Myra Breckinridge (1970)

Myron Breckinridge is waiting for her sex-change operation while a stoned surgeon stumbles into the operating room. Before the drugged doctor begins Myron's operation, he counsels her. ... See full summary »

Director:

Michael Sarne

Writers:

Gore Vidal (novel), Michael Sarne (screenplay),

Stars:

Mae West, John Huston, Raquel Welch

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mae West	...	Leticia Van Allen
John Huston	...	Buck Loner
Raquel Welch	...	Myra Breckinridge
Rex Reed	...	Myron
Farrah Fawcett	...	Mary Ann Pringle
Roger C. Carmel	...	Dr. Randolph Spencer Montag
Roger Herren	...	Rusty Godowski
George Furth	...	Charlie Flager Jr.
Calvin Lockhart	...	Irving Amadeus
Jim Backus	...	Doctor
John Carradine	...	Surgeon
Andy Devine	...	Coyote Bill
Grady Sutton	...	Kid Barlow
Robert P. Lieb	...	Charlie Flager Sr. (as Robert Lieb)
Skip Ward	...	Chance

Storyline

Myron Breckinridge is waiting for her sex-change operation while a stoned surgeon stumbles into the operating room. Before the drugged doctor begins Myron's operation, he counsels her. Myron persists and the doctor goes through with it. An enthusiastic audience observing the operation applauds the medical achievement and rises in a standing ovation. After the operation, Myron arrives in Hollywood as Myra while in the rest of the film Myron pops up from time to time as Myra's alter ego. Myra goes to an acting academy owned by her uncle, Buck Loner, a former cowboy star. The real reason for Myra's arrival is to claim her half of Uncle Buck's estate, which she says she's entitled to. Buck Loner stalls by giving her a job teaching the history of motion pictures. Buck Loner has several friends. One of them is Letitia Van Allen, an ancient Hollywood talent scout. The sex-starved septuagenarian runs an acting agency "for leading men only."

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Plot Keywords:

hollywood | operating room | cowboy | estate | talent scout | 

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Taglines:

From the book that couldn't be written comes the motion picture that couldn't be made!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

X

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 June 1970 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gore Vidal's Myra Breckinridge

Filming Locations:

Chateau Marmont - 8221 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$3,000,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min 91 min (alternate)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Bette Davis emphatically turned down the Mae West role expressing her contempt for the book.

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Goofs

When Myra begins preparations to trace Rusty's spine, she uses a buckled strap to keep him from moving - yet strap becomes considerably longer between shot where she anchors his left wrist and shot where she tightens strap on his right wrist.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Myron: [sings to himself] A secret place known to none but me. And in my secret place, you can beg and torture me. I wouldn't tell you where to go. 'Cause in my secret place, secret place, a secret you know. Secret place, a secret you know.
[Surgeon enters to applause]
Surgeon: You realize, once we cut it off, it won't grow back. I mean, it isn't like hair, or fingernails, or toenails, you know.
Myron: What do you think I am, some kind of idiot? I know that!
Surgeon: [shrugs] Eh - how about circumcision? It'd be ...
[...]

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Connections

Edited from All About Eve (1950)

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Soundtracks

"Chica Chica Boom Chic"
Music by Harry Warren
Lyrics by Mack Gordon
Performed by Carmen Miranda
From That Night in Rio

User Reviews

This movie (was) a slap in the face of America's sexual dysfunction!

I read "Myra Breckinridge" in 1969 when I was riding a bus from St. Louis to San Antonio, and I fell in love with everything about the book. I saw the movie when it first came out (even though I was not, legally, old enough) and had a blast. This film (I do NOT use that term loosely) had so much going on and not going on between pretty people and not so pretty people who were acting badly and beautifully while doing evil and funny and disgusting and sweet things to each other in the most vicious and caring ways possible, I was overwhelmed by it all. It had more to say in its heaving breast about the cruel and elevated ways in which man treats his fellow man than every Oscar-winning picture since...and all while telling its story in the most absurd and drug-inducing manner possible.

But what adds even more to the meaning of the film is how it destroyed the career of not just its director (who probably deserved it) but also ruined any chance of a career for Roger Herren solely because he played a character who was raped by a woman. Men can play rapists and women can be raped and gang raped and even play lesbians, and they receive Oscars for their performances and no one thinks the worst of them. But let a man get sodomized and suddenly everyone questions his masculinity and ability to relate to the opposite sex. And THAT is where MYRA BRECKINRIDGE stands tall.

Yes, the movie is a smash-up of styles and insane casting choices and baldly ludicrous dialogue and unintentionally funny acting, but so were more recent idiot movies like THE ROCK and TITANIC and SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, and look how successful they became...and how quickly they will be forgotten. At least MYRA BRECKINRIDGE, the movie (maybe even moreso than the book), worked as a slap in the face of America's sexual dysfunction and hypocrisy...and I believe THAT is what bothers so many people about it. And that is why it remains a movie worth watching,