Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

moonspinner55 Movie star Marlo Manners walks down the aisle for the sixth time; her latest love is a rich, titled Brit, but their honeymoon plans are thwarted by her work, her ex-husbands hanging about, and by an international conference taking place in the same ritzy hotel. It would be easy to criticize this harmless comedy, the final cinematic bow from Mae West, based on the fact it is nothing more than a showcase (i.e., vanity project) for its star, adapted from her 1926 play, "Sex"; and yet, all it aspires to be is a frivolous enjoyment for fans, with campy musical numbers, grinning musclemen in a gymnasium sequence, a mini-fashion show (with Mae modeling elaborate Edith Head ensembles) and one-liners galore. What's fair is to say the movie looks cheap and terrible, and most of the supporting performances are terrible, and our star (84 years old at the time of filming) can hardly move around. Timothy Dalton is breezy as Mae's spouse (who tells columnist Rona Barrett he feels 'gay', leading her to believe he's homosexual), and the two have a lovely duet on "Love Will Keep Us Together"; also, Dom DeLuise has fun singing the Beatles song "Honey Pie" while tap-dancing on a piano. Still, no U.S. movie studio wanted to distribute the film after it was produced independently, so the production team released it themselves, meaning that somebody believed in the picture and thought it was worth the effort. Not exactly a happy Hollywood ending for Mae West, though it allowed her a small bit of renewed glory before her death in 1980. * from ****

Kingkitsch What exactly can anyone say about "Sextette"? Ostensibly a Seventies-era reworking of Mae West's 1926 play "Sex", this movie exists within it's own continuum of both camp and sadness. You either laugh at the complete absurdity of it all or feel a deep pity for everyone who signed on to participate in the hot mess the whole enterprise turned into. West, who was in her mid- 80s at the time of filming, had been rediscovered by audiences who had no idea who she was by appearing in Michael Sarne's career killing version of "Myra Breckinridge" (1970). Mae's infamous feud with Rachel Welch during the filming of "Myra" brought her into the public eye again, so six years later, "Sextette" was trotted out to cash in on Mae's newfound camp appeal. The time had passed for Mae to be nothing other than a caricature of herself, there's a certain cruelty evident when she appears on screen here. No special effects could hide the years Mae was carrying, she looks like a mummy slathered with makeup and topped with a gargantuan blond wig. She arthritically weaves, wobbles, sashays, and gives her all in a performance that uses her most famous double-entendres. The poor thing tries, but she's now a visibly tired cartoon. A dirty joke about a supposed sex- bomb who's decades old and a horny granny to boot. Newly wed Mae cavorts in a British hotel with her young husband (Timothy Dalton) in a farce straight out of the 1930s. Several plots are running simultaneously: a global peace initiative is taking place at the hotel, Mae's tape recorded diary (on a pink cassette) of her marriages and sexual secrets has gone missing, the British press thinks her new husband is gay, American muscle-men are working out at the hotel, and nearly all of Mae's ex-husbands are wandering around the joint interrupting her wedding night. Mae contends with all the madness around her by constantly changing her Edith Head costumes, which are anachronistic in the extreme and verbally sparring with the ex- husbands played by Ringo Starr, Tony Curtis, and George Hamilton. Mae sidles up to the muscle in the gym, evidently clueless to the fact that they're all more interested in each other than they are in her, and finally saves the world at the peace summit talks. Throw in many sad cameos and the last film appearances of Mae, Walter Pidgeon, and George Raft. Throw in musical numbers that border on the surreal. Add a soundtrack by Van McCoy, the composer who gave the world the disco anthem "The Hustle". Mr. McCoy gives Mae a frightening disco-ized version of "Baby Face" to warble, a bizarre "Hooray for Hollywood" production number, and the inimitable Dom Deluise belting out the Beatles' "Honey Pie" while faking tap dancing on top of a piano. Rockers Keith Moon and Alice Cooper show up. All this, and more. Undoubtedly, this whole enterprise probably sounded like a good idea at the time. Hollywood legend returns and everyone gets down to Boogietown! Boffo box-office! In reality, no one cared or paid to see this. Mae died two years after making this, which is very sad indeed. Instead of going out remembered as an icon, she went as a mummy looking for sex and wasting 80-odd (very odd) minutes on a set up for the last line in the movie. "Sextette", then, is an artifact from the era of platform shoes and pet rocks, two things no one needed even at the time. Best viewed after ingesting LSD and wearing polyester clothing.

