Blake Edwards' S.O.B. and the Year 1981

Sometimes there's a year in your life that is a "game changer" - a year when so much happens so quickly that you can't begin to take it all in. When it's happening, it often feels like just another year, and it isn't until much later that you can appreciate its significance. 1981 was that kind of year for me. It was the year I (sort of) met Jessica Lange, who was in town to film the remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice with Jack Nicholson (I was working at Radio Shack in downtown Santa Barbara, and she came in one afternoon, looking shorter than I would have expected, with her hair bobbed for that period film. I think I sold her a hand-held tape recorder [to help memorize lines?]).

That year I made a decision or two that would affect my life forever after. And, as always, there were movies. Lots of movies. By my calculation I saw 30 movies in the theater in 1981 - and that doesn't count the films I saw more than once. During this time, before the home video revolution that changed movie-going forever, I was going to the movies several times a month in addition to all the classic cinema I was watching on television thanks to KNXT-CBS's The Late Show; Movies Til' Dawn on KTLA Channel 5; and movies shown on channels 9, 11, and 13 from one to six in the morning. I don't think I need to say it, but movies were my life! And there were so many good movies to see! Like always, I seemed to have an aversion to the most audience-friendly movies. I didn't see Stripes or On Golden Pond or Halloween II in theaters (though I did catch them later on cable). I did see two of the year's biggest hits, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Superman II, at Santa Barbara's historic Granada Theatre on State Street (following a tragic remodeling which converted the best balcony in town into two additional screens) but I took my time getting around to them.

L'chaim! Cully (William Holden), Dr. Irv (Robert Preston), and Ben (Robert Webber)
commiserate on the fate of their friend, movie producer Felix Farmer,
and clarify the meaning of S.O.B. (it's not what you think it is).

One film I was looking forward to was Blake Edwards' S.O.B., the director's stinging satire on New Hollywood. The basic plot concerns Felix Farmer (Richard Mulligan), a film producer with a track record of financial success of Spielbergian proportions until his latest opus, Night Wind, lays a huge box office egg (the film opens with him reading an issue of Variety with the headline "N.Y. Critics Break 'Wind'"). Sally (Julie Andrews), Felix's actress wife and the star of Night Wind, has taken their kids, leaving Felix on a suicidal jag. After some very funny attempts at ending it all, Felix is rejuvenated by the idea of turning the fairy tale plot of Night Wind into a $20 million porn movie. Felix accomplishes this by convincing Sally and the studio that it's a valid idea and, more importantly, one that will make them all rich([er] than they already are). Farmer's film director/buddy, Cully (William Holden), helms the retakes, and Dr. Irving Feingarten (Robert Preston) and his "magic" needle help steer Sally through the nude scenes. (S.O.B.'s claim to everlasting fame is Julie Andrews' topless scene, and it's an actual plot point of the film.) Viewing the finished product in a studio screening room, Felix is interrupted by studio boss David Blackman (Robert Vaughn) who tells Felix the film doesn't belong to him anymore due to legal backstabbing. Taking one of his kids squirt guns, a crazed Felix speeds off to the lab where the film's negative is, and, while holding a lab employee at squirt gunpoint, he attempts to confiscate his film. But the police have followed him and, not realizing Felix's gun is a fake, open fire. His dying words are, "This will mean another $10 million at the box office." Cully, Dr. Irv, and agent Ben Coogan, Felix's closest comrades, decide not only to boycott the funeral but also - in an effort to overcome feelings that they did not do enough for their friend - kidnap Felix's corpse from the funeral home, take him out on his yacht, and give him a good ol' Viking funeral (in a take on the classic Hollywood tale in which director Raoul Walsh and associates took John Barrymore's body from the funeral home and deposited him at Errol Flynn's house). The end credit roll states that Night Wind became the biggest grosser in the history of Capitol Pictures, and everyone lived happily ever after (until the next movie!).

