Sextette

Sextette
Directed by	Ken Hughes
Produced by	Daniel Briggs Robert Sullivan Harry Weiss
Written by	Herbert Baker
Starring	Mae West Dom DeLuise
Distributed by	Crown International Pictures
Release date(s)	2 March 1978
Running time	91 min
Country	USA
Language	English

Sextette is a 1978 Crown International Pictures comedy/musical motion picture that starred Mae West. Other actors in the cast included Timothy Dalton, Dom DeLuise, Tony Curtis, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, George Hamilton, Alice Cooper and Walter Pidgeon.

Directed by Ken Hughes and produced by Daniel Briggs, Robert Sullivan and Harry Weiss for the production company Briggs and Sullivan, the script was dramatized for the screen, by Herbert Baker, from the play Sextet, which West herself had originally written. Costumes were designed by Edith Head.

Filmed at Paramount Studios, Sextette was Mae West's final movie. Featured were cameos by Rona Barrett, Regis Philbin and George Raft, all of whom appeared as themselves. West had made her movie debut in Raft's Night After Night (1932).

Plot

The legendary American movie star and sex symbol Marlo Manners (Mae West) is in London, England, where she has just married for the sixth time. She and her new husband, Sir Michael Barrington (Timothy Dalton), then depart for a honeymoon suite at a posh and exclusive hotel that has been reserved for them by her manager, Dan Turner (Dom DeLuise).

The hotel is also the location of an international conference, where leaders have come together to resolve tensions and problems that threaten the survival of the world. As the chairman, Mr. Chambers (Walter Pidgeon) is trying to call the meeting to order, the delegates are crowding to the windows in an effort to catch a glimpse of Marlo when she arrives.

As they enter the lobby, Marlo, now Lady Barrington, and her nobleman husband are swarmed by admirers and reporters. When asked, "Do you get a lot of proposals from your male fans?" she quips, "Yeah, and what they propose is nobody’s business."

Once inside their suite, the couple are unable to go to bed and have sex because of constant interruptions due to the demands of her career, such as interviews, dress fittings and photo sessions, as well as the various men, including some former husbands, diplomat Alexei Andreyev Karansky (Tony Curtis), director Laslo Karolny (Ringo Starr), gangster Vance Norton (George Hamilton), and an entire athletic team from the U.S., who all want to have sex with her.

Meanwhile, the evil Turner desperately searches for an audiotape containing his client's memoirs, in order to destroy it. Marlo has recorded extensive details about her affairs and scandals, with a lot of dirt about her husbands and lovers. Ex-husband Alexei, who is the Russian delegate at the conference, threatens to derail the intense negotiations unless he can have another sexual encounter with her. Marlo is expected to work "undercover" to ensure world peace.

Critical reaction

West arriving at Cinerama Dome for the 1978 opening

An adaptation of Mae West's Broadway musical of the same name is considered by some to be one of the most embarrassing sex comedies ever made, which Variety dubbed "a cruel, unnecessary and mostly unfunny musical comedy,", as an overweight 84-year old (at the time of filming) West maintained her sex kitten role while uttering stale quips as "I'm the girl who works for Paramount all day, and Fox all night" (an earlier version of the scene had much raunchier dialogue), and who croaked a duet with new sixth husband Sir Michael Barrington (a 32-year old Timothy Dalton) a disco rendition of "Love Will Keep Us Together."

Regardless of the quality of the film, the almost riotous acclaim afforded her by thousands of young fans, by which she was deeply moved when she appeared in her large diamond tiara and necklace at the openings of the film in Hollywood and in San Francisco (where she was called Queen of the World), was an unmistakable confirmation of her indestructible position as an American show business icon.

The film was not a box-office success; while it has been available on both VHS and DVD, as of February 2011, it was not available on home video other than as a digital download. Used VHS and DVD copies can of course be found. In July 2011, Sextette is now available again as part Mill Creeks Entertainment's "Dangerous Babes", a budget priced 3-DVD set that includes 11 other Crown Pictures films.

Rumors

Sextette became the source of several urban legends. One such persistent rumor is that Mae West could not remember any of her lines and had to wear a concealed earpiece under her wig to have her lines fed to her. Dom DeLuise, Timothy Dalton and other principal players have disputed that claim. Tony Curtis has given perhaps a more accurate assessment, commenting that she could not hear well, and thus required the earpiece. Retelling the story in an episode of the program The Dame Edna Experience, he said that because of the frequency of her earpiece she accidentally picked up police radio frequencies, and at one point mistakenly stated, "There's a 608!"

Another rumor is that West had a cane concealed under her long gown so that she could walk, and there are tales that after one scene West stayed in an elevator waiting for hours for the crew to call her out.

Tom Selleck is also said to have appeared in one sequence, uncredited and with little to no dialogue; West is credited for having launched his career through this film, saying she wanted him in it if he could talk. She had also famously said this of Cary Grant in choosing him for one of her earlier films. Selleck is not listed in the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) as having appeared in Sextette; it is likely that there is confusion between this film and Myra Breckenridge, in which he did appear and which IMDB indicates to be his first theatrical movie appearance, after a couple of earlier television appearances. In any event, Sextette would not have launched Selleck's career as he had made a number of other appearances by 1978, the year of this film.

Cast (in order of appearance)

• Mae West - Marlo Manners/Lady Barrington
• Timothy Dalton - Sir Michael Barrington
• Dom DeLuise - Dan Turner
• Tony Curtis - Alexei Andreyev Karansky
• Ringo Starr - Laslo Karolny
• George Hamilton - Vance Norton
• Alice Cooper - Waiter
• Van McCoy - Delegate
• Keith Moon - Dress Designer
• Walter Pidgeon - Mr. Chambers
• Rona Barrett - Herself
• Regis Philbin - Himself
• George Raft - Himself
• Gil Stratton - Himself

External links

• Sextette at the Internet Movie Database