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| I just read that Sondheim wrote screenplays with Tony Perkins | |
| Posted by: KingSpeed 04:41 am EDT 09/01/22 | |
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| I had never heard of this. From Wikipedia: In 1973, Perkins reunited with close friend Stephen Sondheim to co-writeThe Last of Sheila, a 1973 American neo noir mystery film directed by Herbert Ross. It was based on the games Perkins and Sondheim made up together and revolved around a movie producer who tries to discover who murdered his unfaithful wife by taking his rich friends on a maze through exotic locations, each with a piece of gossip applying to one of the other people aboard a yacht. The characters were influenced by people Perkins and Sondheim knew in real life:[123] The film was a commercial success, and led to Perkins and Sondheim sharing the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay, which led them to try to collaborate again two more times |
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| re: I just read that Sondheim wrote screenplays with Tony Perkins | |
| Last Edit: AlanScott 01:51 am EDT 09/02/22 | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 01:50 am EDT 09/02/22 | |
| In reply to: I just read that Sondheim wrote screenplays with Tony Perkins - KingSpeed 04:41 am EDT 09/01/22 | |
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| It's a film fun that I recommend. But I question the accuracy of two things in that wikipedia quote: 1. As far as I can tell, it was either not a financial success or at most an extremely modest one. The wikipedia page for Anthony Perkins from which you quoted offers no source for that statement. Based on the figures published at the time by Variety, I would think it did not recoup on its initial release. And I doubt that later revenue from television showings and video sales made a major difference, although I suppose over time the film might have just about recouped. 2. I would not consider it a neo-noir, and I was pretty surprised to see it described that way. In fairness, I am posting a link to an article on the Film Noir Foundation site in which a case is made that it is a noir. I find the case completely unconvincing. :) If you watch it sometime soon, let us know what you think: noir or not? |
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| Link | The Last of Sheila: Noir or Not? |
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| re: I just read that Sondheim wrote screenplays with Tony Perkins | |
| Posted by: mikem 12:20 pm EDT 09/02/22 | |
| In reply to: re: I just read that Sondheim wrote screenplays with Tony Perkins - AlanScott 01:50 am EDT 09/02/22 | |
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| AlanScott, thank you for the linked article, which was very interesting but I agree completely uncovincing. The author is basically saying the film is noir because it doesn't have a traditional "happy" ending, or at least an ending where justice is served. But there's a lot more to noir than that. | |
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| Noir or Not (Spoiler) | |
| Last Edit: BroadwayTonyJ 11:54 am EDT 09/02/22 | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 11:50 am EDT 09/02/22 | |
| In reply to: re: I just read that Sondheim wrote screenplays with Tony Perkins - AlanScott 01:50 am EDT 09/02/22 | |
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| Generally in a noir film the male lead is sort of an anti-hero (like Robert Mitchum, Dick Powell, Fred MacMurray, Dana Andrews, or Humphrey Bogart) who is lured either to destruction or at least into a lot of trouble by a sexy femme fatale (like Gene Tierney, Jane Greer, Barbara Stanwyck, Lauren Bacall, or Claire Trevor). Noir movies were usually filmed in black and white, but notable exceptions are Leave Her to Heaven and Chinatown. James Coburn gets knocked off too early in The Last of Sheila to be considered a noir anti-hero. In addition, Raquel Welch and Dyan Cannon do not really come off as a classic noir temptresses -- neither intentionally lures anyone to his death in Sheila, which is more of a convoluted whodunnit. Just IMO. |
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| re: I just read that Sondheim wrote screenplays with Tony Perkins | |
| Posted by: NewtonUK 09:16 am EDT 09/02/22 | |
| In reply to: re: I just read that Sondheim wrote screenplays with Tony Perkins - AlanScott 01:50 am EDT 09/02/22 | |
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| The lighting alone disqualifies itself for Noir - and its hard to noir in a color film. And its a bit campy as well.Kind of interesting that future director Joel Schumacher was the costume designer. And always a bit sad that Billy Goldenberg wrote the music - not Sondheim. | |
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| re: I just read that Sondheim wrote screenplays with Tony Perkins | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 12:12 pm EDT 09/02/22 | |
| In reply to: re: I just read that Sondheim wrote screenplays with Tony Perkins - NewtonUK 09:16 am EDT 09/02/22 | |
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| For a true noir score, you would need someone like (ideally) Jerry Goldsmith or even Dave Grusin. | |
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| As noted in several of his obituaries (including, I’m sure, the NYT) nmi | |
| Posted by: MockingbirdGirl 06:42 am EDT 09/01/22 | |
| In reply to: I just read that Sondheim wrote screenplays with Tony Perkins - KingSpeed 04:41 am EDT 09/01/22 | |
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| Weirdly grateful for this film | |
| Posted by: showtunetrivia 07:54 pm EDT 09/01/22 | |
| In reply to: As noted in several of his obituaries (including, I’m sure, the NYT) nmi - MockingbirdGirl 06:42 am EDT 09/01/22 | |
