Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me
Film poster
Directed byChiemi Karasawa
Produced byChiemi Karasawa
Elizabeth Hemmerdinger
StarringElaine Stritch
CinematographyShane Sigler
Joshua Z. Weinstein
Rod Lamborn
Edited byKjerstin Rossi
Pax Wassermann
Music byKristopher Bowers
Distributed bySundance Selects
Release dates
  • April 19, 2013 (2013-04-19) (Tribeca Film Festival)
  • February 20, 2014 (2014-02-20) (United States)
Running time
81 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$288,896[1]

Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me is a 2013 American documentary film directed by Chiemi Karasawa about the life and career of Elaine Stritch.[2] Alec Baldwin and Broadway producer Cheryl Wiesenfeld served as executive producers on the film. It opened in theaters on 21 February 2014,[2] shortly before Stritch's death in July 2014.[3]

Karasawa and crew began following Stritch in 2011, she was 86 at the time.[4]

Subjects

In addition to Stritch, several of her close friends and collaborators were featured in the film:

The film was also dedicated to the memory of Gandolfini, who died before it was released.[5]

Release

The film had limited release in US theaters on 21 February 2014.[2]

It has been released to video on demand[6] and was later available on Netflix.[7]

Reception

Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me holds a 99% rating at Rotten Tomatoes from 67 reviews, with an average score of 7.89/10. The critical consensus reads: "Brutally honest and utterly compelling, Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me offers a riveting, vanity-free portrait of its legendary subject while offering a few essential truths about the human condition."[8]

Jake Coyle of The Associated Press called it "an irresistibly entertaining documentary that captures Stritch during what she unsentimentally calls 'almost post-time.' After seven decades performing in New York — on Broadway, in countless cabaret nights at the Cafe Carlyle — Stritch's enormous energy has been knocked by the increasing years, diabetes, and surgeries on her hip and eyes. But Shoot Me, made over the last few years, is a document not of Stritch's dwindling, but of her feisty persistence."[9]

References

  1. ^ "Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 15 April 2014. Domestic Total as of Apr. 13, 2014
  2. ^ a b c Holden, Stephen (20 February 2014). "Recalling Velvet, Pretzels and Beer, She's Still Here". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  3. ^ Weber, Bruce (18 July 2014). "Elaine Stritch, Broadway's Enduring Dame, Dies at 89". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  4. ^ "Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me". Rolling Stone. February 21, 2014.
  5. ^ "James Gandolfini died of cardiac arrest". News24. Associated Press. June 20, 2013. Archived from the original on December 9, 2018. Retrieved September 16, 2014.
  6. ^ Hetrick, Adam (17 March 2014). ""Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me" Documentary Now Available On Demand". Playbill.com. Archived from the original on 18 March 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  7. ^ Bernstein, Paula (25 July 2014). "8 New Documentaries Streaming on Netflix Now: 'Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me,' 'Gideon's Army' and More". Indiewire. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  8. ^ "Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  9. ^ Coyle, Jake (26 March 2014). "Movie review: 'Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me'". Associated Press. Retrieved 15 April 2014.

External links

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