S.O.B. Nos Bastidores de Hollywood

People may hate this movie for the exact reason it was made: it blew the facade off Hollywood, exposing it for the cutthroat atmosphere that it is. Both Julie Andrews & Blake Edwards had every reason to hate Hollywood for what they did to them (chastising Blake for his indulgence, boxing Julie into a corner with sticky-sweet roles), so this wicked satire was their way of firing back & people either got the joke & were offended or didn't get it & just hated the movie for what it was. No doubt the film industry had the former reaction, proved by the little publicity the film received. Moviegoers probably thought more the latter, causing it to flop at the box-office & not exactly giving Julie & Blake the better opportunities they were looking for (both have found it difficult to find films outside of the stereotypical ones they made their name with). Some thought the famous breast-baring shots of Julie were gratuitous & shameful, yet they were the point of the film: wanting to evolve in the name of art & being talked out of it in the name of commerce. A movie like S.O.B. might actually play better today because such diatribes against the movie industry by its employees can find an audience who are now much wiser to the evil workings of the business (notice how THE PLAYER & SUNSET BOULEVARD are classics today, recognized as such by the industry they set out to skewer).

Blake Edward's, who had an ax to grind with Hollywood, gets his revenge in this biting (and sometimes cruel) look at tinsel town. I found the film hilarious and one of his best efforts. His real life wife (Julie Andrews) destroyed her "Mary Poppins" image by showing her naked breasts in one scene. This is also William Holden's last screen appearance.

How rare it is to see a terrific comedy meant for adults. "S.O.B." is Blake Edwards dark look at life in Hollywood. And believe me he pulls no punches. Everyone and everything is a target and he hits it almost every time.

"S.O.B." tells the story of a big director whose latest film is the biggest flop in movie history. Despondent he spends the first half of the film trying to kill himself and the second half trying to save the film by re-shooting it as an arty porno film complete with a nude scene by the virginal female lead (played by the virginal Julie Andrews).

As I said no stone goes unturned. We get hints of drugs, death, murder, suicide, sex, homosexuality (both men and women), transvestism, back stabbing, grave robbing, and much more. But it is done in a tone that is dark but extremely funny. Watching William Holden, Robert Preston, and Robert Webber in their scenes in the third act is worth the time alone. And, yes, we do get to see Julie Andrews in a brief topless shot. It's nice if you like her but nothing special.

The only complaint is that the film runs a bit too long. Edwards would have benefited the film with a trimming of about 15 minutes. But if you like your comedy dark, this is a must see.

I never quite figure out Blake Edwards as a filmmaker. He had a side that was as sophisticated and poignant as it was funny. Think "The Party" or the first Pink Panther, the other side was pure commercialism without any regard for its audience. SOB is a blatant example of that. Here he even uses his characters to badmouth "Last Tango In Paris" - The premise is terrific for a biting Hollywood satire but a premise is just a premise. He has to resort to farting during a sequence that should have been a comedy showstopper. Hey he got his wife to go topless and his wife was Julie Andrews - he must have heard cash registers in his mind like Richard Mulligan's character when he decides to put his wife in a porno=erotic something or other to make zillions of dollars. Richard Mulligan plays his suicidal director like he was in a Mack Sennett routine. Outrageous and I'm tempted to say, unforgivable. I must also confess that made me uncomfortable to see William Holden in the middle of it all. Shelley Winter, Robert Preston, Stuart Margolin, Larry Hagman, Robert Vaughn even a glimpse of the very young Rossana Archette keeps the film going. Loretta Swit - of MASH fame - plays a gossip columnist in such a way that may very well explain why she didn't have much of a film career. So, even if I'm aware I've spent a couple of hours with a bunch of characters I hope I never meet in real life, SOB deserves to be seen if only because it is a piece of film history solidly set on its day.

One of the curious things about S.O.B. is that while it has an incredibly good name cast, there is no real star of the film. Julie Andrews gets first billing because she's the director/producer's wife and after her William Holden has the biggest marquee name so he's second. But if there's a star in this film it's Richard Mulligan because it's on his troubles that the plot of S.O.B. turns.

Mulligan came in for a lot of criticism as the frantic film producer who after a string of hits, totally loses his mind. So much so that his movie star wife, Julie Andrews, is leaving him. The first half of the film involve some hilarious attempts at suicide, the best being when he falls through the floor of his beach house trying to hang himself and flattens nosy gossip columnist Loretta Swit.

Julie Andrews is basically cast as a movie star like Julie Andrews who gained her fame and popularity with wholesome entertainment like Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. During an orgy/party that his good friend, cheerfully hedonistic director William Holden has at Mulligan's house while on suicide watch, Mulligan gets a brainstorm and decides to redo his last G rated film as soft core porn with Julie Andrews displaying her glockenspiels.

Mulligan gets crazier and crazier as the film now becomes a battle between him and studio head Robert Vaughn for control of the film. It all ends quite wildly indeed.

A lot of people say Richard Mulligan overacts and chews the scenery. But that's what the part calls for. He no more does it here than Robin Williams or Jonathan Winters at their zaniest. A little fine tuning in his performance might have helped, but the director who should have done this was busy elsewhere.

Instead of Blake Edwards doing it himself, he should have begged Billy Wilder to do this film. S.O.B. is the greatest Billy Wilder film that Billy Wilder never directed.

Besides those mentioned such luminaries as Shelley Winters, Robert Webber, Marisa Berenson, Stuart Margolin, Craig Stevens, Paul Stewart, Larry Hagman and Robert Loggia play various Hollywood types. But the best by far in the cast is Robert Preston as the Doctor Feelgood to the stars. It's a variation on the conman Harold Hill he played in The Music Man only he's far more cynical. When Preston is on screen, he dominates the film.

S.O.B. was the farewell performance of William Holden. Knowing the senseless way Holden died after completing the film, you twinge when you hear him cheerfully tell Richard Mulligan how he drank enough booze to kill a dozen healthy livers. Still S.O.B. was a good film to leave on for him.

I enjoy what Blake Edwards did with the talented bunch he assembled for this film. It would have been perfect if Billy Wilder had done it though.