The Wild Party

It's 1929 and talkies are taking over. Veteran comedian Jolly Grimm (James Coco) is putting together a new silent film with his own money. It's an old style broad comedy. He's throwing a party but is having trouble gaining support for his film. He hopes to show the movie during the party and get some backing. He's afraid to lose his girlfriend Queenie (Raquel Welch) who catches the eye of hunky new leading man Dale Sword (Perry King). This is a different Merchant-Ivory movie from their more famous 80's and 90's fare. They are still doing historical dramas but not necessarily this type. For most of it, I liked this movie and was surprised at the critical panning. The dark ugliness of Hollywood could be off-putting. I'm not a fan of the ending. It's often an easy out for a movie to end with gun fire. A better climax may be Jolly trying to get into the Pickford party and refused entry. All in all, I like this as one of many takedown of Hollywood people.

This is an interesting and ambitious feature that has much to recommend it--and a fair number of strikes against it, too. On the credit side, James Coco is outstanding in the lead role of Jolly Grimm, an aging screen comic desperate to make a comeback. He's ably supported by David Dukes as his straight arrow screen collaborator and especially by Royal Dano as his lanky and loyal personal assistant. The story is simple but interesting, the silent film footage of Brother Jasper expertly mounted, and there's an eerily effective and almost otherworldly performance by the unheralded Annette Ferra as an ambitious young dancer. And now for the not so good news: despite a praiseworthy attempt to drape this in Roaring '20s ambiance, a few too many 1970s anachronisms--clothing wise and hairstyle wise--creep distractingly into the background, the original songs are generally mediocre, and the sensational sex scenes are gratuitous at best. The result is a somewhat schizophrenic production that uneasily tries to balance a serious story with five minutes of over the top group grope scenes which will offend some and disappoint others. There's enough here to render these scenes superfluous, but even with their inclusion the film remains a fine character study that will hold the attention of those interested in the history--apocryphal or otherwise--of early Hollywood.

One critic said it never had a release in the states which is wrong. I saw it in a theater in Princeton, N.J. It was long before the Merchant/Ivory rep kicked in. James Coco was probably the closest they could come to a Fatty Arbuckle look-a-like, but his performance is miserable. When he realizes that he has no backers for his new film and his mistress Queenie has run off with Perry King, he stands on the landing of his staircase and drunkenly berates the remaining guests at his party. The funny thing is that the camera never moves, nor are there any cutaways from him. He just goes on and on when someone should have yelled cut. Raquel Welch's musical numbers were, I suppose, meant to entice lusty revelry among the guests, but she's not that talented. Leave that sort of thing to Mae West. The whole project smacks of Golan-Globus amateur theatrics. Bad writing, bad acting, bad lighting, bad cinematography.

Trailer—The Wild Party

I bought this because Raquel Welch was in it. Every movie that I have of here's which is about 17 she was always gorgeous and beautiful except this one. She wasn't bad in this picture but with her beauty, she shouldn't have been in this movie in the first place. I loss interest in this movie as soon as the person said the year 1920. This movie told you how a movie stars to get his life back once they have been found. However, how could you waste the beauty and the talent of Raquel Welch in a movie like this? Raquel body is far better serve on beach scenes and watching walk around the beaches in those short and lovely bikinis. I'm sorry Raquel but I can't give this movie anything more then 3 weasel stars. You and your talent were wasted in this movie and the only reason I gave it 3 weasel stars was because your name was in it.

(Very) loosely based on the Fatty Arbuckle scandal from circa 1921, this film is set in 1929, and based on a poem from that era, which I have not read, a few lines of which are voiced over in the film. James Coco's character was very annoying. This is not really criticism, because that was obviously intentional. Perry King played his part as melodramatically as a scene from the times. Royal Dano was excellent as befits his long and distinguished career as a character actor. It has been a long time since I have seen a film with Raquel Welch. She was long mocked back in the day (before silicone) as just a big pair of *, but I found her performance compelling, and the best part of this movie.

SPOILER ALERT The then new Merchant Ivory team made some odd choices for this remake portrayal of old Hollywood decadence. It was shot at the Mission Inn in Riverside, California, a beautiful old mission style high end hotel. (The Nixons spent their honeymoon there.) So the production design and costumes are gorgeous, if dimly lit. The late James Coco shows impressive range and talent as the jealous clown protagonist who hits rock bottom in front of everyone. For the record, Fatty Arbuckle, upon whom Coco's character was based, was much younger and more physically impressive. Raquel Welch was at her peak, but she has a rather poorly written role. This is one of her many weird films; see, e.g. Myra Breckinridge. Somebody, someday will film an orgy and make it look good and inviting, instead of the sweaty, nauseating nightmare here. Despite these complaints, the performances and production values hold up surprisingly well thirty years later. Worth a look.

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.

I wish to dissent from the majority of my IMDB colleagues below and say that I found this bit of road not taken-ism quite interesting. Referring ,of course, to the fact that, based on this film, had James Ivory not chosen to become the American Alistair Cooke he could well have become the American Ken Russell. In other words, a nice dip into the Hollywood Babylon/Valentino pool with a fine performance by James Coco as a character based on the life of Fatty A (thankfully, sans coke bottle) and the best dramatic work Raquel W has ever done (KC Bomber fans'll disagree but they can go piss on a roller skate).' Coulda done without the unmemorable poetry and even more unmemorable songs but, all in all, I was affected by the pathetic fates of Jolly and Queenie. Give it a B.

One critic said it never had a release in the states which is wrong. I saw it in a theater in Princeton, N.J. It was long before the Merchant/Ivory rep kicked in. James Coco was probably the closest they could come to a Fatty Arbuckle look-a-like, but his performance is miserable. When he realizes that he has no backers for his new film and his mistress Queenie has run off with Perry King, he stands on the landing of his staircase and drunkenly berates the remaining guests at his party. The funny thing is that the camera never moves, nor are there any cutaways from him. He just goes on and on when someone should have yelled cut. Raquel Welch's musical numbers were, I suppose, meant to entice lusty revelry among the guests, but she's not that talented. Leave that sort of thing to Mae West. The whole project smacks of Golan-Globus amateur theatrics. Bad writing, bad acting, bad lighting, bad cinematography.