I never quite figure out Blake Edwards as a filmmaker. He had a side that was as sophisticated and poignant as it was funny. Think "The Party" or the first Pink Panther, the other side was pure commercialism without any regard for its audience. SOB is a blatant example of that. Here he even uses his characters to badmouth "Last Tango In Paris" - The premise is terrific for a biting Hollywood satire but a premise is just a premise. He has to resort to farting during a sequence that should have been a comedy showstopper. Hey he got his wife to go topless and his wife was Julie Andrews - he must have heard cash registers in his mind like Richard Mulligan's character when he decides to put his wife in a porno=erotic something or other to make zillions of dollars. Richard Mulligan plays his suicidal director like he was in a Mack Sennett routine. Outrageous and I'm tempted to say, unforgivable. I must also confess that made me uncomfortable to see William Holden in the middle of it all. Shelley Winter, Robert Preston, Stuart Margolin, Larry Hagman, Robert Vaughn even a glimpse of the very young Rossana Archette keeps the film going. Loretta Swit - of MASH fame - plays a gossip columnist in such a way that may very well explain why she didn't have much of a film career. So, even if I'm aware I've spent a couple of hours with a bunch of characters I hope I never meet in real life, SOB deserves to be seen if only because it is a piece of film history solidly set on its day.
71 Reviews
VICIOUS satire on Hollywood
preppy-311 November 2013
Director Felix Farmer (Richard Mulligan) directs a kids movie with his wife Sally Miles (Julie Andrews) in it. It bombs and Felix goes crazy. However he thinks he can save the movie by having Sally bare her breasts.
Vicious satire on Hollywood. Writer/director Blake Edwards just lashes out at Hollywood and all its executives. He also got a very talented cast in it--there's William Holden (in his last film), Robert Preston, Larry Hagman, Robert Vaughn, Shelly Winters, Loretta Swit and Robert Webber. They're all enjoying themselves and it rubs off on the audience. They're all good but Holden and Preston are excellent. This is primarily known as the film where Julie Andrews swears AND bares her breasts but it's got more going for it then just shock value. It does derail at the end getting way too dark and morbid but most of the way through it's a lot of fun. This was not a big hit which is too bad but I think it was too cruel for mainstream audiences.
Vicious satire on Hollywood. Writer/director Blake Edwards just lashes out at Hollywood and all its executives. He also got a very talented cast in it--there's William Holden (in his last film), Robert Preston, Larry Hagman, Robert Vaughn, Shelly Winters, Loretta Swit and Robert Webber. They're all enjoying themselves and it rubs off on the audience. They're all good but Holden and Preston are excellent. This is primarily known as the film where Julie Andrews swears AND bares her breasts but it's got more going for it then just shock value. It does derail at the end getting way too dark and morbid but most of the way through it's a lot of fun. This was not a big hit which is too bad but I think it was too cruel for mainstream audiences.
Overlong and Uneven
kenjha20 July 2008
In this satirical look at Hollywood, a film producer tries to commit suicide after a big-budget flop, but then decides to reshoot it as porn. It has some very funny moments but runs out of steam long before its excessive running time. It boasts a terrific all-star cast, but Preston steals the film as a wise-cracking doctor. Andrews, playing a wholesome actress not unlike herself, flashes her breasts in an attempt to boost the box office of the reshot film. Mulligan plays her husband, presumably modeled after Edwards. In his final film, Holden plays a hard-drinking, hedonistic director. In a sad irony, the actor drank himself to death months after the film was released.
Raucous, Uneven Fun
lisado25 February 1999
Next to Victor/Victoria, S.O.B. is probably my favorite Blake Edwards film. I'm not a great fan of his movies, but when his films are funny, they're usually hilarious. This movie has its fair share of laugh out loud moments that more than make up for some of the slow and less-well-scripted parts. It features a number of wonderful, if sometimes over-the-top, performances by many well-known performers. Most of the scenery chewing is very well in tune with the theme of this Hollywood harpooning. Given the ever-increasingly cynical nature of movie producing, some of S.O.B.'s elements even seem quaint.
The Viking send-off is one of my all-time most memorable movie scenes, and the fact that this is also William Holden's last role gives this section an added air of sadness.
The Viking send-off is one of my all-time most memorable movie scenes, and the fact that this is also William Holden's last role gives this section an added air of sadness.
William Holden's last film.
Pat-546 November 1998
Blake Edward's, who had an ax to grind with Hollywood, gets his revenge in this biting (and sometimes cruel) look at tinsel town. I found the film hilarious and one of his best efforts. His real life wife (Julie Andrews) destroyed her "Mary Poppins" image by showing her naked breasts in one scene. This is also William Holden's last screen appearance.
Funny, funny, funny!
arturopanduro21 November 2001
This is one of the greatest all-star comedies around. It focuses on the lives of Hollywood movie moguls and their decision to make a G-rated flop into an X-rated box-office smash. Featuring many comedic talents including Richard Mulligan, Robert Preston, Julie Andrews, Loretta Swit, Robert Loggia, Robert Vaughn, Robert Webber, William Holden and Shelley Winters. Also, look for a shocking scene depicting sweet and innocent Julie Andrews being not so Mary Poppin-like. A fast-moving great ride. I didn't want to get off. Highly recommended!
scattered but biting satire
SnoopyStyle8 April 2016
Felix Farmer (Richard Mulligan) is a highly successful producer. He goes crazy when his latest release is a colossal bomb. The star is his wife Sally Miles (Julie Andrews) with a squeaky clean G-rated image. She wants a divorce but her team talks her out of it. Felix snaps out of it and buys Sally's next movie intending to turn it into an erotic musical. Sally is angry at Felix for using all of their money and reluctantly takes the risk of doing a nudie. It becomes a highly sought after property.
It's a bit scattered in the beginning following a lot of characters. The heart of this is a dark biting satire. The comedy isn't always the funniest but it takes really sharp jabs at Hollywood. I was starting to really like this movie and then it takes a turn into Weekend at Bernie's territories. I love Blake Edwards taking dark comedic turns on Hollywood but some of it doesn't work.
It's a bit scattered in the beginning following a lot of characters. The heart of this is a dark biting satire. The comedy isn't always the funniest but it takes really sharp jabs at Hollywood. I was starting to really like this movie and then it takes a turn into Weekend at Bernie's territories. I love Blake Edwards taking dark comedic turns on Hollywood but some of it doesn't work.
