A Very Special Favor ** (1965, Rock Hudson, Leslie Caron, Charles Boyer, Nita Talbot, Dick Shawn, Walter Slezak) – Classic Movie Review 9665

Director Michael Gordon’s 1965 romantic comedy A Very Special Favor stars Charles Boyer as smooth and mature Frenchman Michel Boullard, who, for scant plot reasons, asks a wealthy American oilman called Paul Chadwick (Rock Hudson) if he will court his sweet and charming daughter, Lauren (Leslie Caron) so he can have a grandson.

This is not much of a story, let alone a promising basis of an hour and three-quarter mainstream movie, yet the good cast carries on convincingly and even commandingly, ignoring the script’s awkward moments and concentrating on its funny scenes.

That plot summary’s about all there is to a rather paper-thin and emaciated project, but the glossy, glitzy production helps conceal the cracks, tying things up with pretty bows and tinsel.

It is tailor-made for Boyer and Caron but it is Hudson, especially, who is on such good form, in a particularly polished comedy performance.

The writers are Stanley Shapiro and Nate Monaster.

Also in the cast are Nita Talbot, Dick Shawn, Walter Slezak, Larry Storch, Jay Novello, Frank DeVol, Danica D’Hondt, George Furth, John Harding, Marcel Hillaire, Stafford Repp, Norma Varden, Don Beddoe, Jimmy Hayes, Allen Joseph, Frank Kreig, Alvy Moore, Barry O’Hara, Sheila Rogers, and Patricia Winters.

It probably didn’t help Hudson’s career that he slagged off the film and the ‘sex comedies’ that he was associated with generally during production. ‘I think the public is weary,’ he said. ‘The cycle has been pushed about as far as it can go, and I think light comedy is on the wane. The boundaries have been extended almost to the limit, with producers trying to see how dirty it can get.’ A Very Special Favor ‘was filthy. I thought it was filthy when I read the script, and I still think it’s filthy.’

Hudson was obviously fed up with playing in ‘sex comedies’, that is reasonable, but to call this script filthy is a bit of a stretch.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9665

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