Imagine this: a film that teams Hal Ashby’s direction with Neil Simon’s screenwriting with Quincy Jones’ executive music producing with Rebecca De Mornay singing Prince’s “Little Red Corvette”! A real “home run,” right? What could be better?
A lot of things, actually, because The Slugger’s Wife is a nightmare. The only reason it merits any sort of attention here is because it was filmed in Atlanta in the mid-’80s – its primary locations were Limelight and Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium so it truly is a period piece.
Here is the premise of this romantic comedy that is neither romantic nor comedic: Darryl Palmer plays for the Braves (sidenote: how absolutely ’80s Braves player is the name Darryl Palmer?) and becomes fixated on this nightclub singer named Debbie and he starts playing better because he is obsessed with her so they get married, naturally, and at some point she realizes he is a psycho and she leaves him – where things went wrong in a hasty marriage to a professional athlete, I’ll never know – and I guess he starts playing poorly again? I don’t know, I am not invested in these characters at all. I just watched it for the dazzling lightshow technology at Limelight.
There were other institutions included, like the Varsity…
…and awkward Georgia Tech guy lurking in the background who applauds for a little too long.
And can anyone identify the precise location where this scene below was filmed? I know that’s Peachtree Summit on the right. Just to the left of it is the former Methodist center on Ralph McGill. I have consulted a couple of experts and they have been useless about where this exact parking lot is.
Anyway, don’t bother watching this movie. Ashby totally did not do for Atlanta in The Slugger’s Wife as he did for Park Slope in The Landlord. Why couldn’t he get Rebecca De Mornay re-enact her famous “Love on a Real Train” scene on MARTA?
Previously: Let’s do it again!
Gotta stick with Goodbye Girl and Barefoot in the Park. Neil dosn’t do Atlanta or sports.
That last screencap is taken on the east side of Atlanta facing west. With the Peachtree Summit building on the far right of the shot & the Peachtree Apartments (or whatever they’re called now) on the far left (that’s the intersection of Peachtree St. & Baker St.)
The dark building in the center behind the approaching car is the Georgia Power building.
So: the Georgia Power parking lot at the corner of Ralph McGill & Central Park? I think that’s it.
Ga Power was built in 1981, so that is definitely it in the middle. That is Peachtree Towers on the left (nee Peachtree Apartments). The problem is that there is the Ga Power parking lot is clearly behind this one past that chain link fence, and there looks to be some street parking between it and our parking lot. Also, the GA Power lot doesn’t look to have many trees like in this shot. HistoricAerials.com’s 1988 image (http://www.historicaerials.com/?poi=13467) suggest that the Bulter Street Baptist Church lot (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Ralph+McGill+Boulevard,+Atlanta,+GA&sll=41.936833,-87.643479&sspn=0.010503,0.018368&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Ralph+McGill+Blvd,+Atlanta,+Georgia&ll=33.763649,-84.377417&spn=0.001476,0.002296&t=h&z=19) looks pretty much the same as it does now, which includes a double-loaded drive aisle perpendicular to the street, and pretty much due east of the Ga Power building. So that is my guess.
LOOK WHO’S BACK!!!!
Me? I’m still in the great white north, but I never stopped reading. And was there ANY POSSIBLE WAY I could resist an Atlanta time machine cum where-is-it post??
Ben K, I see what you mean, and I do believe we can see Central Park Dr. behind the forground parking lot.
Location found, then!
useless? really,christa? seems that Ben and Chris above agree with me.
I’m sorry – I guess I was really talking about the other person I asked. You were right.
Could that be the parking lot at the Civic Center, looking at one of the Ralph McGill entrance/exits? There’s a lot of pine trees along the border between that lot and the back of what is now Post Renaissance.