The Last of Sheila | | Cast : | Richard Benjamin, James Coburn, James Mason | | Director : | Herbert Ross | | Studio : | Warner Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | June 14, 1973 | | DVD Released Date : | April 20, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | June 15, 2005 | | Summary | A one-of-a-kind Gem | Content
 | Wandering through the CD section of Amazon can sometimes be surprisingly rewarding - especially when you come across a hidden gem like The Last of Sheila. This whodunit with its fantastic 70s cast, wonderful French Riviera sets, and tight scripting will delight traditional mystery fans.
The Last of Sheila is basically a game within a game within a game. It was scripted by Game Fanatics Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins. Clues appear throughout, but you have to have a puzzle solver's mind to get them. If you do, you're bound to enjoy this special film. The solution is complex and rewarding, even if the ending is a little odd.
The French Riviera background is wonderful and is a character all it own. My wife and I visited the monastery on our honeymoon, so seeing it here is a real personal treat. This is a classy production that really uses its location well.
The cast is very 70s, but excellent. Canon, Colburn, and Benjamin steal the show for the most part, but Mason truly shines at the end. Ian McShane also stands out in his younger, hipper, pre-Love Joy days.
Although the extras on this DVD are almost non-existent, the audio commentary by Cannon and Benjamin (and Welch to a lesser extent) stands out. It's full of remembrances and Hollywood name dropping; Benjamin especially shares some great memories of Perkins' love of games and the parties he would throw. I was delighted by their graciousness and warm anecdotes. Cannon and Benjamin obviously taped theirs together, and they play off each other throughout. I assume Welch taped hers separately, which is why it never fits with the other two, so we should cut her some slack.
One minor warning, this is an older movie, developed when people didn't suffer from ADD, and younger audiences will find it a bit talky. Viewers with good attention spans who don't require explosions and constant camera cuts will love it.
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| Rating | | | Date | October 18, 2004 | | Summary | Any number can play. Any number can die. | Content
| A murder mystery written by composer Stephen Sondheim (Sweeney Todd) and actor Anthony `She might have fooled me, but she didn't fool my mother' Perkins (it seems both men share an insatiable love of puzzles and games)? And a good one to boot? Whodda thunk it? Yes, it's true...what? You've never heard of it? Neither did I...until now...
The Last of Sheila (1973), directed extremely well by Hollywood veteran Herbert Ross (Play it Again, Sam, The Goodbye Girl, Footloose), stars a formidable cast including the late, great James Coburn, Richard Benjamin, Dyan Cannon, James Mason, Raquel Welch, Joan Hackett (Will Penny, One Trick Pony), and Ian McShane (Roots).
As the film opens, we witness the death of a woman as she storms from a late party, and, unable to get into her car, decides to hoof it...only to get run down by the side of the road. The woman's name was Sheila, and she was wife to high-powered Hollywood muckety muck Clinton Green (Colburn). A year has past, and now we see Clinton, who has a preponderance for games, on a yacht typing invitations for a weeklong get together he's planning, a seemingly sinister game ultimately revolving around the identity of the person who killed his wife. The invitees were all at the party that fateful night, and include Christine (Cannon), a promiscuous loudmouth Hollywood agent, Tom (Benjamin) and Lee (Hackett), a floundering screenwriter and his trust fund baby wife, Philip (Mason), a washed director, and Alice (Welch) and Anthony (McShane), a once popular actress now treading water relegated to opening shopping malls and such, and her hot-headed leechy husband/manager. All accept the invite, as they have pretty obvious interests in pitching, promoting, or working for Clinton, the well to do Hollywood producer. The game involves a dirty little secret from each of the guests' past, and is of a scavenger hunt of sorts. Things begin well enough, but soon the game takes a deadly turn as one of the participates meets an untimely end, and everyone's a suspect (well, except for the deceased). The rest are left to try and sort out the clues, and discover who among them is a killer.
