I remembered why I hesitate to rent “musicals” when I put Victor/Victoria in the DVD player. While there are a few musicals I love like “Sound of Music,” “Annie,” and “Grease,” most of the films where people suddenly break into song and dance for no apparent reason put me to sleep. It’s not the inclusion of song and dance. “Fame” was one of my favorite movies, and I adored the TV show by the same name. “Drew Carey” rocks when the cast includes plot-advancing sequences in song/dance. The problem with “musicals” on film is that so many of them are cliché ridden with constant wink-wink references to the history of the genre. “Victor/Victoria” is no exception. In fact, it is one of the worst in terms of being spoofy.

The film opens with Victoria at a singing audition. This seems a reasonable way to open a musical. Though Victoria has some pipes on her (if you like clear, high notes), she gets kicked to the curb. She is simply not in style at the time which is the 30s in Paris. This is a sad reality for singers. Being talented is not enough. You also have to have the right sound for the times and for the audiences. The guy who turns down Victoria is kind of the Simon (“American Idol” judge) of the town. And, Victoria is the highly offended candidate who knows she is talented and should be a big star and makes her statement by hitting a high D note and breaking a glass. Give me a break. That glass breaking thing is really tired, and I think Victoria breaks glass three times in this movie.

When Victoria leaves the audition, she stands in front of a window watching a man eat an éclair. She is so hungry that she passes out. Then she goes to her rooming house where she is about to get kicked out for not paying rent, offers to trade sex for a meatball, and passes out. Give me another break. For a movie that is progressive for the time (1982) in terms of homosexuality, it sure plays up some of the worst stereotypes as far as women are concerned. In addition to Victoria as the swooning woman, they have “the girlfriend” who with the high-pitched shrieky voice who pitches fits and flower vases. I know these characters are pulled straight out of old movies, but there are some things that didn’t work and shouldn’t be revisited.

Victoria hatches a plan to eat a high dollar meal, slip a cockroach in her salad and get the meal for free. Down-on-his-luck gay entertainer, Toddy, joins her in this not-so-unique ruse. Again, I’m needing another break from these tired old ideas. The cockroach thing doesn’t work out just as planned, but it does bring the two together and sets the stage for the story in the movie.

Toddy decides that Victoria could be the toast of the town if she pretends to be a man and performs as a cross dresser. She might not wow folks as a woman, but she’d be one heck of a man pretending to be a woman. She could look just downright womanly in drag and then pull off the wig and be manly with short hair. Life is funny like that. Cut your hair short and you’re automatically a man. This is probably why mullets went out of fashion. Long hair probably makes rednecks look like women. I’m always getting things mixed up that way.

There is one person is the whole movie that must be really perceptive. That’s King Marchand who is a gangster. He gets the hots for Victoria (who is posing as Victor), but he’s pretty sure that she is really a she and not a he. He must have straight-dar or something. That short hair cut is not fooling him. He’s pretty darn sure that he is not attracted to a man, and he even sneaks in the hotel room and watches Victor undress. Since he only gets a back view, he’s back to square one. Everyone knows that you have to see the front to know for sure.

The movie revolves around the love plot and whether Victor and King can get together and make it work.

As far as the plot, it is fairly interesting especially if they dropped all the silly subplots that are supposed to be funny but are really just goofy. The overall idea is a bit dated at this point, but it was rather creative for 1982. This was long before anyone straight heard much about gay rights or even acknowledged that anyone they knew might be homosexual. I remember a roommate in college betting me that no one from our hometown leaned that way. “We’re from a good Christian, framing community,” she told me. I just laughed then and still smile when I think about the conversation.

A lot of the reviews on this movie suggest that the only people who won’t love this film are the homophobics. I really hate such sweeping statements. It’s quite possible to dislike a film with a gay themeline and still support equal treatment for all. Those kinds of accusations tossed out make reviewers hesitate to be honest. I don’t assume that everyone who hates chick flicks hate women. I don’t figure all gay folks like this movie either. I won’t go speaking for gay folk, but I’d be curious to know what those of the gay persuasion think on this one.

The acting is great on this movie when you consider the kinds of bizarre scenes required. They went with big names which probably saved the movie.

Julie Andrews (“Sound of Music”) is the lead—Victoria AKA Victor. Her husband directs and selected her for the role. She is really too feminine to play a female posing as a male, but she does a good job lowering her notes for the songs (still breaks a glass as a male though). She never looks male to me no matter how short the haircut. You can put your own cheese on a frozen pizza, but it’s still not homemade.

Robert Preston as Toddy is also pretty good. He’s the gay buddy who hatches the idea to have Victoria be a man performing as a woman. I’m not really sure why they didn’t get a gay actor for the role (and as far as I know he is straight). His hetero traits leaked through at times, but he adjusted pretty well. It’s simply hard to be “gay” on film when you’re not.

James Garner is hard to beat as a leading man. Though he doesn’t say a lot, he speaks volumes with his expressions. He’s hot though a tad pretty to be a gangster. I think he might have played the gay role in this movie (Toddy) better than the leading man role.

If you love musicals, then you may think this movie is fabulous. It’s pretty typical “musical,” and it draws on the history of the genre. You may smile instead of cringe when they flash back on the history and pick up the flavor of the old song and dance movies from the early days. You may also like the movie if you are homosexual. This was cutting edge at the time it was put out. The subject had always been mostly taboo, and this movie helped as far as getting the issue out on the table. It was something that needed to be talked about.



Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD