Happy Birthday, Wanda June

Bill Hickey is fabulous as Col. Harper, Rod Stieger chews the scenery as Harold Ryan. This movie is very confusing, I have only met one person who saw it in a theater, ABC used to show it late at night, the last time I saw it they showed the reels out of order, nice guys, no way you could possibly have a clue.

It is the Homecoming of Odesius from the Trojan Wars, Penelope (Susanah York) has two lovers, a doctor and a vacuum cleaner salesman. Ryan and Harper have been lost for seven years, and they return without warning having found diamonds the size of grapefruits.

I have not been able to locate this film other than on 1 inch video tape, I would love to get a good copy of it.

This is one of my favourites, so I admit to being terrible biased about its merit. As a movie it's a bit clunky in places, but the cast is wonderful. For me the best of these is William Hickey. He often has the best lines in the fashion of the fool in Shakepeare. A drunken broken man whose one defining moment (in his friend's eyes anyway) he regrets totally. The movie is worth a look just for him. If you don't understand or enjoy Kurt Vonnegut's cynicism you won't enjoy this film. All of the "living" characters leave something to be desired, and there is little to inspire here. But it is funny in an ironic kind of way, and so indicative of humanity. The deceased characters (who all play shuffleboard in heaven on Jesus' team) are a hoot as well.

Based on Kurt Vonnegut's off-Broadway play, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WANDA JUNE,

is essentially about Susannah York's character Penelope Ryan and the

men that dominate her life, including a phenomenal Rod Steiger as ultra-

macho big game hunter Harold. The story also occasionally jumps to

heaven (yes, really), where Wanda June, the victim of a drunk driving

incident, plays shuffleboard for all eternity. This excellent film has

sadly never been available on video or DVD. I've only seen it on a

bootleg DVD made from a TBS broadcast in the late 80's (with some of

the language censored).

The first time I've watched this remarkable movie, was on commercial TV..I was sincerely amazed with this exquisite blend of irony,madness and desperation that was a trademark of Mr.Vonegut's works.But, there was something really new coming on that flick...the urges of a mankind behind those solid characters, Steiger and Hickey, this last one the bomber that wasted Hiroshima, and his Master, a frontiersman Steiger,both back from a disastrous expedition to Africa, that lasted years...Their families, in the face of those presumed deceased...What about an effervescent and mutating world of the early 70's?They should portrait the Vietnam fighters, being cursed for the flower power generation...Blended with superb interpretations from all the cast, with poisonous 'sensa huma'and political uncorrectioness all over the place.Those were the days, dude. A really must see...

I'll be the third person to comment on this movie; seems like like an exclusive club. Anyway, this is a very strange movie; Vonnegut does black comedy and touches on ideas he put in "Slaughterhouse Five". I saw this movie about 20 years ago, late at night on television, and it says a lot that although it's never going to be in my top 50 list, every so often I recall it and smile. Steiger is an egotistical, Iron John type adventurer and explorer who abandoned his wife to go off exploring with his friend, played by William Hickey (who was the man who dropped the atom bomb on Nagasaki, not Hiroshima, as the previous person said) and was missing, presumed dead for 7 years. Steiger thinks he can just waltz back into everyone's lives again and they'll all come running to him, but the reality is very different. Interspersed with this are cut aways to a little girl in Heaven called Wanda June who never got her big birthday party while she was living. Memory has dulled why her character and story is significant. One of the funniest scenes is where Steiger and Hickey enter their favourite bar after years away and the bartender yells out "Hey! This is the guy that dropped the bomb on Nagasaki!": A Japanese businessman looks on with contempt and backs away but a bearded hippy says "wow, I always wanted to meet you, man!"