Such Good Friends. 1971

Such a terrible movie. Otto Preminger what were you thinking?  Otto there are some folks who think that you should have stopped making movies after Laura, but I won’t go that far.  However Otto maybe you should have stopped after Anatomy Of A Murder, and then we would have been spared so many of your turkeys including this morbid and listless tale of adultery and manners among the upper classes of Manhattan that hinges on the forced and labored device of an unfaithful husband who goes into the hospital for an minor operation and winds up in a coma. Loaded with self-conscious and leaden performances especially by Dyan Cannon who looks like a Pug, and James Coco who unconvincely  plays a heterosexual doctor and in what might be one of the most tasteless scenes I’ve ever seen ( certainly in 70’s cinema)  has Coco struggling to get out of his man’s girdle while Cannon goes down on him. There are other gag inducing moments including one where poor Burgess Meredith in one of Cannon’s fantasies dances nude. The film is flat looking and ugly and manages to make one of the most photogenic cities in the world look like shit. Also horrible are the clothes (did we really dress like that in the 70’s) and look for Louise Lasser and Doris Roberts in small bits, that’s if you can make it pass the first 15 minutes of this bomb.  The screenplay as such was written by Elaine May who decided to use the pseudonym “Esther Dale” (smart lady) thus maligning the wonderful character actress for all time.