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Movies / On DVD / Myra Breckinridge
Myra Breckinridge

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Myra Breckinridge (1970)

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Reviews Counted:21

Fresh:6

Rotten:15

Average Rating:4.5/10

Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: MYRA BRECKENRIDGE may be the first punk manifesto, a celebration of pop culture nihilism. A precursor to films by directors like David Lynch, and perhaps influenced by those of avant-garde Italian... MYRA BRECKENRIDGE may be the first punk manifesto, a celebration of pop culture nihilism. A precursor to films by directors like David Lynch, and perhaps influenced by those of avant-garde Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini, this outrageous, searing, blackly comic cult film satirizes Hollywood, homosexuality, America, family, and more. Myron Breckenridge (Rex Reed) is a frustrated homosexual who undergoes a sex-change operation, against the advice of his doctor. As a result, Myron becomes Myra (Raquel Welch), a stunningly beautiful woman with a rocket of a body. Myra moves to the South and enrolls at a university, where her adventures include sodomizing a Southern man--and stealing his girlfriend while she's at it. In general, the bodacious, lewd Myra wreaks havoc on Southern conventions in this outrageous classic film. Once thought to be "unfilmable," Gore Vidal's book was the satiric source material for this film. Originally Rated X in 1970, the film may seem less shocking today, but it retains a truly bizarre quality. Among the most memorable moments is the appearance of Mae West, top-billed and still bawdy as ever in her 70s, singing a comically sultry number. [More]

Starring: Mae West, Raquel Welch, John Huston, Roger Herren

Starring: Mae West, Raquel Welch, John Huston, Roger Herren, Farrah Fawcett, Jim Backus, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Roger C. Carmel, Rex Reed, Tom Selleck

Director: Michael Sarne

Director: Michael Sarne
Producer: Robert Fryer

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Myra Breckinridge

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

As an adaptation of Gore Vidal's novel, this is a major travesty.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

With so much raw comedic potential and a cast any director would be happy to get a hold of, Sarne somehow manages to direct it all into one aimless, inept and leering aberration.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
08/03/05
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Citizen Kane of chaotic trash, this is car crash cinema at its most compelling.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
05/24/03
Jon Fortgang
Jon Fortgang
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

If you truly analyze this, it's a very bisexual scene, and it's a classic, and I was told by a film buff friend that it was considered an A-list movie at the time.

Full Review Source: International Press Academy | comment Comment
08/18/09
Michael Szymanski
Michael Szymanski
International Press Academy

One might appreciate Anthology's all-new print -- with its epic sets and costumes, slumming icons, and unfocused meta-ambitions -- as the queer precursor to Southland Tales.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
03/23/08
Aaron Hillis
Aaron Hillis
Village Voice

Extravagantly tasteless, surprisingly inept filming of Gore Vidal's briefly notorious novel.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
10/17/07
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film version of Gore Vidal's Hollywood-themed transsexual satire starts off promisingly, but after a couple of reels plunges straight downhill under the weight of artless direction.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
10/17/07
Variety Staff
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
01/10/05
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Outrageous casting & laughs do not a good satire make.

comment Comment
12/27/04
Steve Crum
Steve Crum
Kansas City Kansan

No review available.

comment Comment
12/08/04
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

comment Comment
07/16/04
Daniel M. Kimmel
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

There's a good movie in all this garbage.

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
06/20/04
Walter Chaw
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central

Loaded with pop references and clips from old movies, it's like a bizarre comic precursor to 'The Dreamers'...

Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | comment Comment
04/08/04
John Beifuss
John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

Yes, it's bad, but you quickly get beyond its badness. It's hypnotically awful. It's audaciously dreadful.

Full Review Source: ToxicUniverse.com | comment 1 Comment
03/16/04
Dan Callahan
Dan Callahan
ToxicUniverse.com

...it's hard to imagine how a film could be any worse, yet Myra has a silly, chaotic, almost endearing quality about it that proclaims its own innocence.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
03/07/04
John J. Puccio
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com

The film and its purported message are just like the monster between Welch’s legs: A big fat fake.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
03/03/04
Mark Athitakis
Mark Athitakis
Filmcritic.com

No review available.

comment Comment
04/04/03
Matt Bailey
Matt Bailey
Not Coming to a Theater Near You

An unalloyed disaster, but too fascinating to ignore

comment Comment
09/12/02
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

No review available.

comment Comment
08/31/02
John A. Nesbit
John A. Nesbit
ToxicUniverse.com

Raquel Welch's big chance is snatched away by Sarne's careless and unprofessional direction, and Rex Reed's self-parody is much too pat and easy.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
07/03/02
Don Druker
Don Druker
Chicago Reader
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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