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Myra Breckinridge (film)
Encyclopedia
Myra Breckinridge is a 1970
American campy
comedy film
, based on Gore Vidal
's 1968 novel of the same name
, the film was directed by Michael Sarne, with Raquel Welch
in the title role. It also starred John Huston
as Buck Loner, Mae West
as Leticia Van Allen, Farrah Fawcett
, Rex Reed
, Roger Herren, and Roger C. Carmel
. Tom Selleck
made his film debut in a small role as one of Leticia's "studs". Theadora Van Runkle
was costume designer for the film, but Edith Head
designed Mae West's costumes.
Like the novel, the picture was controversial for its sexual explicitness, but unlike the novel, Myra Breckinridge received little to no critical praise and has been cited as one of the worst films ever made.
in 1970 (the other being Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
). In 1978 the studio submitted a cut version running 91 minutes to the MPAA, and the film was re-classified with an R rating. Both versions are available on the DVD, though the uncut print is now unrated.
Filming of the movie was also filled with controversy, due to Michael Sarne being granted complete control over the project. Sarne quickly went overbudget due to his unorthodox techniques, which included spending up to seven hours at a time by himself, "thinking," leaving the cast to wait around on set for him to return so that filming could commence. Additionally, Sarne spent several days filming tables of food, for a dream sequence which, in addition to being non-essential to the plot, only appears in the film for a few seconds.
There were also reports of conflicts between Raquel Welch and Mae West, who came out of retirement to play the Leticia character. Furthermore, some actors from 1940s and 1950s films that were used were upset that footage from their old films were inserted into the movie to punctuate some of the jokes as well as in the film's climactic rape sequence. After the film was previewed in San Francisco, the White House
demanded that footage from the film Heidi
, featuring Shirley Temple
be removed due to Temple's role as United States
ambassador
. Loretta Young
also successfully sued to have footage of herself removed from the film.
. Since its release, it has achieved something of a cult following
. Gore Vidal
has disowned the film calling it "an awful joke". Renowned film historian Leonard Maltin
gave the film a BOMB (his lowest possible score). In his movie guide he states the film "tastelessly exploits many old Hollywood favorites through film clips." He also calls the film "as bad as any movie ever made."
Due to the film's adult themes, it has rarely been shown on television, though in recent years, the film has aired on Fox Movie Channel
. In 2004, Myra Breckinridge was released on DVD with minor changes—to make the film's ending (that Myra never had her sex change) clearer, the ending sequence was changed to black-and-white
format.
1970 in film
The year 1970 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 9 - Larry Fine, the second member of The Three Stooges, suffers a massive stroke, therefore ending his career....
American campy
Camp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
, based on Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...
's 1968 novel of the same name
Myra Breckinridge
Myra Breckinridge is a 1968 satirical novel by Gore Vidal written in the form of a diary. It was made into a movie in 1970. Described by the critic Dennis Altman as "part of a major cultural assault on the assumed norms of gender and sexuality which swept the western world in the late 1960s and...
, the film was directed by Michael Sarne, with Raquel Welch
Raquel Welch
Jo Raquel Tejada , better known as Raquel Welch, is an American actress, author and sex symbol. Welch came to attention as a "new-star" on the 20th Century-Fox lot in the mid-1960s. She posed iconically in a animal skin bikini for the British-release One Million Years B.C. , for which she may be...
in the title role. It also starred John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
as Buck Loner, Mae West
Mae West
Mae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades....
as Leticia Van Allen, Farrah Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett was an American actress and artist. A multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she first appeared as private investigator Jill Munroe in the first season of the television series Charlie's Angels, in 1976...
, Rex Reed
Rex Reed
Rex Taylor Reed is an American film critic and former co-host of the syndicated television show At the Movies. He currently writes the column "On the Town with Rex Reed" for The New York Observer.-Life and career:...
, Roger Herren, and Roger C. Carmel
Roger C. Carmel
Roger Charles Carmel was an American actor.Of his hundreds of roles, he is best remembered for playing the flamboyant and hapless criminal Harry Mudd on the original Star Trek. Other memorable roles include the accountant Doug Wesley on The Dick Van Dyke Show and Colonel Gumm on Batman...
