Myra Breckinridge

Starring:Jim Backus, Roger C. Carmel, John Carradine, Andy Devine, Farrah Fawcett, Kathleen Freeman, George Furth, Roger Herren, John Huston, Buck Kartalian, Monte Landis, Robert P. Lieb, Calvin Lockhart, B.S. Pulley, Rex Reed, Grady Sutton, Skip Ward, Raquel Welch, Mae West
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

We can safely call it one of the most notorious films in Hollywood history: Myra Breckenridge, the wild, tasteless, legendary disaster. Sprung from a novel by Gore Vidal, Myra tells the tender tale of a man (damply played by film critic Rex Reed) who has a sex-change operation and goes to Hollywood as a woman--played by Raquel Welch. Mae West creaked out of retirement to play a man-hungry agent (one of her meals is young Tom Selleck), and John Huston is an aging cowboy star, Myra's nemesis. To say the movie endorses the destruction of sex roles in modern society would be giving the rampant incoherence too much credit. Old film clips, plus footage (all too apt!) of atomic bomb tests are spliced into the action, to puerile effect. Almost everybody involved with the film disowned it, especially a horrified Vidal. Is there a cult for this movie? They can have it. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

big question mark.......2007-05-28

I have no idea of what the story is about. The main reason that I purchased the title was for Raquel Welch but this is a bomb of a picture

Messterpiece.......2007-05-22

Almost unconditionally perfect!

Raquel Welch, sci-fi pinup extraordinaire, is well-placed in the title role ("and don't you ever forget it, you -"; her 'dance' sequence (in the hottest imaginable white dress) under the credits alone is worth full admission. West, cadaverously regal, is also a boon, croaking out prehistoric ditties and generally having fun with lines like, "Everyone's poppin' pills and smokin' grass!" No doubt, mama. The only real hangup with this flick is the poisonous presence of Rex Reed, whose inability to 'act' (even remotely campily) didn't prevent him from imposing upon the script his personal stamp of homophobia (thus, the core of Gore Vidal's disenchantment). In the main, the narrative follows the book reasonably well; the oft-criticized retro film clips, btw, are appropriate given the popcult snobbery of Myra (a major subtext).

There's a few lags here & there (such as the unappetizing food scene), but, hey, we're talkin' Raquel and Mae in a TS romp!

Heaven on earth (almost)!

Camp classic on dvd with extras.......2007-03-06

Wow what to make of this? I'm still unsure - its high camp and actually very funny.

Based on the novel by Gore Vidal about a man who has or wants a sex change operation and becomes a woman. A very beautiful woman (Raquel Welch). The film also features Mae West, John Huston, and early appearances by a very young Farrah Fawcett and Tom Selleck.

The most controversial scene at the time was the 'rape' of Roger Herron by Myra (Raquel) with a strap on - interspersed with scenes from early B+W movies. These clips appear throughout the movie and are creatively handled.

The DVD comes with two versions the 'theatrical release' and 'directors cut' which are hardly different at all and commentaries by Raquel (self depracating and funny) and Director Mike Sarne.

Fits under the category of "BAD MOVIES WE LOVE"

Confusing But Fun Camp Classic.......2006-10-28

Gore Vidal's hilariously funny satiric novel was more or less transferred to the silver screen with a good deal of the story intact, but thanks to the hopeless mess made of the screenplay by the director, Michael Sarne, none of it makes a great deal of sense. Still, the film has lots going for it. I believe it was unmercifully and unfairly savaged by the critics as much for its revolutionary queer message as for its failures as a narrative. Myra is not only a transsexual (Myra was filmed only a few years after the world's first sex-change operations made headlines) but her self-proclaimed mission is to "realign the sexes" by turning macho heterosexual boys into homosexuals - her way of saving the world from over-population. No wonder the critics ran from the theatres, covering their crotches as they fled! Myra is shrewd, witty, beautiful, talented, intelligent AND she is a woman who used to be a man - in short, she was everything that queer / transgender people were NOT supposed to be in 1970. I happen to think that Raquel Welch gave the comic performance of her (early) career in this movie. Sarne had the presence of mind to insert old film clips as a running commentary on the plot (signifying Myra's obsession with classic films) and that portion of his vision was sheer genius. The film clips work just fine, providing many of the laughs. Each time a perfectly innocent film clip was used as a commentary to the high jinks in this movie, it usually yielded an extremely funny but admittedly tasteless moment. For instance, then President Richard Nixon reportedly had the studio delete a clip showing Shirley Temple milking a goat and getting sprayed in the face with milk. What's so bad about that? Well, it's inserted in a scene where Myron is having a masturbatory fantasy that Myra is performing fellatio on him (in the movie, Myron frequently substitutes for or has conversations with Myra - to remind us that they are the same person). But so what? The tasteless sexual jokes are half the fun, and they are generally a little classier than say, Pink Flamingos.

