Rating: 
Summary: The sound of sexploitation
Review: A famous movie director soon finds out who his friends really are when his carreer takes a plunge. This sets the stage for Blake Edwards' comedy that pokes fun at Hollywood.Thrown together is a brilliant cast, a rediculous story, a bunch of crazy characters, and the centerpiece: Julie Andrews' boobs bared. The result is a very funny and entertaining movie that is well worth seeing.
Rating: 
Summary: One You'll Remember!
Review: Actually, I'm reviewing this from memory of having seen the film when originally released. I fondly remember it as very funny -- and there are images that I retain. (No one has mentioned Robert Vaughn in "Rocky Horror Picture Show" Dr. Frankenfurter drag! -- with pink, puff mules yet!!) Just to see William Holden and Robert Preston work should entice any acting aficionado. Robert Preston was one of the best we'll ever know -- and that goes all the way back to 1939's "Union Pacific" with Barbara Stanwyck. William Holden was perhaps the best film actor ever -- he was never over the top, but never lacking. Subtle. Julie Andrews attempted to do what she had mildly threatened for many years -- to put that virginal, goody-goody image in the dust bin where it belongs. She is extraordinarily adept, and we'll probably never know how agile an actress she truly is. Tote up the rest of this brilliant ensemble cast, and you'll laugh like you've been wanting to laugh for a long time. Not only do they not make them like they used to, but nobody else ever made one like this. It's an original, and (to my knowledge) no one has attempted to copy this gem. Kudos to Blake Edwards et al.
Rating:
Summary: Finally !
Review: An unbelievably terse look at the Hollywood scene from an insider, but cleverly done with a witty script and a talented ensemble cast. I don't want to give too much away, but it is worth the money if you enjoy broad farce. Kudos to Blake Edwards for testing the waters and the great cast.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost saved by Julie Andrews's secret talents
Review: And I don't mean her bared chest. S. O. B. was Blake Edwards's attempt to get his own back after the failure of his film DALING LILI over a decade previously: in this film, a director (Richard Mulligan) has a complete nervous breakdown after his film starrign his famously wholesome movie star wife (Julie Andrews) fails at the box office: he tries to recoup his losses by reshooting the film as a softporn fantasia with his wife baring her breasts. This film was considered wildly funny satire at the time of its release but has aged less well than you might expect. The Lew Wasserman-style Hollywood Edwards mocks was already on its way out when this movie was made in 1981: it reflects the Hollywood of the 1970s much more than the blockbuster-driven Hollywood that was already taking its place. Most of the actors (particularly Robert Preston, Robert Vaughan, and Loretta Swit as a shrieking harpy of a gossip columnist) seem to be having the time of their lives. Julie Andrews isn't very good in her scene throwing an Oscar at Mulligan, and she may wear the most hideous clothes ever in this film, but she redeems not only her performance but almost the entire movie when Preston has to make her high to ensure she can do her breatbearing scene: she's really, really funny whooping it up.
Rating:
Summary: Viking Funerals and Hollywood
Review: Blake Edwards's filmography is quite impressive. This is the man who brought us the Pink Panther films, The Great Race, Victor/Victoria, and 10. Edwards was the king of the 1970s, creating films that blended adult themes with memorably comedic moments. The filmmaker carried this approach into the early 1980s with S.O.B., a black comedy about the backbiting, cynical world that is Hollywood. This 1981 film fields some heavy hitters in its cast: William Holden, Richard Mulligan, Robert Vaughn, Julie Andrews, Robert Preston, Larry Hagman, Loretta Swit, Robert Webber, Stuart Margolin, Shelley Winters, and Robert Loggia all play parts, both big and small, in this movie. Look for a young Rosanna Arquette as one of the hitchhikers Culley (William Holden) picks up on the highway. S.O.B. is a movie within a movie. Felix Farmer, played with brilliant alacrity by the late Richard Mulligan, never lost money on a picture until "Nightwind" came out starring his wife Sally Miles (Julie Andrews). Now Felix is on the outs with his studio head David Blackman (Robert Vaughn), his wife is divorcing him, and he just tried to kill himself. Since this is Hollywood, a whole host of publicists, agents, and advisors try to shield Felix and Sally from the critical backlash. As Felix stumbles around his beach house in a dazed stupor, his friends Tim Culley, Dr. Irving Finegarten (Robert Preston), and publicist Ben Coogan (Robert Webber) all arrive on the scene to lend a hand. Nothing seems to bring Felix out of his funk until he arrives at the realization that the only way to save his career is to reshoot his stinker by having wife Sally, who is a G-rated film queen, bare her all. When it looks like Felix might be on to something, everyone jumps on the bandwagon to make a buck or take some credit for the success. I had hopes that this film was as funny as it was when I first saw it in the mid 1980s. It isn't, but there are still some great performances along the way. Mulligan is electricity as Farmer, adding even more gusto to his character here then he did as Bert Campbell in "Soap." Holden always does a good job as the weary soul that must witness the slow decay of those around him. Preston is great too as Finegarten, whipping out one-liners with great aplomb. The problem I had with the film is that it is almost too sad to watch it. Here are all these