. Tom Selleck
Tom Selleck
Thomas William "Tom" Selleck is an American actor, and film producer. He is best known for his starring role as Hawaii-based private investigator Thomas Magnum on the 1980s television show Magnum, P.I.. He also plays Police Chief Jesse Stone in a series of made-for-TV movies based on the Robert B....
made his film debut in a small role as one of Leticia's "studs". Theadora Van Runkle
Theadora Van Runkle
Theadora Van Runkle was an American costume designer. The first films she designed costumes for was Bonnie and Clyde , The Thomas Crown Affair and The Arrangement . Theodora Van Runkle designed the gown Faye Dunaway wore to the 1968 Oscars...
was costume designer for the film, but Edith Head
Edith Head
Edith Head was an American costume designer who won eight Academy Awards, more than any other woman.-Early life and career:...
designed Mae West's costumes.
Like the novel, the picture was controversial for its sexual explicitness, but unlike the novel, Myra Breckinridge received little to no critical praise and has been cited as one of the worst films ever made.
Cast
- Raquel WelchRaquel WelchJo Raquel Tejada , better known as Raquel Welch, is an American actress, author and sex symbol. Welch came to attention as a "new-star" on the 20th Century-Fox lot in the mid-1960s. She posed iconically in a animal skin bikini for the British-release One Million Years B.C. , for which she may be...
as Myra Breckinridge - Mae WestMae WestMae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades....
as Leticia Van Allen - John HustonJohn HustonJohn Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
as Buck Loner - Farrah FawcettFarrah FawcettFarrah Fawcett was an American actress and artist. A multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she first appeared as private investigator Jill Munroe in the first season of the television series Charlie's Angels, in 1976...
as Mary Ann Pringle - Rex ReedRex ReedRex Taylor Reed is an American film critic and former co-host of the syndicated television show At the Movies. He currently writes the column "On the Town with Rex Reed" for The New York Observer.-Life and career:...
as Myron Breckinridge - Roger Herren as Rusty Godowski
- Roger C. CarmelRoger C. CarmelRoger Charles Carmel was an American actor.Of his hundreds of roles, he is best remembered for playing the flamboyant and hapless criminal Harry Mudd on the original Star Trek. Other memorable roles include the accountant Doug Wesley on The Dick Van Dyke Show and Colonel Gumm on Batman...
as Dr. Randolph Spencer Montag - George FurthGeorge FurthGeorge Furth was an American librettist, playwright, and actor.-Biography:Furth was born George Schweinfurth in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Evelyn and George Schweinfurth...
as Charlie Flager, Jr. - Calvin LockhartCalvin LockhartCalvin Lockhart was a Bahamian-American actor on stage and in film. He was best known for the role of a big time gangster "Biggie Smalls" in the 1975 film Let's Do It Again, not to be confused with the deceased rapper Biggie Smalls...
as Irving Amadeus - Jim BackusJim BackusJames Gilmore "Jim" Backus was a radio, television, film, and voice actor. Among his most famous roles are the voice of Mr...
as Doctor - John CarradineJohn CarradineJohn Carradine was an American actor, best known for his roles in horror films and Westerns as well as Shakespearean theater. A member of Cecil B DeMille's stock company and later John Ford's company, he was one of the most prolific character actors in Hollywood history...
as Surgeon - Andy DevineAndy DevineAndrew Vabre "Andy" Devine was an American character actor and comic cowboy sidekick known for his distinctive raspy voice.-Early life:...
as Coyote Bill - Grady SuttonGrady SuttonGrady Harwell Sutton was an American film and television actor from the 1920s to the 1970s.-Biography:Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Sutton was raised in Florida where he attended St. Petersburg High School. He began his career during the silent film era and made the transition to sound films...
as Kid Barlow - Robert Lieb as Charlie Flager, Sr.
