S.O.B.
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S.O.B. is a 1981 film written and directed by Blake Edwards starring Richard Mulligan and Julie Andrews. Robert Vaughn, Robert Preston, Larry Hagman, Shelley Winters, Loretta Swit, Robert Loggia and William Holden (in his last role) also appear.
Plot
The story is a satire which is sharply critical of the film industry and Hollywood society. The main character, Felix Farmer (Mulligan) is a phenomenally successful producer-director who has just made the first flop of his career, to the dismay of the studio and the loss of his own sanity.After emerging from a period of shock and self-destructive behavior, he resolves to save both the film and his reputation. With great difficulty he persuades the studio and his wife Sally to allow him to revise the film as a soft-core pornographic feature. However, the egos of the filmmakers, the studio, and virtually everyone else in Hollywood continue to wreak havoc on the creative process...
When writing the screenplay Edwards drew upon several of his own experiences. The character Felix Farmer is a person very similar to Edwards, and Sally Farmer is very similar to Julie Andrews, Edwards' wife in real-life. The story of S.O.B. strongly parallels the experiences of Edwards and Andrews in their infamous failure Darling Lili. Intended by Edwards to reveal Andrews' heretofore unseen wicked and sexy side, comedy musical Darling Lili had had a troubled shoot and went significantly over budget, and was subject to post-production studio interference.
In S.O.B., Andrews's character agrees (with some pharmaceutical persuasion) to "show her boobies" in a scene in the film-within-the-film. For this last performance, late night television comedian Johnny Carson thanked Andrews for "showing us that the hills were still alive", alluding to her most famous line from The Sound of Music.
Notes
Critical opinion on the merit of the film was sharply divided (it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and two Razzie Awards) and remained so years after its release.S.O.B. (in the film) stands for "Standard Operational Bullshit" and refers to misinformation being standard, usual, and the norm. The acronym also means "sexually oriented business" (if pertaining to strip clubs) and more generally "son of a bitch" (a ruthless person).
An episode of Odd Job Jack uses the same plot as S.O.B.
External links
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