Better in '81
jdeitz24 August 2001
As much as it pains me, as my favorite actor is William Holden, and it's his last role, this movie has aged badly. Bill is the only one in this film who doesn't overact. Over-blown and dated, it's a pale shadow to other Hollywood satires. It's not terrible, just not that good.
A biting comedy for adults.
jrs-828 July 2000
How rare it is to see a terrific comedy meant for adults. "S.O.B." is Blake Edwards dark look at life in Hollywood. And believe me he pulls no punches. Everyone and everything is a target and he hits it almost every time.
"S.O.B." tells the story of a big director whose latest film is the biggest flop in movie history. Despondent he spends the first half of the film trying to kill himself and the second half trying to save the film by re-shooting it as an arty porno film complete with a nude scene by the virginal female lead (played by the virginal Julie Andrews).
As I said no stone goes unturned. We get hints of drugs, death, murder, suicide, sex, homosexuality (both men and women), transvestism, back stabbing, grave robbing, and much more. But it is done in a tone that is dark but extremely funny. Watching William Holden, Robert Preston, and Robert Webber in their scenes in the third act is worth the time alone. And, yes, we do get to see Julie Andrews in a brief topless shot. It's nice if you like her but nothing special.
The only complaint is that the film runs a bit too long. Edwards would have benefited the film with a trimming of about 15 minutes. But if you like your comedy dark, this is a must see.
"S.O.B." tells the story of a big director whose latest film is the biggest flop in movie history. Despondent he spends the first half of the film trying to kill himself and the second half trying to save the film by re-shooting it as an arty porno film complete with a nude scene by the virginal female lead (played by the virginal Julie Andrews).
As I said no stone goes unturned. We get hints of drugs, death, murder, suicide, sex, homosexuality (both men and women), transvestism, back stabbing, grave robbing, and much more. But it is done in a tone that is dark but extremely funny. Watching William Holden, Robert Preston, and Robert Webber in their scenes in the third act is worth the time alone. And, yes, we do get to see Julie Andrews in a brief topless shot. It's nice if you like her but nothing special.
The only complaint is that the film runs a bit too long. Edwards would have benefited the film with a trimming of about 15 minutes. But if you like your comedy dark, this is a must see.
Uneven.
Peach-222 June 1999
My favorite aspect of this film is William Holden, other that that it's also pretty funny even if it is terribly uneven. Many people will know this as the film in which Julie Andrews does a little nudity, the film is so uneven, that's as good a reason as any to remember this film. Making fun of Hollywood is something directors love to do and they always get great cast to help them make fun of their craft. Funny film, but sloppy.
Lacks focus
slcagnina13 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Edwards and his wife Julie Andrews wanted to make a kiss-off to Hollywood. This is not a bad inspiration for a film. But the result is a muddle.
Edwards can be an uneven director; sometimes he's hilarious, sometimes he's not funny at all (and his Asian caricatures from Breakfast at Tiffany's to this film make me wonder if Edwards understands that playing racial stereotypes without irony is not funny).
In this film, his best and worst are often in the same scene. It's hard to understand what Edwards is condemning because he doesn't put forth a realistic central character or premise (even in 1981, re-shooting a failed film as bad as the one he presents here by putting in sex sex sex wouldn't bring you instant box office).
William Holden and Robert Preston are excellent in the film as old time cynics with a heart. But they're not the central focus of the film -- that would be Mulligan, a funny actor but not one to present the conflicted portrait of a gifted director gone bad. Edwards never takes Mulligan's Felix Farmer's plight seriously -- which undercuts the comedy. Why was his film so bad in the beginning? If he had shown the execs causing the problems, then that would have made Mulligan's actions more plausible -- if not in the realm of realism. Another narrative mistake with Felix, Edwards tells us this was Felix's first failure. Would a multimillionaire successful Hollywood guy with a giant ego go suicidal insane over one failure?
That's the problem. Felix's downfall isn't understandable -- and he appears so inept his previous success isn't understandable; and the loyalty he inspires in Holden and Preston's characters isn't understandable, because we don't see why they'd have affection for Felix as a person or a filmmaker. If we're supposed to feel bad because Felix loses his movie, we don't, because we don't know how a man with so little talent got a 30 million dollar (1981 dollars) budget in the first place.
If Edwards had drawn a realistic Felix character, and cut down on some of the slapstick elements, he might have had a good, if clichéd, Hollywood cautionary tale. Instead, he made a hollow film about a hollow business. In the end, this makes Edwards as bad as the ones he's trying to eviscerate.
Edwards can be an uneven director; sometimes he's hilarious, sometimes he's not funny at all (and his Asian caricatures from Breakfast at Tiffany's to this film make me wonder if Edwards understands that playing racial stereotypes without irony is not funny).
In this film, his best and worst are often in the same scene. It's hard to understand what Edwards is condemning because he doesn't put forth a realistic central character or premise (even in 1981, re-shooting a failed film as bad as the one he presents here by putting in sex sex sex wouldn't bring you instant box office).
William Holden and Robert Preston are excellent in the film as old time cynics with a heart. But they're not the central focus of the film -- that would be Mulligan, a funny actor but not one to present the conflicted portrait of a gifted director gone bad. Edwards never takes Mulligan's Felix Farmer's plight seriously -- which undercuts the comedy. Why was his film so bad in the beginning? If he had shown the execs causing the problems, then that would have made Mulligan's actions more plausible -- if not in the realm of realism. Another narrative mistake with Felix, Edwards tells us this was Felix's first failure. Would a multimillionaire successful Hollywood guy with a giant ego go suicidal insane over one failure?
That's the problem. Felix's downfall isn't understandable -- and he appears so inept his previous success isn't understandable; and the loyalty he inspires in Holden and Preston's characters isn't understandable, because we don't see why they'd have affection for Felix as a person or a filmmaker. If we're supposed to feel bad because Felix loses his movie, we don't, because we don't know how a man with so little talent got a 30 million dollar (1981 dollars) budget in the first place.
If Edwards had drawn a realistic Felix character, and cut down on some of the slapstick elements, he might have had a good, if clichéd, Hollywood cautionary tale. Instead, he made a hollow film about a hollow business. In the end, this makes Edwards as bad as the ones he's trying to eviscerate.
