ELAINE STRITCH: SHOOT ME Opens in Theaters

Published on Feb 22nd, 2014
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Written by Derrick Jones
derrickjones1@gmail.com

“Never Be Afraid to Be Legendary”

Nearly a year after it premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me, the poignant, touching, and heartwarming documentary providing a no-holds-bar look at the life of Broadway legend Elaine Stritch, received its theatrical release in New York this weekend. Look for it in other markets, including Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington in the coming weeks.

(Click here to read TheCinemaSource.com‘s original review)

In the run-up to the film’s New York opening, Stritch has been making the rounds with the press and at capacity-crowd events around Manhattan. Those appearances have been driving home an underlying theme that plays throughout Chemi Karasawa’s 82-minute flick: this is Stritch approaching her final curtain call. (Stritch turned 89 on February 2).

In the year since Shoot Me debuted at Tribeca, Stritch has moved back to her home state of Michigan opting to be closer to family. It’s clear that her daily struggle with diabetes is taking its toll on one of the most formidable women ever to tread the boards. Stritch has also had more than her fair share of medical speed bumps over the past year, including two different falls and during press appearances last week, and at Thursday night’s red carpet, was being ushered around (clad in fur from head to toe) in a wheelchair.

But even with her frailties on full display as Shoot Me prepared to open large, Stritch is proving that she hasn’t left the stage yet and is taking no prisoners.

In addition to joining Twitter (follower her @ElaineStritch) this week, Stritch made headlines the world over when, appearing on the fourth hour of NBC’s Today Show Wednesday morning, she dropped the f-bomb on live air.

“If you just say things naturally, it’s fine!” Stritch proclaimed as Kathie Lee Gifford gave the legend a food massage. “You know, they just think in fuck.”

And who can argue with that?