Eating Raoul *** (1982, Paul Bartel, Mary Woronov, Robert Beltran) – Classic Movie Review 9943

Director Paul Bartel’s 1982 Eating Raoul is a funny, bizarre black comedy in which Los Angeles husband Paul Bland (Paul Bartel) saves his wife Mary Bland (Mary Woronov) from a sex swinger rapist who breaks into their apartment by killing him with a frying pan, and thus discovers a way to buy a small dream restaurant and avoid the breadline.

They then advertise for other sex swingers to come to their apartment, kill them with a skillet, and then bag, rob and dispose of them – until one night a burglar named Raoul (Robert Beltran) breaks in.

Gourmet cannibal comedies may not be to everyone’s taste, but director, co-writer and star Bartel keeps his pet project light and amusing and, surprisingly, given the dark subject and its mix of sex and violence, not too offensive. The performances of Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov are just right – the crazy calm in the centre of the even crazier storm around them.

Also in the cast are Robert Beltran, Susan Saiger (as Doris the Dominatrix), Richard Blackburn, Ed Begley Jr, Buck Henry, Edie McClurg, Dan Barrows, Hamilton Camp, Lynn Hobart, Richard Paul, John Shearin, Darcy Pulliam, Ben Haller, Don Steele and John Paragon.

Richard Blackburn co-writes with Paul Bartel.

Bartel’s parents sold their New Jersey home and gave him the $500,000 he needed to make the film. It was shot in 22 days, mostly at weekends, over the course of a year. He had worked with Roger Corman as second unit director on Big Bad Mama (1974) and director of Death Race 2000 (1975) but Corman turned him down on Eating Raoul.

Eating Raoul is directed by Paul Bartel, runs 90 minutes, is made by Bartel Film, is released by 20th Century Fox, is written by Richard Blackburn and Paul Bartel, is shot by Gary Thieltges, is produced by Anne Kimmel and is scored by Arlon Ober.

It was adapted into an off-Broadway musical in 1992, and also staged at the Bridewell Theatre in London in 2000.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9943

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