Funny, moving, wicked and Julie Andrews flashin' and cussin'
SquirePM30 July 1999
ONLY ONE MOVIE gives us the best all time performances from Richard Mulligan, Robert Webber and Loretta Swit, coupled with over-the-top turns by Julie Andrews, Robert Vaughn, William Holden and the amazing Robert Preston as Dr. Finegarten. ("Madam, a shyster is an unethical lawyer! *I* am a *QUACK*!")
Blake Edwards has been a huge success despite, not because of, the Hollywood system. In S.O.B. he throws it right in their faces, making an "A" movie filled with "A" stars that attacks, slices, dices, grinds up and flushes the moviemaking establishment.
Oh, this is a wicked, wicked film. Sam Goldwyn and the other old moguls would have sent a hit man after Edwards.
The performances and the story are too intense to describe piecemeal. This is the undefeated world champion dissection of Hollywood.
And FUNNY! What a HOWL! And Julie Andrews, what a TROUPER!
Blake Edwards has been a huge success despite, not because of, the Hollywood system. In S.O.B. he throws it right in their faces, making an "A" movie filled with "A" stars that attacks, slices, dices, grinds up and flushes the moviemaking establishment.
Oh, this is a wicked, wicked film. Sam Goldwyn and the other old moguls would have sent a hit man after Edwards.
The performances and the story are too intense to describe piecemeal. This is the undefeated world champion dissection of Hollywood.
And FUNNY! What a HOWL! And Julie Andrews, what a TROUPER!
Not for the faint hearted or dull witted
Reb926 May 1999
Sad Old Bomb
slokes23 February 2006
"S.O.B" had great promise when it came out in the summer of 1981. Director Blake Edwards, who was on a winning streak, used his greatest professional disaster, a bomb he made with wife Julie Andrews 11 years before called "Darling Lili," as the basis for an all-star satire on shallow loyalties and bottom-line mentalities in Hollywood. The newspaper ad featured a cartoon bull in a director's chair, smoking a cigar with the legend "The bull hits the fan July 1." Oh, yes, and Andrews was making her topless debut, too. It seemed all too cool to be true, and was. "S.O.B." never caught fire, and watching it 25 years later is to understand why. It's a comedy that forgets to be funny.
Richard Mulligan plays moviemaker Felix Farmer, whose latest picture "Night Wind" is in serious trouble after previews. ("N.Y. Critics Break 'Wind'" is the headline in Variety.) At first falling into a suicidal funk, he then gets the idea to reshoot the film as an erotic spectacular, deciding that sex sells and giving the public what it wants means getting his wife, Sally Miles (Andrews), to show them her breasts. As excitement builds for this second "Wind", hard-charging studio boss David Blackman (Robert Vaughn) decides to use whatever foul means he can to steal Farmer's film out from under him.
"S.O.B." boasts an all-star cast of TV actors like Mulligan and Vaughn whom Edwards and the script throw out on the screen with lame one-liners they scream at the top of their lungs. Loretta Swit as a gossip columnist is the worst offender. William Holden in his last film wears ugly sunglasses and seems a frail shadow of the actor he was only a few years before in "Network," leaving most of the foreground to Robert Preston, who adds a touch of class and gives "S.O.B" its few decent lines as a drug- and wisdom-dispensing doctor.
"If he doesn't remember me, mention his first case of the clap," he says of Blackman. "I didn't give it to him, I cured it!"
"S.O.B." doesn't work as a comedy because it doesn't really try to be a comedy. Instead, Edwards rubs old sores over "Lili" and tries to get even with the people who clipped his wings long ago. Maybe it worked for him. If someone told him back then that he couldn't make a worse film than "Lili," then he proved them wrong here.
"S.O.B." has a lot of repetitious gags, like a hole in a floor people keep falling through. A flaccid score by Henry Mancini kills any lingering affection you may have had for that old number "Polly-Wolly-Doodle." Mulligan's overacting is embarrassingly bad and shticky, and the narrative is advanced in the form of unrealistic television reports, including a live bulletin when Sally Miles is getting ready for her nude scene.
Andrews' breasts are the fifth- and sixth-best reasons to see "S.O.B" (Rosanna Arquette and Marisa Berenson appear topless here as well). But there's not much else to perk your interest, unless you enjoy seeing a good director sacrifice his art for the sake of purging his bitterness. "S.O.B." is as sad as the faithful dog we see on the beach, mourning his dead, forgotten owner and serving as a thematic device for the heartlessness of the other characters. It's appropriate in one way: "S.O.B." is a D.O.G.
Richard Mulligan plays moviemaker Felix Farmer, whose latest picture "Night Wind" is in serious trouble after previews. ("N.Y. Critics Break 'Wind'" is the headline in Variety.) At first falling into a suicidal funk, he then gets the idea to reshoot the film as an erotic spectacular, deciding that sex sells and giving the public what it wants means getting his wife, Sally Miles (Andrews), to show them her breasts. As excitement builds for this second "Wind", hard-charging studio boss David Blackman (Robert Vaughn) decides to use whatever foul means he can to steal Farmer's film out from under him.
"S.O.B." boasts an all-star cast of TV actors like Mulligan and Vaughn whom Edwards and the script throw out on the screen with lame one-liners they scream at the top of their lungs. Loretta Swit as a gossip columnist is the worst offender. William Holden in his last film wears ugly sunglasses and seems a frail shadow of the actor he was only a few years before in "Network," leaving most of the foreground to Robert Preston, who adds a touch of class and gives "S.O.B" its few decent lines as a drug- and wisdom-dispensing doctor.
"If he doesn't remember me, mention his first case of the clap," he says of Blackman. "I didn't give it to him, I cured it!"
"S.O.B." doesn't work as a comedy because it doesn't really try to be a comedy. Instead, Edwards rubs old sores over "Lili" and tries to get even with the people who clipped his wings long ago. Maybe it worked for him. If someone told him back then that he couldn't make a worse film than "Lili," then he proved them wrong here.
"S.O.B." has a lot of repetitious gags, like a hole in a floor people keep falling through. A flaccid score by Henry Mancini kills any lingering affection you may have had for that old number "Polly-Wolly-Doodle." Mulligan's overacting is embarrassingly bad and shticky, and the narrative is advanced in the form of unrealistic television reports, including a live bulletin when Sally Miles is getting ready for her nude scene.
