Four Debbie Reynolds Films That Helped Me Grow Up

Debbie Reynolds is a Hollywood legend for good reason. Here are the four films that helped me grow as a critic, writer and human being.

Celebrity deaths are a strange thing. We don’t want to make a big deal out of them for fear of looking like stalkers. But when a personality is so ingrained in pop culture, it’s impossible not to. I keenly remember exactly where I was when Heath Ledger died, and I’ll always remember the day Debbie Reynolds died. This isn’t to denigrate Reynold’s daughter Carrie Fisher, who died herself just 48 hours ago. Fisher also played a hand in my adolescence, albeit not for the film most people associate her with. While they were enjoying Fisher and her cinnamon bun hairstyle in the Star Wars franchise, I first enjoyed Carrie Fisher as Phoebe Cates’ level-headed friend Janie in Drop Dead Fred.

I digress. Fisher and Reynolds were always a package deal, and they always will be. But for me, Reynolds helped shape me as a lover of cinematic history and, also, helping me idealize the life I wish I had.

Still from Paramount Pictures’ Charlotte’s Web

Charlotte’s Web (1973)

For many children who grew up in the late ’80s/early ’90s, they didn’t know Debbie Reynolds face, but they sure knew her voice. One of the first films I recall watching is the adaptation of E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web. The story deals with life and death in a way more authentic than anything Disney conjured up. Wilbur (voiced by Henry Gibson) is a cute pig primed to go where Babe probably ended up: someone’s dinner plate. Hellbent on telling the circle of life to step off, Wilbur is helped by quiet spider Charlotte (voiced by Reynolds) who teaches him how to be indispensable to humans by looking like a tool of the devil — or having Charlotte spell words in her web to describe him.

I joke, but Charlotte’s Web, and Charlotte’s herself, taught me about death. As Charlotte says, “We’re born, we live for a little while, and we die.” At the age of five the prospect terrified me, and it still does. But something about the way Reynolds describes death, especially as Charlotte herself starts dying, soothes and comforts. The Sherman Brothers, of Mary Poppins fame, penned the songs for this and hearing Reynold’s haunting rendition of “Mother Earth and Father Time,” especially now is required. Charlotte’s Web didn’t turn me into a vegetarian, but Reynolds’ kindhearted spider taught me to appreciate life while it lasts.

Singin’ in the Rain Still from MGM

Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

It wasn’t until high school that I saw the Gene Kelly classic Singin’ in the Rain for the first time. When someone asks me what made me want to review films for a living I point to Singin’ in the Rain. This comedic quasi-history of how cinema dealt with the transition from silents to talkies is as loud as it gets! Every scene is peppered with beautiful music, bright costumes, and wonderful dialogue to chase those old silent films away. Gene Kelly didn’t enjoy working with ingenue Debbie Reynolds, but that’s his misfortune as she steals the show as Kathy Selden.

For me, watching Singin’ put the musical in a whole new light. Debbie Reynolds is so light and effervescent as Kathy. Her defiant attitude in response to the arrogant Don Lockwood (Kelly) and squeaky-voiced Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) endear her to the audience. And despite Kelly’s misgivings, Reynolds outdances him at every turn! If not for Singin’ in the Rain who knows what I’d be doing with my life.

Kimberly J. Brown and Debbie Reynolds in Disney Channel’s Halloweentown

The Halloweentown Series (1998-2004)

The Halloweentown series holds a special place in my heart. The first film came out when I was just starting to become “too old” for Disney Channel Original Movies, but was rebellious enough to say I’m going to keep watching them. I’m 28 and I’ll still record the films every year to feed my inner child. Reynolds played witchy grandmother Aggie Cromwell whose teenager granddaughter, Marnie (Kimberly J. Brown) wants to visit her in Halloweentown. The first film is the best, in my opinion because it focuses on family identity first. As someone just coming into their own and wanting to break away from their family, I understood Marnie’s plight to a degree. Sure, no one was a real witch in my family – sorry, mom! – but I sympathized with the desire to pick up and start over in a town that was “made for” me.

Also, Reynolds’ supportive Aggie was the grandmother I dreamed of having. My grandmother is, shall we say, less than the best. We have little contact and there were numerous times I said “If they cast the movie of my life, I want Debbie Reynolds to be my grandma.” She evoked the hugs, companionship and closeness I missed from my own extended family. Debbie Reynolds became America’s Grandma with a flick of her wand!

Still from Columbia Pictures

How Sweet It Is! (1968)

How Sweet It Is! isn’t a good movie by any stretch. But it gets a space here for pairing Debbie with walking 1960’s sex god, James Garner. (Have I mentioned I have a MASSIVE crush on James Garner?) It also shows just how deeply ingrained Debbie’s persona as America’s Sweetheart ran. The story is an “exotic locale” comedy of errors that involves Reynolds’ all-American housewife being locked up in a chateau with a seductive Frenchman. The film, at the time, actually touted itself as the first movie to put Reynolds in a bikini! Because apparently her and Barbara Eden had such mysterious belly buttons.

By the late-’60s Reynolds went from sweetheart to Hollywood’s jilted wife and here she reinvents herself as a somewhat sexual being. You know the point when you realize your parents are individuals who, yes, have sexual desires? This is the Hollywood equivalent. If the world was meant to get into a lather over Reynolds in a bathing suit, what does that say about us as consumers of cinema? For Reynolds it was just another project, but it says so much about the continued consumption of women’s bodies.

To all the women who impacted us, here’s to you. May Debbie Reynolds rest in peace.