Rating: Summary: Still Marvelous Mae! Review: "Sextette" was Mae West' last movie left for posterity for her fans and she delivers the goods. Unfairly attacked by critics as being a ghoulish vanity piece,for her true fans it is anything but. If one forgets the real age of the principal player (and those around her) and instead lets themselves get caught up in the story line,it is a fun and entertaining opus from start to finish. Mae West was one of the last "true" stars and even in these sometimes uneven proceedings,shines like the proverbial "Diamond" that she was until the end. Although some of the musical numbers are a bit distracting (and Mae was over ruled herself by the tyro producers when she voiced opposition to them) the story and witty dialogue still make for a satisfying 90 minutes of enjoyment,courtesy of Miss Mae West. No,they don't make movies like this anymore...too bad!
Rating: Summary: Not so much a film as an experience. A terrible experience. Review: As the title suggests, this movie is an experience. It goes past so-bad-its-good back to bad and then good again. It's just *that* bad. Mae West, who, as others have suggested, looks like a double-entendre makin' skeleton, stars in this weirdo disco one-last try hit. Watch it with a bunch of friends and make a drinking game out of it. Alice Cooper, sans makeup, sings disco in this horrifying flick. Enjoy!
Rating: Summary: SHOULD BE CALLED "OCTOGENETTE" Review: Don't get me wrong, this is a d-r-r-r-eadful movie, but for once the phrase "So bad that it's good" is actually true. This was Ms. West's last movie before her death and she appears to be semi-mummified and barely conscious in all her scenes. (After all she was nearly eighty years old.) Still she trots out all the lines for which she's famous - "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" "Come up and see me", etc. - standing or lying stiff as a board, however the crew happens to have propped her up I guess. Several well-known actors disgraced their resumés with this picture - Tony Curtis, Ringo Starr and George Hamilton play former husbands, Timothy Dalton plays her current one, Dom Deluise is her manager, the likes of Regis Philbin and Rona Barrett play themselves in cameos, and Alice Cooper plays a singing waiter. (I don't think anyone has heard of him since.) Yes, it is a musical. When Ms. West (in her role of Marlo Manners, famous movie star) enters the lobby of the British hotel where she is spending her honeymoon, the hotel staff begins to dance in a circle around her, singing "Hooray for Hollywood". Ms. West is given such numbers as the Lennon/McCartney crooner "Honey Pie", a disco rendition of "Baby Face" delivered to the members of an international summit meeting, and a Sedaka song about someone turning twenty-one sung to a roomful of nearly-naked bodybuilders. Absolutely not to be missed, however, is Timothy Dalton singing "Love Will Keep Us Together" to his newlywed bride. As if the Captain and Tennille version wasn't bad enough. This isn't one of those DVD's that presents a lovingly-frame-by-frame restoration of a film. There are no extras whatsoever; it's not widescreen. It looks crappy, but then, it IS crappy.
Rating: Summary: What a joke of a DVD! Review: For those who are true Mae West fans this may be the only opportunity to see Sextette on DVD. If you don't want to dish out $10 to see one of the worst transfers in DVD history (and Rhino reps admitted to blindly obtaining a poor print), then buy this one on VHS! The tape is 10 times better in sight and sound than the disc (shouldn't that be the other way around?) and is still available. As for the movie itself, it's a joke but a true CAMP and CULT Classic. Paramount pictures originally made this movie and was so embarrased by it that they shelved it before releasing it! An independent Canadian movie company saved it from destruction. Rather that was a good thing depends on your interest in Mae West.
Rating: Summary: WILD, HILARIOUS, JAW-DROPPER Review: I bought the VHS edition on the Media label (1980's release) because I have heard that the Rhino DVD has a terrible picture and garbled sound. My copy looks really good. Having said that, WOW, what a movie! Mae West is great and hilarious in the psuedo-musical. Timothy Dalton of James Bond fame, Ringo Starr, Dom Deluise, Walter Pidgeon, Regis Philbin and many others appear in it too. West is Marlo Manners, legendary Hollywood sex queen! Many famous songs get a dubious revival in this unbelievable film. You will just have to see it to believe it!
