[Rating: Rock Fist Way Up]
Now streaming on MAX (Formally HBO Max)
In April 2020 during all the STRESS of the beginning of the pandemic, I got to rediscover TV shows that I hadn’t seen since I was a kid. One in particular, The Mary Tyler Moore Show became a staple for me in 2007. Something a preteen would have no interest in watching, and yet I did. Since then the terrific smile and charm of Mary Tyler Moore has stuck with me. Now, in a documentary I have been waiting for, Being Mary Tyler Moore (directed by James Adolphus) explores the famed television icon, giving fans a more personal side behind that smile.
For those of you who don’t know who Mary Tyler Moore was, or what she did for television, let’s get the quick rundown. In the 1960s, Moore played wife to Dick Van Dyke in The Dick Van Dyke Show. With the comedy writing of friend Carl Reiner, Moore was able to project herself against the housewife of the day into a more modern woman. She wore pants! She dyed her hair! She vacuumed wearing flats! She didn’t follow the mold of a typical pearl and dress housewife who waited for and became a servant to her husband.
After that show, Moore found mild success in film. But, it wasn’t until the 1970s, when Moore and her husband Grant Tinker created The Mary Tyler Moore Show. There, with help from James L. Brooks, Moore would once again bring a modern woman to screen. Mary Richards was a working and *gasp* unmarried woman. She dated, but never had a serious boyfriend in her life and became a role model for not only women of the day, but young girls who would look to Moore and Mary Richards as somebody to get inspired from. Then, after her successful run, Moore starred in the Oscar winning Ordinary People, giving her an Oscar nomination.
The film explores the later life of Moore, post the 1980s when she really became out of the public eye and became a more personal person to her new husband. This was a turning point for me in the documentary to see Moore so happy with life. Most of this tells of the troubles she faced having to keep the facade of celebrity and somebody who had to have that winning smile to keep appearances. The documentary also explores the lows she faced, including that of if she was really a feminist icon, or one wanting to be one.
Mary Tyler Moore passed away in 2017, but her legacy lives on in her various television roles and film roles. To me, she’s always going to be Mary Richards in one of my all time favorite shoes. Six years after her death and through archival footage, she is finally ready to tell her story through and through.
Christian Ramos is a classic film fan, having had the dream to host Turner Classic Movies for years now. He also has a large amount of Oscar trivia in his head, remembers dressing as Groucho Marx one Halloween, and cherishes the moment Julianne Moore liked his tweet.
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