When I heard that director Blake Edwards had died earlier this week, at the ripe old age of 88, I felt like I had lost an old friend. I grew up watching his films. He dabbled in many genres, and proved to be proficient in them all, but was especially adept at comedy. Specifically, he was one of a handful of filmmakers who could sell me on slapstick; he had a real knack for putting together imaginatively choreographed sequences of pratfalls (balletic in execution) that had a way of becoming ingratiatingly funnier and funnier the longer they went on. He was a superb screenwriter as well. Here are my top ten picks from the Blake Edwards oeuvre (37 feature films from 1955-1995), in alphabetical order:
Breakfast At Tiffany’s-Edwards turned Truman Capote’s novel about a farm girl who moves to the Big Apple and reinvents herself as a Manhattan socialite into a damn near perfect film (Mickey Rooney’s unfortunate, cringingly offensive racial stereotype aside). Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard (both at the peak of their attractiveness) are a stunning screen couple. A funny, sophisticated, bittersweet and poignant story, wonderfully directed, acted, written (George Axelrod adapted) and set to a fabulous Henry Mancini score (it wasn’t the first time Edwards collaborated with the composer, and certainly not the last-they worked together on close to 30 films over several decades).
Days of Wine & Roses-This shattering drama was quite jarring for its time (apparently prompting a rash of opening-week walkouts by Jack Lemmon fans expecting another “funny” role). The film still packs quite a wallop in its depiction of a couple (played by Lemmon and Lee Remick) and their descent into a co-dependent alcoholic hell. Lemmon and Remick (a curiously underrated actress) both deliver their finest performances. Everyone remembers the famous “greenhouse scene”, but I think the most intense moment comes in the “padded room” scene, with a sweating, screaming, strait-jacketed Lemmon writhing in withdrawal. Call it “sense memory”, “method” or whatever, but to this day it remains one of the most incredible examples of an actor being totally “in the moment” ever captured on film. Henry Mancini picked up an Oscar for the theme song.
The Great Race-After some readers took me to task a while back, for “overlooking” this epic 1965 Edwards comedy-adventure about a turn-of-the-century New York to Paris auto race on my list of top ten road movies, and then scolded me yet again (!) for not mentioning said film in my more recent tribute to Tony Curtis, I decided to revisit it (I literally hadn’t seen it since I was a kid). While I do think it starts to “overstay its welcome” about 2/3 of the way through (160 minutes can be a little exhausting for a comedy), I have to say that it was better than I remembered, and has held up pretty well in the laughs department. It was released at a time when overblown, big-budgeted comedies with huge international casts were very much in vogue (especially in the wake of the very successful It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in 1963). And what a cast-Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Peter Falk and Keenan Wynn (to name but a few).
The Party-Director Edwards and mercurial acting genius Peter Sellers paired up many times, but I think this 1968 gem is not only the best film they ever collaborated on (yes, including the “Panther” series, which I realize approaches heresy in some quarters), but taken frame-for-frame, is one of the all-time great screen comedies, period. Sellers is Hrundi V. Bakshi, an Indian actor with a small part in a Hollywood war epic who single-handedly blows a prohibitively expensive day of shooting by (literally) overplaying his role as a bugler who is (supposed to be) shot “dead” after sounding the charge. The exasperated director calls for the actor’s head, and Bakshi’s name ends up on a studio exec’s hurriedly scribbled “to do” list. Through a comedy of errors, Bakshi’s name is instead added to a guest list for a party being organized by the executive’s wife. The bumbling (if well-meaning) Bakshi proceeds to make a riotous shambles of the event. Sellers’ physical timing is right up there with the best of Chaplin and Keaton. A guitar-wielding Claudine Longet is on hand as the love interest, and purrs a jazzy little number.
S.O.B..-Whereas The Party was a relatively gentle satirical jab at Tinseltown, this 1981 mid-life crisis dramedy offers a decidedly more uncompromising and jaundiced view of the Hollywood machine, which has chewed up and spit out its embittered protagonist-a producer (Robert Mulligan) who flips out after his latest film, a high-budget, G-rated musical extravaganza starring his singer-actress wife (Julie Andrews) tanks with critics and flops at the box office, reversing his previously successful career trajectory. Desperate to salvage the project, he comes up with an idea to buy the film back from the studio, and “sex it up” by convincing his wife to reshoot her part, including some nude scenes, which would completely turn her “wholesome” screen image on its head. Edwards’ screenplay is supposedly laced with numerous autobiographical touches (as you may well already know, Edwards was in fact married to a certain singer-actress whose name rhymes with “Julie Andrews”). Edwards’ most cynical film, but also quite funny. Great supporting work from William Holden (sadly, his last film), Robert Vaughn, Robert Webber, Larry Hagman, Loretta Swit, Shelly Winters, and Robert Preston is priceless as a “Dr. Feelgood” to the stars. It’s worth the price of admission just to hear a ‘luded-up Andrews utter her immortal line: “Oh…Hi, Polly! Come to see my boobies?”
