Product: Sextette (1978)
Rating: 5.0
Mae West deserves 5 stars for giving her all for her fans.
Mae was very ill when she made this. Her diabetes was very out-of-control and she was aging at an alarming rate. Even so, friends of mine who do not know her age guessed that she was in her 50's. They were quite suprised to find out she was over 85! She planned to do this movie right after Myra Brekenridge but got sidelined. She looked great the clips of Myra Breckenridge that were shown on the Biography channel. (I have never seen Myra Brekenridge - apparently Tom Selleck, Farrah Fawcett, and Raquel Welch will not allow it to be sold on the video market). She was very wealthy (owning many parcels of prime California real estate). Only when she realized that she didn't have much time left did she decide to do one last movie for her fans - she was beautiful in some scenes- especially the entry in the wedding gown, bedroom scenes, and the clothing try-outs for an 'upcoming Marlo Manners movie' ( she wanted to show her Diamond Lil characters one more time in Color for her fans). Mae within one year of this movie had begun having the beginnings of Alzheimer's disease. She recognized only old acquaintances, she had to have her lines read to her through an earpiece, just before reciting them, through out the filming. She was even left standing in a elevator for several hours - after the set was shut down (she had to walk down a hall, say a line and hit a button-- this scene took many retakes to get all the actions in the correct order, when it was finally done they rapped the set and left - finally someone remembered Mae and rescued her from the elevator.) My favorite scene is her meeting with George Raft in the elevator. A definite chemistry was still there. Its fitting that he was in her first and last movie. The only part of the movie I feel should have been cut was the Dom DeLouise solo song - absolutely ridiculous. Mae insisted on having the end of the movie changed - where she sang 'Next, Next' with Alice Cooper. Originally, the producers wanted her to sing a sad song lamenting loosing her new husband. Mae said NO - she was going to show a self-confident image which is what her fans wanted- and get her husband back ---- and she did. One additional thing, Mae had a stroke three months before she died at 87. She was unable to talk - but did enjoy watching her movies until her death. She was given the last rights by a priest - and thru out her life she was known to give her car to Nuns whenever she saw them in need of transportation, then buy herself a new one. She took care of her Mom, Dad, brother and sister Beverly -providing them a private ranch. Her sister Beverly only lived a year after Mae- but she was left quite well off.