dan-1071 There is little I can add to a review of this film other than what has already been said by some others, some of which I agree with and some of which I don't.After reading the reviews on here, I watched the film again to see if I was missing anything or seeing things I shouldn't but my opinion of the film remains the same.Some of the performances are on the poor side of mediocre but West and Dalton are very definitely not in that category.Unlike another reviewer has stated, Dalton was not dubbed for the duet. He actually recorded the track and then mimed to it on screen. It's the way tracks on all screen musicals are done, only in the theatre do the actors sing live and these days even that's not always the case throughout a whole song.The line referring to Timothy Dalton's character as "England's number one spy" and "even bigger than 007" is seen by many as a coincidence 9 years before he was to go on and play the character, just the same as the reference to his character in an episode of "Charlie's Angels" as being a "James Bond-like figure", but by the time Dalton made both these appearances he had been offered the Bond role twice and turned it down for being, in his opinion, too young.Anyway, back to the film. As I have said, I have thoroughly enjoyed it every time I have seen it (not that I sit there and watch it con continuous loop). West may be a little slower with her lines but she still delivers them convincingly, Dalton is entertaining and not just the eye candy he could have been in this film and there are some good contributions from the supporting cast. There are a few lame moments and some pedestrian scripting in parts but there are some choice moments such as West's already quoted "It ain't opportunity" line as well as the moment when Deluise knocks on the door telling West he has something urgent and West points at Dalton lying in bed and asks "Urgent? And what's that, chopped liver?" Quite! The punchbag sketch gave me the biggest laugh.By the way, I agree that it is a disservice for IMDb to include a rumour as fact in the trivia section but this is unfortunately far from the only incidence of this on the site. Going back to the subject of James Bond, it quoted that Pierce Brosnan was the original choice for Bond in 1986 but had to turn the role down due to his "Remington Steele" commitments when the fact is that Brosnan was the THIRD choice after Dalton had turned it down again, this time due to the film he was working on having no set date for completion, and the role was only offered to Brosnan after it had been categorically turned down by the second choice, Sam Neill. This practice is sadly to the detriment of all the news that is reported on this site and subsequently shown to be accurate.Anyway back to the fil. This film is generally far more maligned than it deserves and for all the wrong reasons. It is just a good bit of fun. I don't think it was ever meant to be seen as a cinematic, comical or musical epic but a complete nightmare it isn't.

fab-28 This is a film that needs to be watched with your tongue firmly tucked in your cheek - something I wasn't quite aware of even though the very subject matter should hint at this before you even start watching (would a man with the money, status and looks of Sir Michael Barrington really become the sixth husband of a woman old enough to be his grandmother, even if she was as glamorous as Mae West?).Generally, the script is predictable and Mae West is basically playing herself (or sending herself up?) and, as such, makes a very good job of it. I too find it difficult to understand some people's views regarding the idea of an older woman with a younger man or men whilst they are perfectly willing to accept the very same idea but with the genders reversed.However, there are some funny lines, and the odd very funny line and visual gag, often delivered, as would be expected, by Dom Deluise but more often by Timothy Dalton. If nothing else, the film shows his ability as a comic actor. Sir Michael's misunderstood TV interviews are a highlight and had Hugh Laurie been well-known at the time that this film was made, I would have accused Dalton of mimicking Laurie's delivery.The vision of Dalton singing Captain & Tenille's "Love Will Keep Us Together" is almost surreal. I have to admit that I sat open-mouthed for the first 30 seconds. As it happens, he has the fairly good singing voice that his resonant speaking voice would suggest (OK, maybe in need of a bit of vocal training but I am sure Simon Cowell wouldn't describe him as the worst singer he's ever heard in his life - in fact, had he been in the business at the time, he would have probably jumped at the chance to make some money out of a good-looking actor with a reasonable voice!!!).If you're a fan of spoofs, particularly of the cheesy, kitschy variety, you may like it. In all honesty, it is one of the cheesiest, corniest films I have ever seen, rescued by West, Dalton and to a lesser extent Deluise. Those who think it's an attempt at a serious musical with a bit of comedy thrown in will be sorely disappointed.