Andrews' breasts are the fifth- and sixth-best reasons to see "S.O.B" (Rosanna Arquette and Marisa Berenson appear topless here as well). But there's not much else to perk your interest, unless you enjoy seeing a good director sacrifice his art for the sake of purging his bitterness. "S.O.B." is as sad as the faithful dog we see on the beach, mourning his dead, forgotten owner and serving as a thematic device for the heartlessness of the other characters. It's appropriate in one way: "S.O.B." is a D.O.G.
The hills are still alive...
Puck-2017 August 2000
"Is Batman A Transvestite?"
atlasmb23 May 2021
An impressive array of talent might lead one to believe that this is a film worth watching. In actuality, it is not. William Holden's last film appearance is wasted here. Robert Preston and a slew of other notables are part of an ensemble that has little to recommend it, primarily due to a Blake Edwards script that seems to be reverse-engineered around one small incident.
When the film was released, all the hype was about Julie Andrews---the G-rated icon---exposing her bubbies. Husband Blake seems to have written his script around that scene, and it shows. It's an interesting case of art imitating life or actually being life, but this is a script with no subtlety or soul. It can accurately be called a black comedy, but unless your brand of humor lionizes films like "Weekend at Bernie's", which might actually be funnier, you might want to skip this one.
The target of this dark humor is Hollywood itself, and Blake skewers the industry for its superficiality, where everything is secondary to success, even death or divorce. And PR is even more important than success. A town that prizes public images does not value authenticity.
But Blake's style is too broad, too obvious to entertain much. Unless you think Robert Vaughn in heels and a corset is profoundly funny and symbolic, there are other films that do it better. But those films don't have Julie baring her cinematic soul.
I have to say that I like Julie Andrews in this film, despite the broad vaudevillity of her performance (as directed, no doubt), but her performance leads to an anticlimax after all the hoopla of the film (and the press that came before the film's release).
When the film was released, all the hype was about Julie Andrews---the G-rated icon---exposing her bubbies. Husband Blake seems to have written his script around that scene, and it shows. It's an interesting case of art imitating life or actually being life, but this is a script with no subtlety or soul. It can accurately be called a black comedy, but unless your brand of humor lionizes films like "Weekend at Bernie's", which might actually be funnier, you might want to skip this one.
The target of this dark humor is Hollywood itself, and Blake skewers the industry for its superficiality, where everything is secondary to success, even death or divorce. And PR is even more important than success. A town that prizes public images does not value authenticity.
But Blake's style is too broad, too obvious to entertain much. Unless you think Robert Vaughn in heels and a corset is profoundly funny and symbolic, there are other films that do it better. But those films don't have Julie baring her cinematic soul.
I have to say that I like Julie Andrews in this film, despite the broad vaudevillity of her performance (as directed, no doubt), but her performance leads to an anticlimax after all the hoopla of the film (and the press that came before the film's release).
Not A BAd Film
smit8156 January 2004
"I could sue you for calling me that, Polly! A shyster is a disreputable lawyer. I'm a quack!"
thehappychuckler30 December 2020
Hollywood prince Felix Farmer (Richard Mulligan) has just made his latest epic along with his G-rated darling wife Sally Miles (Julie Andrews). Problem is it is the flop of all-time. Farmer hits some real lows with depression and producer David Blackman (Robert Vaughn) wants to recut it to create something different. Then Farmer comes across a great idea. He is going to reshoot his disaster into a porno all while his wife shakes her mammaries across the screen. Quite a build-up for a joke really.
Since this film was done by writer/director Blake Edwards I was expecting some good comedy in the film and yes there is some great physical comedy as well as some good funny lines as well. Edwards kind of shines a mirror on Hollywood and no one really ends up looking very good. It is also interesting as Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards were married in real-life. Great cast including William Holden (in sadly his last film), Robert Preston (who may have some of the best lines in the film) and Robert Webber. The great cast does a very good job in carrying the film through some leaner parts.
Since this film was done by writer/director Blake Edwards I was expecting some good comedy in the film and yes there is some great physical comedy as well as some good funny lines as well. Edwards kind of shines a mirror on Hollywood and no one really ends up looking very good. It is also interesting as Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards were married in real-life. Great cast including William Holden (in sadly his last film), Robert Preston (who may have some of the best lines in the film) and Robert Webber. The great cast does a very good job in carrying the film through some leaner parts.
You want a black comedy? This is a black comedy!
MBunge13 October 2010
Warning: Spoilers
There are a lot of unkind things you can say about S.O.B. but there are two things which are undeniable.
1. This is one of the angriest, most black hearted comedies you'll ever see.
2. Blake Edwards busts his hump to make you laugh.
Felix Farmer (Richard Mulligan) is a famous Hollywood producer who just created the biggest box office bomb in movie history. His film, Night Wind, has made so little money that almost everyone even remotely related to the production is in a complete panic. Except for Felix, who veers from near catatonic to suicidal. His movie star wife, Sally Miles (Julie Andrews), takes the kids and abandons Felix in his beach house and even considers divorcing him. The studio head (Robert Vaughn) is desperate to pull Night Wind out of theaters and salvage it through re-editing. He enlists Tim Culley (William Holden), an old school, old time movie director to convince Felix to give up his ironclad creative control and allow the re-editing. This doesn't sound much like a comedy, does it?
Well, after failing in several suicide attempts, Felix has an epiphany. He can turn Night Wind into the biggest hit in movie history if he changes it from wholesome family fair into a sex-charged nudie flick. Felix is willing to risk all of his, and Sally's, fortune to pull it off. But when it looks like he might actually succeed, the studio head is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure the success isn't Felix's alone. That provokes Felix to take his own desperate measures and leads to some of the darkest humor you'll ever encounter.
The best description I can come up with for S.O.B. is that it's like an R-rated Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Looked at as a single, coherent story, it's got more than a few problems. As a collection of funny bits, however, it's pretty entertaining. But while Mike Myers lovingly made fun of the 1960s spy genre, Blake Edwards was an angry, angry man ripping the cover off the inside deceit, back stabbing, ass kissing and other morally questionable realities of the movie business and he did it years before it was the hip thing to do.
