Wild Party

: It's 1929, and Hollywood is changing over to sound. Meanwhile, screen comic James Coco hasn't made a film in six years, but he's putting the finishing touches on his latest, to be followed by a party. Some major players show up, but it's mostly hangers-on, marginal players, and parasites who stay for the debauched and desperate aftermath.

This Merchant-Ivory film features a fine performance by James Ivory, a good one by Raquel Welch as his mistress, and a party that by 1970s standards would have been a slow night at Studio 54. Heck, exclude the gunfire, and I've been to wilder science-fiction club meetings. Still, although the pacing of the movie is stop-and-go, there are a few moments that visually capture the moment: a man dancing to "The Herbert Hoover Drag" that looks like a John Held Jr. Cartoon; a moving camera combined with editing montage to show the orgiastic aspects of the part; Coco and Miss Welch telling the story of how they met. These are all good moments, but the movie under-delivers on the title.

It's based on a poem by Joseph Moncure March who also wrote the poem that The Set-Up (1949) was based on. Most of the time he is better remembered as a playwright and screenplay writer.

This is with out a doubt the worst movie I have ever seen. Plastic characters spewing the most amazingly bad dialog imaginable. If Ed Wood had still been directing in the 70's, this could have been his masterpiece. I am still surprised that Perry King and Raquel Welch did not pool their funds to buy out every print, so they could be spared the embarrassment of the general public seeing the most laughable dance sequence ever put on celluloid. It is especially sad to think that this was a big movie for James Coco. His true comedic talents were totally wasted in this mess of a film. The film is so unbelievably bad that I am surprised that it has not reached some sort of "cult film" status. It should be played at midnight at art house all over the US. It would bring screams of laughter from everyone in the audience. Maybe John Waters should do the re-make?

Unforgettable, very well done depticition of decadent 1920s Hollywood. Raquel Welch is superb as the desperate, sweet mistress of a deeply disturbed overweight and washed up comic named Jolly Grimm, ably played by James Coco. To resuscitate his career, Jolly throws a party that ends in tragedy. Very loosley based on Fatty Arbuckles story, this unforgettable and devastating film features fine support from Perry King as a Valentiniesque actor, and especailly from Miss Tiffany Bolling, as a lovely but unhappy film starlet. All in all, a class A effort that should have gotten a better recption at the time, but may well emerge as a cult classic. It is newly released on DVD , which should add to the fine film.

The worst Ivory-Merchant film I've seen is THE WILD PARTY, very loosely based on the Roscoe Arbuckle scandal. More specifically it's based on a hideously maudlin poem by Joseph Moncure March published in 1928. The Ivory-Merchant team so famous for its impeccable period detail in any number of films totally flops in capturing the 1929 Holly glam look. What they did capture is the 1975 look. James Coco stars as Jolly Grimm, a washed up silent film comic hoping for a comeback in his latest and self-backed film on the life of Brother Juniper. His live-in girlfriend and former extra is played by Raquel Welch. She gets to sing and dance to one of the film's many horrid songs. Perry King plays a flashy new film star, Tiffany Bolling plays his jaded party date, Bobo Lewis plays the maid, Royal Dano plays Tex the former stuntman, David Dukes plays the guy who writes the poem. The majority of the cast is unrecognizable. The story hits of just about every stereotype. There's the Valentino type, a vamp who's really a lesbian, studio heads with thick Euro accents, and worst of all is the little puke who'll do anything to get into the movies so she crashes the party and does an Isadora dance draped in dish towels.

Everything is wrong although there could have been a decent movie with James Coco and none of the rest of the cast. The costumes are all wrong as is the women's hair and makeup. The several songs are the type that Paul Williams used to sing with that gag-worthy diction of his. There are also lots of clips of Coco playing Brother Juniper in the silent movie. As the cannibals trap him and lead him to the giant cauldron, Juniper says..... "You can't boil me. I'm a friar!" And that's the high point of the film.

The Wild Party is probably based on several wild parties and scandals which took place during Hollywood's silent era when movie stars could do almost anything they wanted behind closed doors without having to worry too much of exposure as there were no real tabloid magazines at the time. James Coco plays a washed-up, silent movie comic who throws a wild party at his home, thinking it will save his career but doesn't count on the extent of depravity of some of his guests. At times, the film is highly realistic and makes you wonder about current Hollywood parties and what really goes on between co-stars. The film has a great 1920's look and the music also adds to the feel. The film is hard to define. It's sort of a historical drama, crossed with black comedy but a pretty good one at that.