This is a wonderful little `whodunit' within a `whodunit', full of twists and turns, where little is as it seems. Ross keeps it tight, and the film moves along at a brisk pace. The plot is very complex and intricate, forcing the viewer to pay attention throughout lest he/she miss a critical element. One of the things I really liked was clues present themselves, but, at the time they're presented, they seem completely innocuous and hardly worth a second thought. The mystery is very intelligent as the story rarely speaks down to the viewer, assuming a level of intelligence of its' audience few films expect. The characters were decently developed, which is kind of surprising since there's quite a few of them. James Colburn's character literally and figuratively brings it all together, as the abrasive (he often refers to his guests as `washed up has beens', which may be true, but who likes to hear it?) scheming, trickster having a jolly good time watching his `victims' twist in the wind trying to unravel his elaborate and devious puzzles. One part I found completely disconcerting was Colburn in drag...a more horrifying visage I have yet to see, as Colburn has to be one of the ugliest women I've ever seen, and I fear it shall remain burned in my mind for quite some time, as no amount of alcohol shall wash it away...I though Cannon did very well, as the pushy, cheap and easy, loud mouthed talent agent who has little qualms about wearing her intentions on her sleeve, lacking the basic subtly most have as it would probably work against her in her profession. Benjamin also did well, playing the smart and intuitive screenwriter, now forced mainly to do rewrites, piecing together the clues much as you'd expect someone reasonably talented who deals with scripts, plots, and character development for a living. Mason did well, but he just seemed tired throughout, with brief glimpses of inspiration, but then I wonder if his character was written that way, as the world weary director now forced to direct dog food commercials to make a living. Welch's role seemed a bit light, as did McShane's. Both seemed to make the most of what they had, but ultimately, they were overshadowed by the other talent in the film. Another aspect worth mentioning is the location shots. Each night the yacht stops in a port and the gamers )for lack of a better term) are shuttle to a location with clues meant to lead them to where they'll find the solution for that night's puzzle...the European locales are used very well, and I really liked the incorporating of the old abbey, as it made for a great backdrop. The weakest element of the film, a superficial one at that, was the costuming...I know, I know...the 70's were an awkward period for fashion, but it's really noticeable here...and guess who was in charge of costume design? None other than Joel Schumacher...the man who pretty much single handedly destroyed the Batman film series with his completely awful direction in Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997), but, again, that's an entirely superficial element, and shouldn't dive you away from this clever and meticulous film worthy of multiple viewings as the plot is very complex and one may not pick everything up in one sitting.
The picture here looks pretty good, and the audio is clear which is good as there's a lot of talkie, especially when the mystery is picked apart. Special features include a trailer and a pretty stinky commentary by Benjamin and Cannon. Welch also provided a commentary, and the two tracks were lopsidedly spliced together. Two rotten commentaries cut together make for one hugely hideous mess that should be avoided altogether.
Cookieman108
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| Rating | | | Date | October 10, 2004 | | Summary | Absolutely Wonderful Thriller that Keeps You Guessing!!! | Content
| After reading the reviews for "The Last of Sheila", I could not help but rent it immediately! Needless to say, the reviews did not disappoint - it met all my expectations and them some! Immediately after the first viewing, I just had to watch it twice more to catch all the clues I missed; as another viewer states, you catch something new every time. The commentary with Dick and Dyan (and an annoyingly inserted Raquel Welch) is delightful as well. This is just a cleverly written, simply wonderful Agatha Christie-esque thriller with the added bonus of a very 70s kitsch factor - do not let yourself miss "The Last of Sheila"! |
| Rating | | | Date | October 02, 2004 | | Summary | Finally - the DVD of this wonderful brainteaser of a film | Content
| The Last of Sheila is a love or hate for most folks. I fall into the love category. A GREAT cast beautifully embodies the twisted, neurotic hollywood-types in this whodoneit or even whodonewhat for that matter. The screenplay is full of incredibly witty, sharp dialogue and it layers puzzle upon puzzle until the very end. Then - one last joke at Hollywood's expense before the final credits. Coburn, Benjamin, Cannon and Mason are particularly excellent here. Some flashback twists might get confusing, but keep watching - it pays off beautifully. Oh, and Bette Midler's closing credits number is just the perfect iceing on this multi-layered, very dark chocolate cake. Just excellent! |
| Rating | | | Date | July 14, 2004 | | Summary | A Tale of Two Versions? | Content
| The one star is for the dvd. This 'version' as I've read in the other reviews *IS NOT* the same as the VHS that I own. There is a HUGE flaw in Chapter 18 as the Michigan viewer stated. I am not entirely satisfied as others are with this mess. I bought my VHS from Amazon two years ago and my tape *do not* have the Chapter 18 mistake in it. So, there must be two versions - one mastered correctly and the mess with the mistake in Chapter 18. Warners needs to re-do this dvd without the mistakes that currently exists in this DVD. A great movie done an injustice. |
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