Main Cast: Mae West, John Huston, Raquel Welch, Rex Reed, Farrah Fawcett
Release Year: 1970
Country: US
Run Time: 94 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Gore Vidal's best-selling satiric novel gets an inarguably unique screen treatment in this off-center psycho-sexual farce. Fussy film buff Myron Breckinridge (Rex Reed) goes to Europe and gets a sex-change operation from a slovenly chain-smoking doctor (John Carradine) and returns to the United States as the glamorous and willful Myra Breckinridge (Raquel Welch). Myra appears at the door of former cowboy star-turned-acting school entrepreneur Buck Loner (John Huston), who also happened to be Myron's uncle; Myra insists she's Myron's widow and demands her fair share of Loner's inheritance to her late husband. Loner, suspicious of the appearance of Myron's bride, tries to find a way out of giving her any of his money, while giving Myra a job in his acting school to keep her busy. Myra's new career allows her to make the acquaintance of Leticia Van Allen (Mae West), an aging sexpot and talent agent who represents "leading men only." Through Leticia, Myra meets alpha-male aspiring star Rusty Godowsky (Roger Herren) and his naïve girlfriend Mary Ann Pringle (Farrah Fawcett); as part of her own bid to ferment sexual anarchy, Myra attempts to introduce Mary Ann to the pleasures of lesbianism, while forcibly expanding Rusty's sexual boundaries. In the midst of the action, director Michael Sarne uses clips from dozens of vintage Hollywood films of the 1930s and '40s as a comic counterpoint to the story. Both Gore Vidal and Rex Reed expressed their dissatisfaction with Myra Breckinridge after the film hit theaters, though Vidal has also claimed not have seen the finished product; the film has gone on to develop a devoted cult following, despite the fact the film's only authorized video release has been out of print since the late '70s. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Originally derided as one of the low points in Hollywood history, Myra Breckinridge has since developed a dedicated cult following, with the result that its reputation has risen somewhat. Not that anyone would ever consider it a good movie; it's just that the unintentionally campiness of it has a certain morbid fascination that makes the film watchable. Although Gore Vidal had a hand in adapting his own novel, he seems to have done so without giving it much thought. There's no structure to the film, and little sense. The character of Myron, for example, has not been clearly defined, so that at times he seems to be nothing more than a figment of the imagination, and at other times, a real character. The satire of the novel is unfocused here, with targets picked seemingly at random. And while there are some amusing lines, much of the humor comes from laughing at how inane much of the proceedings are. Under the circumstances, no one could be expected to give a great performance, but Mae West is amusing. Despite its faults, the sheerly bizarre amateurishness of the piece makes it a unique experience -- one that some will relish and others will dismiss. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Fred Harpman - Art Director, Jack Martin Smith - Art Director, Michael McLean - Casting, Theadora Van Runkle - Costume Designer, Michael Sarne - Director, Danford B. Greene - Editor, Lionel Newman - Composer (Music Score), John Phillips - Composer (Music Score), Richard Moore - Cinematographer, Robert Fryer - Producer, Walter Scott - Set Designer, Reg Allen - Set Designer, L.B. Abbott - Special Effects, Art Cruickshank - Special Effects, Don Bassman - Sound/Sound Designer, David Dockendorf - Sound/Sound Designer, David Giler - Screenwriter, Michael Sarne - Screenwriter, Gore Vidal - Screenwriter
Myra Breckinridge is a campy American comedy film released in 1970. Based on the 1968 novel of the same name by Gore Vidal, the film was directed by Michael Sarne, with Raquel Welch in the title role. It also starred John Huston as Buck Loner, Mae West as Letitia Van Allen (spelled Leticia in the film), Farrah Fawcett, Roger Herren, and Roger C. Carmel. Tom Selleck made his film debut in a small role as one of Leticia's "studs". Theadora Van Runkle was costume designer for the film, but Edith Head designed Mae West's costumes.[1] Like the novel, the picture was controversial for its sexual explicitness, but unlike the novel, Myra Breckinridge received little to no critical praise and has been cited as one of the worst films ever made.[2]
Myra Breckinridge was one of two films with an X rating to be released by 20th Century Fox in 1970 (the other being Beyond the Valley of the Dolls).[3] In 1978, the studio submitted a cut version running 91 minutes to the MPAA, and the film was re-classified with an R rating. Both versions are available on the DVD, though the uncut print is now unrated.
Reception
Upon its release, the film was a commercial and critical flop.[4]Time magazine made their now infamous comments that "Myra Breckinridge is about as funny as a child molester. It is an insult to intelligence, an affront to sensibility and an abomination to the eye."[5] Since its release, it has achieved something of a cult following.[2]Gore Vidal has disowned the film calling it "an awful joke".[6][7] In 1993, Vidal wrote that although he had "never seen it, I do know that despite the iconic presences of Raquel Welch and Mae West, the film was so bad that the book stopped selling for a decade."
Filming of the movie was also filled with controversy, due to Michael Sarne being granted complete control over the project. Sarne quickly went overbudget due to his unorthodox techniques, which included spending up to seven hours at a time by himself, "thinking," leaving the cast to wait around on set for him to return so that filming could commence.[8] Additionally, Sarne spent several days filming tables of food, for a dream sequence which, in addition to being non-essential to the plot, only appears in the film for a few seconds.[8]
There were also reports of conflicts between Raquel Welch and Mae West, who came out of retirement to play the Leticia character.[9][10] Furthermore, some actors from 1940s and 1950s films that were used as stock footage were upset that footage from their old films were inserted into the movie to punctuate some of the jokes as well as in the film's climactic rape sequence. After the film was previewed in San Francisco, the White House demanded that footage from the film Heidi, featuring Shirley Temple be removed due to Temple's role as United Statesambassador. Loretta Young also successfully sued to have footage of herself removed from the film.[9]
Due to the film's adult themes, it has rarely been shown on television, though in recent years, the film has aired on Fox Movie Channel. In 2004, Myra Breckinridge was released on DVD with minor changes—to make the film's ending (that Myron never had his sex change) clearer, the ending sequence was changed to black-and-white format.
References
^ Chierichetti, David; Head, Edith (2003). Edith Head: The Life and Times of Hollywood's Celebrated Costume Designer. HarperCollins. p. 180. ISBN 0-060-56740-6.
^ ab Moran, Leslie J.; Christie, Ian; Sandon, Emma (2004). Law's Moving Image. Loizidou, Elena. Routledge Cavendish. p. 87. ISBN 1-904-38501-X.
^ Frasier, David K. (1998). Russ Meyer-The Life and Films: A Biography and a Comprehensive, Illustrated and Annotated Filmography and Bibliography. McFarland. p. 129. ISBN 0-786-40472-8.
^Hadleigh, Boze (2001). The Lavender Screen: The Gay and Lesbian Films : Their Stars, Makers, Characters, and Critics. Citadel Press. p. 108. ISBN 0-806-52199-6.
^ Conner, Floyd (2002). Hollywood's Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Lucky Breaks, Prima Donnas, Box Office Bombs, and Other Oddities. Brassey's. p. 65. ISBN 1-574-88480-8.
