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fHE BARB - 6
with Steve Warren
The Bash-of-the-Month for
May was the premiere United
Artists had for “The Return
of the Pink Panther” at La
Costa Resort Hotel and Spa
in Carlsbad. Ca., near San
Diego.
Among the celebs not
directly connected with the
picture, but wearing their
badges and enjoying the
weekend, were Carol
Lawrence and Robert Goulet
(setting tongues anti-wagging
about split rumors); Fred
MacMurray and June Haver
(They must have arrived by
Greyhound, but 1 didn’t see it.
She looked fresh enough for a
comeback; is anyone casting
“No, No, Nanette”?) Dick
Martin without Dan Rowan);
Barbara Eden; Leslie
Nielsen; Bob Crane; Carl
Betz; Ross Martin; and
Johnny Mathis, who did a
guest spot in Henry Mancini’s
fabulous concert.
Some of the journalists
covering the event were
themselves celebrities.
Peter Sellers, who stars in
the film, was there, as was
director Blake Edwards,
whose wife, Julie Andrews,
had gone to Switzerland with
Return of the fink Panther”
if I’d seen it at a neighborhood
theater — as I probably will,
before long.
If you’ve seen either of tfie
first two films, you know the
Glouseau character, the
Flench cop who bumps into
everything-mentally, if not
physically. This picture is
completely built around him,
letting Sellers be funnier than
he ha&in a long, long time.
The script is a trifle., and
the supporting cast appears
to have been chosen to make
the star look good; but it’s
Sellers’ picture, and his every
gag seems to work-however
early it’s telegraphed,
however trite, corny and or
obvious.
K you like to laugh don’t
miss “The Return of the Pink
Panther.”
You’ll need it, after “The
Day of the Locust.” I don’t
toss out superlatives easily;
but this is the maximum
downer, the most depressing
film I’ve ever seen.
Because it had such a
powerful impact on me, I
assume it must have been
well made (by director John
Schlesinger); but I’m going
to have to see it again to judge
the children,
* ^
At the “Return of the Pink Panther” premiere in La Costa,
Associate Producer Tony Adams stood by star Peter Sellers.
Mancini did the music for
“The Return- of the Pink
Panther” and “A Shot in the
Dark.”
Sellers’ co-star, Catherine
Schell (no relation to Max and
Maria), was alsoon hand. She
looks remarkably like
Catherine Deneuve,
especially on screen.
The decor was Pink Pan
ther everywhere; they really
took over the hotel. The staff
wore Pink Panther shirts;
Pink Panther statues pointed
the way to everywhere; we
were all given bagful of Pink
Pantherized souvenir?.
They needn’t have gone to
all that trouble -1 would have
laughed myself silly at “The
it fairly-- and I dread doing
so.
“The Day of the Locust” is
about Hollywood in-the late
thirties. Instead of con
centrating on the stars and
the glamour, it’s about the
people who never make it,
who follow a dream to a rude
awakening. The thesis of
author Nathaniel West was
that these people harbor a
grudge which can erupt in the
form of mob violence, as it
does in the picture’s climax.
William Atherton plays the
central character, an artist
just arrived in town. We see
the city and the picture
business through his eyes,
and lose our own illusions as
Female impersonator Paul
Jabara (1.) wrecks Donald
Sutherland by sitting in his
lap, as Karen Black and
William Atherton look on, in
“The Day of the Locust.”
he sheds his.
Tod (Atherton) is young
enough to have illusions about
love, too. Karen Black knocks
those out of him. She plays a
would-be starlet working as
an extra. She keeps a number
of men on a string, including
Donald Sutherland as Homer,
an oversized hick with an
oversized heart. He’s ex
cellent in this pathetic role.
For a gayer look (yes, in
that sense) at the old
Hollywood, you can see “The
Wild Party’ ’; but I don’t
recommend it.
There’s a lot of camp in
this distorted retelling of the
Fatty Arbuckle scandal, and
not all of it’s intentional. The*
picture is a real sleep-
inducer, predictable at every
turn. A narration-in-verse is
dreadful; some of the songs
are good, but many are not.
Raquel Welch (who is awful!)
dances (?) (Where is Cybill
Shepherd when we need her?)
to a tune about her character,
“Queenie,” which describes
her as “Lucrezia Borgia of
Sunnybrook Farm.”
James Coco is okay as the
Arbuckle character, “Jolly
Grimm”; but the role is
poorly written, as is the whole
picture.
The openly gay people in
the story are a Lesbian ac-:
tress (Clara Bow?) and a
piano-playing brother/ lover
act. In the orgy sequence-to
which an unseen voice
warbles “Ain’t Nothin’ Bad
about Feelin’ Good” —the
actress has a love scene with
another woman; the brothers
are nowhere to be seen; and
the activities of various
groups of. people are left to
the imagination.. Coro
glances at one foursome and
comments, “Looks like a can
of worms! ”
So does 4 ‘The Wild Party’ ’;
and as the cliche says, no one
should have opened it.
For better-made trash, try
“Mandingo.” It’s had the
most devastating reviews of
any picture in a long time,
because it’s easy to write that
way about; but it’s hot really
all that bad-well, not quite.
Perry King, who is also in
“The Wild Party,” plays the
son of James Mason, owner of
Falconhurst plantation.
Perry marries Susan George
(whose performance makes
Raquel Welch look like an
actress!) and buys Brenda
Sykes. He likes Brenda
because they live on ashes.
Producer William Castle has
done better; but he’s done
worse, too.
Clint Eastwood hasn’t done
Perry King and Ken Norton is "Mandingo.’
better, but that was un
thinkable in 1840.
Susan turns to another
slave, Ken Norton, for sex.
(Also unthinkable-- this was
before women had sex
drives!) When she finally
gets it, if you saw “Young
Frankenstein,” you’ll expect
her to break out into “Ah
Sweet Mystery of Life’ ’!
With all this race-mixin’,
everybody comes to a bad
end; but the end of “Man
dingo” is no worse than the
beginning or the middle.
Perry King, who displayed
his wares in two scenes, is
quoted in a press release as
saying, “I’m not self-
conscious..I have a perfectly
alright body I would think
everyone’s interested in
another person’s body
without it being
homosexual.”
There’s not much to rave
about this month.
“Bug” is a horror flick
which has its moments, but
needs help in between. Some
roaches were trained to play
the villiams, and they do well.
Bradford Dillman isn’t bad as
an anti-hero, a professor
trying to communicate with
the insects, which threaten to
bum most of California (and
tomorrow the world!)
much worse than “The Eiger
Sanction.” If you like
mountain-climbing, go see
the last half-hour, which is
okay. The rest is a poorly-
COntrived spy story with
enough cliches to fill 90
minutes, but not enough to fill
the holes in the plot. Jack
Cassidy gives some depth to a
character which was written
as a bad fag joke.
Against competition like
this, “The Other Side of the
Mountain” looks pretty good.
It is pretty good, actually, but
strictly for the “Love
Story”/ “Brian’s Song” set
who won’t go to a movie
unless Kleenex is outselling
popcorn at the concession
stand.
Lovely Marilyn Hassett
stars as Jill Kinmont, who
was on her way to the 1956
Winter Olympics when a
skiing accident nearly took
her life, and left her
paralyzed from the neck
down.
Beau Bridges is the man
whose love gave her the
strength to start living again.
For a switch, he dies in teh
end.
“The Other Side of the
Mountain” is not a picture to
wear mascara to! Next
month: Playing “Rollerball”
with James Caan.
Richard GiUiand [L.] as the student who captures Bradford
Bill man’s interest by telling him about the “Bug.”