The Party (1968)

I love this movie! Peter Sellers plays a bumbling Indian movie extra who, after prematurely blowing up a very expensive fort (which was meant to be destroyed in the big finale of the war movie he was cast in), is earmarked for blacklisting so he will 'never work in movies again'. His name inadvertently ends up on an exclusive guest list to a Hollywood party at the residence of the bigwig producer who tried to sack him. Many laughs follow as Sellers (lacking in social skills) fumbles his way around the party, bringing misadventure to all those he meets. The visual gags are cheap but effective and his Indian accent is to die for! This is a side-splitter - definitely check it out! I gave it an 8 out of 10.

Fmovies: Blackballed bit-actor in Hollywood is mistakenly invited to a Tinsel Town party hosted by the same studio chief who wants him dead. Unusual comedy with little dialogue, lots of terrific visual gags and Peter Sellers at his peak (he's very low-keyed here, and immensely charming). Director Blake Edwards loses his footing in the final 15 minutes when the gathering gets out of hand (I can't recall one movie wherein a wild party sequence managed to be hilarious). Despite this, there's a lovely concluding scene between Sellers and a breathtaking Claudine Longet (who looks like a delicate flower), capped with Henry Mancini's wonderful score. "The Party" isn't full of dumb shtick. The slapstick is sometimes very smart, and Edwards doesn't condescend to the audience. Good fun! *** out of ****

I'm sorry, but if you don't laugh, until you cry or your sides ache, at something, hell, at everything in this movie then you'd better check yourself for a pulse. The first four or five times I viewed The Party, I did just that. This is a gut aching, side splitting, fall on the floor, laugh a minute comedy, from start to finish! The scene where the Cornish game hen 'flies' across the dinner table and lands on the tiara of one of the party 'goers' is literally one of the funniest scenes of all time. And it's not just the outrageously funny bumbling physical comedy of Peter Sellers. There is also a subtleness with which Sellers portrays his Indian character that is very visible in his many facial expressions as well as with the 'body language' he uses, that's just as funny. If you even like comedy just a little, you'll love this movie. I give it 4 stars, to infinity!

The Party fmovies. When I was working for the Museum of Modern Art, we had a small retrospective for Blake Edwards, and he selected "The Party" as the movie he wanted to open with: he felt it was his "purest" film comedy. After the opening sequence with the Peter Sellers character wrecking a movie set, the bulk of the film takes place during the night of a big Hollywood party (which the Sellers character is inadvertently invited to). In this, the film is as rigorous as Antonioni's "La Notte" (also set during the events of one day and night), and the sight gags build and accumulate in a manner that is reminiscent of Jacques Tati (with the same melancholic humor prevading the slapstick). The film is utterly charming, with some acerbic touches pricking the hypocrisies of Hollywood, and the film takes the time to let the characters (especially the two principals, played by Sellers and Claudine Longet in her only major film role) develop. It may not be as manic as parts of "The Pink Panther" but it's very funny in an even and sustained way.

`The Party' is one of the few comedies that I can watch repeatedly and still enjoy, to a great extent due to the charm of the character Peter Sellers creates. Hrundi V. Bakshi urgently needs to be appropriate and polite (he absolutely CANNOT be impolite), but his natural curiosity and unfamiliarity with his surroundings wreak havoc. He's really quite an admirable fellow, though. He's unfailingly considerate and reasonable, but brave and resourceful when coming to the aid of another, as in the case of producer C.S. Divot's (Gavin MacLeod) exploitation of Michelle Monet (Claudine Longet). I find it hard to accept the notion that the characterization is racist, as some contend, unless you consider the very act of a white person playing an Indian in dark makeup racist. It can't be denied that many westerners find the accent amusing (see Baboo in `Seinfeld,' or Apu in `The Simpsons'). Still, Sellers' characterization of Bakshi is no stereotype, and I don't feel that his portrayal brings discredit to anyone.

That aside, this is one damned funny film! As `anonymous' from Chicago has pointed out below, there are interesting aspects there for your consideration, if you choose to look for them. More than just a series of pratfalls and sight gags, `The Party' is a multi-faceted creation, as is its central character. If you haven't seen it, pour yourself a heaping bowl of birdie num-nums and give it a look. It's on DVD now, collectors.

I need only add that I am not your sugar.

The movie is still fresh after all these years. It's an homage to the slapstick comedy, an homage to the Laurel & Hardy films, and to Chaplin movies as well.

"The party" is the finest achievement of Sellers & Edwards, the film is far superior to the "Pink Panther" series. Why? The story is absolutely simple: by mistake an Indian actor goes to a party in a Hollywood villa. End of the story.

Mr. Hrundi V. Bakshi (the name of the main character) is the kindest and most awkward person you can meet... The film is just made by a group of gags -many are improvised-.

We can see that Peter Sellers, a terrific actor, is also a mime -he can do whatever with the expressions of his face and his body-. For doing such film you have to have a very intelligent and patient director, who knows all the comedy's tricks and let actors play with a total freedom... Blake Edwards is an eclectic director who allows that. Working with Peter Sellers (as Edwards says) was not easy -he had a very difficult personality, either he was the funniest man in the world or he was the most unbearable person. But he was a genius, he let many many gems.

"The Party" is one of them. Brilliant and moving.