Rating: Summary: Nightmarish and Surreal Review: I have to disagree with [a] reviewer , as this film deserves every bit of scorn heaped upon it and then some. Pity the poor cast as they try to maintain the illusion that the ghoulish, octagenerian Ms. West is some kind of a sex symbol. Run for ear plugs as she and Mr. Dalton mutilate "Love will keep us together" (not the best song to begin with but it deserves better than this). Recoil in horror as the reanimated corpse of Mae West spouts sexual innuendos that were stale 60 years before this film was made! Of course, even without Ms. West dottering around the set this movie would be unwatchable. The screenplay is dreck and it was seemingly directed by Helen Keller. I watched this movie on a dare, and I'm convinced that God has knocked some time of my upcoming sentence in Purgatory because of it. Unless horrifically bad movies are your hobby this is to be avoided like the plague.
Rating: Summary: Goodness Had a Lot to Do With It! Review: I just finished reading the reviews of others in this section. Now if this film was terrible why did they sit through long enough to review - I'm sure there was a review and the next one just went along with the first and so forth because they thought they were being clever. Mae West knew what she was doing - she did this film for her fans. Take another look at her and wonder if you or someone you know will look that good into their 80's. Just look at the auction sites on line and see just how popular Mae West is to this day. Who remembers Betty Grable or Jane Russell in the same way they remember Mae West. The trouble with this movie was bad direction and a poor screenplay - Mae West accomplished what she wanted in this film and if you are ready for a little escape and some silly fun buy this movie and enjoy Mae West's last film!
Rating: Summary: Hollywood History & Glitz! Review: I own 'Sextette', LOVE IT, and highly recommend it to all,..all that is who have a sense of humor! Miss West made this, her last film, "For the Fans" & she does not fail to deliver. 'Sextette' gets a bad rap from some critics, but then they are not the fans for whom Mae left us this last gem! Buy it, watch it, & be your own critic...you will enjoy it! Mae looks great, certainly not 85!! She is breathtakingly beautiful in the bedroom scene in her powder-blue gown! Thank goodness she did one last Technicolor movie for us fans!! My favorite line is at the end of the gown fitting session, where she purrs, "I'm that gal that works at Paramount all day..,and Fox all night!" There will never be anyone like Miss Mae West again, & Hollywood will never be able to pull off another movie like 'Sextette' again. Lots of great stars, cameos, (even pre-Millionaire Regis Philbin) music, & Mae West - true Hollywood History! Enjoy!!
Rating: Summary: Hollywood History & Glitz! Review: I own 'Sextette', LOVE IT, and highly recommend it to all,..all that is who have a sense of humor! Miss West made this, her last film, "For the Fans" & she does not fail to deliver. 'Sextette' gets a bad rap from some critics, but then they are not the fans for whom Mae left us this last gem! Buy it, watch it, & be your own critic...you will enjoy it! Mae looks great, certainly not 85!! She is breathtakingly beautiful in the bedroom scene in her powder-blue gown! Thank goodness she did one last Technicolor movie for us fans!! My favorite line is at the end of the gown fitting session, where she purrs, "I'm that gal that works at Paramount all day..,and Fox all night!" There will never be anyone like Miss Mae West again, & Hollywood will never be able to pull off another movie like 'Sextette' again. Lots of great stars, cameos, (even pre-Millionaire Regis Philbin) music, & Mae West - true Hollywood History! Enjoy!!
Rating: Summary: 5 Stars for Unintended Humor Review: I think Rex Reed was correct when, in his initial review of this movie, he opined that its only value was that of a training film for retired French whores. Mae West, alas, did not age well, mainly because she could not let go of the notion that she, and she alone, at any age, should be the only fem-fatale in a movie. She was unbearably mean to Raquel Welch in Myra Breckinridge, and in this film, she is finally allowed to strut her stuff once again. Only problem is that her stuff hangs about two feet lower than it did in her hayday, and she maneuvers herself around the set with the grace of a battleship. Unlike Betty Grable and Jane Russell, who were well adjusted enough to step aside with grace and class once the spotlight was no longer focused on them, Mae West was frozen into the sex-kitten mold. The "plot" is that she is a middle aged woman (at 80) who will soon marry Timothy Dalton, a handsome young man of 21. You can imagine the rest. I enjoyed watching Mae West when she was in her prime, and I felt badly for her when she so completely failed to make the transition from purring sex-kitten to mature woman. At 80, with a waist as large as her hips, but still donning skin-tight outfits, the entertainment value of this movie is all, unfortunately, at Mae's expense.
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