Men's Club

This movie usually gets ripped to shreds by a lot of people. Given the offensive nature of some of the material, it's understandable. But truthfully, I enjoyed watching this movie because I really enjoyed watching this intriguing cast work together.

I first rented this movie because I couldn't believe what a cool cast was involved: Roy Scheider, Harvey Keitel, Frank Langella, Richard Jordan, and Treat Williams to name a few. Stockard Channing and Jennifer Jason Leigh also have supporting roles here, but it's basically the guys' show.

The movie is broken down like this: It introduces the characters, it shows the group of actors talking about their personal lives in a therapy type sitting at one of the character's house. And it all culminates at "The House of Affections" (you can figure out what that is).

What can I say, despite the fact that these characters often talk and act like jerks, I still enjoyed watching the cast work and even found a lot of it funny.

Having seen it several times, I can say it could've been edited much more tightly to convey its somewhat diluded message. But still, I enjoyed it and I think it's worth a rent for that cast alone. Just don't throw tomatoes at me if you happen to be offended. Call it a "guilty pleasure".

A group of men in Berkley form a men's club. Former baseball star Cavanaugh (Roy Scheider) is a hound dog cheating on his wife Sarah. He brings his family-man friend Berkley professor Phillip (David Dukes) into the group. Kramer (Richard Jordan) is a psychotherapist. Solly Berliner (Harvey Keitel) is a real estate broker cheating on his wife. Harold Canterbury (Frank Langella) is a senior partner in his law firm and his wife left him after finding herself. Paul (Craig Wasson) is a manager at an auto parts company. Terry (Treat Williams) is a single doctor. Kramer's wife Nancy (Stockard Channing) comes home to find the group trashing the place. She kicks the men out and they decide to go to a high class gentlemen's club. The club is run by Jo with her puppet. She introduces Harold to Teensy (Jennifer Jason Leigh).

The first half of the movie is a touchy feely inner-self of the Neanderthal man. Many of the men are various shades of the cave man. Then they go to the brothel and things get even weirder. It's insane and not in a good way. Unless you're itching to see Langella in crazy makeup.

This sleaze-o-rama would have been a good theatrical play. But not a movie. I believe the cast made of the finest actors took the roles because the screenplay played like a play in their heads. On screen, it plays like a rather dull porn film because the actors talk too much. There's a beautiful closeup of Roy Scheider in bed with a prostitute. Turn it into a gif and throw the rest away.

This movie is consisted of 3 parts: a shrink's home, the whore house and the wedding. The wedding part concentrates what this movie really wanted to tell to the audience. It is extremely philosophical and impressive movie not by naked women but the underlying idea about humanfs nature. The poem read at the wedding was very nice.

(1986) The Men's Club DRAMA

Adapted from the novel by Leonard Michaels also credited for adapting his own screenplay. The title "The Men's Club" is reference to former baseball player, Cavanaugh (Roy Scheider) and the friends he hangs around with, who are middle age, some are either married or have relationships with other women, holding with them their misogynistic views. Besides Cavanaugh, it also includes. Phillip (David Dukes), Kramer (Richard Jordan), Harold Canterbury (Frank Langella), Paul (Craig Wasson), Terry (Treat Williams) and finally, Solly Berliner (Harvey Keitel), when one of the group's wives breaks up with one of them- tired of her husband's infidelity. Cavanaugh rents out a brothel to vent out their frustrations.

Movie is outdated, but perhaps made during the time when both misogyny and sexism was a problem, when women were not paid as much as men.