When producer, Felix Farmer's (Richard Milligan) latest epic, a $30 million G-rated musical romantic comedy titled Night Wind, is a massive flop, Felix's life begins to deteriorate. Capitol Pictures president, David Blackman (Robert Vaughn) orders a recall of all prints of Night Wind, Fleix's wife and Night Wind's leading lady Sally Miles (Julie Andrews) initiates a separation, and Felix falls into a state of suicidal despair. Night Wind's director, Tim Culley (William Holden), Felix's physician Irving (Robert Preston), and press agent Ben Coogan (Robert Webber) put Felix on suicide watch and try to cheer him up by bringing wild parties to his home. Following a failed suicide in the midst of an orgy held at his home, Felix becomes inspire to reshoot his flop as soft-core pornography. When Blackman refuses to finance Felix's idea, Felix buys back the film himself with intent to self-distribute with Sally Miles learning that her own assets are now tied to the film and she will have to do a topless scene contrary to her squeaky clean image.
S. O. B. (short for Standard Operating Bulls-t) is a 1981 satirical comedy from director Blake Edwards whose previous film, "10", became one of the highest grossing films of 1979. Beginning development in 1976, Edwards drew upon the negative experiences he'd had working with Paramount on the massive flop musical comedy Darling Lili that lead to a downturn in the careers of Edwards and lead Julie Andrews through the 70s that lead Edwards to making his films in Europe free from executive interference. Initially intended to be released by Orion who'd distributed "10", the project went into turnaround until it was acquired by Lorimar for distribution by United Artists, only for Lorimar to end their contract with UA and sign with Paramount, much to the ire of Edwards who'd still carried a grudge against the studio. While Paramount had no direct involvement in the final cut of S. O. B., they did, according to Edwards, sabotage the movie by releasing it during less than ideal release dates and cancelling press junkets which Edwards financed himself. The movie underperformed at the box office making only $14 million against its $12 million budget, while critical reception at the time was mixed with Siskel and Ebert highly recommending it, while others were more derisive including the Golden Raspberry awards nominating the film for Worst Screenplay. While the movie has many of the issues present in Edwards' films, it's a consistently funny and delightfully mean-spirited scorched Earth take on the inanity and excess of the Hollywood Studio system.
From its opening musical sequence from Night Wind with Julie Andrews singing "Polly Wolly Doodle" in an elaborate nursery themed sound stage which is then contrasted with the harsh reality of a once beloved supporting actor dropping dead on a beach with no one noticing for an absurdly long time, S. O. B. Makes it clear its intention is to peal back the veneer of beauty and glamour of showbusiness and put on a spotlight on the cynicism, greed, and incompetence. As Felix Farmer tries to commit suicide multiple times (and fails) we see a man who's value is defined solely by the success of his last project with no other factor into consideration, S. O. B. Is essentially a portrait of a man who while once respected is driven to the brink where he at first seeks to destroy himself, but instead uses the movie as an implement to destroy the veneer of showbusiness itself by creating, in his words "a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah". As Felix's increasing eccentricities go on, Edwards contrasts his antics with a solid selection of supporting cast members with William Holden, Robert Preston, and Robert Webber particularly good as Felix's longtime friends and colleagues, Julie Andrews playing an actress whose image bears thinly veiled similarities to her on screen person from The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins, and Robert Vaughn as a sleazy opportunistic studio president. The movie uses its supporting cast very well and their reaction to the absurdities of the situation of taking a G-rated musical epic and retrofitting it into a porn film make for some solid bits of humor. The only major drawback I'd say of this movies is that maybe the character of Felix Farmer could've been more fully realized because we don't really see him before his depression and mental breakdown and it probably could've helped flesh out the character a little more. The movie also runs about 2 hours when it really didn't need to, with the last 20-30 minutes of the movie featuring a sequence that takes place after Felix Farmer's story has concluded and seems like it's there solely for the sake of being there.
S. O. B. Is a solidly funny film from Blake Edwards and feels like it serves a purpose as both a comedy and a source of catharsis for the man's bad blood with Paramount over Darling Lili. While the length and pacing isn't as perfectly refined as it could be, and Richard Mulligan's performance as Felix maybe starts a little "too fast" out of the gate in terms of eccentricities, S. O. B. Is nonetheless a delightfully mean spirited scorched Earth satire of filmmaking business excess and inanity.
S. O. B. (short for Standard Operating Bulls-t) is a 1981 satirical comedy from director Blake Edwards whose previous film, "10", became one of the highest grossing films of 1979. Beginning development in 1976, Edwards drew upon the negative experiences he'd had working with Paramount on the massive flop musical comedy Darling Lili that lead to a downturn in the careers of Edwards and lead Julie Andrews through the 70s that lead Edwards to making his films in Europe free from executive interference. Initially intended to be released by Orion who'd distributed "10", the project went into turnaround until it was acquired by Lorimar for distribution by United Artists, only for Lorimar to end their contract with UA and sign with Paramount, much to the ire of Edwards who'd still carried a grudge against the studio. While Paramount had no direct involvement in the final cut of S. O. B., they did, according to Edwards, sabotage the movie by releasing it during less than ideal release dates and cancelling press junkets which Edwards financed himself. The movie underperformed at the box office making only $14 million against its $12 million budget, while critical reception at the time was mixed with Siskel and Ebert highly recommending it, while others were more derisive including the Golden Raspberry awards nominating the film for Worst Screenplay. While the movie has many of the issues present in Edwards' films, it's a consistently funny and delightfully mean-spirited scorched Earth take on the inanity and excess of the Hollywood Studio system.
From its opening musical sequence from Night Wind with Julie Andrews singing "Polly Wolly Doodle" in an elaborate nursery themed sound stage which is then contrasted with the harsh reality of a once beloved supporting actor dropping dead on a beach with no one noticing for an absurdly long time, S. O. B. Makes it clear its intention is to peal back the veneer of beauty and glamour of showbusiness and put on a spotlight on the cynicism, greed, and incompetence. As Felix Farmer tries to commit suicide multiple times (and fails) we see a man who's value is defined solely by the success of his last project with no other factor into consideration, S. O. B. Is essentially a portrait of a man who while once respected is driven to the brink where he at first seeks to destroy himself, but instead uses the movie as an implement to destroy the veneer of showbusiness itself by creating, in his words "a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah". As Felix's increasing eccentricities go on, Edwards contrasts his antics with a solid selection of supporting cast members with William Holden, Robert Preston, and Robert Webber particularly good as Felix's longtime friends and colleagues, Julie Andrews playing an actress whose image bears thinly veiled similarities to her on screen person from The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins, and Robert Vaughn as a sleazy opportunistic studio president. The movie uses its supporting cast very well and their reaction to the absurdities of the situation of taking a G-rated musical epic and retrofitting it into a porn film make for some solid bits of humor. The only major drawback I'd say of this movies is that maybe the character of Felix Farmer could've been more fully realized because we don't really see him before his depression and mental breakdown and it probably could've helped flesh out the character a little more. The movie also runs about 2 hours when it really didn't need to, with the last 20-30 minutes of the movie featuring a sequence that takes place after Felix Farmer's story has concluded and seems like it's there solely for the sake of being there.
S. O. B. Is a solidly funny film from Blake Edwards and feels like it serves a purpose as both a comedy and a source of catharsis for the man's bad blood with Paramount over Darling Lili. While the length and pacing isn't as perfectly refined as it could be, and Richard Mulligan's performance as Felix maybe starts a little "too fast" out of the gate in terms of eccentricities, S. O. B. Is nonetheless a delightfully mean spirited scorched Earth satire of filmmaking business excess and inanity.