Edwards throws everything but the kitchen sink at you in this movie. It has the crudest sort of toilet humor, the sharpest kind of satire, throw away one-liners, sexual decadence, slapstick pratfalls, Robert Vaughn in lingerie and Julie Andrews going topless. It doesn't fit together all that well but if you stop worrying about that, there are a lot of laughs.
You'd better be able to appreciate very dark and very bitter humor if you're going to watch S.O.B. How dark is it? There's a recurring gag about a guy dying of a heart attack on a beach and his body just lying there all day with his poor dog pining over his departed master. When you use a dog howling for his dead owner as a punchline, that's some black comedy. When the guy who's supposed to be your main characters says absolutely nothing for the first half hour of the movie and just tries to kill himself by car exhaust in his garage, hanging himself, sticking his head in an oven and trying to blow his brains out, that's some black comedy. When they steal a corpse before a funeral where Larry Storch (yes, the F Troop guy) portrays an Indian guru who gives a eulogy about how much money the deceased made, that's some black comedy.
You'll also be hard pressed to find a bigger collection of over the top performances than S.O.B. Whether it's Loretta Swit as a raging gossip columnist, Larry Hagman as a weenie studio executive, Stuart Margolin as Sally Miles' conniving personal secretary or Richard Mulligan almost exploding across the screen as Felix Farmer, subtlety is in short supply. The closest you get is Robert Preston's deadpan and hilarious zingers as the "Doctor Feelgood" to Felix' circle of friends.
And in addition to Edwards' extended rant against the sleazy underbelly of filmmaking, S.O.B also revels in his delight and confusion at the changing moral climate of mainstream film. Edwards is clearly thrilled that he can get away with naughty language, naked boobs and all other sorts of things in a big budget picture, but he also clearly isn't sure what that means to society and his industry.
S.O.B. is funny but it's very much Edwards laughing at Hollywood and himself. There's an inside joke quality to it that doesn't work much better in the 21st century, when everybody knows so much about the inside happenings of the movie business, than it did in 1981 when the public was still largely ignorant of such things.
1. This is one of the angriest, most black hearted comedies you'll ever see.
2. Blake Edwards busts his hump to make you laugh.
Felix Farmer (Richard Mulligan) is a famous Hollywood producer who just created the biggest box office bomb in movie history. His film, Night Wind, has made so little money that almost everyone even remotely related to the production is in a complete panic. Except for Felix, who veers from near catatonic to suicidal. His movie star wife, Sally Miles (Julie Andrews), takes the kids and abandons Felix in his beach house and even considers divorcing him. The studio head (Robert Vaughn) is desperate to pull Night Wind out of theaters and salvage it through re-editing. He enlists Tim Culley (William Holden), an old school, old time movie director to convince Felix to give up his ironclad creative control and allow the re-editing. This doesn't sound much like a comedy, does it?
Well, after failing in several suicide attempts, Felix has an epiphany. He can turn Night Wind into the biggest hit in movie history if he changes it from wholesome family fair into a sex-charged nudie flick. Felix is willing to risk all of his, and Sally's, fortune to pull it off. But when it looks like he might actually succeed, the studio head is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure the success isn't Felix's alone. That provokes Felix to take his own desperate measures and leads to some of the darkest humor you'll ever encounter.
The best description I can come up with for S.O.B. is that it's like an R-rated Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Looked at as a single, coherent story, it's got more than a few problems. As a collection of funny bits, however, it's pretty entertaining. But while Mike Myers lovingly made fun of the 1960s spy genre, Blake Edwards was an angry, angry man ripping the cover off the inside deceit, back stabbing, ass kissing and other morally questionable realities of the movie business and he did it years before it was the hip thing to do.
Edwards throws everything but the kitchen sink at you in this movie. It has the crudest sort of toilet humor, the sharpest kind of satire, throw away one-liners, sexual decadence, slapstick pratfalls, Robert Vaughn in lingerie and Julie Andrews going topless. It doesn't fit together all that well but if you stop worrying about that, there are a lot of laughs.
You'd better be able to appreciate very dark and very bitter humor if you're going to watch S.O.B. How dark is it? There's a recurring gag about a guy dying of a heart attack on a beach and his body just lying there all day with his poor dog pining over his departed master. When you use a dog howling for his dead owner as a punchline, that's some black comedy. When the guy who's supposed to be your main characters says absolutely nothing for the first half hour of the movie and just tries to kill himself by car exhaust in his garage, hanging himself, sticking his head in an oven and trying to blow his brains out, that's some black comedy. When they steal a corpse before a funeral where Larry Storch (yes, the F Troop guy) portrays an Indian guru who gives a eulogy about how much money the deceased made, that's some black comedy.
You'll also be hard pressed to find a bigger collection of over the top performances than S.O.B. Whether it's Loretta Swit as a raging gossip columnist, Larry Hagman as a weenie studio executive, Stuart Margolin as Sally Miles' conniving personal secretary or Richard Mulligan almost exploding across the screen as Felix Farmer, subtlety is in short supply. The closest you get is Robert Preston's deadpan and hilarious zingers as the "Doctor Feelgood" to Felix' circle of friends.
And in addition to Edwards' extended rant against the sleazy underbelly of filmmaking, S.O.B also revels in his delight and confusion at the changing moral climate of mainstream film. Edwards is clearly thrilled that he can get away with naughty language, naked boobs and all other sorts of things in a big budget picture, but he also clearly isn't sure what that means to society and his industry.
S.O.B. is funny but it's very much Edwards laughing at Hollywood and himself. There's an inside joke quality to it that doesn't work much better in the 21st century, when everybody knows so much about the inside happenings of the movie business, than it did in 1981 when the public was still largely ignorant of such things.
What's wrong with this movie when it's so true?
laszlo-113 January 2003
People may hate this movie for the exact reason it was made: it blew the facade off Hollywood, exposing it for the cutthroat atmosphere that it is. Both Julie Andrews & Blake Edwards had every reason to hate Hollywood for what they did to them (chastising Blake for his indulgence, boxing Julie into a corner with sticky-sweet roles), so this wicked satire was their way of firing back & people either got the joke & were offended or didn't get it & just hated the movie for what it was. No doubt the film industry had the former reaction, proved by the little publicity the film received. Moviegoers probably thought more the latter, causing it to flop at the box-office & not exactly giving Julie & Blake the better opportunities they were looking for (both have found it difficult to find films outside of the stereotypical ones they made their name with). Some thought the famous breast-baring shots of Julie were gratuitous & shameful, yet they were the point of the film: wanting to evolve in the name of art & being talked out of it in the name of commerce. A movie like S.O.B. might actually play better today because such diatribes against the movie industry by its employees can find an audience who are now much wiser to the evil workings of the business (notice how THE PLAYER & SUNSET BOULEVARD are classics today, recognized as such by the industry they set out to skewer).
