The Wedding Party

I had heard for many years that this film was pretty bad, especially considering the talent involved. Took me decades to finally get the time to see it; it just never seemed to bubble up to the top of my must-see list despite my being a huge fan of De Niro, DePalma, and Clayburgh. Well, I'm here to say don't listen to the critics: it's actually a pretty good film.

Okay, I will admit part of why it's good is that one sees it now thru the lense of the careers the principal participants had after they made this. Further, I suspect many are disappointed expecting De Niro to always be operating at 'Taxi Driver' and 'The Deet Hunter' level and Clayburgh shining as she did in 'An Unmarried Woman' and 'It's My Turn.' But the truth is that both have some very fine moments here and both are engaging despite thr fact that the gentleman who plays the groom, Charles Pfluger, seems like he would be the one to rise to stardom (he never made another movie). Jennifer Salt ('Sisters') also appears in the film, lensed the same year as she appeared in 'Midnight Cowboy' (1969).

The film, about a group of people assembling in a large house for a long weekend for a wedding, seems like it was probably too long and too boring so DePalma and company found myriad of ways of punching up the proceedings: fast motion, comic music, sound effects. But all this seems pretty effective.

The thin plot idea was better mined by Robert Altman in his film 'A Wedding' (1978), an ignored masterpiece in my book, but 'The Wedding Party' is a fun, funny and diverting if sometimes shallow and even lax night at the movies. Don't expect too much and you might be pleasantly surprised.

Mr. De Niro's first film, credited Denero. It's his first because it was filmed in 1963 and only released in 1969. Unknown actors in the cast, except for a very young Jill Clayburgh (19 years old) who, although she doesn't have too much screen time, she is the most compelling. De Niro does not make much difference in his role, he is only present in the landscape, it could have been anyone in his place. First Feature Film directed by De Palma too. Zero stars!

This film is very slow paced and dated. I got this as I am a huge fan of Brian De Palma and must, simply must see everything he does and did. This film however is not very good. I would like to pawn it off on the fact that De Palma did not direct the whole thing and was just one third of the team but that would be a lazy cop out. This movie is slow because he and the others are new and inexperienced at film making. This was one of his first movies if not the first and you can tell he is a virgin as far as film-making goes. This movie does a few high points. Their is the typical fast forward motion that most De Palma films have in this but I think it was more to save film in this than to be artistic, but it was out of this that the fast forward shots for Carrie, Hi, Mom, and Greetings were born. Their is also a highly funny portion in this movie with an Arab ex boyfriend of the bride who comes to visit. I love this part of the movie the groom is trying to pass the bride off to the Arab so he can free himself from the shackles that will be marriage, but the Arab does not bite and gets the heck out. This movie is also good because it has early performances by Robert De Niro and William Finnley. They are great as the grooms guest and I love that they are in this. Watch this movie for De Palma's growth as a filmmaker but stay away if you are just an average movie goer.

Being the first feature film with Robert De Niro (although not released for years later), this is worth the watch. De Niro's role isn't huge, yet amusing as one of two friends who first try to prevent another friends marriage only to later chase him down to force him into it. Any die hard De Niro fan will get a kick out of an early performance by arguably the best actor today.

This slight film is mostly going to be of interest to de Palma or Robert de Niro fans, but not many others. Shot in black and white, the tale of a man who plans to get married and has second thoughts, is peppered with more radical cinematography than the plot deserves: the speeded up walking and 'zany'/'madcap' car driving.

But the idea of a threesome of men talking through jump-cuts ended up being used to much better effect in de Palma's Greetings, which also starred a young de Niro again.

Also the film's strength or weakness - depending on your mood - is that much of it clearly was shot on film stock that had no sound, so the genius is that much of the film is 'silent' ie it only has accompanying music. This adds to the scenes when dialogue does kick into the film. Unfortunately, the insignificance of the improvised conversations hardly make you want to wait for the next such discourse.

Worth watching once, but don't spend too much on the ticket!