Let me start off by saying I enjoyed this film for several reasons but when the soundtrack is good it definitely elevates the film to a whole new level! Kudos to film composer Rachel Portman! Well Done! This soundtrack transported me back to a nostalgic taste of late 60's/early 1970's Queens, NY! I was a kid back then but the sights and sounds brought me back to that time period. I remember seeing this film in the theater with my grandmother one winter afternoon in 1993 and she told me about the song The Sky Fell Down sung by a young Frank Sinatra accompanied by Tommy Dorsey and it has stayed with me ever since and whenever I hear this song I always remember her and that delightful afternoon we spent together.
As for the cast, I enjoyed the performances by Shirley MacLaine, Jessica Tandy, Marcia Gay Harden, Kathy Bates and Marcello Mastroianni and a special honorable mention to some of the secondary actors such as Doris Roberts as Aunt Lonnie, even then you see it was a forerunner to her eventual success as Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond! I always envisioned an episode on ELR where Doris Roberts ( Marie Barone) stars opposite Shirley MacLaine in a rival-like reunion where Shirley gives Doris a run for her money! Maybe she could have played Debra's snooty aunt from Connecticut or maybe one of Marie's rich cousins sort of like what Jean Stapleton played in one of the earlier ELR episodes at a family funeral.
I also enjoyed Marcia G Harden and Kathy Bates' performances as the quarreling sisters. I think almost every family has sibling rivalry but they really knocked it out of the park for me! I can identify with both sisters but I can empathize with Kathy Bates as Bibi (Barbara Berman) in her role as the dutiful ugly duckling who gets overlooked by her mother who gives her TLC to her younger sister who has an emotional breakdown due to her son's crib death. At first I felt that Marcia G Harden ( Norma Shulman) was vain and selfish but then I came to understand her better as her character evolves and matures later in the film. I also enjoyed a scene between MacLaine and Bates in the hallway of her building when Pearl (MacLaine) goes on an angry tirade to tell her daughter BiBi (Bates) that she was sorry that she hadn't felt loved as a child but had other things on her mind like WWII and the Depression and that if she had reflected on her own life (Pearl) and what she had missed a rage would come out of her that would blow Bibi and Queens off the face of the GD map! Wow! Talk about unexpressed anger!!! Personally, I think they were both right in their assessment of life and the people around them. Words do have power and Pearl sadly destroyed her daughter Bibi's self-esteem and Pearl had to be made aware of that even though she hated to be reproached about it by BiBi I can also identify with Sweet Pea played by Matthew Branton who engages in reckless behavior thinking he is protected by his late grandfather, Jack but in reality he is a young wounded boy in a great deal of emotional pain due to family loss and his mother's own emotional baggage. Who could forget Bibi's delightful children reciting their little anecdotal tales about Easter and praying to be led out of Penn Station.
Overall, Used People is a fine and underrated film with an equally fine soundtrack/score which transports you back to Queens in the late 1960's. Highly recommend to watch at least once!
As for the cast, I enjoyed the performances by Shirley MacLaine, Jessica Tandy, Marcia Gay Harden, Kathy Bates and Marcello Mastroianni and a special honorable mention to some of the secondary actors such as Doris Roberts as Aunt Lonnie, even then you see it was a forerunner to her eventual success as Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond! I always envisioned an episode on ELR where Doris Roberts ( Marie Barone) stars opposite Shirley MacLaine in a rival-like reunion where Shirley gives Doris a run for her money! Maybe she could have played Debra's snooty aunt from Connecticut or maybe one of Marie's rich cousins sort of like what Jean Stapleton played in one of the earlier ELR episodes at a family funeral.
I also enjoyed Marcia G Harden and Kathy Bates' performances as the quarreling sisters. I think almost every family has sibling rivalry but they really knocked it out of the park for me! I can identify with both sisters but I can empathize with Kathy Bates as Bibi (Barbara Berman) in her role as the dutiful ugly duckling who gets overlooked by her mother who gives her TLC to her younger sister who has an emotional breakdown due to her son's crib death. At first I felt that Marcia G Harden ( Norma Shulman) was vain and selfish but then I came to understand her better as her character evolves and matures later in the film. I also enjoyed a scene between MacLaine and Bates in the hallway of her building when Pearl (MacLaine) goes on an angry tirade to tell her daughter BiBi (Bates) that she was sorry that she hadn't felt loved as a child but had other things on her mind like WWII and the Depression and that if she had reflected on her own life (Pearl) and what she had missed a rage would come out of her that would blow Bibi and Queens off the face of the GD map! Wow! Talk about unexpressed anger!!! Personally, I think they were both right in their assessment of life and the people around them. Words do have power and Pearl sadly destroyed her daughter Bibi's self-esteem and Pearl had to be made aware of that even though she hated to be reproached about it by BiBi I can also identify with Sweet Pea played by Matthew Branton who engages in reckless behavior thinking he is protected by his late grandfather, Jack but in reality he is a young wounded boy in a great deal of emotional pain due to family loss and his mother's own emotional baggage. Who could forget Bibi's delightful children reciting their little anecdotal tales about Easter and praying to be led out of Penn Station.
Overall, Used People is a fine and underrated film with an equally fine soundtrack/score which transports you back to Queens in the late 1960's. Highly recommend to watch at least once!