It's All Just Exaggerated, Self-Deprecating Hollywood Humor... Right?
Real_Review5 June 2019
I could write a review about the evils of Hollywood but there are plenty of those here. This movie gives me a unique opportunity to spout some of my philosophy, so I'm gonna put a little twist on this review.
If you spend a little time thinking about the plot of this movie, it could lead you to ask, "Why is nudity such a big deal in a movie? I wonder why those bad B Horror films and silly teen comedies always have to have a bunch of naked girls all of the time?" I'm gonna explain it for you (and every movie producer).
Our 'normal' is to wear clothing. The vast majority of images that we see of attractive people will be with clothing. Also, we have chosen, as a society in America, to classify nudity as taboo. Therefore, economically, we place higher 'utility' (or value) on a nude image. Societal norms and moral standards have created a 'scarcity' of nude images, therefore automatically creating an added interest in seeing nudity. Furthermore, if the nude image is of someone we have seen 1000's of images of, over years of a career, then there is a definite monetary value to the nude image. Guaranteed. Cash Money. People will pay - not because it is necessarily a fantasy to see this particular person, but because it is psychologically intimate and interesting and sexy and worth paying money to see.
So, if a bad movie franchise makes 5 slasher flicks and puts 5 naked up-and-coming actresses in each one, then they feature a total of 25 naked girls. The movies don't have to be good to break even monetarily, because people will pay to see it - it's a proven fact over decades of bad horror films. And, if one of those young actresses somehow becomes famous, then the movie will continue to make money for as long as people find value in seeing her young and naked body. On that note...
As 'over-the-top' as this movie is in many way, it's not as far from the truth as it might seem...
RealReview Posting Scoring Criteria: Acting - 1/1 Casting - 1/1 Directing - 1/1 Story - 1/1 Writing/Screenplay - 1/1
Total Base Score = 5
Modifiers (+ or -): Ensemble Cast: 1;
Total RealReview Rating: 6
If you spend a little time thinking about the plot of this movie, it could lead you to ask, "Why is nudity such a big deal in a movie? I wonder why those bad B Horror films and silly teen comedies always have to have a bunch of naked girls all of the time?" I'm gonna explain it for you (and every movie producer).
Our 'normal' is to wear clothing. The vast majority of images that we see of attractive people will be with clothing. Also, we have chosen, as a society in America, to classify nudity as taboo. Therefore, economically, we place higher 'utility' (or value) on a nude image. Societal norms and moral standards have created a 'scarcity' of nude images, therefore automatically creating an added interest in seeing nudity. Furthermore, if the nude image is of someone we have seen 1000's of images of, over years of a career, then there is a definite monetary value to the nude image. Guaranteed. Cash Money. People will pay - not because it is necessarily a fantasy to see this particular person, but because it is psychologically intimate and interesting and sexy and worth paying money to see.
So, if a bad movie franchise makes 5 slasher flicks and puts 5 naked up-and-coming actresses in each one, then they feature a total of 25 naked girls. The movies don't have to be good to break even monetarily, because people will pay to see it - it's a proven fact over decades of bad horror films. And, if one of those young actresses somehow becomes famous, then the movie will continue to make money for as long as people find value in seeing her young and naked body. On that note...
As 'over-the-top' as this movie is in many way, it's not as far from the truth as it might seem...
RealReview Posting Scoring Criteria: Acting - 1/1 Casting - 1/1 Directing - 1/1 Story - 1/1 Writing/Screenplay - 1/1
Total Base Score = 5
Modifiers (+ or -): Ensemble Cast: 1;
Total RealReview Rating: 6
Lame insider's parody of Hollywood
rcraig6231 August 2003
I have sort of mixed feelings about any of Blake Edwards' films. I think he is truly a genuine wit, a funny screenwriter and an enormously talented director. However, his personal tastes in humor tend to run toward cheap sex jokes and banal slapstick (the two lowest forms of humor on earth, to me). Yet I admire his work- even the junk. I think he's a very classy filmmaker (The Days of Wine And Roses, for instance, is superb), so it's an interesting paradox whenever I watch his attempts at comedy. The truth is, he's never made a good one without Peter Sellers.
And so it goes with S.O.B., Edwards' attempt to strike back at the Hollywood establishment. Richard Mulligan plays Edwards' alter ego, a successful film director suddenly on the outs with the Hollywood honchos after his latest film tanks. He responds to his dilemma by, first, going insane, and then in an amazing reversal of mental fortune, comes to the conclusion is that all the public really wants is sex (which he expounds upon in coherently passionate refrains), so he decides to recut the failed film, spice it up with a lot of steam and cleavage and black leather, etc. and release it all over again to drooling audiences everywhere.
The problem with the film is twofold and that's putting aside the fact that the story is just plain unbelievable. I can't imagine the public plunking down another six or eight bucks to watch a movie that was a critical failure already just because whips and chains are thrown in. Can't you rent something like that for $1.95 at your local porn shop? A lot of the film is an anachronism. Loretta Swit's character of the loudmouth gossip columnist is part of a Hollywood that doesn't exist anymore. The days of Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons wielding serious power are long gone. Also, the cast itself is mostly out of place in a Hollywood feature (Loretta Swit?) and a lot of the others are TV retreads as well (Mulligan, Robert Vaughn, Craig Stevens, Robert Webber, Larry Hagman, Stuart Margolin, etc.). On the plus side, Robert Preston was very good and has great lines is about every scene he's in ("the world is my armadillo") and William Holden lends dignity and style to any film just by walking on the set.
