Sextette

Sextette
Directed by Ken Hughes
Produced by Daniel Briggs
Robert "Bob" J. Sullivan
Harry Weiss
Screenplay by Herbert Baker
Based on Sex
by Mae West
Starring Mae West
Dom DeLuise
Music by Artie Butler
Cinematography James Crabe
Edited by Argyle Nelson, Jr.
Distributed by Crown International Pictures
Release dates
  • March 2, 1978 (1978-03-02) (United States)

[1]

Running time
 91 mins.
Country United States
Language English

Sextette is a 1978 American comedy/musical motion picture released by Crown International Pictures. The film stars Mae West.[2] Other actors in the cast included Timothy Dalton, Dom DeLuise, Tony Curtis, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, George Hamilton, Alice Cooper and Walter Pidgeon.[2]

Directed by Ken Hughes and produced by Daniel Briggs, Robert Sullivan and Harry Weiss[2] for the production company Briggs and Sullivan, the script was dramatized for the screen, by Herbert Baker, from the play Sex, which West herself had originally written. Costumes were designed by Edith Head.

Filmed at Paramount Studios, Sextette was Mae West's final movie. Featured were cameos by Rona Barrett, Regis Philbin and George Raft, all of whom appeared as themselves. West had made her movie debut in Raft's Night After Night (1932).

Plot

The legendary American movie star and sex symbol Marlo Manners (Mae West) is in London, England, where she has just married for the sixth time. She and her new husband, Sir Michael Barrington (Timothy Dalton), then depart for a honeymoon suite at a posh and exclusive hotel that has been reserved for them by her manager, Dan Turner (Dom DeLuise).

The hotel is also the location of an international conference, where leaders have come together to resolve tensions and problems that threaten the survival of the world. As the chairman, Mr. Chambers (Walter Pidgeon) is trying to call the meeting to order, the delegates are crowding to the windows in an effort to catch a glimpse of Marlo when she arrives.

As they enter the lobby, Marlo, now Lady Barrington, and her husband, a knight, are swarmed by admirers and reporters. When asked, "Do you get a lot of proposals from your male fans?" she quips, "Yeah, and what they propose is nobody’s business."

Once inside their suite, the couple are unable to go to bed and have sex because of constant interruptions due to the demands of her career, such as interviews, dress fittings and photo sessions, as well as the various men, including some former husbands, diplomat Alexei Andreyev Karansky (Tony Curtis), director Laslo Karolny (Ringo Starr), gangster Vance Norton (George Hamilton), and an entire athletic team from the U.S., all of whom want to have sex with her.

Meanwhile, the evil Turner desperately searches for an audiotape containing his client's memoirs, in order to destroy it. Marlo has recorded extensive details about her affairs and scandals, with a lot of dirt about her husbands and lovers. Ex-husband Alexei, who is the Russian delegate at the conference, threatens to derail the intense negotiations unless he can have another sexual encounter with her. Marlo is expected to work "undercover" to ensure world peace.

Cast

Release

West in her diamonds[3] arriving at Cinerama Dome for the 1978 opening

Soon after filming ended, the film's producers had difficulty in finding a major studio to distribute the film. As a result, producers scheduled several highly publicized sneak previews in order to garner support. The first sneak preview was held on the Paramount Pictures lot and the second was held at the Fox Bruin Theater. At the Bruin Theater, West received a standing ovation after the film's end.[4]

After failing to find a distributor, the producers decided to release the film themselves. Sextette premiered at the Cinerama Dome in March 1978.[5] West was moved when she was greeted by thousands of young fans who showed up at the openings, there and in San Francisco. Arthur Knight wrote in the Hollywood Reporter about "a kind of odd gallantry in the octogenarian Mae's loyalty to her public".[4][6][7]

Box office and critical reception

Upon its premiere, most critics panned the film. Variety dubbed it "a cruel, unnecessary and mostly unfunny musical comedy."[8] The New York Times called Sextette "embarrassing", and that "Granny should have her mouth washed out with soap, along with her teeth."[4] Film critics Vincent Canby and Rex Reed also gave the film negative reviews.[5]

Sextette earned $31,000 in its first week, largely due to West's appearance at the premiere. The film went on to earn about $20,000 in the United States before being pulled from theaters.[9]

Production

Filming

Sextette became the source of several urban legends. One such persistent rumor is that Mae West could not remember any of her lines and had to wear a concealed earpiece under her wig to have her lines fed to her. Tony Curtis later commented that West could not hear well, and thus required the earpiece. Retelling the story in an episode of the program The Dame Edna Experience, he said that because of the frequency of her earpiece she accidentally picked up police radio frequencies, and at one point mistakenly stated, "There's a 608!"[10]

In reality, West wore an earpiece so director Ken Hughes could feed her lines. Hughes had rewritten most of the dialogue because he and West both felt the script was weak. As a result, West had no time to study the script to memorize her lines. Hughes repeatedly denied the story that West's earpiece picked up police signals and that West repeated them.[11]

Director Ken Hughes did later state that West was unable to take direction which caused problems in filming. Hughes recalls one incident involving a scene West filmed in an elevator which took an entire day to film. After the scene was filmed, Hughes wrapped production for the day. West apparently did not hear Hughes' call to wrap and remained in the elevator for half an hour before being let out.[12]

Home media releases

Sextette was later released on VHS in the 1980s. In April 2011, Scorpion Entertainment released the film on Region 1 DVD in the United States.

In July 2011, Sextette was released as part Mill Creeks Entertainment's "Dangerous Babes", a budget priced three-DVD set that includes eleven other Crown Pictures films.

References

  1. ↑ Opened March 2 at Cinerama Dome as per Eells-Musgrove biography of West p. 304
  2. 1 2 3 "Sextette". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  3. ↑ Maurice Leonard biography of West p. 400
  4. 1 2 3 Watts, Jill (2003). Mae West: An Icon in Black and White. Oxford University Press. p. 311. ISBN 0-195-16112-2.
  5. 1 2 Louvish, Simon (2006). Mae West: It Ain't No Sin. Macmillan. p. 416. ISBN 0-312-34878-9.
  6. ↑ Eells-Musgrove biography of West p. 304-306
  7. ↑ Maurice Leonard biography of West p. 399-401
  8. ↑ Sextette Review Variety, 1 January 1978
  9. ↑ Tuska, Jon (1992). The Complete Films of Mae West. Citadel Press. p. 186. ISBN 0-806-51359-4.
  10. ↑ Excerpt from The Dame Edna Experience on YouTube, September 16, 1989
  11. ↑ Watts, Jill (2010). Mae West: An Icon in Black and White. Oxford University Press. p. 310. ISBN 0-195-16112-2.
  12. ↑ Tuska, Jon (1992). The Complete Films of Mae West. Citadel Press. p. 187. ISBN 0-806-51359-4.
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