The Last of Sheila on TCM now 7:45 EST

I have it on right now! I have never seen it before but it sounded good. No one does the murder mystery on a yacht anymore...

Enjoy r1 - thanks TCM, this is hard to find anywhere else.

From Vito Russo's "The Celluloid Closet"

"Homosexuality is seen as the same kind of kink in Herbert Ross' "The Last of Sheila", another film whose attitudes toward homosexuality come from a hopelessly closeted mentality. Written by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins, it is another instance of Hollywood and Broadway dragging homosexuality back into the realm of the dirty secret. In a long weekend game played by various Hollywood types on a luxury yacht, each is given a slip of paper with a secret about another player written on it ("I am an alcoholic", "I am a shoplifter", "I am a hit and run driver", "I am a homosexual"). The object of the game is for the guests to match the correct "crime" with the correct player. The homosexual turns out to be the screenwriter (Richard Benjamin) who once slept with host James Coburn early (as they say) in his career. (Nobody is ever *really* homosexual in Hollywood on Hollywood; it is always something that people "tried once" when they were nobody.) Benjamin is now married to Joan Hackett, having furthered his career with his dirty secret.

Variety said, "The picture's very premise is a red herring, predicated as it is on the assumption that these industry friends would keep such banal secrets from one another... the chief victim is Richard Benjamin, whose true confession scene with Joan Hackett (in which he reveals an early homosexual liaison with Coburn) drew laughs at the Cannes Festival showing."

But the characters played by Richard Benjamin, Joan Hackett and James Coburn ultimately pooh-pooh the secret of homosexuality so it's really not a homophobic screenplay or film.

Laughs and Cannes says it all for me.

**@**

Dyan Cannon's performance is a spot on imitation of "superagent" Sue Mengers. who once represented her. (If you have not read the recent bio of her, CAN I GO NOW? get it fast...it's terrific. ) Lee Remick, who had a long romance with Sondheim (evidently reciprocal on both ends) was supposed to have the Joan Hackett role.

Early in the film, as the guests are getting settled on the yacht, James Coburn tells them all to go "take a shower, a bath or a douche...whatever your preference."

Anthony Perkins was extremely self-loathing to his grave, anyone care to deny that? And Sondheim still isn't out, is he? I'll go with Vito's take on it, thanks.

No, Sondheim's out. Since PASSION, I think.

Was Bette Midler's version of "Friends" already a hit when the movie was released?

"Friends" was a hit but Bette was barely known outside of gay New York. I can remember everyone's surprise hearing this song over the closing credits when I first saw this film in its first run on the upper east side.

The homosexuality secret had very little to do with the plot of the movie. To focus just on that bit really does not give an accurate feel of the picture. The "secrets" themselves are not really that important. In fact, they are later described as of little importance when James Mason puts the pieces of the puzzle together and exposes what happened. The person who created the original game just wanted to irritate his guests...not reveal some earth shattering piece of hidden information.

I would love to hear the surviving cast members' opinion of Queen Cuntess, Raquel Welch. She made Bette Davis and Joan Crawford look like cream puffs on that set.

The cast and crew hated Raquel Welch. She was her usual bitchy self on set and the other actors avoided her like the plague.

The wiki page has some of the behind-the-scenes dirt on Raquel, as well as the Dyan Cannon-Sue Mengers relationship.

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) - Classic story, absolutely perfect casting with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, excellent villain, wonderful supporting cast, splendid music. Despite the story having been filmed many times, this is the one version people remember.

How Green Was My Valley - John Ford - wonderful cast with a great set of supporting players. A grand mixture of drama, nostalgia, humor, sadness, and love.

Stagecoach - the first and best - John Ford - the tight story of a group of people thrown together on a dangerous stagecoach journey.

Oops - sorry....wrong thread.

R16, I'm intrigued... Which thread were you trying to post to?

Great movie. If Hollywood remade this movie, who should the cast be?

We've done that before, r19. Some excellent casting suggestions were posted.

James Coburn was so very hot in that film. His character was killed off too early. Too bad he didn't switch roles with James Mason.

R18 .... Thread is "What film would you rate 10 out of 10".

Here's the casting thread:

Remake, good idea, Cannes laughed it off 40yrs ago, I'm sure it'll seem much fresher now.

Ok maybe it has some camp appeal, I haven't seen it in decades. I'll download it and see if it can entertain on a "so bad it's good" level.

I saw this movie when it first came out and liked it then and finally bought a copy a few years ago. I've seen it several times. The solution to the murder is a clever one with a good mix of characters. Just enough location shooting to make it interesting.

BTW, as I read it, the Cannes audience laughed at one scene, not at the whole movie.

"Who does your decorating? Parker Brothers?" ... I Love it.

You're right, they only laughed off the climatic confessional scene, because even 1973 audiences thought it was ridiculous. It would be extremely dated now, and would need a major rewrite. Never gonna happen though, so who cares.

I have always loved the film but, like any great mystery, it doesn't hold up to repeated viewings. The fun is all in the surprise....a remake would never work, at least for the elder gays.

[quote]You're right, they only laughed off the climatic confessional scene

Someone confessed about the weather?

Say what you want about her these days regarding the unfortunate plastic surgery, but Dyan Cannon's forte is bitchy comedy, and she is delightfully hilarious here. It's worth noting that Benjamin, Cannon and Welch provide audio commentary on the DVD -- Benjamin and Cannon are recorded together and they chat and provide anecdotes, while Welch's commentary was recorded separately.

I truly love this film, and I think that it COULD be remade, Like other remakes, there would be little changes and tweaks to make it more current. I agree that just being gay would not be a deeply held secret on the level of child molester(or little child molester as in the movie) or the accidental killing of someone. Alcoholic wouldn't be shameful either. But say, a heroin addict, and a Tom Hanks type married actor with a 20 year male lover on the side, could be seen as things to be guarded secretly.

Am I the only one who's always thought that Richard Benjamin was too unattractive for films?

One of the best endings to a movie. Richard Benjamin sitting there with M's song playing was so fucking perfect.

R31 No.

So I finally just watched this last night after reading about it for years. It was enjoyable but I have a question for those who were around when it was originally released. Watching it through 2018 eyes I was shocked that the characters didn't react to the revelation about the "little child molester" character. Even listening to the commentary on the DVD I didn't hear any mention of that being shocking or unacceptable. Was this just a reflection of how Hollywood really doesn't care about child abuse? Granted, the characters didn't really react much to the revelation of the hit-and-run murderer or the McCarthy informant either so maybe the point was show how selfish and uncaring the characters were. I didn't really believe that was the script's intent, though. Anyway, I've seen much written about the homophobia in the script but can anyone who saw it at the time tell me if there was mention about the pedophilia revelation?

Damnit I didn't read the start date of this post and turned the channel over to TCM looking for it.

#metoo R35.

[quote] The wiki page has some of the behind-the-scenes dirt on Raquel

I only saw the film for the first time a year or two ago. I've always adored Dyan but now I'd love to see it again soon having read the wiki linked above. It would add a whole new layer knowing Raquel THOUGHT she was playing Ann Margret, not realizing the bitch actress was herself.

Sorry r35/36. I didn't want to start a new thread since there were a number of old ones but a lot of them were too old to bump.

R38 Don't apologize. Bitches need to pay attention.