The Wild Party (1975 film)

The Wild Party
Film poster
Directed byJames Ivory
Screenplay byWalter Marks
Based onThe Wild Party
by Joseph Moncure March
Produced byIsmail Merchant
Starring
CinematographyWalter Lassally
Music byWalter Marks
Production
company
The Wild Party
Distributed byAmerican International Pictures
Release dates
  • May 9, 1975 (1975-05-09) (Washington, D.C.)[1]
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$900,000[2]

The Wild Party is a 1975 American comedy-drama film directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant[3] for Merchant Ivory Productions. Loosely based on Joseph Moncure March's narrative poem of the same name, the screenplay is written by Walter Marks, who also composed the score. The plot follows an aging silent movie comic star of the 1920s named Jolly Grimm (James Coco) attempts a comeback by staging a party to show his new film.

Shot in Riverside, California, the poem was also made into two musicals, a Broadway show, composed by Michael John LaChiusa, which followed the poem very closely, and an off-Broadway production, composed by Andrew Lippa, which took some artistic liberties but still less than this film.

A dance scene was choreographed by Patricia Birch.

  1. ^ Arnold, Gary (May 7, 1975). "Northern Virginia Arts Festival". The Washington Post. C11. "...begins an exclusive engagement at the K-B Fine Arts this Friday."
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference warga was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference canby was invoked but never defined (see the help page).