Cheap The Last of Sheila (DVD) (Richard Benjamin, James Coburn, James Mason) (Herbert Ross) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of The Last of Sheila

A truly baffling mystery.
Hollywood lore has it that the late Anthony Perkins (of "Psycho" fame) had such a brilliant mind that he and friend Stephen Sondheim used to stump friends with puzzling parlour games they used to play at parties. This apparently led to their writing "The Last of Sheila," which is my choice for most truly puzzling and baffling murder mystery ever committed to film. It's plot is so intricate, it's central murders so well thought out, it takes stars James Mason, Richard Benjamin, Ian McShane, Raquel Welch, Joan Hackett and Dyan Cannon nearly an hour of screen time to explain what happened!

The plot? Film producer James Coburn's beloved wife Sheila is run down after one of their lavish parties. Coburn invites the above cast on a trip aboard his yacht for an elaborate parlour game where he intends to unmask Sheila's killer. In the meantime, Coburn ends up dead and the cast must figure out who among them is the killer of Coburn and his wife.

Terrific performances by the cast--with the exception of Welch, who is awfully stilted here; she is seen to much better effect in the "Musketeer" comedies of the '70's as well as "Mother, Jugs and Speed" and the recent "Tortilla Soup"--help immeasurably in keeping the story moving, especially in the last hour, which takes place entirely in the yacht's stateroom. Especially good are Dyan Cannon as a Sue Mengers-style agent and the late, great and sadly forgotten Joan Hackett, as Richard Benjamin's neglected wife. And the script is airtight and still plays well today, except for a silly subplot involving a homosexual liaison. (Don't worry--it's only alluded to, not seen.)

In all, this is one of the few Hollywood mysteries in which I was absolutely stumped, and could not for the life of me figure out whodunnit. My guess is you will be too.

---

Clever and Amusing, and Justice Really Triumphs
The Last of Sheila is a clever, witty, complicated murder mystery written by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins. A movie mogul's wife is killed in a hit-and-run accident. A year later he gathers six friends, one of whom he suspects of being the driver, for a Mediterranean week on his yacht. There'll be sun, fun, games to play and puzzles to solve. The payoff for the mogul will be the identification of his wife's killer. Unfortunately, the mogul is murdered shortly after the games begin.

If you enjoy murder, puzzles and clever writing, you'll enjoy this. If you're amused by Hollywood and its pretensions, you'll also like it. The guests include a mediocre film writer (Richard Benjamin) and his rich, alcoholic wife (Joan Hackett), a has-been director (James Mason), a loud agent (Dyan Cannon), and a voluputous and dim movie queen (Raquel Welch) with her tough, sycophant husband (Ian McShane). James Coburn plays the mogul.

Mason is excellent among an excellent cast. He's thoughtful, a little seedy, crafty. Cannon nails her role as the self-involved but funny agent. Coburn focuses the movie. He's charming, dynamic, nasty.

The DVD transfer is fine although I found the audio a little variable, especially at first. The commentary by Benjamin, Cannnon and Welch is interesting and helps sort out the clues.

Sondheim and Perkins play scrupulously fair with the audience. There are clues all over the place. Some clues identify the nastier aspects of the guests, some help with the games being played, some help guess the method of the murders (there're more than one), and some will lead you to the murderer. You need to stay alert.

What is particularly clever is the way the murderer gets justice.

---

A Tale of Two Versions?
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.