'Why must everything be a contest?' *Literally competes with her child in the pool and skips away like it's an actual victory*

Love how this plays in again when she's older. She purposefully orders her a rare steak as passive punishment.

If Gordon Ramsay was there, he would say, "IT'S RAW, RAAAAWWW, RAAAAW!!!"

In the book, Christina writes that when Joan was a little girl, her mother served what looked like mashed potatoes on the table. Joan took a huge portion, and her mother warned that whatever she took, she would have to eat all of it. Joan laughed, and said yes. Well, the mashed potatoes turned out to be parsnips, and Joan was forced to eat the entire portion. Looks like the apple does not fall very far from the tree.

The food on the plate reflects what Christina writes in her book. She says that the meat portion always greatly outsized all the other food on the plate because Joan once noticed how she would swallow a vegetable portion along with a meat portion so as to hide the taste of the raw meat. After that, poor Christina always ran out of vegetables while still having to deal with half of the meat portion.

I always tell people if you wanna see a real horror movie watch mommie dearest

That silver dress she wore was beautiful

4:28 "Why must everything be a contest?!" Uh, because you let it, Joan.

I dont blame her. That meat looked nasty af

Based on what I've read, many baby boomers could relate to this scene. From being forced to stay at the table for hours to having it served at each subsequent meal until they did eat it.

I like that Christina defended herself here

That raw ass steak is still mooing.

The maid and Christopher looked like they were scared to breathe around Joan.

To be fair, that meat was dangerously raw. I’m glad Christina didn’t eat it.

"The doctor said so!" Well, The doctors at this time also suggested smoking was good for you.

Christina had an excellent point. Raw meat is not for your health.

Mara Hobel (Christina) was a good little actress in this, and should have been nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

I don't blame Christina. I wouldn't eat that blood thing either.🤢🤢

In the movie "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane", there is a scene where Blanche (Joan) is being starved by Jane (Bette Davis). When Jane is out of the house, Blanche sneaks into her bedroom, finds a box of chocolates, and begins to eagerly consume them. Joan demanded that the crew put in CUBES OF RARE MEAT to pose as chocolates! I understand that she was concerned about calories, but, damn, she could have asked that they put pieces of fruit instead. She really loved her rare meat!

I absolutely love Joan's silver dress in this clip.

The actress Myrna Loy, who once worked in some production with Christina, claimed that the latter was very difficult and stubborn, and ended up getting fired. Whatever the case, I still believe Christina's account of Joan. I think a lot of that tenacity came from her horrible childhood days. Her stubbornness certainly won out here in that Joan finally caved in with respect to the meat.

Christina wants her shit well done 😂

From a young age she had to learn to defend herself from her own mother.

Exactly how my mom was when I was little she forced me to eat what she cooked even if that food was expired or if I didn’t like it my childhood was a nightmare and my relationship with my mother too

That look that Christina gave her at 2:24

True story, according to Natalie Schaefer (Mrs. Howell from "Gilligan's Island"). Joan once told her how Christopher, Christina's brother, asked Joan if he could have a piece of candy from a box of chocolates. She told him he could have only one, but when she caught him sneaking another, she made him eat the entire box. He then vomited the chocolates back up. Joan proudly told Natalie how he would never do that again. 😵

I woulda took my whipping proudly cause you got me fkd up ms maam

If the props in this scene hold true, I notice that Joan and the boy did not come close to finishing their own meals. This clearly was a case of Joan singling out Christina.

Totally forgot that other kid even existed

That steak still had a pulse, that's why I prefer medium rare.

I understood this scene too... That was me and the person that raised me ALL DAY LONG. People thought back then making you eat what you don't like was healthy. I say it was torture! I made sure I broke that habit with my children. That meat is probably what made her health go bad after she had those pains Later Yeah one day I sat from breakfast to dinner time because I hated oatmeal. Lol.... Sometimes I got to go in the corners forever because I hated Pig feet. Or anything like that. Yes it was a contest. Lol

CHRISTINA, EAT YOUR LUNCH!!!!

I’m surprised that the younger brother ate it lol

“Why must everything be a contest” you have been competing with this girl since the day she leaned to walk be so fr Joan😭

it sounds like Joan couldnt stop being a dramatic actress even when she stopped acting.

I wouldn't even feed raw meat to my own children if they preferred medium rare than that school long as it's been cooked but being your child a straight-up Ross state that seems disgusting

Christina's glare years later when she gets the steak again and Christina gives Joan that evil glare of what happened to her when she was younger*** This is child abuse**** I hate Joan Crawford and what she did to those children and never left them anything in her will what an evil woman she was.

That's too heavy for lunch

Looks Raw to me

I mean, it was not as if Christina was refusing to eat. She only asked for the meat to be well done.

Madam was so gorgeous back in her days

Good film 🎥♥️

Her twins ate it rare with no problem Christina was very strong willed and so was Joan they clashed

Thanks to the time machine of KZfaq.. I wasn't even Born yet on 1981😂

No, I don't think I'd eat that dogfood either.