Gore Vidal reportedly sued to have his name removed from the credits, but a good deal of his dialogue and lots of his satire is still intact. Despite all the bad things you can say about this picture, I felt that the spirit of Vidal's book runs through every frame. Farrah Fawcett is young enough to be practically unrecognizable, and the young manly hunk who plays Rusty (what ever happened to Roger Herren, anyway?) is dreamy enough to justify sitting through this curiosity. Myra / Myron is such a queer revolutionary that the film seems way before its time, and in some ways, still does. A 77 year-old Mae West had lost none of her famous timing, but the director reportedly cut about 20 minutes of her scenes. I recall reading a rumor at the time that Sarne was incensed when he overheard a studio boss's remark that Fox was banking on Mae West's name to bring in the audience, and who the hell ever heard of Michael Sarne anyway? I vividly recall a television reviewer remarking that Mae West had the only really funny lines in the picture, and that it was worth seeing for her appearance alone (she reportedly wrote her own portion of the screenplay). Her quip to the cowboy after he answers her question, "How tall are you without your horse?" is not only the funniest moment in the whole film, it's classic Mae at her best. The reported feud between Mae West and Raquel Welch made interesting items in the gossip columns of 1970, with Welch accusing West of making her own mini-movie within a movie (which is exactly what she did) and Mae retorting, "Rachel? She's a sweet thing - she has a scene or two in my picture, I believe". Mae got top billing, despite Raquel playing the lead character, which couldn't have made Raquel very happy, I'm sure.

Some of the cameos are funny in themselves just for their casting -Myron's surgeon is played by John Carradine, who counsels Myron, "Are you sure you wouldn't like circumcision? It'd be cheaper..." and Mae West's first conquest in the picture is a practically pubescent Tom Selleck. She plays an actor's agent - for men only - who auditions all of her clients on the four-poster bed in her office. Mae and Tom trade a few very funny lines - she dismisses him from her office / boudoir with the comment, "You've impressed me immensely - I'll keep you in mind as a summer replacement. NEXT!" I was a 16 year-old gay man when this movie opened, and I not only appreciated her conquest, I envied her attitude.

And Rex Reed, a leading film critic of the sixties and seventies, proved (as Myron) that no matter what kind of critic you are, it doesn't mean you can act. As far as I know, he never did another picture, unless you count his one line, two-second cameo in Superman: The Movie, eight years later. Myra Breckinridge is pure camp - wait until you see Raquel decked out as Marlene Dietrich, or Mae West singing Otis Redding's HARD TO HANDLE, flanked by a chorus line of handsome African American studs in tuxedos. Why is a talent agent singing in a nightclub? Who cares - trust me, it's pure camp. John Huston as Uncle Buck is absolutely perfect casting, and if you bother to spend a few hours reading the novel before you screen the film, the movie will make much more sense and be far more enjoyable. The scene where Myra rapes Rusty in the infirmary was, in the novel, one of the most erotic passages I have ever read in a non-pornographic novel. I loved this movie when it came out - despite its shortcomings - and I love it all the more on DVD.

