With the unfortunate passing of Betty White on New Year’s Eve at the age of 99, fans and fellow entertainers alike flock to pay tribute to this screen legend. Betty’s most known for her television work on The Golden Girls and Hot In Cleveland, and down the line on the big screen with romantic comedies The Proposal and You Again.
In the late 90s, she had supporting roles in two genre film gems that saw her deliver wit and humor in both features.
The first is 1998’s Hard Rain. This is an action/heist/disaster film hybrid that was originally supposed to be John Woo’s follow-up to Broken Arrow.
Unfortunately, he left the project during development. Paramount shifted him to direct Face/Off instead. Danish cinematographer-turned-director Mikael Solomon replaced Woo. Solomon left some of Woo’s stylistic touches conceived during development intact within his own direction.
At times, the film feels like a watered-down John Woo flick. Pun intended.
Hard Rain tells the story of a small Indiana town getting consumed by a massive flood. A gang of petty criminals, led by Morgan Freeman, take advantage of the situation to commit a heist on an armored truck urgently trying to transport a large sum of cash from the local bank before things really go south. Christian Slater and Ed Asner are the armored truck drivers.
Minnie Driver is a local woman trying to save her church from destruction, often dodging orders from the authorities to evacuate.
To add further chaos to the whole narrative equation, you have Randy Quaid (Independence Day, Kingpin, Vegas Vacation) as an embittered Sheriff. He goes into business for himself when he learns of the heist taking place. Randy Quaid was on a pretty solid stardom stream between 1996 and 1998.
To add even more chaos into the narrative, the local dam is facing a threat of breaking. The entire town is at risk of being submerged in pure destruction.
Betty White only has a few scenes in the film. As you know, Betty never misses a beat. She plays a grouchy old woman who utterly refuses to evacuate her home due to a fear of looters coming in to ransack the place and take anything valuable.
Betty takes no lip from anyone and constantly serves as a source of annoyance to her submissive husband. He becomes so annoyed by her that he’s almost willing to hand her over to the villains after crossing paths with them in one of the most notable scenes between the two.
The film is not a masterpiece by any means., It is a fun VHS genre classic that further defines why these films are so fun to watch in the 80s and 90s. With an abundance of practical effects, Hard Rain manages to elevate itself to more realistic looking imagery.
If it were to be made today, the film would be rife with massive amounts of CGI.
Genre films of this type (ones not attached to comic book or franchise properties) don’t get the biggest of budgets. Black Rain is a fun, relatively thrilling, mid-budget action film, that sees its talented cast having a good time with the material.
With a moderately-sharp script and a 98 minute runtime the plot flows along smoothly, never really leaving any room for things to slow down. Above all, it’s one of two showcases for the work that White did within the genre film department.
Betty White came really close to having a John Woo film on her resume.
The second half of this double feature is 1999’s Lake Placid. This is an animal horror/creature feature that harkens back to the popular films of the 70s and 80s.
It revolves around a killer croc terrorizing the town of Lake Placid, New York. It features a notable cast including Bill Pullman (Independence Day), Bridgette Fonda, Brendan Gleason, Oliver Platt, and the lovely Betty White.
At the age of 16, I went in expecting a generic creature-feature and came out of it with a new genre cult favorite.
Lake Placid blends intense thrills with a great sense of humor and makes for a good time. The movies was a box office dud. Word of mouth shot this film into cult notoriety in the video rental market. Today, it’s recognized as a cult horror favorite.
Lake Placid influenced a number of copycats, including Primal and Rogue. Both lack the sense of humor that made this one quite unique.
Betty White provides one of the plot’s biggest revelations and it’s glorious. She was able to apply her cheekiness and wit to the character providing the film’s funniest moments.
Lake Placid’s a testament to the range of talent that Betty White had. Betty was an industry veteran since the 40s. She managed to keep up with the times and apply her unflinching wit to any project she was a part of.
This genre film double feature makes for a great viewing experience to honor outside of the work she was most known for. White was famous for her impeccable comic timing and her admirable contributions as an animal lover/ equal rights activist.
We lost a true gem in the entertainment industry, when Betty White passed away.
