The Party (1968 film)
The Party | |
---|---|
The Mirisch Corporation | |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 99 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1.5 million |
Box office | $2.9 million (U.S. rentals)[1] |
The Party is a 1968 American
The protagonist Hrundi Bakshi was influenced by two of Sellers' earlier characters: the Indian doctor Ahmed el Kabir in
Plot
A film crew is making a
Hrundi receives his invitation and drives to the party. Upon parking his car, he steps into mud. Hrundi tries to rinse the mud off his shoe in a pool that flows through the house, but he loses his shoe. After many failures, he is reunited with his shoe served to him on a silver platter by one of the waiters.
Hrundi has awkward interactions with everyone at the party, including Clutterbuck's dog, Cookie. He meets famous
At dinner, Hrundi's place setting by the kitchen door has a very low chair that puts his chin near the table. An increasingly drunk waiter, Levinson, tries to serve dinner and fights with the other staff. During the main course, Hrundi's roast chicken catapults off his fork and becomes impaled on a guest's tiara. Hrundi asks Levinson to retrieve his meal, but the woman's wig comes off along with her tiara, as she obliviously engages in conversation. Levinson ends up brawling with other waiting staff, and dinner is disrupted.
Hrundi apologizes to his hosts; then needs to go to the bathroom. He wanders through the house, opening doors and barging in on various servants and guests in embarrassing situations. He ends up in the backyard, where he accidentally sets off the irrigation sprinklers. At Divot's insistence, Michèle gives an impromptu guitar performance of "Nothing to Lose" to impress the guests. Hrundi goes upstairs, where he saves Michèle from Divot's unwanted advances by dislodging Divot's toupee. Hrundi finally finds a bathroom, but he breaks the toilet, drops a painting in it, gets toilet paper everywhere, and floods the bathroom. To avoid being discovered Hrundi sneaks onto the roof and falls into the pool. Michèle leaps in to save him, but he's then coerced to drink alcohol to warm up. A Russian dance troupe arrives at the party. Upstairs, Hrundi finds Michèle crying in the next room and consoles her. Divot bursts in and demands Michèle leave with him. Michèle says no, and Divot cancels her screen test the next day. Hrundi persuades her to stay and have a good time with him. They return to the party in borrowed clothes. The party gets wilder, and Hrundi offers to retract the bar to make room for dancing. Instead, he opens a retractable floor with a pool underneath, causing guests to fall in the pool. Levinson makes more floors retract, and more guests fall in. Clutterbuck's daughter arrives with friends and a baby elephant painted with "THE WORLD IS FLAT" on its forehead and hippie slogans over its body. Hrundi takes offense and asks them to wash the elephant. The entire house is soon filled with soap bubbles.
Back at his home, Divot suddenly realizes that Hrundi is the fired actor who blew up the set, and he races back to the party. As the band plays on, Clutterbuck tries to save his suds-covered paintings. The air conditioning blows suds everywhere as the guests dance to
Cast
- Peter Sellers as Hrundi V. Bakshi
- Claudine Longet as Michèle Monet
- Natalia Borisova as Ballerina
- Jean Carson as Nanny
- Marge Champion as Rosalind Dunphy
- Al Checco as Bernard Stein
- Corinne Cole as Janice Kane
- Dick Crockett as Wells
- Frances Davis as Maid
- Danielle de Metzas Stella D'Angelo
- Herb Ellis as Director
- Paul Ferrara as Ronnie Smith
- Steve Franken as Levinson
- Kathe Green as Molly Clutterbuck
- Allen Jung as Cook
