I didn't even know that this one was readily available to watch but I immediately snapped it up when I saw it was available for rental from the local DVD store. Actually, I had watched the godawful MYRA BRECKENRIDGE (1970) on TV while I was in Hollywood a few months ago so I was really expecting the worst here. Surprisingly, it turned out to be a fitfully amusing affair
if a completely embarrassing one.
Previously, I had only watched Mae West (with whom, I just found out, I happen to share my birthday) in her prime SHE DONE HIM WRONG (1933), I'M NO ANGEL (1933) and MY LITTLE CHICKADEE (1940) and I love all three of them. Despite her writing talents, West's main assets were always her figure and appearance so it's no surprise that she bowed out when she did
which, of course, makes her eventual re-emergence as a heavily cosmeticized octogenarian all the more outrageous and baffling! Over the years there have been numerous surprising comebacks in Hollywood not to mention lavishly produced ego-trips but I'd bet few reach the level of preposterousness attained by SEXTETTE! Hollywood in the Seventies, among other things, was an era of catastrophic, all-star attempts to recapture past glories particularly its musical heritage and therefore it's small wonder that SEXTETTE ropes in some uncharacteristic cameo appearances by contemporary music stars like Ringo Starr (as an Erich von Stroheim-like director), Keith Moon (as a flamboyant fashion designer) and, weirdest of all, Alice Cooper (as a piano-playing, bellboy crooner sporting a curly-haired wig)! The Beatles also make another appearance of sorts when Mae's agent, Dom DeLuise bursts into an exuberant rendition of Lennon/McCarney's "Honey Pie"
and guess who he was thinking of when he was singing it? Apparently, Miss West wasn't too keen on having these four stealing her limelight
However, she did approve of her leading men who, of course, are requested to still be lusting helplessly after Mae an aristocratic Timothy Dalton (who gets to sing a duet with Mae and whose remarks are frequently misinterpreted in the press!) and mobster George Hamilton (who is also seen pleading in broken Italian to his "Godfather" - cue the Nino Rota score from that film!! - for the sakes of "Mario
Irving
Mozzarella
Marinara!"); other guest stars who make an appearance are Tony Curtis as a Russian powermonger(!), Walter Pigeon as a bewildered Chairman of the Board and a split-second cameo from George Raft - who co-starred with Mae in her very first film, NIGHT AFTER NIGHT (1932) - as himself.
Ken Hughes helmed some good films in his day THE TRIALS OF Oscar WILDE (1960) and CROMWELL (1970) but, I guess, the producers of SEXTETTE only knew him from his comedic, big-budget extravaganzas like CASINO ROYALE (1967) and CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG (1968) when they engaged his services for this misbegotten enterprise