La Party

This film has to be regarded as a hilarious one-man-act by Peter Sellers. I saw it on its first run UK cinema release in 1969 and I've seen it at least a dozen times since. I would gladly watch it another dozen times; it always makes me laugh. The supporting cast perform adequately but Peter Sellers does all the work. He is simply one of the all-time greatest masters of great comedy timing. I was surprised to read so many negative comments on this site in association with this film. I can only surmise that they have come from a younger generation who have had their sense of humour surgically removed due to a force fed diet of unamusing US sitcoms. If you can't laugh at this film you must be birdie-num-num!

I'm sorry, but if you don't laugh, until you cry or your sides ache, at something, hell, at everything in this movie then you'd better check yourself for a pulse. The first four or five times I viewed The Party, I did just that. This is a gut aching, side splitting, fall on the floor, laugh a minute comedy, from start to finish! The scene where the Cornish game hen 'flies' across the dinner table and lands on the tiara of one of the party 'goers' is literally one of the funniest scenes of all time. And it's not just the outrageously funny bumbling physical comedy of Peter Sellers. There is also a subtleness with which Sellers portrays his Indian character that is very visible in his many facial expressions as well as with the 'body language' he uses, that's just as funny. If you even like comedy just a little, you'll love this movie. I give it 4 stars, to infinity!

Blake Edwards, Henry Mancini and Peter Sellers team up again and it's a winner.

A Hindustani meets the high society of Hollywood, the chaos is programmed and the laughs hit hard.

A culture clash comedy from 1968 by the great Blake Edwards with a hilarious Peter Sellers in one of his funniest roles as Hrundi V. Bakshi.

It's still so much fun to watch this movie with its fine slapstick scenes and timinig, masterful camera work and perfect soundtrack by Henry Mancini.

The first 2/3rd of the movie are great, at the end in the final 1/3rd it loses some of its pace.

A great comedy. Always a good watch.

Highly recommended.

`The Party' is one of the few comedies that I can watch repeatedly and still enjoy, to a great extent due to the charm of the character Peter Sellers creates. Hrundi V. Bakshi urgently needs to be appropriate and polite (he absolutely CANNOT be impolite), but his natural curiosity and unfamiliarity with his surroundings wreak havoc. He's really quite an admirable fellow, though. He's unfailingly considerate and reasonable, but brave and resourceful when coming to the aid of another, as in the case of producer C.S. Divot's (Gavin MacLeod) exploitation of Michelle Monet (Claudine Longet). I find it hard to accept the notion that the characterization is racist, as some contend, unless you consider the very act of a white person playing an Indian in dark makeup racist. It can't be denied that many westerners find the accent amusing (see Baboo in `Seinfeld,' or Apu in `The Simpsons'). Still, Sellers' characterization of Bakshi is no stereotype, and I don't feel that his portrayal brings discredit to anyone.

That aside, this is one damned funny film! As `anonymous' from Chicago has pointed out below, there are interesting aspects there for your consideration, if you choose to look for them. More than just a series of pratfalls and sight gags, `The Party' is a multi-faceted creation, as is its central character. If you haven't seen it, pour yourself a heaping bowl of birdie num-nums and give it a look. It's on DVD now, collectors.

I need only add that I am not your sugar.

The Party is not a harmless comedy. It's got a lot of sting in it, against snobbishness and contempt for your fellow man - or woman, for that matter. But above all, it's Peter Sellers who shows his talent here. How an earlier reviewer manages to call this 'a dud' is beyond me.

So the movie loses its pace a bit at the end - maybe trying to underline too much what a nice fellow Bakshi is. But there's a lot of great scenes - the army attack, the parrot, the dinner and that incredible toilet scene. The increasingly drunken waiter (a convincing performance, who is that actor?). And through it all, Bakshi wanders around with that eternal smile on his face.

Sellers manages to combine The Pink Panther's slapstick with a sympathetic character of more depth. Great humour!