The Wild Party ** (1975, James Coco, Raquel Welch, Perry King) – Classic Movie Review 12,038

James Ivory’s 1975 film The Wild Party is an interesting attempt to re-create the Fatty Arbuckle movie-scandal case. James Coco holds the attention as the 1920s comic Jolly Grimm, who holds a party that gets out of hand. Raquel Welch plays his mistress Queenie.

Director James Ivory’s 1975 film The Wild Party is an interesting, though flat attempt to re-create the Fatty Arbuckle movie-scandal case that rocked Hollywood and helped to give rise to years of censorship and repression in US movies with the founding of the Hays Committee.

A well-cast James Coco holds the attention as the 1920s comic Jolly Grimm, whose silent comeback film is threatened by the talkies, so to promote it he holds a party, which gets out of hand.

Raquel Welch plays his mistress Queenie, but doesn’t make much impact. Director Ivory does well with the milieu, but the material seems a bit raunchy for him.

The distributors American International Pictures cut it to 95 minutes and it played as a support feature in Britain, but Ivory’s original version is available at 107 minutes.

The screenplay by Walter Marks is based on a poem by Joseph Moncure March.

Also in the cast are Perry King, Tiffany Bolling, Royal Dano, David Dukes, Dena Dietrich, Annette Ferra, Eddie Lawrence, Bobo Lewis, Regis Cordic, Don De Natale, Jennifer Lee, Mews Small, Baruch Lumet, Fred Franklyn, and Martin Kove.

It is produced by Ismail Merchant and filmed in Riverside, California.

Coco’s role is inspired by silent film star Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle, who was accused of raping and accidentally killing bit player Virginia Rappe during a party he threw on Labor Day weekend 1921.

Reportedly, James Ivory called a scene with Raquel Welch ‘a bit dull’ and asked for a retake. She walked off the set and only returned when Ivory agreed to apologise to her in front of cast and crew.

Raquel Welch died at her home in Los Angeles on 15 February 2023 after a brief illness, aged 82.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,038

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