High Camp is A Bomb.......2006-10-04

My experience with watching this film was that Mae West, who I have always adored, and wished I could have met, looked SO much healthier and vital in this film than in her final movie Sextette! It was just mean spirited that the powers that be in movies exploited one of the greatest stars of all time, who clearly was not up to making that film, when she stood near the tan body builders she looked pale as a ghost. People could have done the right thing and not released that awful film, but human beings have incredibly capacity for greed. Anyway back to the Myra movie, and Mae truly looked excellent in this one. She had tons of energy, and her comic timing was as perfect as her films from decades ago. Unfortunately the film although very ultra high camp is such a waste of Mae, and the other stars. This movie even had the great John Houston, and he too had some incredibly embarrassing lines to say. It was fun to see the young and incredibly squeaky clean Farrah Fawcett, and also a very very young Tom Selleck,who camped it up with Mae West. If you are a Mae West fan and you are looking for a movie where she makes grand entrances, and she definitely still had that star power, rent or buy this film, and you will forgive the stupidity of the majority of the film. Raquel Welch has some wonderful outfits in here, but I'm sure today she would prefer to forget this celluloid mistake. There are definitely some memorable Mae West lines in here. There will never be another one like her, she was amazing!!!! I guess this movie in its time was quite shocking, but today it is very tame, and one wonders what West wanted with this stupid movie. I almost completely forgot that this is based on the book by Gore Vidal, who too must have put his head in the sand when this appeared in the theatres, or at least retreat to his villa in Italy.

Raquel Welch Collection (One Million Years B.C. / Bandolero! / Myra Breckinridge / Mother, Jugs & Speed / Fathom)

Average customer rating:

Raquel Welch
Way overpriced..........
Buy the best movies individually
NICE COLLECTION OF RAQUEL WELCH "CLASSICS"!!!

Raquel Welch Collection (One Million Years B.C. / Bandolero! / Myra Breckinridge / Mother, Jugs & Speed / Fathom)
Starring: Raquel Welch
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( R ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Action & Adventure | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Drama | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Raquel!
Kansas City Bomber
100 Rifles
The Wild Party
Matt Helm Lounge (The Silencers/ Murderers Row/The Ambushers/The Wrecking Crew)

ASIN: B00018D418
Release Date: 2004-03-09

Description

Disc 1: One Million Years B.C. Disc 2: Bandolero Disc 3: Myra Breckenridge Disc 4: Mother, Jugs and Speed Disc 5: Fathom

Customer Reviews:

Raquel Welch.......2007-01-11

Excellent collection. Good stories. Well acted. Worth the money. A lot more humor, than you might otherwise expect.

Way overpriced.................2005-05-24

A collection of way overpriced RW videos............that you can get in the bargin bins at Walmart for $5 each.

Buy the best movies individually.......2004-05-07

Not knowing ALL of Raquel's work, but always enjoying "Bandolero", "One Million Years BC", "Fantastic Voyage" and the "Musketeer" movies, I bought this boxed set hoping for the best. I got some of that...and some of the worst, too.

"Myra Breckenridge" - not since "Babe, Pig in the City" have I hated a movie so much, I turned off a movie before it was over. This has to rate with "Howard the Duck" as one of Hollywood's all time stinkers. [If you absolutely MUST, the transfer is beautiful....too bad to waste it on such a bad movie.]

"Fathom" - Entertaining....for one viewing. It's obvious, Raquel wasn't quite in the groove yet, acting-wise, on this one. The dialogue is pretty stilted. Still, there are some entertaining parts, and it's a fun movie all around. The transfer on this movie was not the best, however. Both the left and right side appeared to be compressed...such that if a person or object moved into these areas, it suddenly became skinny.

"Mother, Jugs, and Speed" - Again...okay for one viewing, but not one to keep in your film library. A terrible transfer on this one....lots [I mean LOTS] of grain.

"One Million Years B.C." - Okay...so there are arguments that this isn't the complete version...available in Europe. Regardless, this is a real fun movie, and one you'll want to see again and again. Buy it on its own. The transfer is relatively clean, and Ray Harryhausen's special effects are wonderful.

"Bandolero" - Not really a "Raquel" movie, per se....the real stars here are Martin and Stewart. And that's just fine with me, as they are pure class, no matter what the movie. Definitely a keeper. The only real negative is...it's hard to picture Dean and Jimmy as brothers. But I guess odder things have happened. Nice transfer, too.

