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Why wasn't Cuba Gooding in the TV version of Trip to Bountiful?

Posted by: bobby2 04:25 am EDT 04/03/14

I just caught the film today. It was different than I'd expected. A little more comedic than the Geraldine Page movie. Is it usually like that on stage?


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re: Why wasn't Cuba Gooding in the TV version of Trip to Bountiful?

Posted by: Thom915 09:47 pm EDT 04/03/14
In reply to: Why wasn't Cuba Gooding in the TV version of Trip to Bountiful? - bobby2 04:25 am EDT 04/03/14

The two times I had seen it previously onstage it was almost totally devoid of humor and I was so pleasantly surprised at the warmth and humor in the Cicely Tyson Broadway version. It removed any false or forced sentimentality from the play and from the character making her so very real to me. I thought the humor onstage came though even stronger than it did in the Tyson movie perhaps because of Rashad but I thought Vanessa Williams too seemed much more humerous on the stage. She was fine in the film however and the person I truly missed was Wopat.


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I missed Condola Rashad more

Posted by: Marlo*Manners 11:44 am EDT 04/03/14
In reply to: Why wasn't Cuba Gooding in the TV version of Trip to Bountiful? - bobby2 04:25 am EDT 04/03/14

Keke Palmer was warm and sympathetic as Thelma but Condola Rashad had more variety. Rashad also brought a lot humor to the scene in the train station. Rashad played with the sly humor of a bystander getting sucked into being a conspirator in a family drama. She played up the curiosity and unease while being forced into telling little white lies. She also was very empathetic in the bus scene and in the train station where she and Carrie Watts part ways.

Cuba Gooding played Ludie as a whiny, mealy-mouthed momma's boy and henpecked husband. He was uninteresting and overplayed. His delivery was slightly stilted at all times.

Blair Underwood as Ludie is more of harried leading man type - still very good looking. In the final scene in Bountiful, Carrie Watts mentions that he looks like her father and her father was a good looking man - so Underwood's leading man appearance did pay off there. You also understood how he could land a stunner like Vanessa Williams and she also mentions that when she met him she thought he was the handsomest man. With Gooding, you would think Williams would have dumped him years ago.

Underwood really evoked the tension of being caught between two strong-willed women.

Marlo Manners (Lady Barrington)


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re: I missed Condola Rashad more

Posted by: perfectlyfrank 04:00 pm EDT 04/03/14
In reply to: I missed Condola Rashad more - Marlo*Manners 11:44 am EDT 04/03/14

I thought Underwood worked well in the role for precisely the reasons you mentioned. Those last moments really landed for me. Fine work by all but I continue to be impressed by Tyson. I first remember her in SOUNDER and since then, she's never failed to amaze me. Such a lovely portrayal.


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re: Why wasn't Cuba Gooding in the TV version of Trip to Bountiful?

Posted by: TheHarveyBoy 06:54 am EDT 04/03/14
In reply to: Why wasn't Cuba Gooding in the TV version of Trip to Bountiful? - bobby2 04:25 am EDT 04/03/14

Cuba probably wasn't available, or wanted too much money. But the truth is he was terrible in the Broadway version so it's just as well.

As for the humor, this production, both on Broadway and TV, was definitely directed towards the comedic. I thought it generally worked, although sometimes it felt like clowning.


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re: Why wasn't Cuba Gooding in the TV version of Trip to Bountiful?

Posted by: lowwriter 09:40 am EDT 04/03/14
In reply to: re: Why wasn't Cuba Gooding in the TV version of Trip to Bountiful? - TheHarveyBoy 06:54 am EDT 04/03/14

Gooding was nervous when I saw him but not terrible.


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re: Why wasn't Cuba Gooding in the TV version of Trip to Bountiful?

Posted by: MarjorieMae 10:11 am EDT 04/03/14
In reply to: re: Why wasn't Cuba Gooding in the TV version of Trip to Bountiful? - lowwriter 09:40 am EDT 04/03/14

I saw the play well into the run and apparently he improved because he was fine at the performance I attended. I thought the funny touches made Carrie more feisty and less of the usual beaten-up person usually portrayed.


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re: Why wasn't Cuba Gooding in the TV version of Trip to Bountiful?

Posted by: bpw2005 10:57 am EDT 04/03/14
In reply to: re: Why wasn't Cuba Gooding in the TV version of Trip to Bountiful? - MarjorieMae 10:11 am EDT 04/03/14

I saw it the day before he left, and he was overplaying the scenes to the point of being distracting. No one wants to see a grown man stomp and pout like a child in this role. For the film's sake, I'm glad he was busy.


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