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| I saw it when it was released, just a few weeks after I had complicated foot surgery and was wearing a pressure cast designed to force my abnormally high arch into something less abnormal. It hurt like hell, and I needed to go every few weeks to get a tighter one. I watched SHEILA, that damn heavy plaster cast stuck slightly out in the aisle, and I forgot how much pain I was in for two hours. So, thanks Mr. S and Mr. P. I needed that. Laura, in broiling Chatsworth, CA—where it’s 105 and might hit 115 this weekend |
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| re: I just read that Sondheim wrote screenplays with Tony Perkins | |
| Posted by: NeoAdamite 04:53 am EDT 09/01/22 | |
| In reply to: I just read that Sondheim wrote screenplays with Tony Perkins - KingSpeed 04:41 am EDT 09/01/22 | |
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| I've got the DVD :) Is it available streaming? |
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| Sept. 18 on TCM The Last of Sheila | |
| Posted by: FinalPerformance 01:16 pm EDT 09/01/22 | |
| In reply to: re: I just read that Sondheim wrote screenplays with Tony Perkins - NeoAdamite 04:53 am EDT 09/01/22 | |
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| Catch it then... | |
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| re: I just read that Sondheim wrote screenplays with Tony Perkins | |
| Posted by: KingSpeed 05:21 am EDT 09/01/22 | |
| In reply to: re: I just read that Sondheim wrote screenplays with Tony Perkins - NeoAdamite 04:53 am EDT 09/01/22 | |
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| Can be rented on Prime Video, Apple TV, Vudu, Google Play, and YouTube. It is free on Tubi. Is it worth watching? | |
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| Absolutely; also, re: Mary Rodgers | |
| Posted by: ShowGoer 10:55 am EDT 09/01/22 | |
| In reply to: re: I just read that Sondheim wrote screenplays with Tony Perkins - KingSpeed 05:21 am EDT 09/01/22 | |
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| The Last of Sheila is a must for Sondheim fans, but also for anyone who enjoys murder-mystery comedy-thriller plays or movies such as Sleuth, Deathtrap, Knives Out, or any of the various Hercule Poirot adaptations, whether with Kenneth Branagh or, better yet, the ones from the 70s and 80s with Peter Ustinov and Albert Finney. Unlike any of those movies, though, I have yet to meet or hear of anyone who 'figured it out' while watching it. The mystery and puzzle IS solvable, for certain – it's just even more clever than any of the ones I've mentioned above, and so more than any of those I've never known of anyone who solved it while on a first viewing. (I'm sure they're out there.) At the same time, though: one of the most perplexing things about the new Mary Rodgers book "Shy" is that only 5 or 6 pages in, while discussing Sondheim's legendary NYC puzzle games, she says, "Steve's scavenger hunts were especially ambitious, and eventually famous – or in the case of that movie, infamous; the plot was so complicated I eventually gave up." Which only made me think that she either must not have been nearly as good at games as she otherwise claims to be in that chapter– or at the very least, didn't have much interest in playing games when others planned them (not unlike 1 or 2 of the characters in The Last of Sheila... which Sondheim had explictly based on several of his friends!!) |
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| re: Absolutely; also, re: Mary Rodgers (major spoilers) | |
| Posted by: mikem 02:42 pm EDT 09/01/22 | |
| In reply to: Absolutely; also, re: Mary Rodgers - ShowGoer 10:55 am EDT 09/01/22 | |
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| (major spoilers for The Last of Sheia) I'm surprised that Mary Rodgers would think the plot of The Last of Sheila is so complicated that she had to give up. There's a lot going on, but on a certain level, the plot is very simple. The Last of Sheila wouldn't do as well as a miniseries, where the audience has a chance to digest and ponder what has happened in between episodes. Agatha Christie has Miss Marple say in one of her novels something along the lines of, "Take away all the distracting trappings, and what actually happened?" In this case, what actually happened is that a guy whom everyone thinks is a jerk is dead, and the rich wife of an unsuccessful husband is dead. And one can go from there... When you re-watch the film, the clues are everywhere. But the film is expertly done, and we fall for the misdirection over and over again. My big beef with the plot is the completely independent second person who's responsible for the propeller being turned on. It's kind of waved away in the denouement, but it's too convenient and coincidental. The propeller part is very cinematic, and Dyan Cannon does a great job in the aftermath scene, but the whole thing should have been left on the cutting room floor. |
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| re: I just read that Sondheim wrote screenplays with Tony Perkins | |
| Posted by: TheOtherOne 07:05 am EDT 09/01/22 | |
| In reply to: re: I just read that Sondheim wrote screenplays with Tony Perkins - KingSpeed 05:21 am EDT 09/01/22 | |
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| "Can be rented on Prime Video, Apple TV, Vudu, Google Play, and YouTube. It is free on Tubi. Is it worth watching?" Of course it is! TCM shows it quite frequently, most recently last week when they devoted a day to the films of Raquel Welch. You read that right. |
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| Yes! | |
| Posted by: Charlie_Baker 09:48 am EDT 09/01/22 | |
| In reply to: re: I just read that Sondheim wrote screenplays with Tony Perkins - TheOtherOne 07:05 am EDT 09/01/22 | |
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| See it! A great cast, and Ms. Welch holds her own with them, IMO. | |
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