Product: Sextette (1978)
Rating: 4.0
I AM BAFFLED
Yes, baffled as to why so many people on the web have reviewed this film with such hostility and sadistic glee. It seems the biggest complaints against this movie is that #1)Mae West was in her eighties when she made it. Not one reviewer can honestly say that she looked more than in her late fifties in Sextette. Remember that she was in her forties at the height of her career, not a huge discrepancy. #2)Her waistline doesn't exist. Not only is that an exaggeration, but she was never slender to begin with, so her extra pounds should come as no surprise. #3) The script is bad. Well it's only bad if you're comparing it to Citizen Kane. This is supposed to be fun, vain silliness, and it is. Mae West and Dom Deluise are hilarious, and Timothy Dalton, Ringo Starr, and Tony Curtis really seem to be enjoying themselves and giving it their all. I loved all the cameos; the chemistry amongst the entire cast is magic, surprising when one considers that West reportedly disliked most of the choices. Yes, the duet was corny and ridiculous, but funny (even if the humor was unintentional). The only problem I can name with this film is the language in the kitchen scene, it will be insulting to certain ethnic people. Although it's really no more un-PC than the depiction of the giggling, submissive, broken-English-speaking Black maids in her earlier films. What I find disturbing is that reviewers have more of a problem with West's age than the off-color "humor" against foreigners in the kitchen scene.Once I saw this film a second time, the script actually made a lot more sense and was more intricate than I first realized. Believe me, when I, a Mae West fan, ordered this tape I thought I was going to be seeing one of the most boring, stupid, wastes-of-times in Hollywood's 100 year history. Thankfully, i was disappointed!The best part is that Sextette doesn't take itself seriously and doesn't expect its viewers to, either. It assumes its audience is intelligent enough to know camp when it sees it. Several of us do recognize it and appreciate this. Too bad there's the rest out there.BTW, tf this film is still unbearable, I suggest She Done Him Wrong. West is almost fifty years younger, for you agists out there, and her waistline has to be about twenty inches round, lol. But don't expect the script to be any less flamboyant.