All in all....I'd recommend buying "Bandolero" and "One Million", and skipping the rest of the set. Spend your money on "Fantastic Voyage" and "The Three Musketeers" instead!

NICE COLLECTION OF RAQUEL WELCH "CLASSICS"!!!.......2004-03-13

For fans (like myself) of Raquel Welch, THE #1 "Sex Goddess" of the swinging 60's and super 70's, this is a must have collection of 5 of her better films. The only major disappointment in the set is the lack of supplementary material (interviews, commentaries) and the fact that the "major" film of the set, "ONE MILLION YEARS B.C." is the shorter U.S. theatrical version. But these are disappointments I can live with as long as I get to ogle the beautiful Miss Welch.

To the films:

Yes, as I stated, "ONE MILLION YEARS B.C." is the shorter version released by 20th Century Fox in 1966. The US version is listed as 91 minutes (closer to 92, as I timed it last night), while the UK version is 100 minutes. Missing is a sexy dance by Nupondi the Wild One (Martine Beswick) and some shots of Ray Harryhausen's animation. While it is too bad that Fox didn't release the longer version, folks, this film is NOT "CITIZEN KANE". As it is, at 91 minutes I feel the film is about 10 minutes too long! So while I do miss the footage (hopefully Fox will make things right and put the longer version out on dvd some time in the future), I really can't complain. Rocky looks beautiful in this film, Harryhausen's dinosaur's are still a sight to behold and every bit as good as the CGI fx of such big time Hollywood blockbusters as "JURASSIC PARK" (and maybe even better) and the music by Mario Nascimbene is fantastic. One mistake of continuity I noticed in the film itself: when we first see Raquel by the sea she kneels down on a rock and we see her feet are bare. A few seconds later when she runs up the hill and kneels next to Tumak she is wearing her fur booties. A few seconds later, her feet are again bare! I notice things like that, I have a foot fetish (ha)! Also, one question I have, when it is clear that Loana (Raquel) has the hots for Tumak (John Richardson), why does he spend so much time fighting with Ahot for possession of his oodala (spear)? Does that make sense to you?

Picture and sound are very pleasing on this disc (I have no complaints).For some reason I like the mono sound over the stereo, but that's just me. I'm weird. The only extras are trailers for this film and several other Fox sf titles and a restoration comparion (boring).

"MYRA BRECKINRIDGE" is a very weird, often unpleasant, film. Rocky is the only real saving grace. Mae West is awful, the script stinks, and the film put me to sleep! Picture and sound are fine. This is the only disc with some interesting extras. In fact, the extras are better than the film! Included is the AMC "BACKSTORY" episode about the making of this turkey and an often funny and insightful audio commentary with Miss Welch in which she reveals that when she first met her legendary co-star Mae West, she thought Miss West was "a man in drag"!!!

Of the other three films, "FATHOM" (an enjoyable spy spoof) was previously released by Fox, but "BANDOLERO" and "MOTHER, JUGS AND SPEED" are new to this set.

"BANDOLERO" is an entertaining western featuring James Stewart and Dean Martin as bank robbing brothers who kidnap Miss Welch when they are on the run from Sherrif George Kennedy and the law. The stars are all good and the script is often touching and quite funny. The score by Jerry Goldsmith is one of his best! Again, sound and picture quality are very good on this fine dvd. The picture of Rocky on the cover is actually from another Fox/Welch oater, "100 RIFLES" that Welch later made with Burt Reynolds and Jom Brown.

"MOTHER, JUGS AND SPEED" is a very funny comedy about an inept bunch of ambulance drivers. It co-stars Bill Cosby, Harvy Keitel and Larry Hagman. Pic and sound are good.

To wrap it up, if you are a fan of Miss Welch chances are you have already bought this fine box set, and to everyone else, I do recommend it. I feel you won't be disappointed. The films are all very entertaining and Rocky is always a pleasure to watch! I have always felt that she is a very under-rated actress. I believe she is very talented and intelligent as well as beautiful, but if your a woman and beautiful in Hollywood, you're never taken seriously (especially when you start out your career wearing a fur bikini in a silly caveman movie). -George Bauch.

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