Of the four female icons in the cast of These Old Broads only one so far at least has chosen this to be her last film. It could and should be the coda for the careers of Shirley MacLaine, Debbie Reynolds, Joan Collins, and Elizabeth Taylor.
The first three play aging film stars who co-starred in a musical that has become a cult item and has just had a smash hit re-release. What better than a nice television special reuniting the three.
Only problem is that they all can't stand each other. It's going to take someone of the skills of a Mideast peace negotiator to bring them all together. The catalyst might be Jonathan Silverman who is MacLaine's estranged, adopted son. Of course it turns out to be their agent, Elizabeth Taylor who deals from a financial point of view.
MacLaine, Collins, and Reynolds must have really been great sports about this female version of The Sunshine Boys. All the roles that Reynolds daughter Carrie Fisher wrote were such dead-on satires of each one of them. The three look like they're having a great old time spoofing themselves, it's positively infectious for the audience.
Of course the real highlight is at the beginning when Reynolds goes to see Taylor about the reunion. Today's audience cannot possibly appreciate all the innuendo because they weren't around in the Fifties when the Elizabeth Taylor-Eddie Fisher-Debbie Reynolds triangle was the number one news story in the nation. President Eisenhower was having trouble getting as much ink as the most famous movie love triangle ever. And that was only until the Richard Burton-Elizabeth Taylor-Eddie Fisher triangle topped that one.
You could never have imagined over 40 years later seeing Taylor and Reynolds on the screen together. Older, wiser, and sadder, they definitely came to a meeting of the minds about Eddie Fisher.
Collins and MacLaine don't lack for good material either, all of them are just fabulous. These Old Broads is an old stargazer's dream.