A Shot in the Dark-This was the second outing in the “Pink Panther” series, and I think it’s hands down the best entry in the franchise. Now, the fact that Elke Sommer is in this film has absolutely no bearing on this appraisal. I just wanted to make that perfectly clear. (Awkward silence) Okay, maybe a little bit. Alright, it has more than a little bearing. Sommer is Maria Gambrelli, the maid who might have “dunnit”. That is, shot her rich employer’s limo driver. Or did she? It’s up to Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers) to figure that out, as more victims start dropping like flies. There are so many great gags and classic exchanges in this one, including a memorable sequence in a nudist colony. Herbert Lom (who had previously co-starred with Sellers in several classic Ealing Studios comedies) introduces the character of Chief Inspector Dreyfus, who would become a fixture in subsequent sequels. I think I like this one best because it strikes a perfect middle ground between the first film (which actually played it more sophisticated and fairly straight, as did Sellers) and the later films, which, while quite entertaining, became more and more far-fetched and cartoonish as the franchise grew in its popularity.
Tamarind Seed-A largely forgotten, but quite absorbing and worthwhile Edwards film from 1974, this was his nod to cold war spy thrillers like From Russia with Love, Spy Who Came in from the Cold, The Deadly Affair and Hitchcock’s Torn Curtain (the latter film which, interestingly, featured Julie Andrews). Andrews co-stars here with Omar Sharif. She is a British civil servant, he is a Russian spy, and, well, you can bloody well guess what happens next. And yes, it does create certain “conflicts of interest” for the lovers, which makes for some involving intrigue and suspense, with a sultry Caribbean backdrop. Edwards adapted the screenplay from the novel by Evelyn Anthony. Unfortunately, there is no Region 1 DVD release; perhaps there will be now?
10– Talk about a “perfect” storm-Blake Edwards’ writing and directing skills, Dudley Moore’s impeccable comic timing, and Bo Derek’s, erm, well…Bo Derek-ness. Moore is a 40-something L.A. songwriter with a devoted girlfriend (Julie Andrews) and a long time friend/songwriting partner (Robert Webber) who are both dutifully attempting to warn him that they can see signs of a mid-life crisis looming on his horizon. While driving around one day, he spots a breathtakingly beautiful young woman (Derek) and immediately becomes obsessed with the idea of possessing her (mid-life crisis mode now fully engaged, thank you). Temporarily insane with unrequited lust, he decides on a whim to follow her (and her boyfriend) to Mexico, where they are headed for a holiday. Much hilarity, mostly fueled by middle aged craziness, ensues. Moore is so dead-on funny that you don’t really stop to consider that he’s sort of playing a creepy stalker. The film does actually does an interesting about-face about 2/3 of the way through, and turns into an introspective and melancholic morality tale. It is vastly entertaining, however, with excellent performances by all. Brian Dennehy is a standout as a philosophical bartender.
Victor/Victoria-A fluffy, but still highly entertaining gender-bending rom-com starring (wait for it) Julie Andrews, who plays an underemployed, classically-trained soprano scraping by in 1930s Paris. She befriends another unemployed singer (the irrepressible Robert Preston), who was recently booted from his gig at a cabaret. He cooks up a scheme that he is convinced will get them both out of the poorhouse: He will be her manager, and she will pose as a “he”, who impersonates a “she” onstage. Get it? Who better to pull off a killer female impersonator shtick, than (forgive me) a chick? Genius! Are there complications? Of course there are-and that’s when the fun starts. Like I said at the outset, lightweight fare, but an enjoyable romp nonetheless. James Garner and Lesley Ann Warren are wonderful. Henry Mancini is on board again with a great musical score. Andrews sings and dances with her usual aplomb (and she looks pretty hot in boy drag!).
Wild Rovers-Blake Edwards made a western? Yes, he did, and not a half-bad one at that. A world-weary cowhand (William Holden) convinces a younger (and somewhat dim) co-worker (Ryan O’Neal) that since it’s obvious that they’ll never really get ahead in their present profession, they should give bank robbery a shot. They “get away with it”, but then find themselves on the run, oddly, not so much from “the law”, but from their former employer (Karl Malden), who is mightily offended that anyone who worked for him would do such a thing. Episodic and leisurely paced, but ambles along quite agreeably, thanks to the charms of the two leads, and the beautiful, expansive photography by Philip Lathrop. An underappreciated film, now ready for a reappraisal.
