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THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT (1969)
STARS: Katharine Hepburn, Yul Brynner, Danny Kaye, Charles Boyer, Margaret Leighton, Nanette Newman, Richard Chamberlain, Donald Pleasence, Claude Dauphin, Edith Evans, John Gavin, Paul Henreid, Oscar Homolka.
DIRECTOR: Bryan Forbes. DURATION: 132 mins.
SYNOPSIS: An eccentric spinster and her three cronies dispense their own unique brand of justice on four greedy surveyors hoping to exploit untapped oil reserves they believe lie beneath Paris.
RC PLAYS: Roderick.
Oh dear. If anyone ever wanted to shoot themselves in the foot professionally, then this was the movie in which to be involved.
However, based on Jean Giraudoux's play La Folle de Chaillot, the project did provide many 'firsts' for Chamberlain: It was his first English film, his first of many appearances with an all-star cast, and first collaboration with Bryan Forbes.
Forbes joined his wife Nanette Newman on the production when original director John Huston (somewhat timely, or even wisely) after the first few weeks of filming. Many may say that Forbes was slightly crazy for taking over, and that such an esteemed star as Katharine Hepburn (fresh from back-to-back Oscars for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and The Lion in Winter) really was a madwoman for agreeing to take part - particularly as the movie ended up being universally panned by critics and bombed at the box office.
Chamberlain, however, wasn't disheartened. While admitting that "the film didn't work," it proved through his inclusion in such a stellar cast that he was at last shaking off his Dr. Kildare image and building a new career for himself, which had started in earnest with his involvement in The Portrait of a Lady BBC mini-series.
The actor also decided it was time to explain his often strange choice of roles: "I took that part (in Petulia) to show critics I could play a villain, and this one (in Chaillot) to show I could do period roles as well as contemporary material."
Indeed playing Katharine Hepburn's much younger lover was certainly breaking a trend. It was also indicative of Richard's obsession with playing against type - and against the character his fans had come to know and love.
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