Then came the mother of all tearjerkers, 1988’s “Beaches,” a bosom buddy pic about a brassy entertainer (Bette Midler) and her blueblood childhood friend (Barbara Hershey) who end up rooming together in New York City until have a falling out over a guy. Several husbands, babies, career ups and downs and other life-altering events later, tragic circumstances bring the two chums back together and the bawling begins to commence to the tune of “Wind Beneath My Wings.” Critics cried “foul” instead, but on opening weekend, I witnessed weeping amongst my fellow audience members that took on biblical proportions.
Like sister Penny, whose own directing output included such critical and box-office successes as “A League of Their Own” and “Awakenings,” Marshall would also act on a fairly regular basis. He supposedly has an uncredited role as a hoodlum in 1964’s “Goldfinger.” But he proved much more memorable—if essential—in such supporting roles as the hard-ass casino manager in 1985's "Lost in America," who refuses to refund the life savings that ex-ad-exec Albert Brooks’ crazed wife squanders while playing roulette.
Also classic was his network boss in the soap-opera parody 1991’s “Soapdish,” as he expresses his admiration for TV fare that is “cheap” and “peppy.” He was a regular on TV’s “Murphy Brown” as impulsive network executive Stan Lansing in the mid-90s and made his last acting appearance as Walter Madison, father of Matthew Perry’s slovenly Oscar, in an episode this year of the revived “The Odd Couple”—the original sitcom version of which Marshall worked on in the ‘70s.
While he was influential, Marshall was never going to be cutting edge. His last three movies—2010’s “Valentine’s Day,” 2011’s “New Year’s Eve” and this year's “Mother’s Day”—shared the same cornball premise of an all-star ensemble cast celebrating a specific holiday. Groans could often be heard at critic screenings. But moviegoers ate this schmaltz-soaked popcorn fare up as the three films racked up almost $200 million domestically.
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