She might get food poisoning if she ate that so terrible

I’d sit there all night if I had to. No way am I getting salmonella.

I feel the little girl Mara hoble did some amazing acting in this movie.

That meat was clearly raw.

Sometimes I look at this and see why she snapped but then I'm reminded that she was already unhinged

Part of the reason why joan was angry because of rationing during the war and post depression.

When I was a kid, I would sit at the table all night if I didn't want to eat something I didn't like. It just wasn't happening.

That little Christina!!!!!

This was during wartime. Food was rationed at the time. The book mentioned that Joan got steak on the black market. The book also mentioned that only parts of the house were using electricity. I can see why Joan didn't want her to waste her food. I can also see how a child can over exaggerate this scene.

Yes Christina work..

I would've taken starvation too🤢

All the A1 sauce in the world wouldn’t make me want to eat that bloody steak

2:47 Thats some morticia addams lighting

The mother is a narcissist !!!

So, she tries to force Christina to eat rare meat because of the nutritional benefits, but punishes her by starving her for 2 days because she didn't eat it. Talk about defeating the purpose! 🤦

good question joan!

So, after Joan left, why didn't Christina find some place outside to dump the food where Joan would never locate it, and leave the dish by her bed to make it look as if she ate the meal?

That is raw and cannot be eaten. I'd throw it into her mom's face.

Mommy dearest

This steak was purchased on the black market, for an enormous price,. during the heart of the depression.

considering the popular ketogenic diets today, that was actually quite a healthy plate and rare steak has less free radicals as only the outside surface of a healthy cut of meat is the risky part that needs to be seared to kill of the bacteria. But, the mindset back in those days was that anything well-done or burnt like burnt toast was considered unhealthy and may cause cancer.

I think Joan should have allowed Christina's meat to be cooked of a little bit longer because not everybody likes to eat a rare steak Some of us only like medium Rare.

I like her

Movie scared me mommy was a nutcase

This is how my parents were when I didn't want to eat

Joan was in competition with Christina which was so pathetic

That steak looks raw to me. I prefer medium rare myself.

Side note: baby girl, I’ll eat that for you mommy dearest thank you for this steak I’d totally scarf that even though it’s literally raw

Sad thing is that Carol Ann tolerates this behavior!

Food poisoning will happen

This scene makes me hungry

I guess she damn mom cook the damn steak and put some seasoning

0:55 🎬

I Have My Vitamins This Morning 🌄 Pills 💊💊💊

Joan's look at the very start of this scene. She already looks evil and like some shit is about to go down.

There’s a final line between rare and raw. That steak is so raw it’s drenched in blood. What parent gives their child RAW raw meat?

This movie is so disturbing it shouldn't have been made.

Geez, fix the kid mac & cheese

This is abusive and terrible, but god that meat looks delicious. (I have horrible taste)

Raw meat

It Is Raw Gordon Ramsay Would Say That

Not gonna lie, I was kind of on Joan's side at first. Like obviously you want to teach your kids to eat food they attempt to rebel against and the steak didn't look the worst. Like I feel like I definitely have eaten steaks that look like that but then the fact that she attempted to make Christina eat it while it was clearly rotting like the Krabby Patty that Krabs gave to the health inspector in Spongebob was when I was like "OK now you're just straight up poisoning your child." Also I'm curious why she was targeting Christina so much. Was Christopher eating his rare meat or was he given a more cooked steak or was he also rebelling but Joan didn't really take notice to him?

LOL. According to Bette Davis (and later Tom Petty, who used Faye Dunaway in a music video), Faye was a bitch to work with. Interesting story. Natasha Ryan, who played Sibyl as a little girl in the movie "Sybil", said that the actress playing her abusive mother kept apologizing to her after every brutal scene. Why do I think that Faye never batted an eye in her scenes with Mara Hobel? 🤣

I'm going to take the counter opinion here and say that that steak looked delicious. But I'm partial to rare steak. There's just a more true flavor to it. Especially when you shellac a little Worcestershire sauce on it with some flavorful vegetables. Divine

I like my meat rare too but that stake was still mooing.

And y’all know the meat ain’t seasoned either

I personally like rare meat, but it's mean to force a kid to eat a whole plate of something they don't like. But at least she didn't force her to wake up to eat it

In italiano io sono italiano per favore aiutatemi a trovarlo vi prego

How the rich was back in the day with their privilege fortunate children LOL making them earn their keep waste not want not😆 let's not forget the doctor said she needed to eat red meat people.

4:28 this was honestly the only scene I genuinely thought was funny

That’s not rare the cows still living

That spoiled daughter did not even get a red cent at end 😂

Eww! I don't like rare meat. No, thank you! 🤚

Why must EVERYthing be a C*NTest?

Does she think her daughter what?🥺🥺🤮 hannibal letcher ?