S.O.B. – Hollywoods letzter Heuler (1981)

S.O.B. – Hollywoods letzter Heuler: Directed by Blake Edwards. With Julie Andrews, William Holden, Marisa Berenson, Larry Hagman. A movie producer who made a huge flop tries to salvage his career by revamping his film as an erotic production, where its family-friendly star takes her top off.

“I never quite figure out Blake Edwards as a filmmaker. He had a side that was as sophisticated and poignant as it was funny. Think u0026quot;The Partyu0026quot; or the first Pink Panther, the other side was pure commercialism without any regard for its audience. SOB is a blatant example of that. Here he even uses his characters to badmouth u0026quot;Last Tango In Parisu0026quot; – The premise is terrific for a biting Hollywood satire but a premise is just a premise. He has to resort to farting during a sequence that should have been a comedy showstopper. Hey he got his wife to go topless and his wife was Julie Andrews – he must have heard cash registers in his mind like Richard Mulliganu0026#39;s character when he decides to put his wife in a porno=erotic something or other to make zillions of dollars. Richard Mulligan plays his suicidal director like he was in a Mack Sennett routine. Outrageous and Iu0026#39;m tempted to say, unforgivable. I must also confess that made me uncomfortable to see William Holden in the middle of it all. Shelley Winter, Robert Preston, Stuart Margolin, Larry Hagman, Robert Vaughn even a glimpse of the very young Rossana Archette keeps the film going. Loretta Swit – of MASH fame – plays a gossip columnist in such a way that may very well explain why she didnu0026#39;t have much of a film career. So, even if Iu0026#39;m aware Iu0026#39;ve spent a couple of hours with a bunch of characters I hope I never meet in real life, SOB deserves to be seen if only because it is a piece of film history solidly set on its day.”