The Wild Party (1975)

The worst Ivory-Merchant film I've seen is THE WILD PARTY, very loosely based on the Roscoe Arbuckle scandal. More specifically it's based on a hideously maudlin poem by Joseph Moncure March published in 1928. The Ivory-Merchant team so famous for its impeccable period detail in any number of films totally flops in capturing the 1929 Holly glam look. What they did capture is the 1975 look. James Coco stars as Jolly Grimm, a washed up silent film comic hoping for a comeback in his latest and self-backed film on the life of Brother Juniper. His live-in girlfriend and former extra is played by Raquel Welch. She gets to sing and dance to one of the film's many horrid songs. Perry King plays a flashy new film star, Tiffany Bolling plays his jaded party date, Bobo Lewis plays the maid, Royal Dano plays Tex the former stuntman, David Dukes plays the guy who writes the poem. The majority of the cast is unrecognizable. The story hits of just about every stereotype. There's the Valentino type, a vamp who's really a lesbian, studio heads with thick Euro accents, and worst of all is the little puke who'll do anything to get into the movies so she crashes the party and does an Isadora dance draped in dish towels.Everything is wrong although there could have been a decent movie with James Coco and none of the rest of the cast. The costumes are all wrong as is the women's hair and makeup. The several songs are the type that Paul Williams used to sing with that gag-worthy diction of his. There are also lots of clips of Coco playing Brother Juniper in the silent movie. As the cannibals trap him and lead him to the giant cauldron, Juniper says..... "You can't boil me. I'm a friar!" And that's the high point of the film.

(Very) loosely based on the Fatty Arbuckle scandal from circa 1921, this film is set in 1929, and based on a poem from that era, which I have not read, a few lines of which are voiced over in the film. James Coco's character was very annoying. This is not really criticism, because that was obviously intentional. Perry King played his part as melodramatically as a scene from the times. Royal Dano was excellent as befits his long and distinguished career as a character actor.It has been a long time since I have seen a film with Raquel Welch. She was long mocked back in the day (before silicone) as just a big pair of boobs, but I found her performance compelling, and the best part of this movie.

This is an interesting and ambitious feature that has much to recommend it--and a fair number of strikes against it, too. On the credit side, James Coco is outstanding in the lead role of Jolly Grimm, an aging screen comic desperate to make a comeback. He's ably supported by David Dukes as his straight arrow screen collaborator and especially by Royal Dano as his lanky and loyal personal assistant. The story is simple but interesting, the silent film footage of Brother Jasper expertly mounted, and there's an eerily effective and almost otherworldly performance by the unheralded Annette Ferra as an ambitious young dancer.And now for the not so good news: despite a praiseworthy attempt to drape this in Roaring '20s ambiance, a few too many 1970s anachronisms--clothing wise and hairstyle wise--creep distractingly into the background, the original songs are generally mediocre, and the sensational sex scenes are gratuitous at best. The result is a somewhat schizophrenic production that uneasily tries to balance a serious story with five minutes of over the top group grope scenes which will offend some and disappoint others. There's enough here to render these scenes superfluous, but even with their inclusion the film remains a fine character study that will hold the attention of those interested in the history--apocryphal or otherwise--of early Hollywood.

This is one of my favorite Merchant/Ivory films. I first saw it when I was a movie usher in 1975 and American International released a very butchered version that cut out a lot of character info and played up the sex and nudity. Many many years later on cable TV I came across the restored version with new scenes and re-edited old ones and it plays like an entirely new film!James Coco is silent movie comic Jolly Grimm, desperate to save his slipping career by pitching his new film at a Hollywood party. Raquel Welch is his mistress, Queenie, a former showgirl who puts up with Grimm's temper and beatings longer than she should. The film takes place in a frantic 24-hour period wherein just about every disaster and humiliation possible befalls Grimm, leading up to the tragic/dramatic finale. The titular party is more tacky than wild, but it looks like a lot of fun, populated as it is by a host of curious Hollywood characters. Coco is a standout in a role that should have received more attention. The same holds for Welch who works like a Trojan (and kinda dances like one in her numerous musical numbers,) and while never quite pulling off the dialog ("Ya big lug!"), is rather endearing in her efforts. Special applause for Tiffany Bolling as Welch's best friend. She is funny and real and would have made a wonderfully vulnerable Queenie.Even when being batted around by Coco, Welch looks like she could punch Coco into the sound era. Though essentially a tragedy, "The Wild Party" is too flawed to be moving, but is a really enjoyable and visually rich film. The musical score (featuring "The Herbert Hoover Drag") is a gem!