The other problem here is the irony of it all. Blake Edwards is lampooning, more or less, the same sort of lame sex-filled junk he's been making for years, although his stuff has a little more verve and intelligence. And the so-called climactic scene of Julie Andrews baring her breasts is contrived and ultimately, insignificant. If Blake Edwards wants to trash Hollywood, let him write a kiss-and-tell book. He's certainly shrewd and perceptive enough to do it well, but enough of these tragically flawed exercises in hipness, unless that was the whole idea, a big in-joke on us all, in which case Blake Edwards really is getting the last laugh.
And so it goes with S.O.B., Edwards' attempt to strike back at the Hollywood establishment. Richard Mulligan plays Edwards' alter ego, a successful film director suddenly on the outs with the Hollywood honchos after his latest film tanks. He responds to his dilemma by, first, going insane, and then in an amazing reversal of mental fortune, comes to the conclusion is that all the public really wants is sex (which he expounds upon in coherently passionate refrains), so he decides to recut the failed film, spice it up with a lot of steam and cleavage and black leather, etc. and release it all over again to drooling audiences everywhere.
The problem with the film is twofold and that's putting aside the fact that the story is just plain unbelievable. I can't imagine the public plunking down another six or eight bucks to watch a movie that was a critical failure already just because whips and chains are thrown in. Can't you rent something like that for $1.95 at your local porn shop? A lot of the film is an anachronism. Loretta Swit's character of the loudmouth gossip columnist is part of a Hollywood that doesn't exist anymore. The days of Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons wielding serious power are long gone. Also, the cast itself is mostly out of place in a Hollywood feature (Loretta Swit?) and a lot of the others are TV retreads as well (Mulligan, Robert Vaughn, Craig Stevens, Robert Webber, Larry Hagman, Stuart Margolin, etc.). On the plus side, Robert Preston was very good and has great lines is about every scene he's in ("the world is my armadillo") and William Holden lends dignity and style to any film just by walking on the set.
The other problem here is the irony of it all. Blake Edwards is lampooning, more or less, the same sort of lame sex-filled junk he's been making for years, although his stuff has a little more verve and intelligence. And the so-called climactic scene of Julie Andrews baring her breasts is contrived and ultimately, insignificant. If Blake Edwards wants to trash Hollywood, let him write a kiss-and-tell book. He's certainly shrewd and perceptive enough to do it well, but enough of these tragically flawed exercises in hipness, unless that was the whole idea, a big in-joke on us all, in which case Blake Edwards really is getting the last laugh.
A MASTERFUL AND WICKED SATIRE OF HOLLYWOOD
KatMiss12 April 2001
"S.O.B.", which is Blake Edwards' masterpiece, is a masterful and wicked satire of Hollywood. This is Edwards' revenge for Hollywood's shallow treatment of him during his 1968-1975 "down" period in which he made a series of quite good flops which died at the boxoffice.
In fact, Edwards uses one of those flops, 1970's "Darling Lili", which I gave three stars, as the backstory of "S.O.B." Let me describe to you what happened with that film, as to give you the flavor of what this film is about: In 1968-1970, Blake Edwards made Darling Lili, his first film with his wife Julie Andrews. It cost over 40 million dollars and took 3 at the box office. It was also savagely panned by the critics. Anyway,an undeterred Edwards withdrew the film, edited it down from 145 mins to 113 mins, took out the comic relief and rereleased it;here it did well enough to break even.(Today, the 113 minute cut is the one most often shown on TV)Critics liked the new version.
In "S.O.B.", Edwards takes everything one step further to create a savagely hilarious comedy. Everything works here. Everything. The opening credits sequence, in which he see the "Darling Lili" surrogate Night Wind play out (it's supposed to be BAD, so relax), to the great slapstick sequences (Mulligan's suicide attempts are particularly funny) to the ontarget performances which include Andrews, cast against type as a rich bitch actress, William Holden as the director, Richard Mulligan as the Blake Edwards surrogate and especially the great Robert Preston as the local Dr. Feelgood (called Finegarten in this; preston should have received a nomination for his good work)There are also many other Edwards veterans in the cast such as Robert Webber, Craig Stevens and Stuart Margolin, just to name a few.
Seeing this film once is just not enough. It demands multiple viewings because each time you find something new to enjoy and laugh at. Most of all, it makes you think about what occurred. And in the age of asinine so called comedies such as "Tomcats", "Joe Dirt" and "Deuce Bigelow", finding a rare and distinctive comedy like "S.O.B" is a real treasure. It's a real shame that Edwards has retired from theatrical films, just think of what he could say today. Fortunately, "S.O.B." has remained fresh and original.
In fact, Edwards uses one of those flops, 1970's "Darling Lili", which I gave three stars, as the backstory of "S.O.B." Let me describe to you what happened with that film, as to give you the flavor of what this film is about: In 1968-1970, Blake Edwards made Darling Lili, his first film with his wife Julie Andrews. It cost over 40 million dollars and took 3 at the box office. It was also savagely panned by the critics. Anyway,an undeterred Edwards withdrew the film, edited it down from 145 mins to 113 mins, took out the comic relief and rereleased it;here it did well enough to break even.(Today, the 113 minute cut is the one most often shown on TV)Critics liked the new version.
In "S.O.B.", Edwards takes everything one step further to create a savagely hilarious comedy. Everything works here. Everything. The opening credits sequence, in which he see the "Darling Lili" surrogate Night Wind play out (it's supposed to be BAD, so relax), to the great slapstick sequences (Mulligan's suicide attempts are particularly funny) to the ontarget performances which include Andrews, cast against type as a rich bitch actress, William Holden as the director, Richard Mulligan as the Blake Edwards surrogate and especially the great Robert Preston as the local Dr. Feelgood (called Finegarten in this; preston should have received a nomination for his good work)There are also many other Edwards veterans in the cast such as Robert Webber, Craig Stevens and Stuart Margolin, just to name a few.
Seeing this film once is just not enough. It demands multiple viewings because each time you find something new to enjoy and laugh at. Most of all, it makes you think about what occurred. And in the age of asinine so called comedies such as "Tomcats", "Joe Dirt" and "Deuce Bigelow", finding a rare and distinctive comedy like "S.O.B" is a real treasure. It's a real shame that Edwards has retired from theatrical films, just think of what he could say today. Fortunately, "S.O.B." has remained fresh and original.
