Watch The Wild Party For Free

To me, this movie is perfection.

Sorry, this movie sucks

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

(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 boobs, but I found her performance compelling, and the best part of this movie.

Raquel Welch is heavenly but her acting abilities sadly don't match up to the exquisite quality of her legs. To be honest I didn't finish this film. The Fatty Arbunkle-inspired main character was extremely unpleasant, angry and bitter and violent, and I just couldn't stand the thought of spending another hour watching him. Might have been able to endure him had the actor playing the part had a little ability and/or charisma. If you're like me and thinking about viewing the film after reading the wonderful source poem, don't bother. The original work is so visual, so tightly strung, it's hard to imagine how they might screw up a film adaptation, but they managed to do it. It seems Merchant/Ivory made several steamy piles before they finally found their style ("Savages" is equally awful).

Something tells me that the story of how this movie even got made is more interesting than what ends up on the screen. Surely, when matching low-budget exploitation producer Samuel Z. Arkoff with the future-classic producing/directing team Merchant/Ivory, something odd must have occurred. Nothing, and I mean nothing about this 1975 film, based on the infamous Fatty Arbuckle scandal, works. The film, sadly, exists to new audiences as a cautionary signpost marking Zarkoff's failed attempt to move toward legitimate mainstream film-making. He should have stuck to his bread-and-butter tripe (such as "The Beast With a Million Eyes").Here we have tubby James Coco (with over-the-title billing!) throwing a party to lure members of silent-era Hollywood moguls to distribute his self-financed Opus. Complete with songs by the (terribly melodramatic) Raquel Welch, the film sinks deeper and deeper in to awkward, self-indulgent pathos. Poorly acted, directed and designed (with cheaply dressed sets and awful original "period" songs in the background), this film is one to be missed at all costs. Perhaps one day, the true secret to this film's odd conception will be revealed, and it will make some sense. Until then, perhaps a potential viewer would be better off reading a book.

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 ****