I don't understand why Mommie Dearest was made.

Or I mean, how it was made. As far as I understand it it depicts joan Crawford as being a bad mother in real life.

However how is it that they could make this movie without being sued for slander?

Because I know that raging bull is a similar movie, and the real life boxer threatened to sue the people that made the movie, but as far as I know, mommie dearest probably was even more insulting than raging bull, to the real life person that the movie was about.

Even if joan Crawford was dead by then, wouldn't somebody in her family sue the makers of the movie?

I don't know if she was dead by then or not.