Like its subject herself this is a one-off and a priceless record of a unique entertainer still going strong at 87. It's so good that you find yourself wishing that someone had done the same for George Burns, Jack Benny, Bob Hope and certainly Judy Garland, those artists who somehow transcend iconic and penetrate our psyches the way a harpoon penetrates the blubber protecting a whale. Stritch is seen at both high and low points and though there are nods to her early career - which took off in the late forties in Revue - the bulk of the footage celebrates her later years including the outstanding one-woman show Elaine Stritch At Liberty though the good thing is that it doesn't re-cycle the material from that Tony-winner. She is, of course, closely identified with Sondheim material and though the composer/lyricist is seen a couple of times he is conspicuous by his failure to offer a personal comment as, for example, Alec Baldwin does. This was so noticeable that an audience member brought it up at the Q & A after the screening and the question was fielded by Rob Bowden, Stritch's accompanist for several years, who said that though they formed a mutual admiration society there was also an underlying tension. Fair enough and she doesn't really need an endorsement from Sondheim or, indeed, from anyone. She is her own best Advance Man and long may she continue to be.
Review of Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me
