"S. O. B." was Blake Edwards' rather bizarre fling of a movie that came between two of his great, and financially successful, comedies - "10" and "Victor/Victoria." For "S. O. B.," the director and his cast are clearly having a ball, but does that make it a good movie?
The plot is a flimsy clothesline to hang the antics of the actors (who were most likely quite lubricated during the making of the entire movie) on. A mega-successful Hollywood producer (Richard Mulligan) has just made a children's movie, and the film turns out to be a huge bomb. He suffers a breakdown and decides to turn the film into a softcore comedy, while trying to convince his star Sally Miles to reshoot a musical number...and then take her top off.
Sally Miles is played in "S. O. B." by the legendary actress and singer who was married to Blake Edwards and starred in his two films immediately before, and after, "S. O. B." And she also played Mary Poppins. Need any more clues? She resists the reshoot at first and then agrees to do it. That's the plot.
What happens in between is just one lavish beach house-set ham fest with actors from Hollywood's classic era (including William Holden, who died shortly after making this movie), Shelley Winters, Robert Vaughn, Robert Webber (who is particularly annoying), and Robert Preston (warming up for his great performance in Victor/Victoria). Preston makes this movie as a wise-cracking quack of a doctor who even calls himself a "quack" while mixing potent medication with Bloody Marys. A couple of PYTs end up at the beach house (including Rosanna Arquette), and the scene turns into an orgy.
The movie in the end is not successful but it sure is memorable. It feels like a deranged Edwards-directed home movie. Five years later, Edwards would direct the more restrained "That's Life!," also starring Julie Andrews, which also felt like a home movie but had a more believable plot. "That's Life!" was released the same year (1986) as the much-hyped Edwards farce "A Fine Mess," but both films ended up being not-so-fine flops.
Blake Edwards was a one-of-a-kind filmmaker, who could combine crazy slapstick with believable characters and poignancy (watch "Breakfast at Tiffany's" or "10" for proof of this). We need more directors like him, even if they end up making an indulgent movie like "S. O. B." (although Richard Kelly's "Southland Tales" is a worthy companion piece to S. O. B.).
The plot is a flimsy clothesline to hang the antics of the actors (who were most likely quite lubricated during the making of the entire movie) on. A mega-successful Hollywood producer (Richard Mulligan) has just made a children's movie, and the film turns out to be a huge bomb. He suffers a breakdown and decides to turn the film into a softcore comedy, while trying to convince his star Sally Miles to reshoot a musical number...and then take her top off.
Sally Miles is played in "S. O. B." by the legendary actress and singer who was married to Blake Edwards and starred in his two films immediately before, and after, "S. O. B." And she also played Mary Poppins. Need any more clues? She resists the reshoot at first and then agrees to do it. That's the plot.
What happens in between is just one lavish beach house-set ham fest with actors from Hollywood's classic era (including William Holden, who died shortly after making this movie), Shelley Winters, Robert Vaughn, Robert Webber (who is particularly annoying), and Robert Preston (warming up for his great performance in Victor/Victoria). Preston makes this movie as a wise-cracking quack of a doctor who even calls himself a "quack" while mixing potent medication with Bloody Marys. A couple of PYTs end up at the beach house (including Rosanna Arquette), and the scene turns into an orgy.
The movie in the end is not successful but it sure is memorable. It feels like a deranged Edwards-directed home movie. Five years later, Edwards would direct the more restrained "That's Life!," also starring Julie Andrews, which also felt like a home movie but had a more believable plot. "That's Life!" was released the same year (1986) as the much-hyped Edwards farce "A Fine Mess," but both films ended up being not-so-fine flops.
Blake Edwards was a one-of-a-kind filmmaker, who could combine crazy slapstick with believable characters and poignancy (watch "Breakfast at Tiffany's" or "10" for proof of this). We need more directors like him, even if they end up making an indulgent movie like "S. O. B." (although Richard Kelly's "Southland Tales" is a worthy companion piece to S. O. B.).