With Cully at the helm, Ben and Dr. Irv accompany their late host on board the Tinkerbelle.

Blake Edwards based S.O.B. on the challenges he faced in Hollywood after he finished 1970's Darling Lili, the epic musical starring his wife, Julie Andrews. Lili was a colossal flop and made Edwards - the director of hits Breakfast at Tiffany's, Days of Wine and Roses, and The Pink Panther - a near pariah in the film capital. After a few more failures, Edwards went back to the Pink Panther series and, with star Peter Sellers, launched three huge Panther films back-to-back-to-back. By 1979, Edwards was feeling confident enough to try a non-Panther film, resulting in the critical and financial hit, 10, which made Dudley Moore an overnight sensation (in spite of his two decades in show business) and Bo Derek the most sought after pin-up since Farrah Fawcett three years before. With financial clout restored, Edwards embarked on S.O.B., his revenge on Hollywood.    

Unfortunately for S.O.B., it came smack in the middle of Edwards' late, great creative run, which began with 10 and was followed by Victor/Victoria. Like a middle child, S.O.B. is too often caught in the shadow of its siblings' achievements. Undoubtedly, however, S.O.B is an incisive, clever insider's view of Hollywood at the beginning of an extremely indulgent decade. Made during the time of the great financial fiasco Heaven's Gate (budget $44 million, box office $3.4 million), S.O.B. seemed a prophetic tale indeed.

The outstanding cast

With its all-star cast and Edwards recent track record, S.O.B. seemed about as sure a thing as you could get. Instead, it was either loved (nominated for a Writers Guild Award for Best Screenplay) or hated (nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Screenplay). As for me, I loved S.O.B. from the first time I saw it on opening day, July 1, 1981. I went to see it two more times that summer. The performances are uniformly stellar, though I believe a few rise above the rest. Richard Mulligan is over the top, yet precise, as desperate producer, Felix Farmer. Though there must have been concern that he was going way too big with the very physical performance he was giving, it sets the right tone for a man poised on the edge of a cliff, ready to jump. "The Three Muscatels," William Holden's seen-it-all Cully; Robert Webber's high-strung press agent, Ben Coogan (at one point in the film, Cully tells the hyper-nervous Ben to "go have a scotch and Maalox"); and Robert Preston's Dr. Irving Feingarten, who practically walks off with the picture, lend terrific support as Felix's closest friends. In his last movie role, Holden, in particular, brings quiet dignity and sanity to Cully and grounds a film that is otherwise totally off-the-wall. Watching S.O.B. over the years, I can never get enough of how deftly they play off each other. The Blake Edwards' signature touches are here as well: a fabulous party scene (a staple of nearly every film Edwards ever made, he made an entire film with Peter Sellers called The Party in 1968); the unfortunate ethnic stereotype (Benson Fong as the Farmer's personal chef); the ensemble cast; and the subtle - and occasionally disconcerting - shifts of mood from broad comedy to affecting drama. If you're familiar with the films of Blake Edwards and haven't given this film a peek, you definitely should. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

The scene-stealing Robert Preston as Dr. Irving Feingarten (who possesses a "magic" needle)

I mentioned earlier that 1981 was a pivotal year for me. Three things stand out: I quit my salesman's job at Radio Shack and began working as a night supervisor at Taco Bell where I eventually met the woman who became my first wife and the mother of my three sons; I decided to work full time and drop out of the local community college I had been attending; and lastly, I declined an offer to perform in a production of Neil Simon's Come Blow Your Horn at the local dinner theater. With that decision went the last vestiges of a career in the theater, and I haven't stepped on a stage since. When I watch S.O.B. today, I return to that time when I was so young - barely 22 years old - and I had my life ahead of me. Sometimes you make decisions without knowing that those choices will permanently affect your life. In 1981, I made those kinds of choices. In some ways, I grew up and became the man I was meant to be. But in some ways, I forever lost the person I had been.

Sources

IMDB
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