A Splurch in the Kisser: The Movies of Blake Edwards

369 Pages·2009·39.234 MB·English

by  Sam Wasson

A SPLURCH IN THE KISSER
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As eries from Wesleyan University Press Anthony Mann
Edited by Jeanine Basinger New and Expanded Edition
by Jeanine Basinger
The series takes
WESLEYAN FILM
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A Splurch in the Kisstr
The Movies of Blake Edwards
by Sam Wasson

Published by
Wesleyan University Press,
Middletown, CT 06459
www.wes leyan.e d uI w es press
© 2009 Sam Wasson
All rights reserved
54321
Library ofC ongress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wasson, Sam.
As plurch in the kisser:
the mo1•ies of Blake Edwards I by Sam Wasson.
p. em. - (Wesleyan film)
Includes filmography.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
978-o-8195-6915-8 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN
1. Edwards, Blake, 1922- Criticism and
interpretation. I. Tide.
PN1998.3.E33W37 2009
791.4302'33092-dc22
University Press ofNew England is a member of
the Green Press Initiative. The paper used in
this book meets d1eir minimum requirement for
recycled paper.
To
(in order of appearance)
JEANINE BASINGER
and
DAVID FREEMAN
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The struggle is less to hold onto our fantasies then to let go of them, to
see the world truly and crazily, and master ourseJves by surmounting
it. Out oft his struggle, Edwards has fashioned some of the funniest and
truest work to emerge from the de.clinin.g years of Hollywood artistry.
-Myron Meisel
In 1993, the combined decision of the Directors' and the Writers' Guilds
gave the Preston Sturges Award to Edwards. There was something so
macabre, inappropriate, and inevitable in that decision-somehow the
decline of Hollywood had bun encapsulated.
-David Thomson
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xi
Matters of Introduction
1
PROLOGUE: BREAKING IN, 1922-1955 21
1 BLAKE BEGINS, 1955-1959 27
Bring Your Smile Along (1955), He laughed Last (1956),
Mister Cory (1957), This Happy Feeling (1958),
The Peljert Furlounh (1959) 29
2 BLAKE BUILDS, 1959-1962 43
Operation Petticoat (1959) 45
Hinh Time (1960) 51
Brealifast at T!ffany's (1961) 55
Experiment in Terror (1962) 62
Days oJWine and Roses (1962) 68
3 BLAKE BLOSSOMS, 1963-1 968 77
The Pink Panther (1964) 79
AS hot in the Dark (1964) 88
The Great Race (1965) 98
What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966) 109
Gunn (1967) 120
The Party (1968) 129
4 BLAKE BURNS, 1968-1974 143
Darlinn Lili (1970) 145
Wild Rovers (1971), TI1e Carey Treatmrnt (1972) 159
The Tamarind Seed (1974) 168
5 PANTHER PICTURES (BLAKE BANKS) 173
Sellers Lives
Return oft he Pink Panther (1975), The Pink Panther Strikes Again
(1976), Reuen,ge oft he Pink Panther (1978) 175
Sellers Lives On
Trail oJthe Pink Panther (1982), Curse oft he Pink Panther (1983),
Son ofthe Pink Panther (1993) r86