Sextette - A Grande Estrela

SEXTETTE is a throwback to the early years of cinema, where stars were larger than life and films threw in song and dance routines at regular intervals in the name of popular entertainment. It's also a vehicle for elderly starlet Mae West, at the tail-end of her career, playing a man-eater celebrating her wedding to a young toyboy (a visibly embarrassed Timothy Dalton). As the credits rolled, I had no idea what I'd just seen.

Clearly the director is in love with West and the film has been concocted as a tribute to her. But the format is very odd and old fashioned and West's appearance is rather shocking; her age is never mentioned so it's pretty weird to see her trying to play herself some fifty years previously. Often the narrative will break off to feature some filmed insert of West making one of her trademark wisecracks, which is bizarre in itself.

The music is pretty poor although there are endless guest appearances from a wide variety of folk in an attempt to entertain: Tony Curtis, Ringo Starr, George Hamilton, and Alice Cooper all show up here. Overall though, SEXTETTE is a ludicrous film, and I can't help but think that it would have been better to remember West as she was rather than as she is here.

Sextette is a much maligned movie. There have been far worse films released. The new Region 2 English release on DVD simply has to be seen to be believed in contrast to the US Rhino version, which makes no attempt at a remastered print. The UK version is as crisp and sharp as it can be, saturated colours, good clear mono sound, and has obviously made this rather difficult movie more watchable.

Neither Mae West or anyone else in the movies finest hour this film has a few enjoyable moments. The whole premise that Timothy Dalton would be anxious to ravish the 83 0r 84 year old siren is unlikely! Dalton and Wests version of Love Will Keep Us Together is something that will stay wioth you forever despite years of therapy!!

I remember the late Vincent Price discussing a screentest (on British chat show host Michael Parkinson's show a few years back)for the role of one of her husbands only to be turned down because he was too old for the part!!

A Time magaazine review said the film could be enjoyed because it was so bad it was good!!

Worth catching if your taste runs to the outrageous!!

This is right up there with "Can't Stop the Music" as wonderfully inspired trash. I find it funny that so many people are offended by Mae's appearance and numerous flirtations in this film. These are the same yokels who laugh at Bob Hope or George Burns when they chat up a young babe. It's nice to see the tables turned. Mae is grand - there's no other word for her- and her statue-like appearance (due to God knows how many face lifts and layers of make-up) actually help to accentuate the nature of her cinema icon glory. She always was bigger-than-life.

The plot of this film and the musical numbers are truly terrible, but they're there merely as plot devices for Mae to strut her stuff, and for Timothy Dalton to rack up enough embarrassing moments to cancel out his entire career even if he makes it to Mae's age! This movie always was meant to be camp, since Mae has always been the reigning camp queen, but of course it also tried to pass as real Hollywood entertainment, which means that there's a lot of unintentional humor too. There are tons of witty lines, and it's fun to see this huge gallery of stars (I barely recognized Alice Cooper without his long hair and smeared mascara. He looked like Paul Jabara, which I bet was intentional). I would not recommend seeing this film on an empty stomach, as seeing Timothy Dalton breaking out into "Love Will Keep Us Together" will cause a severely nasty involuntary reaction. But for fans of true camp, this movie is an absolute must see!

It's too easy to dismiss SEXTETTE as just another tacky bad movie. It is actually more of a camp classic. Mae West, aged 85 at the time of shooting, may well have been having the last laugh here. She lampoons herself wildly in this incredible film version of her own stage play, involving an actress of a certain age visiting London to star in a new production. Choice dialog: "Miss Manners, what did you think of Big Ben?" "Oh, I don't believe I've met the gentleman". As the film progresses, all pretence at serious production seemingly goes out of the window. Rock stars Alice Cooper, Ringo Starr and Keith Moon make suitably sozzled mid-70s L.A. styled appearances for no good reason, and future James Bond Timothy Dalton hams up no end his role as Mae's youthful beau. And then suddenly, the film becomes a musical. Truly incredible, a must-see for fans of high camp.

There are only a very few moments of absolute awe which I can recall in my life. What is not reflected in the blurb about this film, and the comments referring to Miss West's embarrassing appearance in this film, is the effect she had on the cast and crew when she entered the set on the Paramount lot. We were in the "gym" waiting to begin shooting, talking and yapping away as actors will do at 7 AM before anything gets going, when the double doors to the set opened, and as each person turned and looked at the lady entering and realized it was Mae West, they fell silent - until you could have heard a pin drop or your heart beating just a bit faster and louder. Miss West may have been a poor shadow of what she had been years before, but she was still Mae West. Incredible as it may seem, at eighty years old she radiated a presence I have felt from very few others. Later on, while shooting a scene with her, and the director was loudly yelling at her through her ear-piece, rather than becoming angry at the rude treatment she was getting, she simply turned to me with that Mae West smile; and in one look she said, "It's okay kid, I'm Mae West, who the hell gives a damn about him." When I looked back at her, somewhat in awe, she winked. Ultimately, she did the take the way she wanted to do it. Maybe the public will never see that scene as I saw it played out, but I will never forget it.