The Party (1968)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Blake Edwards

Writers:

Blake Edwards (screenplay) &
Tom Waldman (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

4 April 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

If you've ever been to a wilder party... you're under arrest.

Plot:

A clerical mistake results in a bumbling film extra being invited to an exclusive Hollywood party instead of being fired.

Plot Keywords:

Actor | Hollywood | Smoking Cigarette | Rolls Royce | Turban

Cast

Peter Sellers	...	Hrundi V. Bakshi
Claudine Longet	...	Michele Monet
Natalia Borisova	...	Ballerina
Jean Carson	...	Nanny
Marge Champion	...	Rosalind Dunphy
Al Checco	...	Bernard Stein
Corinne Cole	...	Janice Kane
Dick Crockett	...	Wells
Frances Davis	...	Maid
Danielle De Metz	...	Stella D'Angelo (as Danielle de Metz)
Herbert Ellis	...	Director (as Herb Ellis)
Paul Ferrara	...	Ronnie Smith
Steve Franken	...	Levinson
Kathe Green	...	Molly Clutterbuck
Allen Jung	...	Cook

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Australia:G (TV rating) | Portugal:M/12 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Brazil:Livre | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | Argentina:Atp | Canada:G | Finland:S | France:U | Norway:7 (DVD rating) | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:6 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivia:

The only Blake Edwards -Peter Sellers collaboration that was not a Pink Panther film.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Bakshi lifts the lid on the toilet cistern, it is full of water. If it was continuously flushing, it should be empty.

Quotes:

C. S. Divot: You mashuga!
Hrundi V. Bakshi: I am not your sugar.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Brice de Nice (2005)

Soundtrack:

It Had Better Be Tonight (Meglio Stasera)

Charming Blake Edwards slapstick comedy

When I was working for the Museum of Modern Art, we had a small retrospective for Blake Edwards, and he selected "The Party" as the movie he wanted to open with: he felt it was his "purest" film comedy. After the opening sequence with the Peter Sellers character wrecking a movie set, the bulk of the film takes place during the night of a big Hollywood party (which the Sellars character is inadvertently invited to). In this, the film is a rigorous as Antonioni's "La Notte" (also set during the events of one day and night), and the sight gags build and accumulate in a manner that is reminiscent of Jacques Tati (with the same melancholic humor prevading the slapstick). The film is utterly charming, with some acerbic touches pricking the hypocrisies of Hollywood, and the film takes the time to let the characters (especially the two principals, played by Sellers and Claudine Longet in her only major film role) develop. It may not be as manic as parts of "The Pink Panther" but it's very funny in an even and sustained way.