The Loved One

Tony Richardson's film is significantly better than his Oscar winner, Tom Jones, and the perfect example of a cult classic, subversive 60's comedy if ever there was one. The tagline suggest that there's something in it to offend everyone, and while it was probably more true in 1965, it still holds up to its rep. Based on the novel by Evelyn Waugh and co-written by Terry Southern, the film bounces from one thing to another -- from Hollywood satire to satire of funeral homes and pet cemetaries -- that in retrospect is a bit jarring and more than a little disjointed. Robert Morse is a likeable leading man (though I never bought him as a Brit), and has the physical presence of a young Jerry Lewis. There are some wonderfully offbeat comic moments and Haskell Wexler's developing black and white, verite style photography adds to the feeling, but I can't decide if the whole is greater than the sum of its parts or not. There are few films like it, that's for sure.