bkoganbing
Reading the Citadel Film series book on the Films of Mae West I got the distinct impression there was no one really in charge of this film. This was certainly not Gore Vidal's vision of a satirical novel on gender stereotyping and transitioning. His name was on the credit as involved with the production, but this was not his film.Instead it was both a Mae West vanity film and a trashy and exploitive treatment of some new ideas that were being discussed publicly about gender identification. Gay man Rex Reed has decided that in his sexual journey he is indeed a transgender person. Surgery transforms Reed into Raquel Welch.What Raquel/Rex does is decide to cash in on an early inheritance. Raquel Welch travels west and says that she is Rex's widow and that through her mother as sister of old time cowboy star John Huston who runs a phony acting school. Raquel demands and gets a half interest, but Huston smells something wrong.As for Mae West she has a supporting part as a talent agent who only represents strapping and sturdy young men. One of them in a bit role is Tom Selleck. Mae demanded and got top billing though this is a Raquel Welch film. This was a move of sheer vanity on Mae's part, but not as bad as Sextette which was to come.Despite the billing the youth market surely came to see Raquel Welch in her prime taking it out on the male of the species for her treatment while she was one of them. Issues of homophobia and transphobia are raised, but they're not dealt with satisfactorily.One thing that was raised put me in mind of a question my young nephew raised many years ago when his other uncle who had Down's Syndrome died. He asked his mother will Uncle Jimmy be retarded in heaven? There is an afterlife coda to Myra Breckinridge where the issue is raised just who is in said afterlife Rex Reed or Raquel Welch? But you won't find an interesting point of view raised here.
falco12351
Myra Breckenridge has everything you don't want to see in a movie from start to finish. The comedy is Disturbing, Offensive, Obscene and just Sickening. I didn't even want to see the ending it was that bad, but I had to keep strong and I'm never watching this move again in my life. Why did all these big star even agree to this movie, huh? Rachael Welch, John Carradine, even George Furth. Although there we Big Star in this movie before they were big stars like: Farrah Fawcett and Tom Selleck, and I say sorry to you two for even being in the credits of this movie. I don't know why some people consider this a Cult Film because there is nothing in this movie that people can relate to, not even the sexual content or the Characters.
garyldibert
Bad Bad Bad! This picture opened in theaters June 24 1970, starring John Houston as Buck Loner, Raquel Welch as Myra Breckinridge, and Rex Reed as Myron. Myron wants to have a sex change operation and he's waiting in the operation room for his doctor. Right before he does the surgery he councils Myron not to have the surgery but Myron sticks to his guns. That's when Raquel Welch enters the picture as Myra Brecknridge. That's when John Houston enters the picture as Buck Loner. Loner runs and acting school filled losers of every race and life style. The school is barely surviving and that's when Myra shows up on the school doorstep. Myra informs Buck that he was married to one of his relatives and that she's entitled to have of his estate. Stalling Buck gives Myra a job as a teacher until he can fine a **** ** *** *****. Now a thought on this picture! How can you waste Raquel Welch talent in this stupid picture? This movie had no action, no plot and very little comedy. Mae West was just awful in this picture and so was John Houston. Making her film debut was Farrah Fawcett and even thought it was a very young Farrah Fawcett she wasn't half bad. The only thing that made this movie worth watching has Raquel Welch. When Raquel wasn't on I fast forward until I got to her parts. Her wardrobe in this picture was fantastic. Her acting was just as good; however, it was a shame that they waste such great talent in a movie like this. On the movie itself, I give this picture 1 weasel star because the picture doesn't get your attention or keep it. However, if you're a Raquel Welch fan like I am then watch it for Raquel only because that's all you fine interesting in this picture.
Kirk Miller
Quite how this became Hollywood's most famously reviled and ridiculed creation is almost as mysterious as how such a bizarre film was ever made in the first place.It's the story of a gay film critic knocked unconscious in a car accident who then dreams he has undergone a sex-change operation and been recreated in Raquel Welch's image. I managed to work that much out after two viewings, the first wondering what the hell I was seeing and the second spotting the few clues to the "plotline" that exist between the scenes of insane camp and bizarre sexual acts.Somehow, through all the confusion and early '70s delirium, I found myself enjoying it. It is a ridiculous mess, but where else are you going to see the legendary John Huston receiving a brutal Swedish massage and Raquel Welch in glorious widescreen, Technicolor Panavision wearing a strap-on and cowgirl outfit ensemble? Not in Legally Blonde, I know that much.
AD
