Last of the Red Hot Lovers

Last of the Red Hot Lovers. 1972 Paramount Pictures.
Starring: Alan Arkin, Sally Kellerman, Paula Prentiss, Renee Taylor
Screenplay by Neil Simon
Director: Gene Saks
Available from Amazon.

A film adaptation of Neil Simon's stage play that first opened in 1969.

Barney Cashman (Arkin) is 45 years old, married, and he owns a restaurant in downtown Manhattan. One morning, he wakes up with the urge to stray, and have at least one great extramarital affair before he dies. After discovering that his mother's apartment will be empty one day a week, Barney decides to take advantage of it. Unfortunately, Barney simply isn't the kind of person who could engage in an affair, and he fails miserably in each of the three women he attempts to seduce: Elaine (Kellerman), who seems to be more interested in scoring a cigarette than actually scoring and who quickly grows annoyed at Barney's inexperience; Bobbi (Prentiss), an aspiring actress who might be more than a little bit crazy and who gets Barney to smoke a joint with her, and Jeanette (Taylor), the best friend of Barney's wife. By the time Jeanette comes over, Barney has acquired a new confidence after Jeanette made a pass at him at a social outing, but she reveals that she suffers from depression due to her husband's serial adultery, and spends most of the afternoon either crying or taking anti-depressants.

In the end, Barney has struck out three times, and realizes that he's not one to have an affair. So, he contacts his wife to come over to the apartment for a nice rendezvous.

Funny movie, with a decent performance from Alan Arkin, but Paula Prentiss definitely stole the show during her segment. Recommended.

California Suite

California Suite. 1978 Rastar Films & Columbia Pictures.
Starring: Alan Alda, Jane Fonda, Walther Matthau, Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Elaine May, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, Herb Edelman, James Coburn (cameo)
Written by Neil Simon
Director: Herbert Ross
Buy California Suite at Amazon.

Neil Simon's California Suite follows the lives of five different couples as they all travel to, and stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel:

Hannah and Bill (Fonda & Alda) have been divorced for nine years, but they have reunited this weekend to discuss the future of their daughter (Dana Plato), who wants to live with Bill. Hannah is a blunt New Yorker, while Bill is totally laid back, dude, after spending years in the Golden State.

Dana Barrie (Smith) is a British actress enroute to the Academy Awards where's she up for an Oscar. Her "partner" Sidney (Caine) is full of jokes and may not be what he seems to be. Sidney gets an earful after Dana loses the award to someone else.

Marvin Michaels (Matthau) from Philadelphia is drunk in another suite, thanks to his brother Harry (Edelman), who has also rented him a hooker. Can he keep the passed out prostitute out of sight of his wife (May)?

Coming in from Chicago via rental car are Doctors Gump (Pryor) and Panama (Cosby) with their wives. Gump and Panama argue and fight over just about everything and anything.

This is a pretty loaded cast for a movie, and watching the interaction between Cosby and Pryor is worth a viewing alone. Maggie Smith was also nominated for an Oscar for her performance here for Best Supporting Actress, and unlike in the film, she genuinely won that one. Michael Caine's performance was also very good. Recommended, although be warned, Columbia's transfer of the film to DVD wasn't as good as it could have been.

Murder by Death

Murder by Death. 1976 Columbia Pictures.
Starring: Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, James Coco, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Elsa Lanchester, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Maggie Smith, Nancy Walker, Estelle Winwood
Written by Neil Simon
Director: Robert Moore
Buy Murder by Death at Amazon.

The mysterious millionaire Lionel Twain (Capote) invites a group of detectives, all pastiches of famous film or literary sleuths, to his mansion. When they arrive, Twain announces that he is the greatest detective in the world, not them, and to prove that boast, he challenges them to solve a murder that will take place at midnight, with a one million dollar reward. At the stroke at midnight, everything seems fine, until Twain turns up murdered.

The guests spend the rest of the night investigating, dining, and bickering amongst themselves. They also find their efforts hampered by a mysterious, unseen force, which keeps adding new twists to the murder, and eventually starts endangering the lives of the detectives. The following morning, all is revealed, and it's only an elaborate gag put on by Twain, who is in fact, very much alive...

...or is he?

Recommended. It turned out to be quite an amusing film.