- Kathleen FreemanKathleen FreemanKathleen Freeman was an American film, television, and stage actress. In a career that spanned more than 50 years, she portrayed tart maids, secretaries, teachers, busybodies, nurses, and battle-axe neighbors, almost invariably to comic effect.-Early life:Freeman was born in Chicago, Illinois...
as Bobby Dean Loner - Monte LandisMonte LandisMonte Landis is an American character actor best known for playing the comic foil in multiple episodes of The Monkees, most notably the Devil in "The Devil and Peter Tork".-Partial filmography:*The Mouse That Roared...
as Vince - Tom SelleckTom SelleckThomas William "Tom" Selleck is an American actor, and film producer. He is best known for his starring role as Hawaii-based private investigator Thomas Magnum on the 1980s television show Magnum, P.I.. He also plays Police Chief Jesse Stone in a series of made-for-TV movies based on the Robert B....
as Stud - Dan HedayaDan HedayaDaniel G. “Dan” Hedaya is an American character actor. He often plays sleazy villains or uptight, wisecracking individuals; three of his best-known roles are as Italian Mafia boss Tony Costello in Wise Guys, a cuckolded husband in the Coen brothers' crime thriller Blood Simple, and the scheming...
as Hospital Ward Patient - William HopperWilliam HopperWilliam Hopper, born DeWolf Hopper, Jr. was an American actor. He is best-remembered for playing Paul Drake on television's Perry Mason.-Early life:...
as Judge Frederic D. Cannon
Background
Myra Breckinridge was one of two films with an X rating to be released by 20th Century Fox20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
in 1970 (the other being Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is a 1970 American schlock melodrama film starring Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom, John LaZar, Michael Blodgett and David Gurian...
). In 1978 the studio submitted a cut version running 91 minutes to the MPAA, and the film was re-classified with an R rating. Both versions are available on the DVD, though the uncut print is now unrated.
Filming of the movie was also filled with controversy, due to Michael Sarne being granted complete control over the project. Sarne quickly went overbudget due to his unorthodox techniques, which included spending up to seven hours at a time by himself, "thinking," leaving the cast to wait around on set for him to return so that filming could commence. Additionally, Sarne spent several days filming tables of food, for a dream sequence which, in addition to being non-essential to the plot, only appears in the film for a few seconds.
There were also reports of conflicts between Raquel Welch and Mae West, who came out of retirement to play the Leticia character. Furthermore, some actors from 1940s and 1950s films that were used were upset that footage from their old films were inserted into the movie to punctuate some of the jokes as well as in the film's climactic rape sequence. After the film was previewed in San Francisco, the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
demanded that footage from the film Heidi
Heidi (1937 film)
Heidi is a 1937 American dramatic film directed by Allan Dwan. The screenplay by Julien Josephson and Walter Ferris was based on the 1880 children's story of the same name by Swiss author Johanna Spyri. The film is about an orphan named Heidi who is taken from her grandfather to live as a...
, featuring Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
be removed due to Temple's role as United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
. Loretta Young
Loretta Young
Loretta Young was an American actress. Starting as a child actress, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953...
also successfully sued to have footage of herself removed from the film.
Reception
Upon its release, the film was a commercial and critical flop. Time magazine made their now infamous comments that "Myra Breckinridge is about as funny as a child molester. It is an insult to intelligence, an affront to sensibility and an abomination to the eye." The film is also cited in the book The Fifty Worst Films of All TimeThe Fifty Worst Films of All Time
The Fifty Worst Films of All Time is a 1978 book by Harry Medved, with Randy Dreyfuss and Michael Medved. This book represents choices for the 50 worst sound films ever made, in alphabetical order...
. Since its release, it has achieved something of a cult following
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
. Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...
has disowned the film calling it "an awful joke". Renowned film historian Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
gave the film a BOMB (his lowest possible score). In his movie guide he states the film "tastelessly exploits many old Hollywood favorites through film clips." He also calls the film "as bad as any movie ever made."
Due to the film's adult themes, it has rarely been shown on television, though in recent years, the film has aired on Fox Movie Channel
Fox Movie Channel
The Fox Movie Channel is a channel which shows movies uncut and commercial-free.-Overview:Movie content consists mainly of selections from 20th Century Fox's library of releases through the 1990s and movies produced exclusively for television. Widescreen versions are shown whenever available....
. In 2004, Myra Breckinridge was released on DVD with minor changes—to make the film's ending (that Myra never had her sex change) clearer, the ending sequence was changed to black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
format.