixon," starring Anthony Hopkins in the title role.
   Kahn most recently played the best friend on CBS' "Cosby" series. She was always good on television, notably her chatty, inventive, always engaging guest shots on talk shows hosted by Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, Johnny Carson and others. Too bad those aren't captured on video.
   One can occasionally catch her in sketches from 1970s-era episodes of "Saturday Night Live" that run on cable's Comedy Central. She had some hilarious moments opposite Gilda Radner, who, like Kahn, had that rare ability to infuse moments of comedy with genuine humanity and sweetness.
  
  
  

 
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