- Sharron Kimberly as Princess Helena
- James Lanphier as Harry
- Buddy Lester as Davey Kane
- Stephen Liss as Geoffrey Clutterbuck
- Gavin MacLeod as C. S. Divot
- Jerry Martin as Bradford
- Fay McKenzie as Alice Clutterbuck
- J. Edward McKinley as Fred Clutterbuck
- Denny Miller as "Wyoming Bill" Kelso
- Elianne Nadeau as Wiggy
- Thomas W. Quine as Congressman Dunphy
- Timothy Scott as Gore Pontoon
- Ken Wales as Assistant Director
- Carol Wayne as June Warren
- Donald R. Frost as Drummer
- Helen Kleeb as Secretary
- George Winters as Cliff Hanger
- Linda Gaye Scott as Starlet
Cast notes
- Vin Scully is uncredited and does not appear onscreen, but his voice can be heard announcing a Los Angeles Dodgers game on the kitchen radio.[6]
Production
The Party was the only non-
The film started shooting in May under the title RSVP.[8]
The film's interiors were shot on a set, at the
The film draws much inspiration from the works of
Soundtrack
The score of The Party was composed by
Track listing
Side 1:
- "The Party" (Vocal) 2:14
- "Brunette in Yellow" 2:56
- "Nothing to Lose" (Instrumental) 3:18
- "Chicken Little Was Right" 2:54
- "Candleleight on Crystal" 3:05
- "Birdie Num-Num" 2:21
Side 2:
- "Nothing to Lose" (Vocal) 2:25
- "The Happy Pipers" 2:17
- "Party Poop" 2:34
- "Elegant" 4:44
- "Wiggy" 3:02
- "The Party" (Instrumental) 3:12
Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 83% based on 23 reviews, with an average score of 6.60/10.[11]
The Party is considered a classic comedic
Racial criticism
The Party has been criticized as having perpetuated
However, the film was also hugely popular in India. The late Indian Prime Minister
See also
References
- ^ "Big Rental Films of 1968", Variety, 8 January 1969, p. 15.
- ^ a b Champlin, Charles (March 15, 1968). An open invitation to play it off the cuff. Time
- ISBN 978-0-8214-0605-2.
- ^ a b "Picture the song: Bring out the eyeshades for 'Jawani Jaanemann' from 'Namak Halaal'". Scroll.in. July 31, 2017. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
- National Public Radio (Interview). Interviewed by Terry Gross. Philadelphia: WHYY-FM. Retrieved August 15, 2007.
- ^ Koseluk, Chris (April 16, 2008). "The voice of generations." The Hollywood Reporter
- ISBN 978-0-299-22640-4.
- ^ Champlin, Charles (May 14, 1967). "A Sellers' Market for Comedy: A Sellers' Market for Comedy". Los Angeles Times. p. c1.
- ^ a b Aushenker, Michael (June 25, 2008). "'The Party' to Remember: Blake Edwards' Cult Classic Turns 40!". Palisadian-Post. Archived from the original on April 9, 2009. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
- ^ Robinson, Tasha (April 19, 2002). The Party (DVD) The A.V. Club
- ^ The Party, Rotten Tomatoes, retrieved March 19, 2022
- ^ Stafford, Jeff. Cult Movies: The Party via Turner Classic Movies
- ISBN 978-0-8195-6915-8.
- ISBN 978-0-8214-0917-6.
- ISBN 978-1-55652-951-1.
- ^ "In 'The Party', Peter Sellers' Brownface Is the Elephant in the Room". PopMatters. October 27, 2014. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
- ^ "Peter Sellers: 10 essential films". British Film Institute. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
- ^ "Shane Danielson on Hollywood's racist caricatures". the Guardian. September 15, 2007. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
- ^ Thank You, Peter Sellers
- ISBN 978-981-4279-04-8.
- ISBN 978-93-5118-859-9.
- ^ Thapar, Romesh (1996). Seminar. R. Thapur. p. 250.
- ^ "Travails With The Alien by Satyajit Ray: Review - The Free Press Journal". freepressjournal.in. May 29, 2019.
External links
- The Party at IMDb
- The Party at AllMovie
- The Party at the TCM Movie Database
- The Party at the American Film Institute Catalog
- The Party at Rotten Tomatoes