Nothing like it - but that doesn't necessarily make it good
Katz511 June 2021
"S. O. B." was Blake Edwards' rather bizarre fling of a movie that came between two of his great, and financially successful, comedies - "10" and "Victor/Victoria." For "S. O. B.," the director and his cast are clearly having a ball, but does that make it a good movie?
The plot is a flimsy clothesline to hang the antics of the actors (who were most likely quite lubricated during the making of the entire movie) on. A mega-successful Hollywood producer (Richard Mulligan) has just made a children's movie, and the film turns out to be a huge bomb. He suffers a breakdown and decides to turn the film into a softcore comedy, while trying to convince his star Sally Miles to reshoot a musical number...and then take her top off.
Sally Miles is played in "S. O. B." by the legendary actress and singer who was married to Blake Edwards and starred in his two films immediately before, and after, "S. O. B." And she also played Mary Poppins. Need any more clues? She resists the reshoot at first and then agrees to do it. That's the plot.
What happens in between is just one lavish beach house-set ham fest with actors from Hollywood's classic era (including William Holden, who died shortly after making this movie), Shelley Winters, Robert Vaughn, Robert Webber (who is particularly annoying), and Robert Preston (warming up for his great performance in Victor/Victoria). Preston makes this movie as a wise-cracking quack of a doctor who even calls himself a "quack" while mixing potent medication with Bloody Marys. A couple of PYTs end up at the beach house (including Rosanna Arquette), and the scene turns into an orgy.
The movie in the end is not successful but it sure is memorable. It feels like a deranged Edwards-directed home movie. Five years later, Edwards would direct the more restrained "That's Life!," also starring Julie Andrews, which also felt like a home movie but had a more believable plot. "That's Life!" was released the same year (1986) as the much-hyped Edwards farce "A Fine Mess," but both films ended up being not-so-fine flops.
Blake Edwards was a one-of-a-kind filmmaker, who could combine crazy slapstick with believable characters and poignancy (watch "Breakfast at Tiffany's" or "10" for proof of this). We need more directors like him, even if they end up making an indulgent movie like "S. O. B." (although Richard Kelly's "Southland Tales" is a worthy companion piece to S. O. B.).
The plot is a flimsy clothesline to hang the antics of the actors (who were most likely quite lubricated during the making of the entire movie) on. A mega-successful Hollywood producer (Richard Mulligan) has just made a children's movie, and the film turns out to be a huge bomb. He suffers a breakdown and decides to turn the film into a softcore comedy, while trying to convince his star Sally Miles to reshoot a musical number...and then take her top off.
Sally Miles is played in "S. O. B." by the legendary actress and singer who was married to Blake Edwards and starred in his two films immediately before, and after, "S. O. B." And she also played Mary Poppins. Need any more clues? She resists the reshoot at first and then agrees to do it. That's the plot.
What happens in between is just one lavish beach house-set ham fest with actors from Hollywood's classic era (including William Holden, who died shortly after making this movie), Shelley Winters, Robert Vaughn, Robert Webber (who is particularly annoying), and Robert Preston (warming up for his great performance in Victor/Victoria). Preston makes this movie as a wise-cracking quack of a doctor who even calls himself a "quack" while mixing potent medication with Bloody Marys. A couple of PYTs end up at the beach house (including Rosanna Arquette), and the scene turns into an orgy.
The movie in the end is not successful but it sure is memorable. It feels like a deranged Edwards-directed home movie. Five years later, Edwards would direct the more restrained "That's Life!," also starring Julie Andrews, which also felt like a home movie but had a more believable plot. "That's Life!" was released the same year (1986) as the much-hyped Edwards farce "A Fine Mess," but both films ended up being not-so-fine flops.
Blake Edwards was a one-of-a-kind filmmaker, who could combine crazy slapstick with believable characters and poignancy (watch "Breakfast at Tiffany's" or "10" for proof of this). We need more directors like him, even if they end up making an indulgent movie like "S. O. B." (although Richard Kelly's "Southland Tales" is a worthy companion piece to S. O. B.).
Hasn't aged well
gbill-7487728 May 2021
Notable only for Julie Andrews baring her breasts (gasp!); everything else constructed around this mess left a lot to be desired. It's meant to be a scathing indictment of Hollywood, and among other things we see the aggressive studio executive, his toadies, and a doctor who loves to inject various medications into everyone around him (including the shot that, ugh, loosens Andrews' character up so that she can go through with the nude scene). There is something to the satire I suppose but the humor is so old-school and most of the time I felt like I was watching middle-aged white guys acting boorishly (apologies to William Holden).
It's a comedy that tries lots of things, including a chase sequence (good grief), but very little of it landed with me. It then shifts gear and tries to get some sentimental bits in, but the trouble is it never laid the groundwork for those to be effective. It never built up any empathy for the director (Richard Mulligan)'s character because he's not treated as a real person; in the first 40 minutes he tries several times (comically) to kill himself; in the next 40 minutes he has the brainwave to inject sex into his latest film which flopped; and in the final 40 minutes (without spoiling it) things turn south when he has things taken away from him. The way it's written and the way Mulligan performs it are more off-putting than funny.
It also didn't help that women and minorities aren't treated very well here, with most of them falling into stereotypes (the ridiculous Chinese-American chef, the shrewish Hollywood reporter, the bimbos picked up hitchhiking, and whatever the hell that Indian-American character was at the funeral). It just seems that the humor and the attitudes haven't aged all that well, making it a tedious watch, especially after the big scene with Julie Andrews.
It's a comedy that tries lots of things, including a chase sequence (good grief), but very little of it landed with me. It then shifts gear and tries to get some sentimental bits in, but the trouble is it never laid the groundwork for those to be effective. It never built up any empathy for the director (Richard Mulligan)'s character because he's not treated as a real person; in the first 40 minutes he tries several times (comically) to kill himself; in the next 40 minutes he has the brainwave to inject sex into his latest film which flopped; and in the final 40 minutes (without spoiling it) things turn south when he has things taken away from him. The way it's written and the way Mulligan performs it are more off-putting than funny.
It also didn't help that women and minorities aren't treated very well here, with most of them falling into stereotypes (the ridiculous Chinese-American chef, the shrewish Hollywood reporter, the bimbos picked up hitchhiking, and whatever the hell that Indian-American character was at the funeral). It just seems that the humor and the attitudes haven't aged all that well, making it a tedious watch, especially after the big scene with Julie Andrews.
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