1982 was a gender-bending year for Hollywood. Dustin Hoffman dressed up as a woman; Julie Andrews dressed up as a man. How fitting that the very next year Linda Hunt would win the first Oscar ever given for playing a member of the opposite sex.
"Victor Victoria" is a solidly-crafted, old-fashioned musical that finds Andrews pretending to be a male female impersonator (got that?) so that she can hold a job in a nightclub in Depression-era Paris. James Garner is the man's man who begins to doubt his manliness when he finds himself having some strange feelings for this "guy." It's a very gay-friendly movie that's really squeaky clean, though it might have been racy at the time when homosexuality wasn't as accepted as it is now (if you want to call it "accepted" even now).
There are lots of production numbers, but this doesn't feel like a musical, as all of the numbers are presented in context of a show and they don't propel the plot or develop characters. Lesley Ann Warren is fairly obnoxious as a bawdy American, but Robert Preston steals the show as a fellow drag performer.
As far as Blake Edwards projects go, this is one of the strongest.
Grade: B+
"Victor Victoria" is a solidly-crafted, old-fashioned musical that finds Andrews pretending to be a male female impersonator (got that?) so that she can hold a job in a nightclub in Depression-era Paris. James Garner is the man's man who begins to doubt his manliness when he finds himself having some strange feelings for this "guy." It's a very gay-friendly movie that's really squeaky clean, though it might have been racy at the time when homosexuality wasn't as accepted as it is now (if you want to call it "accepted" even now).
There are lots of production numbers, but this doesn't feel like a musical, as all of the numbers are presented in context of a show and they don't propel the plot or develop characters. Lesley Ann Warren is fairly obnoxious as a bawdy American, but Robert Preston steals the show as a fellow drag performer.
As far as Blake Edwards projects go, this is one of the strongest.
Grade: B+