great actors giving one last gasp before passing into the great beyond. S.O.B. was Holden's last film, made before he hit his head and bled to death during a drunken binge. Preston died a few years later from lung cancer, and Mulligan died in 2000 from colon cancer. It is difficult, nay impossible, to forget this as you watch the film. The habits of the characters do not make it easier, either. Holden actually plays a drunk in the film, so knowing that he was one in real life makes it a tad painful to see it here played for laughs. Another problem more noticeable with repeated viewings years later is the schizophrenia of the film. Edwards starts out with a bang, introducing the characters and establishing their quirky traits. After Felix buys the rights to "Nightwind," however, the movie morphs into a farce with slapstick elements. The latter half of the film still delivers laughs (Felix's last words concern bringing in another ten million at the box office, hardly what a normal person would think during their last seconds of life), but it doesn't mesh as well with the scathing first half. Add to this a mediocre DVD transfer, with some haziness and sunburns on people who shouldn't have them, and this adds up to a good, not great, film. I would have liked to see more extras on this film. While Holden, Preston, and Mulligan are dead and therefore unavailable for comment, Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards are still alive and could have contributed many insights on a commentary track. Hearing Andrews discuss her topless scene would have been worth the price of the movie in and of itself. As it stands, there is a filmography of Blake Edwards plus the trailer for the film and that is about it in the way of treats. Taken as a whole, S.O.B. falls strictly into the "rent, not buy" category.
Rating:
Summary: sick, twisted and hilarious
Review: Easily one of Edwards' funniest films, probably because it's so personal for him. The sight of Richard Mulligan wondering through a Hollywood orgy, going through a laundry list of suicide attempts, is worth the price of this video alone. Robert Preston gives a letter-perfect comic performance as a boozy doctor.
Rating:
Summary: Offbeat and hilarious!
Review: I first saw this film when it was released in 1981. I was so shocked at seeing Julie Andrews bare her breasts and use all sorts of profanity that I did not fully appreciate the film at the time. I recently rented the video and I found myself laughing out loud all the way through. Blake Edwards' poison-pen letter to Hollywood is dead-on and everyone in the film has a great time chewing up the scenery. My favorite scene: when Julie has been doped-up to do her "big" scene; she is hilariously high and shows a comic turn that is remarkable. The funeral home "set piece" is also a riot. Not for all tastes, but for those who enjoy black humor and pointed satire, this is for you!!
Rating:
Summary: Smutty soft porn
Review: I know that Julie Andrews was trying to make a statement as to how versatile she is and after Victor Victoria she showed the world how versatile she was, but did she have to make this film in between?
This showed a side to her that people who liked her didn't know about, the "i'm going to be modern and trendy and stay the box office draw, even if i have to bare my breast," attitude. She sings brilliantly in it but her acting is over the top, especially in the confrontation with Felix, when a bloke who's in bed is sick through a whole in the roof on Felixs head. The whole film is boring and over the top sexiness and Richard Mulligan, good actor that he is, does go over the top and starts acting like Jim Carrey on happy tablets.
Generally, i'd say rent it or see it on T.V and if you are a Julie Andrews fan then buy it but other that don't bother.
Rating:
Summary: "Is Batman a transvestite? Who knows?"
Review: I've heard several criticisms of this film for years that, as much as I love this movie, really can't be argued with. The first is that the main character really isn't a main character: Felix Farmer, the desperate-then-demented producer (played by the great Richard Mulligan) who first appears in wordless attempts at suicide and brief manic scenes before he's dispatched from the movie (and the world).
The other criticism is that the film is "uneven." I think the reason for that is that S.O.B., after assembling a caustic, hilarious ensemble of tinsel town sleazebags, then finds a heart with Farmer's real friends when they try to provide him with a "real" funeral--as opposed to the hypocritical circus Hollywood gives him.
So, yes, the film is uneven and the main character seems to spend a lot of time on the periphery, but this is still a great movie about Hollywood from someone who should certainly know about it. What stays with me is the affection for the actors in the roles they're playing. William Holden in, sadly, his final role as the alcoholic degenerate director Cully, Robert Preston as the hysterical Dr. Feelgood ("I remember this scene from THE THING..."), and Robert Webber as the hyper press agent with the body function problems. There are many more funny characters but these guys provide the heart of the film--in their own Hollywood way, of course. Plus, it's worth seeing just to catch Robert Vaughn in Victoria Secret's lingerie in one scene....
Rating:
Summary: Just don't fall through the ceiling....
Review: Is it true what they say about Mary Poppins!? Probably, because it's 1981, baby!!! It's hilarious, and worth seeing just to show how versatile our favourite nanny really is!!!!It's great when 'Sally' gets mad and throw all kinds of things and swears..."Sally Miles swears!!"... I recommend this to anyone who wants a good laugh.
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