Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice

Carol Burnett plays it straight in this film. She plays a falling-down drunk named Beatrice O'Reilly. The film opens with her being released from the local drunk tank after she's been booked for public drunkenness. Her husband (Lloyd Bridges) picks her up and the first thing she does, after promising to never drink again, is to find a hidden bottle of hooch she's stashed away.

It's 1943 and her family from Texas visits as one of the sons is off to war. Already drunk as she prepares the meal, she walks in and slops the platter of food on the floor. She picks it up and serves it anyway.

On another night, she's quarreled with the husband and gone out to a bar where she's picked up by a sailor. He passes out as she careens around town. Eventually she opens the door and shoves him out onto the ground.

She spends time in a sanitarium to dry out and goes right back to drinking when she gets home. Eventually she's so sick and jittery she can't function. While the husband is out of town for work, she breaks down and calls AA for help.

The road back is not an easy one for Beatrice, but she has the help of an AA worker (Marian Mercer) and local cops (Geoffrey Lewis, Conchata Ferrell) who help her open a "recovery house" for alcoholic women. Her salvation comes through helping others.

Burnett is terrific. She did some great work in TV movies like FRIENDLY FIRE, THE TENTH MONTH, BETWEEN FRIENDS, and this ranks as one of her best performances. Co-stars are all good but this is Burnett's film all the way.

Hard to find, but worth the effort.

After seeing Miss Burnett's variety series, it is nice to see that she can also do drama. This and "Friendly Fire" are amongst the best acting of her career and although at times this film seems a bit white-washed, it is still a very good film. Ably supported by great actors like Lloyd Bridges and Conchata Farrell, this movie is at times touching and a few times, humorous!! Very good all around film.

Excellent and memorable! I remember it very well since having seen it many years ago - now it is next to impossible to find. My question is - Where is an official dvd release of it? Surely some company can get the rights to release it. I know many people have been looking for it over the years. Carol Burnett was nominated for a Golden Globe for this performance. I don't understand how it is still overlooked.

I would be curious to know more about the true story of Beatrice, and will probably have to research it a bit more to get the facts. Perhaps it is a positive thing,that seeing a film like this can make the audience interested in something they normally wouldn't think about.

Carol Burnett is good in the title role, and while I am not partial to her as an actor, she does a good job. Geoffrey Lewis portrays the police captain, who was her friend, and helped her to start a halfway house for women with alcohol problems. It is sort of like a different version of "My Name is Bill W."(An excellent film, by the way, with Brian Dennehy and James S. Woods).

At any rate, the story is a bit slow at times, but portrays the true story of Beatrice. It is a bit whitewashed, as there could have been more incidents which occurred, and the audience could have learned from. Marian Mercer has a role as Beatrice's friend, who introduces her to A.A.

Overall, the court scenes were stilted, but the overall theme is projected; a film like this may be due for a re-make; Perhaps Lifetime could write an updated version, with more contemporary actors.