THE PARTY (FILM)

'''The Party''' (alternative title: "''Hollywood Party''") is a 1968 comedy written and directed by Blake Edwards, starring Peter Sellers (in what was his only non-Pink Panther collaboration with Edwards) and Claudine Longet. The film has a very loose structure, and essentially serves as a series of set pieces for the comic talents of Sellers.

Contents

Plot

Trivia

Quotes

External links

Plot

The minimal plot involves Sellers playing a well-meaning, but hapless, Indian actor who is accidentally invited to a major Hollywood party, causing havoc. Sellers would play another Indian man in his hit film ''The Millionairess'', and a similar (though self-important, unlike the humble role he plays here) klutz as Inspector Clouseau. The film remains popular among fans of Sellers as one of his most inventive comic roles, much of which was improvised at the time of filming.
The score of ''The Party'' was by Henry Mancini, including the song "Nothing to Lose". Mancini, commenting on audience reactions, noted, "That's what I get for writing a nice song for a comedy. Nobody's going to hear a note of it."
Hrundi V. Bakshi (Sellers) is a seemingly nameless and faceless extra actor from India brought to Hollywood for a role in a ''Gunga Din''-like film. Unfortunately, he manages to blow up the set before the cameras are rolling -- ruining an entire day's filming. The director (Ellis) is fit to be tied, and wants him fired immediately & blacklisted. However, instead of being blacklisted, Bakshi's name is accidentally written on the ''guest'' list of the studio boss's big party.
Upon arrival, he loses his shoe in the pond/stream that flows through the house and spends a significant amount of time attempting to retrieve it (a scene parodied by Amitabh Bachchan in the movie Namak Halaal). As he offers to engage in banter, guests and host look on in puzzled confusion. The only ones at the party to pay him much notice, at first, are Michele (Longet) and a macaw whom Bakshi talks gibberish to and overfeeds "birdy num nums".
Other obstacles include intercoms, artwork, and an electric toilet paper roll. He leaves damaged appliances and havoc wherever he wanders. The wannabe-hippie children of the Hollywood execs eventually turn up to crash the party with a baby elephant covered in stereotypical 60s slogans.

The action of the party then moves to the pool, where Bakshi asks that the elephant be restored to a more dignified state. The entire home is soon overrun with soap bubbles as they scrub graffiti off the animal. The local police arrive as well. Bakshi offers to drive Michele home (in his Morgan threewheeler car) and the film ends with a hint that this is the beginning of a romantic relationship.
On the surface, ''The Party'' may appear to be simply a series of set pieces from the Blake Edwards/Peter Sellers combination. It might be seen on a deeper level, however, as a sendup contrasting the extreme shallowness of most of the guests with the rise of a more idealistic set in American culture, with elements of culture shock and eastern philosophy that was beginning to come into vogue in 1968.

Trivia

★ The film's interiors were shot on a set, at the MGM lot.

★ The original script was only 56-60 pages in length. Blake Edwards later said it was the shortest script he ever shot from.

★ The majority of the content in the film was improvised on set.

★ The character Hrundi V Bakshi is very similar to another Sellers character; Dr. Ahmed El Kabir, from ''The Millionairess''.

★ During a scene later in the film, the band can be heard playing It Had Better Be Tonight, which was a song Henry Mancini composed for the first ''Pink Panther'' film. Mancini also composed the music for ''The Party''.

★ This is the only Sellers and Edwards collaboration that was not a Pink Panther film.

★ Due to the random nature of each take, a video tape recorder was attached to the film camera, to allow the director to review each take. This technique is often thought to have been first used by Jerry Lewis in his 1960 film The Bellboy.

★ Contrary to popular belief, Hrundi V Bakshi is not the influence for the character Apu from ''The Simpsons''. The only similarity between the two is their race and stereotypical accents.

★ It is rumoured that a remake is in the works, with Mike Myers set to star as the role of Hrundi.

★ The French turntablism crew Birdy Nam Nam took its name from a line of the movie.

★ "Nothing to lose" was covered by French electronica artist
★ Dimitri from Paris
★ on his album "Sacre Bleu"

★ This was said to be Elvis Presley's favorite movie.

★ The Morgan three-wheeler which Hrundi V Bakshi is driving is reminiscent of Monsieur Hulot's cyclecar in ''Monsieur Hulot's Holiday'', while the whole film storyline reminds of the Royal Garden restaurant sequence of ''Playtime'', both films by Jacques Tati.

★ The fame achieved by Peter Sellers's character in this movie led many people to assume that the famous animation director Ralph Bakshi is of Indian origin based on their identical surname (this belief may have been reinforced by the latter's hair and complexion). Indeed, he is of Krymchak descent.

Quotes

★ "Birdie num num."

★ "Howdy, pardener."

★ "Well, I am on a diet, but to hell with it."

★ Divot:"You're meshugah!" Bakshi:"I am not your sugar."

★ "Wisdom is the province of the aged, but the heart of a child is pure.

★ "In India we don't think who we are, we know who we are"

External links

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