Review of Sextette

Movie star Marlo Manners walks down the aisle for the sixth time; her latest love is a rich, titled Brit, but their honeymoon plans are thwarted by her work, her ex-husbands hanging about, and by an international conference taking place in the same ritzy hotel. It would be easy to criticize this harmless comedy, the final cinematic bow from Mae West, based on the fact it is nothing more than a showcase (i.e., vanity project) for its star, adapted from her 1926 play, "Sex"; and yet, all it aspires to be is a frivolous enjoyment for fans, with campy musical numbers, grinning musclemen in a gymnasium sequence, a mini-fashion show (with Mae modeling elaborate Edith Head ensembles) and one-liners galore. What's fair is to say the movie looks cheap and terrible, and most of the supporting performances are terrible, and our star (84 years old at the time of filming) can hardly move around. Timothy Dalton is breezy as Mae's spouse (who tells columnist Rona Barrett he feels 'gay', leading her to believe he's homosexual), and the two have a lovely duet on "Love Will Keep Us Together"; also, Dom DeLuise has fun singing the Beatles song "Honey Pie" while tap-dancing on a piano. Still, no U.S. movie studio wanted to distribute the film after it was produced independently, so the production team released it themselves, meaning that somebody believed in the picture and thought it was worth the effort. Not exactly a happy Hollywood ending for Mae West, though it allowed her a small bit of renewed glory before her death in 1980. * from ****