Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me
2013 American film
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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. Karasawa and crew began filming Stritch in 2011, following her life at age 86.[3] The film's theatrical release in February 2014[2] preceded Stritch's death that July.[4]
Elizabeth Hemmerdinger
Joshua Z. Weinstein
Rod Lamborn
| Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me | |
|---|---|
Film poster | |
| Directed by | Chiemi Karasawa |
| Produced by | Chiemi Karasawa Elizabeth Hemmerdinger |
| Starring | Elaine Stritch |
| Cinematography | Shane Sigler Joshua Z. Weinstein Rod Lamborn |
| Edited by | Kjerstin Rossi Pax Wassermann |
| Music by | Kristopher Bowers |
| Distributed by | Sundance Selects |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 81 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $288,896[1] |
Subjects
In addition to Stritch, several close friends and collaborators appear in the film:
- Alec Baldwin
- Rob Bowman
- Tina Fey
- James Gandolfini
- Paul Iacono
- Cherry Jones
- Julie Keyes
- Nathan Lane
- Tracy Morgan
- Harold Prince
- John Turturro
- George C. Wolfe
The film was dedicated to the memory of Gandolfini, who died during its production.[5]
Release
Several film festivals screened the documentary through 2013. The film's limited release in US theaters on 21 February 2014[2] was followed by video on demand,[6] then 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]