bcrumpacker
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.
moonspinner55
The combination of director James Ivory and his producing partner Ismail Merchant with sensual star Raquel Welch should have resulted in a dynamic art-house hit, but "The Wild Party" is a series of missed opportunities (you're more acutely aware of all the possibilities that went unrealized than you are gripped by what made it to the screen). Loosely based on the Fatty Arbuckle scandal, this is a well-intentioned, noble failure with James Coco playing a silent-screen star in early 1930s Hollywood who throws a bash to celebrate his comeback in talkies, but his big night goes awry. A.I.P. recut the film for its theatrical run to punch up the sex--which gave the pic something of a sullied reputation--however MGM has since restored Ivory's cut. Coco, Welch (as mistress Queenie), and Perry King (as another in his stable of studs) all do fine work, and some of the dialogue has snap. The film is certainly a curiosity, but Ivory's handling is plastic and his pacing and musical effects are colorless. *1/2 from ****
theeht
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.
cfc_can
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.
AD
