The Last of Sheila (1973)

If you begin watching this you'll be excused for thinking that it is a light piece of 70's fluff. But if you hang in to the end, and pay close attention along the way, you will come to realize that it is so much more. This fluffy little Bonn Bonn of a film becomes quite the riddle; as well as a commentary on Hollywood cynicism and the inevitability of rising to one's level of one's own incompetence. The closing shot says it all. There is also some heavy hitting in the acting category from Richard Benjamin, Diane Cannon, and best of all, the never failing James Mason. I, at first, wondered what an actor of James Mason caliber was even doing a film like this. Money? Sure. Everyone needs money. Oh, but no, he's actually necessary for this story. Richard Benjamin plays a complex character in an understated way that manages to stay within the perimeter of a tricky kind of film. Diane Cannon steals every scene without trying. A lot of talent here, a GREAT screenplay, and a surprise ending that will leave you equally bewildered and surprised.Thanks to TCM we get to revisit these films or find them for the first time. Some age well. Some not so much. A good mystery will never let you down and this is a good mystery. And then below the mystery is another layer that the film has been commenting on since its first frame that just comes down like a sledge hammer at the end. I think it would be fair to say that this film was remade later as, and just as effectively as, "The Player" with Tim Robbins. "The Last of Sheila" is every bit as good with some interesting retro 70's sociology such as; being a "homosexual" is the same as being from Mars. There's a lot here to enjoy. You won't be disappointed.

TITLE: THE LAST OF SHEILA opened in theaters on June 14 1973 and the runtime was 120 minutesSTARRING: The Last of Sheila is a 1973 mystery film directed by Herbert Ross, written by Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim, It stars Richard Benjamin, Dyan Cannon, James Coburn, James Mason, Ian McShane, Joan Hackett, and Raquel Welch. The original music score was composed by Billy Goldenberg. The song "Friends," sung by Bette Midler, can be heard during the final scene of the film and the end credits.SUMMARY: On a one-week Mediterranean pleasure cruise aboard the yacht of movie producer Clinton Greene (Coburn), the guests include actress Alice Wood (Welch), her talent-manager husband Anthony (McShane), talent agent Christine (Cannon), screenwriter Tom Parkman (Benjamin), Tom's wife Lee (Hackett), and film director Philip Dexter (Mason). The trip is, in fact, a reunion. With the exception of Lee, all were together at Clinton's home one year before, on the night a hit-and-run accident resulted in the death of Clinton's wife, gossip columnist Sheila Greene. Once the cruise is under way, Clinton, a parlor game enthusiast, informs everyone that the week's entertainment will consist of "The Sheila Greene Memorial Gossip Game." The six guests are each assigned an index card containing a secret -- or, in Clinton's words, "a pretend piece of gossip" -- that must be kept hidden from the others. The object of the game is to discover everyone else's secret while protecting one's own. Each night the yacht anchors at a different Mediterranean port city, where one of the six secrets is disclosed to the entire group. The guests are given a clue, and then sent ashore to find the proof of who among them holds the card bearing that night's secret. The game for that night ends when the actual holder of the subject secret discovers the proof. Anyone who has not yet solved the clue receives no points on Clinton's scoreboard for that round. Following the revelation of the first card, "YOU are a SHOPLIFTER," suspicion begins that each guest's card does not contain "pretend" gossip but in fact an actual, embarrassing secret. QUESTIONS: Why doesn't Clinton return home? Why didn't they call authorities? What did the card say? Who was the card intended for? Why is there is an increasingly growing paranoia? Is the game being played is actually just a portion of a more elaborate puzzle.MY THOUGHTS: To me this was one of those movies that had stars that kept you interested in but the lack of action and drama made it hard to stay interested in. I thought Dyan Cannon did a good job in her role as Christine. Some of the other stars worth mentioning in their roles was James Coburn in his role as Clinton Greene. In addition, Joan Hackett in her role as Lee. I bought this movie because of Raquel Welch and I was disappointed in how her talent and beauty was used in this movie. She was in a bikini once and that was it. When you have a star, like that, you need to expose her more and they didn't. Base on the movies lack of action and drama along with the way they misuse Raquel Welch I give this movie 6 weasel stars.

True whodunit's are rare in movies; even when they're based on a whodunit book, they often get rid of most of the clues in favor of character and plot. But Last of Sheila is all about solving mysteries, and the biggest mystery is wonderfully ingenious.The cast is an interesting group, with Mason's elegance, Coburn's snarkiness, Benjamin's nebishness, Cannon's brashness, and Welch's talentless little girl whisper melding together into a lovely 1970s actor stew.The dialogue is sharp, the mystery is smart, the acting is first rate (except for Welch of course, who makes up for it by wearing a bikini) and the clues are all there if you're smart enough. Watch it.

"The Last of Sheila" is a '70s whodunit written by, of all people, Tony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim. And they did a good job! The film stars James Coburn, Dyan Cannon, James Mason, Joan Hackett, Raquel Welch, Ian McShane, and Richard Benjamin. The film begins with a woman, Sheila, who is married to Clinton Green (Coburn), running away from a party and being killed by a hit and run driver. A year later, Green assembles the party guests on a yacht in order to expose the killer. In order to do this, he has set up a deadly game.Well-directed by Herb Ross, "The Last of Sheila" is a highly entertaining film about a bunch of unpleasant people, and it's done with some dark humor. All the actors do a great job. It was wonderful to see the late Joan Hackett once again and to remember how handsome Ian McShane was when he first started out. Coburn and Cannon have the most flamboyant characters - Coburn is mean-spirited and manipulative, and Cannon as a Hollywood agent is a talkative bitch.Besides the clever plot, one learns a couple of things from this film. First of all, Raquel Welch looked the same in 1973 as she does now, go figure. And secondly, the costumes were done by Joel Shumacher, so now we know where our big wheelers and dealers in Hollywood come from.Really a must see - who knew that Stephen Sondheim is not only a brilliant composer and lyricist, but a scriptwriter as well? He wrote this with the late Tony Perkins, a marvelous actor who also seems to have been a man of many talents.